Thread: GIS beginners build in Concord, NH

I spent about the same building my Goat. But I always buy sandpaper in bulk and made several purchases of sandpaper during the finishing phase. The result is I haven't had to buy ANY sandpaper for the current project and am still using some of the stuff I bought for my first plywood boat project, an Uncle John's pirogue.

I'm not anal enough to try to calculate actual totals to the penny.

Well, sandpaper would have fallen under "tools" so not included in my list. This is more "materials" or so.

I could've done better, but there was that whole learning curve thing. Thanks MAM for the compare.

I agree with your price estimates. However I blew my budget on some nicer and lighter Joubert ply, as well as some nice Ronstan orbit blocks to help my rickety elbows. I think they make a difference and it's a nicer boat to sail. (Wish I had more sailing under my belt, but with spring and summer rapidly approaching it WILL happen!)

I bought some power tools too. My Bosch sander seized up, so a new 1/3 sheet Makita replaced it. A new lightweight AEG 12V Lithium Ion driver drill replaced my old NiMH one (Best power tool I've ever bought). However, they are also used for other projects so don't count toward the cost of the boat.

I just sailed the boat out of Isles of Shoals from Rye Harbor State Park. This is the real deal- Atlantic Ocean.

The conditions were Westerly winds at 20kts-- (high teens with gusts into the low 20's as reported by the Isle of Shoals weather station)

07 22 3:00 pm WNW 20 24 -
07 22 2:00 pm WNW 16 18 -

07 22 1:00 pm WNW 17 21 -
07 22 12:00 pm WNW 21 22 -
07 22 11:00 am WNW 20 22

It's 6nm straight line, but I did three broad downwind reaches so I wasn't running straight downwind. By the time I got half-way the seas were easily 3-4 feet and tightly packed. It was the limit of my sailing abilities, I think. Or at least as hard as I wanted to push it. There were times I was nervous, no doubt. Lots of planing, surfing, plunging into troughs, riding crests, etc. No wave broke into the boat, thankfully. I wanted my friend to take a video, but he couldn't even get my camera out of the case since the ride was so wild. There's something to be said for the high-freeboard, thanks Mik! A Nantucket Sleigh Ride, without the whale. At one point the rudder kicked up-- from the speed induced water resistance. That surprised me.

It took 1:10 to get out there, harbor to harbor, including the three reaches that put me at the northern end of the island group, we had to reach back to get into the harbor. The harbor is where the three islands are joined by causeways.

On the way out, close hauled all the way back, it took 3:45 of wild wave-cutting, wet, spray filled sailing. The boat acquired several inches of water in it from spray alone. My friend bravely bailed. Many times the bow was completely buried to the gunwale. Pointing ability was reduced with the one reef, anyone know why? (also asked at the GIS handling characteristics thread).

Closer to shore the wave action quieted and we shook out the reef and hightailed it home.

It was an adventure, full-on.

We definitely felt like MEN back on shore, but will probably feel like idiots come tomorrow. Or maybe not?

It was a sailors day. Some powerboaters gave us the crazy look for sure. The guy in the Compaq 16 gave us the thumbs up. He knows (of course he's got a bunch of ballast).

WOW. Whatta day.

Some pictures up later this weekend on my blog, my friend has most of them. Just wanted to share a most epic day.

Congrats on the great day. More congrats on surviving. I sailed our GIS in similar conditions one day, but just went across the lake and back (2, maybe 2.5 miles). I am very much a beginning sailor, and that sail had me puckered to the nth degree. There were times when - sitting on the center thwart - the waves were over my head. I'm positive I did a bunch of stupid things... but luck and a good design were with me.

Looking forward to the fotos.

Sounds exhilarating, the kind of sailing I like too! Photos pleez

I know a lot of folk don't like bailers, but I think a well fitted, good quality large size one in the centre, just behind the CB case would get rid of much of the water from such sailing. Did you notice where the water was accumulating most?

