That sharpie look...

When most people think of sharpies they think of something like this...

Ted Brewer's Mystic Sharpie

Kind of neat, is it not? At 32' it's about what most people think a sharpie should be. Salty as all get out and for me the little Pinkyish detail from at the stern just kicks some serious butt...

The problem comes in when you look at the interior...

 ... Not that there is anything wrong with it but it is simply too small for the sort of cruising and living aboard that the whole VolksCruiser thing is about.

Of course, if you were to scale it up to something like 45 feet you'd wind up with something not unlike Reuel Parker's 45' sharpie...

Reuel Parker's 45' SJI

A nice boat, is it not?

Of course, the interior accommodation is still sparse for what people expect of a 45-foot boat these days but, as long as you're committed to keeping a sharpie looking like what people think a sharpie is supposed to look like, that's the price you pay.

Not a bad price as most folks cruising are couples and don't need charter yacht style accommodation that sleeps ten with ensuite heads for all. The moment you get serious about the whole need/want thing, all of sudden this sort of accommodation starts making all kinds of sense.

Now, what happens if you say to yourself a sharpie does not exactly have to look like what everybody thinks a sharpie should look like?

More about that later...