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COALVILLE — A Coalville man is getting close to catching a dream he's been chasing since he was a little kid.
He plans to go to sea and see the world — in a sailboat he built all by himself.
"I always wanted to do this, since I was in junior high school," Chris Berrier said. "I grew up in Idaho, and it's kind of a limited exposure to the world. And I just want to see the world."
I got my two dogs and my cat, and that's what's coming with me. Not two of every kind.
–Chris Berrier
#berrier_quote
Berrier works on the boat inside a blue plastic enclosure behind the liquor store on Coalville's Main Street. "It's basically a wooden boat with a fiberglass skin on it," Berrier said.
But it is not a dinky little one-man boat. It sleeps five and is 40 feet long, from stem to stern. The boat will weigh 17,000 pounds when completed; its keel alone is weighted for stability with 6,000 pounds of lead. And it will eventually have a mast rising 55 feet above sea level.
Earlier in life, Berrier said he had a cabinet shop and a construction company and some experience sailing small boats. Since he started building his dream vessel 12 years ago, he estimates he's spent about $150,000 and close to 15,000 man-hours on the project.
"You know, life's short, Berrier said, "so I figured I'd better get it done."
This year, with rivers and creeks raging nearby, he's had to endure more than his share of jokes about the biblical flood and the ark.
"I've heard jokes about it from the very first, being called 'Noah,'" Berrier said. Unlike Noah, he has no plan for any mass boarding by animals.
"Well it's not quite big enough. I got my two dogs and my cat, and that's what's coming with me. Not two of every kind," Berrier said with a laugh. "They're all females, too."
The cool, wet weather is complicating Berrier's departure plans. He'd been hoping to haul the boat to Texas for launching in November. But he can't apply the final covering of fiberglass until temperatures get above 65 degrees. Otherwise the resins don't cure properly.
"It's just been too cold and rainy," Berrier said Monday. "And snow this morning!"
So his dream is drifting a bit and he's not sure exactly when he'll put to sea. When he does, he'll be gone awhile. "The rest of my life," Berrier said. "I plan on probably sinking with the boat."
He said he has a nest-egg that will cover most of the costs of his retirement at sea. But he expects to pick up odd jobs here and there during his travels.
He wants to spend most of his time sailing in the area around the Bahamas and Florida. But his dream includes the Mediterranean, too. And beyond that, the whole wide world.
Email:hollenhorst@ksl.com
