Thread: GIS in South Dakota

Welcome Glenn!

Keep us informed here ... we love to look over people's shoulders.

Because many of us are active builders and sailors, comments (while looking over your shoulder) tend to be quite helpful and informative.

So welcome again!

Michael Storer
MIK

Thanks for the reply Mik!

I will be acquiring the lumber for the foils tomorrow, possibly the mast, lug boom and yard as well. It all depends on what the local yard has in stock and if I have to run to a larger yard. I believe it shouldn't be to difficult find any of the lumber here... except for the ply. I will let you know what I find!

I was reading through a few forums and it looks like most shape the foils with a long block plane. I am curious if anyone has shaped the foils with a long belt sander. I happen to have one readily available and not a block plane.

Thoughts?

-Glenn

Glenn,

Welcome to the madness!

While I purchased a block plane and a jack plane when building my GIS (I had neither a plane or a belt sander!), I don't see why the foils couldn't be shaped with a belt sander. I say go for it!

Have fun and enjoy yourself.

If you had a belt sander on hand I would give it a shot - it will be a bit slower than a plane - but you would also have to look at it like a power plane - and stop before you removed too much and then swap over the sandpaper and block or torture board.
<br />
<br />Shape is everything - and I am sure you can imagine the belt sander can go past the line very easily. So to swap to hand tools before you do.<br />
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You don't need a long bedded plane to do the foils a smoothing plane (eg #4) would be fine and do most of the woodwork too. A block plane is nice for doing ply edges but I've used a smoothing plane many times too.<br />
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In other words ... a block plane might be a shade better for the hull and a smoothing plane a bit better for the foils, but you could build the whole boat with either.<br />
<br />

Not sure about a belt sander for ripping down the foils. A number 4 Bailey will be fine, but sometimes you can pick up an old #6 or #7 at markets for quite cheap. They might just need a bit of work and TLC to have them singing.

The great thing about the GIS is that it is easily built the lo-tech way. MIK has included a list of required tools in his plans and that's all you need, seriously.

If it helps, I found these tools were the most valuable.

Brands shown are just for example, different people have their own preferences.

1. Low angle block plane. The ubiquitous Stanley is a ripper of a tool that fits in your pocket and probably the one you would use the most in building your GIS.
Attachment 150610

2. Japanese dozuki pull saw. These will make a fine woodworker out of anyone. Just awesome tools that last well and new blades are also available (for your next project!). Capable of very accurate cuts that hardly need smoothing, and can be quicker than a jigsaw for cutting ply.
Attachment 150612

3. Metric tape measure

4. Graduated straight edge. At least 1 metre long but bigger is better.

5. Small Lithium Ion (Li-Ion)hand drill with 2 batteries. 12V is plenty big enough as they punch way above their weight for power compared to a NiCad one which will let you down at crucial moments when your poxy is going off. They will last a whole day on one charge. You only need a small one so you can hold with one hand and drill with the other.
Attachment 150613

6. A good small random orbit (ROS) or just an orbit sander that does at least 20,000rpm. faster is better. The cheapie ones leave marks on your ply and are slow. Sanding by hand is OK, but the GIS is a lot of boat and one of these will save you big time.
Attachment 150622

7. Plenty of clamps!!!!! I got by with the cheap ones, but the rate of failure was high and I finished my project with just a handful of them
Attachment 150623Attachment 150624

8. House bricks or old car batteries for gravity clamps.

Hey MG

Woodeneye mentioned the Japanese pull saws. They are awesome and I highly recommend them too. I have a cross-cut saw and a combo rip/crosscut saw. You can get them cheap and just as capable at Lowes or Home Depot, whoever is closer, in the saw section. That way you're not searching the interwebs for $$$ saws. Still made in Japan, just without the price tag.

I did my daggerboard with my Stanley #4 (cheap at Lowes) and my Stanley lower-angle block plane for the finer work. No problems.

As far as cheap spring clamps are concerned, go to Home Depot and get the green handled 2" spring clamps that cost $.99 a pop. They are actually good quality and as cheap as it gets, and you will use them for everything.

