Most people’s backyards are canvases where they unleash their hidden talents like landscaping, building a coop or barn, or perhaps creating a barbecue gazebo. However some like Clyde Stires, a resident of Perris a small town in Southern California take things literally to the next level. This determined genius single-handedly built not a boat or jet-ski but a massive 100-foot long superyacht in his front yard. It took Clyde four long years from 1987 to 1991, to build the aluminum vessel.
Like all remarkable feats that must be seen to be believed, this one is no exception. A video released in 2021 showcases this extraordinary endeavor in the making. Despite having no engineering experience and no talent for intricate technical drawings, Clyde relied on vision and unmatched grit, using wood, wires, and industrial-grade aluminum to deliver a 100-foot catamaran.
His knowledge came from a high school drafting class he took for one semester, and he certainly put that to the best use. Below is a detailed account of how he built a ship in his backyard in Perris and where he took it upon completion.
This is what Kaleidoscope looked like after five years of daily efforts by one man, who sometimes worked 12-14 hour days in the sweltering desert heat.
The image shows the skeleton of the ship in the lofting stage. This process involves transferring a boat’s line plan to a full-sized scale drawing by creating a grid to make a frame and a body plan.
Simultaneously, he first created a model of his yacht based on his crude drawings. Imagine not knowing how to calculate displacement, this genius placed his model in a pool, and when it didn’t sink, he knew he was on the right track. As a bonus, he got an idea of where the waterline would be.
The process of rolling and welding the tunnels was tedious and time-consuming. From punching hundreds of holes in the frame for wiring, hydraulics, and electric work, he even welded one frame for the starboard hull along with the port side on top of it to make them identical. It sounds like the man was building two massive catamarans!
This is what the frame of the 100-footer looked like near completion, where the magic of V-notches and stringer notches fused together to give the ship its striking shape.
The exterior began taking shape with the plating of aluminum sheets that measured 5 feet by 20 feet and weighed an astounding 297 pounds each. Once the hulls were plated together, the maverick moved on to working on the wing, which is just as crucial in the functioning of a catamaran.
With a wing length of 72 feet, he created a sturdy boat. However, the real challenge came when he had to weld the top deck plate. With less than 9 inches of space to crawl through, this task was tedious and troublesome, especially during a time without Wi-Fi or AI to do half the work.
With the deck plating done, it was time to move on to the superstructure of Kaleidoscope. A series of images shows Clyde single-handedly going from job to job, handling everything from drilling, plating, and planning to execution. If this isn’t a shining example of what talent can achieve, I don’t know what is.
What caught our eye were the oval windows designed by the yacht maker. These custom windows came with a temporary fixture that allowed him to roll the window frames, making
the plating a quicker task.
After completing the windshield, he decided to add extra seats to enjoy the views once his incredible labor of love hit the water.
This is what the pilothouse looked like. It would later be installed with the helm or steering controls for navigating the vessel.
The interior work began, with staircases on the aft deck leading to the flybridge and the upper aft deck. At the same time, he finished the exteriors, adding windows, glass, and other
details to make the vessel look more and more like a catamaran.
The next big challenge was getting the boat ready for a paint job, which meant grinding every inch, nook, and corner with 36-grit sandpaper, a monumental task for an ordinary man. But Clyde is anything but ordinary. He engineered a special sanding device that helped him cover more surface area with minimal effort. In total, he designed four different types of sanders.
Kaleidoscope, shining in all her glory with fresh paint and complete with portholes.
An aerial shot of the vessel reveals that the boat is nearly as large as his house, with no water body in sight. The boat features two elevators and a master bedroom with an ensuite and a shower cubicle, next to his-and-hers basins.
To launch the boat for sea trials, the 100-foot catamaran had to be cut into seven pieces and transported to the ocean on seven oversized trucks.
The world’s largest homemade backyard boat at the time, Kaleidoscope had to be transported 85 miles to the sea.
Massive cranes were deployed to carefully load the individual pieces of the catamaran onto trucks. Clyde shared on his YouTube channel, “To most, this would be a sin, but to me, it was the day I was waiting for. Pretty much everyone told me it couldn’t be done. To my knowledge, it hasn’t been done this way. This was the day to prove my theory would work. Not only did we disassemble and load her on seven trucks in one day and transport her the next, there wasn’t a single issue.”
After reassembling the 100-foot superyacht in under six hours while in the water, the vessel made a trip across the Panama Canal.
The Kaleidoscope vessel, known as the ‘limousine of the sea,’ was transformed into a charter vessel with all the features of a meticulously designed pleasure craft.
It boasts a lounge, games area, al fresco dining, kitchenette, toilet, and seating on the sun deck. It’s astonishing to think that this superyacht was the work of just one man, and not a shipyard. What many would fail to achieve even with a lifetime of dedicated effort, Clyde accomplished in five years with remarkable precision and perfection.
The planner, designer, builder, engineer, painter, and owner of the Kaleidoscope yacht made the ‘Limousine of the Sea’ available for charters, boat tours, fishing trips, and dolphin and whale watching in Nayarit, Mexico. A video showcases the charming catamaran upon completion, with hordes of tourists enjoying the waters on a vessel that’s iconic in every way.
As per Tripadvisor the Kaleidoscope is no longer available for charters. The last user review posted on the travel website dates all the way back to February 2019.
There are a few shining examples who showed the will and determination of Clyde. A 56-year-old ex-coal miner from Morsbach, France worked for 12 years, starting in 1994, to build a cruise ship called Majesty of the Seas. This model, one-eighth the size of a huge liner, weighed 90 tons and was also built in his backyard. A Russian couple achieved the mammoth task of building an enormous 400-ton replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza in their backyard in Istinka, a small village outside St. Petersburg. It took the duo years to complete their masterpiece.
Update – The Kaleidoscope is available for tours and charters, including whale watching in Puerto Vallarta by Chica Locca Tours. Named the ‘Chica Limousine of the Sea,’ it is available for private tours for up to 155 guests, with pricing starting at $1,800 per hour. From the images, the catamaran appears to be in top shape. It’s still unfathomable that a vessel capable of carrying dozens of guests into the deep sea for whale watching was single-handedly built by one man in his front yard.
