Sampson Boat Covideo
What happened to SAIL CARGO INC? …visiting the jungle shipyard that went dark 2 years ago.
31 January 2026 · 28 min · 399K views · Marina, northern Costa Rica
Dinghy glides toward mangrove estuary at dusk, jungle shipyard ahead.
What this video covers
Leo Goolden detours Tally Ho to the Sail Cargo shipyard in coastal Costa Rica to investigate why the project went silent two years ago.Watch Before reaching the site, Tally Ho is stuck in a northern Costa Rica marina after one of its electric motors fails; a friend in California sources replacement drive belts on a public holiday and has his son fly them down.1:00 Installing a shorter belt around the prop shaft — requiring removal of the AquaDrive CV joint thrust bearing and shaft clutch — allows the system to run on one motor, delivering nearly 100 amps at 48 volts, roughly half normal capacity.7:02 At the Sail Cargo site, Goolden anchors at the mouth of a shallow, crocodile-inhabited estuary and dinghies in to meet Lynx, one of the project's founders.13:27 The ship under construction, named Seabert, is a large traditional timber cargo vessel with 33 tons of lead ballast in an I-beam keel; all outer planking timber is on site.15:20 Lynx explains the two-year pause: Sail Cargo purchased an operational vessel called Vega in Holland, invested in new spars, then could not obtain insurance for cargo work; simultaneously the founding CEO — the primary fundraiser — departed.17:57 A woodshop fire in February added further setback.18:59 A new board, new funding strategy, and crowdfunding campaign are now in place, with outer planking as the next construction phase.19:30
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