Building A Pirate-Proof Yacht

How Tom West Built A Pirate-Proof Yacht

Have you ever worried about being attacked by pirates on the open seas? Well unfortunately this happens more often then we may think. This man decided to do something about it, Tom West of Poland, Indiana decided to build a pirate proof yacht, Named: Faith.

Tom West has tackled some impressive builds over the years, including telescopes, a sawmill, and his house in Poland, Indiana. But West, a retired teacher, recently completed his swan song: a 30-ton, 56-foot-long sailboat named Faith. The one-mast vessel is longer than a double-decker bus, outfitted with wind turbines, and armored with a hull and cabin doors made from steel to thwart pirates on global voyages. “Everything you see, we did,” West says, standing next to the craft in his yard. “This all started out in pieces—the whole damned boat.” Most recreational cruisers are fiberglass boats measuring 26 to 40 feet long. Faith dwarfs these. It has two bathrooms, a full kitchen, lounging and dining areas, and room to sleep 12 people. A door with a ¼-inch-thick steel core protects the master cabin, which has the only access to the rudder controls, should pirates attempt a raid. Getting Faith into water proved nearly as challenging as building the boat. The Ohio River, located about 150 miles away, was the nearest suitable connection to waterways leading to the Gulf of Mexico. It took the Wests a month to find a towing company able to execute a hair-raising one-day slog along highways and back roads. “The trailer was about an inch off the ground,” West says. “It rubbed the ground every so often.” This yacht would be a nice boat to own, no matter what the occasion, having the peace of mind while on the open seas would be worth the time and money alone