Unfortunately, there are no photos underway, it was not possible to operate a camera without either dropping it or missing a critical weight shift while surfing down some wave, it was "all hands on deck." At one point I handed my camera to my bud and asked him to take a movie "so I can show my internet friends" but we just couldn't make it happen.

The water accumulated kind of everywhere, it sloshes around. It was mostly centered around BH3. When the weight of the water starts to pull on the leeward side, I gave the order to start bailing when conditions permit.

It doesn't take much heel to get the water on the leeward side, and once there, a lot can accumulate before it gets back to the center of the boat. One would have to keep the boat nice and flat to get a centered bailer to work. This would be fine if recovering from a capsize and the water was relatively smooth. In rough seas with high winds, not as easy.

I agree, we'd need two of the suckers, one portside, the other starboard.

It seems you've well and truly tested your mast and spars with two up in a decent breeze. My brother who lives in New Zealand will be visiting shortly, so hopefully we'll get similar conditions when go for a blatt. He sails Paper Tigers offshore, so he's used to heavy conditions.

I've banged up the boat a bit and unbeknownst to me I cracked the outter veneer of the ply on the transom (inside the boat). Through the varnish I can see the dark stain of water that got into the crack. It's what tipped me off in the first place. The crack is not big, about an inch. Whats the best way to repair this?

I'm thinking sanding it down to wood, dry it out a bit, and then thicken up some epoxy in the crack, recoat with epoxy, and then back to the varnish.

I miss anything?

Howdy ... Epic sailing indeed.

One extra trick to fix the crack is don't glue it up, but sand it down freehand until you have a little hollow over the crack and about 20mm all round it. You only want to remove the epoxy and a little bit of the top veneer.

The warning that you are about to go through the veneer is that you will see some black streaks in the grain from the black resorcinol glue that seeps up through the grain ... so you have to stop before that appears.

It really is only a little bit of sanding to get a very tiny hollow. It is almost imperceptible - half a mm below the finished epoxy/varnish surface is plenty.

Brush it with epoxy and lay a piece of glass tape in there (or if you had some really light glass cloth then use some of that). The class can be oversize and don't wet out the part that it outside the sanded area - that way it sands off easy.

Do your recoats wet on wet until the weave is 90% filled.

Sand it all perfectly flat with a sander with a flat hard base or handsand using a block. Re epoxy and revarnish.

Hey ... invisible repair. It might be a bit of a different colour for a bit but it will fade.

Best wishes
MIK

OK, sounds good, thank you for the repair tips Mik.

I wish it was from the epic sailing... but it's not. I trailered the boat around initially last month with the mast base not padded-- I thought I had it tied down tight enough-- and it bounced into the transom... My stupidity.


Great solo sailing today though! I lost count how many days I have on the water. 15? 16? Anyway, today was gusting into the higher 20's lower 30's. I was up to the my second reef and still couldn't keep the boat flat even hiked all the way out. No capsizing (thank you, ballast). I was going to go to "handkerchief reef" but LO! My outhaul was not long enough! Oops. I measured it in the garage and thought it was plenty, but apparently not. Anyway, wild, wild day. I had to bail out the boat multiple times due to spray over the bow. A couple of time I really buried the bow into the waves close hauled to the wind-- the waves were really packed together (lake). I'd wait until the water was over the bottom of the the cut-out in BH3 and then heave to and bail. Some crazy planing and surfing of waves though, always fun.

Bruce-

Today with all the water I paid attention where auto-bailers could go for you. I'm not going to install them, but if you want to, it would make sailing in heavy seas easier.

I took on a lot of water today from spray and a couple of close capsize calls when water would come in through the gunwale. But lots of water from spray, whole waves over the windward side of the bow.

The best spot to put them, I think, would be directly forward of BH3, on each side, next to the chine. This is where the water was deepest. Already aft of BH3, not so deep. Now, I know under the seat and in front of the bulkhead like that isn't the best spot, especially if you want to stow gear there. (I do-- ballast, waterbags, large jugs of water, etc), so directly AFT of BH3 would be sufficient, you should be able to auto-bail enough water out to make it worth while. There would be some left, but not as much.

