Hird Island is surrounded mostly by marsh grass, but along its easterly face a meandering deep-water creek sidles close to shore where a few dwellings and docks have sprung up. Here it’s quiet except for an occasional outboard motor. Ashore, you travel in electric golf carts instead of autos. You’re in the heart of Georgia marshland—tidal, sheltered, and, most of all, silent where the call of birds is apt to be the loudest sound you’ll hear.Because of the island’s proximity to the Atlantic, there’s a surprising current from the incoming and outgoing tide, so rowing isn’t always the best way of exploring, and the winding nature of the meandering creeks (there are miles and miles of them) oftentimes makes sailing a challenge. To fit in appropriately, Doug Hylan (who has a cottage on Hird Island) selected electric power and a simple skiff of plywood with a centerboard and small sail to be used when the wind suited. He keeps her in a shed when he’s away, which is most of the year, but in only a few minutes after arriving he is able to launch and set her up for use.
Photo by Anne BrayThe reedy shallows of Georgia call for a shoal-draft boat that can easily navigate the channels—and with its electric motor, this skiff can do so without disturbing the peace and quiet.
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Love the design. Love the low profile.
This boat was one of the inspirations for going electric with my own boat, John Welsford’s Walkabout design. It’s another slippery hull that goes fast under oars, so electric seemed likely to work. The motor is an EP Carry outboard, modified to replace the tiller with rope steering via a forward mounted wheel, move the motor control into the cockpit, and control the tilt from in the cockpit with a telescoping pole. First try was with an e-bike battery, which briefly worked but exceeded the motor voltage limit. Now with a 26 V LiPO battery and a fold-down 180 W solar panel range at 4 knots is unlimited during summer daylight and 4 hours on battery after dark. My cruising grounds are the Sacramento Delta, an area of winding sloughs that sounds a lot like the Georgia marshland that Mr. Hylan designed his boat for.
There’s a photo of my boat here.
We lived on those Georgia marshes for twenty years and meandering along the creeks in small boats was a year-round delight… until jetskeets arrived on the scene and began tearing around the winding waters. It became a safety issue so we mounted tall bicycle-flag whips on the boats and kayaks so jetskeets would see we were around the corners and might avoid running us down. There were some VERY close calls. The local dolphins didn’t care for the jetskeets at all either.
Love this. Wondering what kind of electric motor and battery set up is being used? Could see using this tooling around South Sound.