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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
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    Santa Cruz La Laguna
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    134

    Default Goat Island Skiff (Guatemala)

    Hello from the Guatemalan Highlands. We currently live on a crater lake here in the highlands, Lake Atitlan, which is sadly devoid of sailing boats. With a lull in work (hopefully) coming up this seems the perfect opportunity to build a small sailing skiff (and to perhaps find out first hand why there is no one out there sailing on the lake). After looking at all the "Goat P0rn" on the internet the Goat Island Skiff quickly made it to the top of the list.

    The plywood and epoxy are currently on a container ship travelling down from the USA and I have been buying a few tools here while I look around locally to try and find the other timber that is needed. I have very little woodworking experience so I'm sure I'll have some questions for the forum shortly.

    It's been a long time since I have done any sailing (as a young boy sailing Manly Jrs on the Georges River in Sydney) and I'm really looking forward to both building the skiff and getting out on the lake and sailing it.

    Below are some pictures of the lake; the first taken from our dock and the second of the lake from space. It's a beautiful part of the world. The lake is about 20km end-to-end and you should be able to spot the volcanoes in the bottom left corner of the aerial photo. They are 1,500m to 2,000m above lake level.

    Cheers

    Matt






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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    'Delaide, Australia
    Age
    65
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    Default

    Hi Matt,

    I don't know how useful these previous threads are but they may have had some of the same problems with materials etc. I know the countries in South America are very different but they are more similar to Guatemala than Australia!!!

    https://www.woodworkforums.com/f169/g...ruguay-136483/

    https://www.woodworkforums.com/f169/c...ruguay-129286/

    https://www.woodworkforums.com/f169/g...uilding-87527/

    https://www.woodworkforums.com/f169/f...-chile-110926/

    https://www.woodworkforums.com/f169/g...n-chile-81242/

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Santa Cruz La Laguna
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    134

    Default

    Thanks the information Michael. I'll check out these links in the morning and post some information on the timber that I have found here (and have emailed you about) to see if anyone has any relevant experience using it.

    Cheers

    Matt

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Connecticut, USA
    Posts
    414

    Default

    Wow! The view from your dock is stunning! How did you end up there?

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Santa Cruz La Laguna
    Posts
    134

    Default Timber Selection

    Hi all,

    I'm looking around for the timbers I need to build the GIS and I have found a local timber yard here (owned by a German guy) that has some aged timber. There is nice timber available here but generally cheap pine (normally not dry) and "white or yellow" cypress is more common. If anyone has experience using the following timber (or suggestions of other species to look for) I would be interested to hear from you.

    Enterolobium cyclocarpum: locally called Conacaste but is apparently know by many names where it is grown from Southern Mexico to Northern Argentina (Elephant Ear Tree, Guanacaste etc) . The timber yard described it as a "a light, semi-hard wood with excellent waterproofing properties though toxic when worked". Internet research indicates that it has a density of 0.35 to 0.60 (22-37 lbs per cubic foot) and that it has an appearance similar to Black Walnut (Juglans). Noted for its use in boat building. (Info Source 1, Info Source 2)

    Red Cypress: I think this refers to the species Taxodium mucronatum also know as Montezuma Baldcypress. Native to southern Texas to Guatemala. Described as being "light semi-hardwood, better than the normal Cypress available here, more susceptible to rot in contact with water, available in longer lengths".

    Canoj: no information other than could be used as a posible substitute for the conacaste or red cypress.

    Stavilea: little information other then it stinks.

    I will visit the timber yard next week to look at some samples.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Santa Cruz La Laguna
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    134

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by paulie View Post
    Wow! The view from your dock is stunning! How did you end up there?
    By good luck rather than good planning! We were actually on a bicycle tour (started in Canada and heading south to South America) and had no knowledge of the lake before we arrived. This place is kind of "sticky" though and a lot of people who visit it end up staying. After 7 months on the bikes we decided to take a break here for a year and have now been here for nearly 2.5 years.

    I'm happy to report that the pictures do it justice! Here are a couple more, the last two are taken from our little casita...






  8. #7
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    Jul 2005
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    'Delaide, Australia
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  9. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    New Hampshire
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    960

    Default

    Goats eat volcanoes for breakfast.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Connecticut, USA
    Posts
    414

    Default

    I envy your good fortune!

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Santa Cruz La Laguna
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    134

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Boatmik View Post
    Nice place for a goat regatta ... hehe
    Brilliant idea, but I should probably find out why there are no sailing boats out there first!!!

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
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    Santa Cruz La Laguna
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by paulie View Post
    I envy your good fortune!
    We are indeed very lucky.

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Santa Cruz La Laguna
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    134

    Default Timber Selection

    Michael (or others),

    I am continuing to look for suitable local timber for my GIS - does the following ranking of properties sound about right (or make any sense)?

    WRC substitute (framing, spacers, chinelogs, staves):
    1. lightness 2. straight grain 3. strength/stiffness 4. hardness 5. water resistance

    Oregon D/Fir substitute (gunwales, inwales transom, partners, knees, spars):
    1. strength/stiffness 2. straight grain 3. lightness 4. hardness 5. water resistance

    Hardwood (skids, cappings, staves):
    1. hardness 2. strength/stiffness 3. straight grain 4. water resistance 5. lightness

    Apparently there is a local mahogany available here (Caoba density 0.55) which I think would look nice for the inwale spacers and gunwale capping. Does this sound sensible and/or could this timber also be used elsewhere?

    Cheers

    Matt

  14. #13
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    Jul 2005
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    'Delaide, Australia
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by surlyone View Post
    Michael (or others),

    I am continuing to look for suitable local timber for my GIS - does the following ranking of properties sound about right (or make any sense)?

    WRC substitute (framing, spacers, chinelogs, staves):
    1. lightness 2. straight grain 3. strength/stiffness 4. hardness 5. water resistance
    Water resistance is not important with any timbers coated with epoxy
    WRC is not hard - but all these pieces are well down inside the boat where they won't be damaged easily.
    Most important timber for lightness
    Foils

    Oregon D/Fir substitute (gunwales, inwales transom, partners, knees, spars):
    1. strength/stiffness 2. straight grain 3. lightness 4. hardness 5. water resistance
    Fir is medium hard. The thing to know is that similar density is more or less similar strength and stiffness.

    Hardwood (skids, cappings, staves):
    1. hardness 2. strength/stiffness 3. straight grain 4. water resistance 5. lightness
    Only the rear stave for the centreboard is recommended now. Over the last years there never seems to be damage to the leading edges of the foils or the trailing edge of the rudder.

    Apparently there is a local mahogany available here (Caoba density 0.55) which I think would look nice for the inwale spacers and gunwale capping. Does this sound sensible and/or could this timber also be used elsewhere?
    Michael

  15. #14
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    Jul 2012
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    Santa Cruz La Laguna
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    Default

    Thanks Michael.

    I'm not sure my timber selection post was very clear. I was trying to rank properties from (1.) most important to (5.) least important for each of the types of timber. i.e. for a WRC substitute it is important that it be light but hardness and water resistance is not important.

    This is for the purposes of discussing with locals here who have never heard of WRC or Douglas Fir and also do not have a good understanding of what a timbers density, MoE etc is. As soon as I mention I want timber for a boat they immediately start talking about water resistant timber.

    I don't see anything in your reply that contradicts my rankings of timber properties (if you do now, let me know). I should have included gluing ability and knots but this is a general requirement for all the timber from what I can see.

  16. #15
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    Jul 2005
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    'Delaide, Australia
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    65
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