Thanks for that info Christophe! Right behind BH3 fits with my intuition, and of course it's right where it would tear my toenails off!

I'll give it a lot more thought before curring a hole in my hull I think...

It's great to hear about all the sailing you're getting. I'm hoping to get in quite a bit in 3 weeks time when my brother visits from New Zealand as the forecasts are for a lot warmer weather.

Then we're heading off to South Africa to visit our mum, and maybe some sailing on Knysna lagoon.Go To Knysna Lagoon for swimming, sailing, fishing and ferry trips

PICTURES (my friend took and posted these)

Sailing out to Smuttynose Weekday Birding

I witnessed a Bolger Black Skimmer roll in and fortunately my friend took some pictures. Nice to see another sharpie out there with me. I found the skipper on the Wooden Boat Forum, and here's his account of that day

Re: Bolger Black Skimmer in Gosport Harbor, Isles of Shoals

Yes, that was me. We had a lively run out to Gosport from Kittery Point, single reefed. Gusts to 31 knots reported at the Shoals. Egret broached once when a gust overpowered her, but otherwise went like the proverbial scalded cat. Now let me tell you, Gosport is no place to be in a fresh North West breeze; it is totally exposed; there were 3' seas in the mooring field, and good god did she ever pound! Thought she'd shake the fillings out of my teeth. But I had Capt. Ken Eckstrom aboard with his concertina and a supply of margaritas, so we relaxed as best we could, sang sea shantys and folk songs, and watched the other boats plunge and roll until the wind eased off enough to allow the long beat back to Pepperrell Cove. We were on the mooring there at 9:45 pm, having had to motor the last mile in flat calm, such is the nature of the NW wind. It was an exciting day!

Originally Posted by callsign222

I just sailed the boat out of Isles of Shoals from Rye Harbor State Park. This is the real deal- Atlantic Ocean.

The conditions were Westerly winds at 20kts-- (high teens with gusts into the low 20's as reported by the Isle of Shoals weather station)

07 22 3:00 pm WNW 20 24 -
07 22 2:00 pm WNW 16 18 -

07 22 1:00 pm WNW 17 21 -
07 22 12:00 pm WNW 21 22 -
07 22 11:00 am WNW 20 22

It's 6nm straight line, but I did three broad downwind reaches so I wasn't running straight downwind. By the time I got half-way the seas were easily 3-4 feet and tightly packed. It was the limit of my sailing abilities, I think. Or at least as hard as I wanted to push it. There were times I was nervous, no doubt. Lots of planing, surfing, plunging into troughs, riding crests, etc. No wave broke into the boat, thankfully. I wanted my friend to take a video, but he couldn't even get my camera out of the case since the ride was so wild. There's something to be said for the high-freeboard, thanks Mik! A Nantucket Sleigh Ride, without the whale. At one point the rudder kicked up-- from the speed induced water resistance. That surprised me.

It took 1:10 to get out there, harbor to harbor, including the three reaches that put me at the northern end of the island group, we had to reach back to get into the harbor. The harbor is where the three islands are joined by causeways.

On the way out, close hauled all the way back, it took 3:45 of wild wave-cutting, wet, spray filled sailing. The boat acquired several inches of water in it from spray alone. My friend bravely bailed. Many times the bow was completely buried to the gunwale. Pointing ability was reduced with the one reef, anyone know why? (also asked at the GIS handling characteristics thread).

Closer to shore the wave action quieted and we shook out the reef and hightailed it home.

It was an adventure, full-on.

We definitely felt like MEN back on shore, but will probably feel like idiots come tomorrow. Or maybe not?

It was a sailors day. Some powerboaters gave us the crazy look for sure. The guy in the Compaq 16 gave us the thumbs up. He knows (of course he's got a bunch of ballast).

WOW. Whatta day.

Some pictures up later this weekend on my blog, my friend has most of them. Just wanted to share a most epic day.