Thread: New Goat Island Skiff in Brooklyn, NY

Hi MIK,
I did soak the leather and it tightened up nicely, I guess I should put some wax, or Sno-seal or something like that on it now, to help it shed the salt water. I've been putting in the interior epoxy fillets, and figuring out the rigging today. I have The sail on the mast loose footed just to see it all together, but I think i'll try to put the remaining grommets in the foot of the sail this weekend.

I got my Dacron (5.5 oz.) from a guy on E-bay. He'r out of south carolina and is the only one who sells the stuff by the yard. If you search "Dacron sail cloth" he has white for $5 a yard (66"wide) including shipping and it seems like good tough stuff. I highly recommend him for this, and he also has Sunbrella and 1000 denier Cordura.

I am debating whether on not to throw it in the water this weekend for a "soft launch" even though the interior is not properly finished. Guessing I might as long as this hurricane blows by.
I'll post more pic soon!
-Al

Any general leather conditioner or oil will be fine.

I wouldn't go too far until you work out if the leather is in the right place though. You might end up soaking and moving it along a bit.

Great that you are getting so close. I thought
HHHHurricanes HHHardly ever HHHappen in your neck of the woods.

That lead for sailcloth is great ... what was the overall cost?

MIK

Regarding leathering: some leathers are pretreated and soaking in water doesn't do much. Raw leather can be soaked. On pretreated leather like I get I use the time honored technique of putting dabs of contact cement under the leather as I stitch them up. You want to be confident about the location though!

Once you have your leathers you need to use a Tallow not a wax to maintain them. You can learn about the tallow I use at my site.

I just got a quote for my sail with the loft I've been using for a few years now and was very happy with the number. I am debating between 4oz and maybe 4.3 or 4.5oz.

--Clint

if the sailmaker normally does a wide range of racing and cruising and+large+and small stuff i let them make the decision about cloth weight.

My buddy Jon and I took the boat out today for a little while. It was really windy, so we went out with a little handkerchief for a sail. It was really windy out today and we had a blast.

So is this the official splash?

Looking great! Congratulations! How do you fee!?

Here is another pic of us getting the hang of things. She is really fast, but I really need to learn more about sail trim and rigging. Mostly I just need to learn more about how to sail by sailing more.

Hi Callsign,
I wouldn't call it the official launch, but it does prove it floats! It felt great, but was quite humbling too. It was all we could do to keep it from capsizing. I have a lot to learn about sailing. She has some pinhole leaks, I think around the center-case trunk, which I have not finished all the fillets on. I'll track them down eventually though. My sail works pretty well too, but I think there is a little too much material in the last 4 or 6 inches of the leach because it tends to flap there no matter how the rest of the sail is working. Then again I was heavily reefed the whole time, so I'll get back to you after a sail in lighter air.

Come sailing with me!!!

I'll show you how to bail it out, and give you some sailing tips too.

I hope you guyses had a bucket lashed in the boat.

This picture is a little better, it looks like the end of the boom is up a little more. With this "handkerchief reef" it's important to make sure that the halyard attachment point stays close to the mast, so the scope of the halyard doesn't let the end of the boom droop. This is something that takes a little bit of manhandling when raising the sail and setting the downhaul. A good tug on the halyard, a hand to keep the yard in, and then a good tug on the downhaul to keep the whole system tight will do it. Did you sew in reef points/tiedowns along the reef in the sail? That might help keep the pregnant foot out of the wind. The clew and tack in the reef get secured tight, but three or so tie-downs in the sail loosely tied around the un-used portion will help keep that pregnant foot from getting away from you.

Here is a choice parting shot.
I need to get back to sanding, but I think I'll be properly done pretty soon.
See you on the water!

Congratulations again Al, she's beautiful.

I think those reefing nettles will help a lot because the pregnant foot was a bit silly. We did have a big bucket and also a smaller gallon jug with the bottom cut off to get the last bit out.

At one point, when running downwind with shortened sail we had an accidental gybe/death roll because the downhaul was not set to vang the boom properly. All a question of experience I would imagine.

Also I would love to come sailing with you! I have been following your trips with great excitement and jealousy. I want to be having half as much fun as you have been having on the water. It's going to be getting cold soon, but maybe there is some time left for me to get up there before the snow. . .

Thanks man!
It feels great to have made it myself. I knew it would feel good, I make things for a living after all, but this feels really, really, good. I look at and sort of cant believe it was a pile of plywood last year.

Everyone who has seen it really admires the design too. She is so simple, and light and well thought out. It's like when an athlete makes something hard look really easy, the same is true of good design. When you look at her you say to yourself, "man there really is nothing to that is there?" but that's the point, it all works together seamlessly and balances out structurally, functionally and aesthetically.

Truth be told, I have more chunks of bronze and a few more pieces of hardwood in her than proper specifications dictate, but she still comes in at under 150lbs of sweet ride! Oh yeah, I put on a bow skid too, good call.

See you on the water,
-Al

She looks GREAT, Al! Congratulations.

I hope to meet up with you East Coast guys next spring/summer during my retirement roamings. It'll be great to get together.

Again, very, VERY nice job with your GIS!