Glenn,

Welcome to the herd! I had to use Google Earth to see if South Dakota really had any water or not and it looks like there are some good sized lakes to sail on.

I have attached a picture and labeled some of my favorite items and Woodeneye's list is spot-on.

I shaped my sailing foils with a hand plane and then built a small dagger board for rowing. Shaped it with a belt sander, but I found hand shaping with a plane much more satisfying. The only other thing I used the belt sander for was sanding the tops of the gunnels after they were all glued together. Even that could be done entirely by hand. That is a long way of saying if you don't have a belt sander, you can build a GIS without one. A small random orbit (ROS) is worth more.

Another winter protect to consider is building your own oars. We found it a great project to warm up on and increase our comfort level with the tools.

Have fun

John

Pretty clever PDF, thanks.

FYI: the PVC pipe clamps may give enough pressure to get squeeze out with the gunwale/inwale spacers but not any larger a timber than that. You'll need a bar clamp or something.

Check out the bar clamps at GW, these are great for the $.

Originally Posted by Compass Project

Pretty clever PDF, thanks.

FYI: the PVC pipe clamps may give enough pressure to get squeeze out with the gunwale/inwale spacers but not any larger a timber than that. You'll need a bar clamp or something.

Check out the bar clamps at GW, these are great for the $.

Good value indeed for that GW offering. Those prices also relate to us here in Oz right now that our AUD has reached parity with your USD! too bad about the horrendous postage from the US to Oz

Wow! Great advice all, I am definitely gonna steal some scraps of schedule 40 and 80 pvc from the dumpster at work! I will have to find a dozuki for sure... if not for any other reason than the name!

Great idea on the oars John, considering how long the winters around here. I could probably go into business making oars and retire before spring.

Lumber shopping was fun... didn't buy anything. I was trying to get a good feel for exactly what I wanted to do for species. One of the yards in town had a good selection of Cedar that I believe I will use for the Centerboard and Rudder Staves. Do you think there is too much issue with a few small knots? 1/4" to 3/8" at the largest... I think with a 14' 2"x10" I should be able to get almost all knot-free pieces and still have scraps to rip and plane for chines. Also, I think I will be going with an Ash for the tailing and leading edges.

I was also hoping to find suitable epoxy for gluing up the foil blanks, but there seems to be a lack of options locally. Do you all think I should consider an epoxy kit from a boat building supplier on-line?

And lastly... biggest challenge of all, finding a metric tape measure. Quite imperial around here... I am pretty sure in grade school they ordered the "gram" blocks by the pound. Ha!

Thanks again for all the help, you all will make this adventure a blast!

Glenn,

You can order a metric tape measure from Duckworks and have it in less than a week (assuming Chuck and Sandra aren't out of town!)

Duckworks Boat Builiders Supply - Metric Tape Measures

Originally Posted by alzuger

As far as cheap spring clamps are concerned, go to Home Depot and get the green handled 2" spring clamps that cost $.99 a pop. They are actually good quality and as cheap as it gets, and you will use them for everything.

Hear, Hear.

People do get excited about clamps, but the reality is that if you use epoxy for gluing the clamping loads are pretty slight.

Remember too that you can build an awful lot of the boat using temporary drywall/plasterboard screws.

The spring clamps above are also useful.

Four or so bar clamps big enough to clamp the mast are essential - with an addition of the brown packaging tape (or clear packaging tape) - starting from one end you can clamp and put several wraps of tape around the mast adjacent to the clamp. Then you can move the clamp up a distance (similar to the distance you would use if only using clamps).

Originally Posted by mgboats

Do you all think I should consider an epoxy kit from a boat building supplier on-line?

I believe I've read that the online suppliers that sell MIK's plans don't make money on the plans; they depend on the supporting business of materials and supplies. As you see, MIK has a great relationship with Duckworks and they have shown a great willingness to help builders on this forum. You should certainly consider them, even if you comparison shop with other sources as well. If it comes down to a few bucks, you might do well to "keep it in the community."