RACINE - Frank Cihler and a friend took his home-built steamboat out on Lake Michigan last week to put it through some paces and see how it performed - sort of a shakedown cruise.

The home-built vessel crafted by a blind man in Garden Grove was to sail from California to the Great Lakes, traveling more than 7,000 miles through open and inland waters. Instead, the hull of the ...

The boat is now housed at Tall Timbers Marina awaiting a permanent home, hopefully in a maritime museum.<P> "The idea was to reconstruct the experience of the refuges and to write about it," he ...

If you happen to love sailing just as much as sustainable, affordable living, you'll surely be intrigued by this unusual and clever tiny house. Shaped like a boat and fitted with an observation lounge ...