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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Gothenburg, Sweden
    Posts
    100

    Default Yet another GIS, this time a Swedish one

    Hi all!

    After years of contemplating building a boat and only finding beautiful but expensive and difficult to build ones or cheap, easy built, ugly ones, I finally found the Goat Island Skiff. The motorbike is sold to make space in the garage and to provide the necessary funding. That was, by the way, also a good way to pitch the project at home, I said "I'm going to sell the motorbike and build a boat in the garage", she heard "I'm going to sell the bike, bla bla bla" and thought it a splendid idea. Plans, plywood (nice gaboon plywood for approximately €40 per sheet from Göteborgs Ädelträlager), and dyneema cord for the up haul and down haul (38m for €10 in a bargain box) is bought and I have arranged to buy Bjarne's (Maximuss) sail. I will go with NM epoxy, it's locally made and have a good reputation. If someone is from my part of the world and want to discuss suitable local species of wood and where to find it I'd appreciate it. I can get Western red cedar and stuff like that from the same place I bought the plywood, but I rather use Swedish spruce, oak, fir, etc...

    If you are interested in who I am, I'm 40 years old, living in Gothenburg with my wife and a five year old son which I hope will "help" me with the boat building. I have owned small wooden sailing boats for most of my life, but for the last few years I have made do with a rowing boat made from ABS. My goal is to have the Goat in water by summer 2013.

    Pontus

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Connecticut, USA
    Posts
    414

    Default

    Welcome! And congratulations -- you made the right choice on a boat to build. The GIS hits the perfect balance. Just easy enough to build that you will finish it but hard enough that you can take real pride in having done it. Plus, it looks great and it's fun to sail.

    Don't be surprised if your entire neighborhood gets involved. Mine did. They all wanted frequent updates on progress. Plan to work with your garage door open so everyone can see how it is going.

    For that matter, we'll want updates on progress as well. So post lots of pictures.

    Good luck!

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    "Old" Hampshire, UK
    Posts
    105

    Default

    Welcome Pontus and good luck with the build.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Portland, Oregon, USA
    Posts
    334

    Default

    Wilkommen Svenski boyka,

    Being an early builder of the GIS, and an approved builder of Mik's designs, I am naturally biased, but I do have to agree that you've made a good choice. I built Sisu with my two sons. At the time, they were 10 and 15. That was almost 8 years ago. It was an absolutely great family project, and continues to be a source of joy. My eldest is coming home from Japan for xmas and asked if he & I could take the boat out together. I love it!

    The reason we picked that design for our build was the prospect of ending up with a competent, versatile, boat with a minimum of investment and at a level of difficulty that made it possible for the boys to do a good bit of the work. It has exceeded our highest expectations.
    David G
    Harbor Woodworks
    http://www.harborwoodworking.com/

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    New Hampshire
    Posts
    960

    Default

    Take pictures! We all want pictures!

    Welcome and good luck!

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Gothenburg, Sweden
    Posts
    100

    Default

    Thanks for your warm welcome. So far my boat is kind of flat...

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    New Jersey, USA
    Posts
    767

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by scooterpontus View Post
    So far my boat is kind of flat...
    THAT's the spirit!

    Welcome to the forum; you'll fit in fine I see!
    Dave
    StorerBoat Builder, Sailor, Enthusiast
    Dave's GIS Chronicles | Dave's Lugs'l Chronicles | Dave's StorerBoat Forum Thread

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Connecticut, USA
    Posts
    414

    Default

    Mine looked like that for most of a year. I called it my "IKEA Boat" and hung a sign on it saying "Some assembly required" with a little allen wrench taped to it.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    New Hampshire
    Posts
    960

    Default

    OOOOOooooooohhh good looking boat. I can see it already!

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    "Old" Hampshire, UK
    Posts
    105

    Default

    Looks like a fast boat and I like the natural wood finish you are going for.

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Florida Panhandle
    Posts
    20

    Default Welcome

    Welcome aboard Pontus. The GIS will be a great project for you and your son. I've been real quiet over the past year but have enjoyed all the GIS build comments and sailing experiences provided by the folks on this forum. I know you will as well. About the loss of your motorbike, I can sympathize, I sold my old Harley to make room in the garage for the GIS build.
    Rod

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Uppsala Sweden
    Posts
    71

    Default

    Hej Pontus, Welcome to the world of small boat builders and sailers. I built and sail an Ap*le 16, because the GIS wasn't available when I started. I live just outside Uppsala, near Vik Slott. The boat has a balanced lug mainsail and I have learned a lot about it from the wise people here. I lurk on this site to learn from the experience of all the great people, some of whom I have met, including the great MIK himself, in France, paddling the Loire River. Good times. In fact the boat is the introduction to a pastime that opens the doors to meet a terrific community of people. Which is why I sail Raid Finland every year, go to the Small Craft festival in St Michaels Maryland USA when I can, fly to Poland each spring for a cruise there, and drive to France with a canoe I built on the top of the car. So please get the boat finished by next summer and join us in Raid Finland in the middle of July. If the boat is not ready, we might be able to find a place for you to crew. I use NM epoxy always after disasters with W*st: pumps burping wrong volumes of glue, mixed epoxy boiling in the container, lots of wasted glue. NM is just right, particularly with the accelerator when needed. I found it difficult to get light weight fibreglass cloth in Sweden, and bought that and hardware in the US on a visit. Becaue of the many rocks in Swedish waters that may not be seen and avoided I used 6 oz S-glass on the bottom and graphite with West thickening. Please let me know if you need any help with anything.

    Peter Lord

  14. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Gothenburg, Sweden
    Posts
    100

    Default

    Raid Finland sounds great, but if everything goes well we will have our second child in June, so that will have to wait...
    I'll try to avoid hitting rocks. My experience is that it's mostly the centreboard that hits the bottom anyway so I'll skip the fiberglass for now at least.

    Pontus

  15. #14
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Gothenburg, Sweden
    Posts
    100

    Default

    Started measuring and marking the plywood today together with my son. It was as fun as I had imagined. I got a bit worried though when I tried to put two sheet of ply on the floor.
    The boat will fit in the garage, but it won't be much space left. (Are you supposed to check things like that before you decide on building a boat in your garage?) It's about 15 cm to the garage door, and just outside the picture to the left is a workbench and some shelves. Might be better not buying that table saw and instead talk nicely to the people in the woodwork shop at the architecture department (I work at the technical university in town).

    Otherwise finding suitable wood have proved to be a bit more difficult than I had thought, but hunting wood is probably part of the fun of building your own boat? Reading forums like this you get the impression that there is loads of people building boats and consequently need straight, slow grown, dry timber in lengths of at least five meters but everyone seems to crave 3,6m lengths of curvy wet two by four... Got a tip about a wooden boat builder on the island of Orust that have closed down and is selling his stock of well seasoned wood, that might be something.

    Pontus

  16. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Connecticut, USA
    Posts
    414

    Default

    Yes, hunting for wood was part of the fun. It helped that I have a friend who is a carpenter and has a good relationship with an old lumberyard near by. They let us prowl around in the attic of one of the storage buildings among lumber so old they had forgotten what was up there. It took some time and sweat, but we found most of what I needed that way.

    The rest I ordered through a shop which sells high-end wood for cabinetry. That's how I got the fir for the mast and gunwales. Had to pay full price for that. Ouch. Luckily, I only needed to get a few pieces that way.

    Don't be afraid to scarf shorter pieces together when necessary. That can save you a lot of money.

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