Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Loyal reader Jeff has breathlessly delivered to me a number of updates, and sent me several photos, about an amazing project that a group of people have been working on over in east Asheville. The crew has been working relentlessly to transform a school bus into a fishing trawler.
Here, I’ll let him explain:
Jason ~ There is something going on out at Asheville VeeDub that is totally freaking awesome. Some friends of mine are really into the Burning Man experience and they are in the process of turning a former school bus into an Alaskan fishing trawler.
The Gypsy Queen is twice the height of a normal bus and twice the width. It has a mast, working booms, nets and the rigging ropes are computer-controlled rope lighting linked the sound system. It takes TWO generators to run the lights and keep the techno pumping. The way The Gypsy Queen is designed, it will take a crane to put the wheelhouse, the mast and the removable hull sections onto the back platform for travel to the Black Rock Desert.
They plan to get out there about a week early to borrow a crane from the BM DMV (Burning Man’s Department of Mutant Vehicles) and put it all back together.
The sound system is BAD ASS. They shoot 20 foot flame balls out the top of the mast. The crows nest will sport a hand-held 2 million-candle-power search light. Yes, the radar is funtional.
Click here to see Jeff’s flickr photos of the contraption. You’ll see how the bus is integrated into the design of the boat. Jeff says his buddies will drive the vehicle, and that they will be able to deploy giant nets to “catch” people.
I love the creative spirit and innovation on display with this. Amazing.
Big shout-out to Jeff for letting me know about this, and sharing photos. You rock, dude.
Thank you SO much! I got to watch the Man burn from the Gypsy Queen. These guys are the greatest. Happy Birthday!
BTW,October 10th 2010 10/10/10
Binary – 101010 = 42
we lived across the street from these guys for the week at BM – the ship was awesome, and such nice people! seeing the GQ on the playa was a treat I’ll never forget!!
Follow the GQ progress at twitter.com/fvgypsyqueen
That’s my brother, Robby,for you. Unique and creative!
They’ve added projectors displaying rippling waves on the ground around it.