Thread: Start Building Another Dutch GIS

Originally Posted by Watermaat

But poetry does not finish my GIS.....

The boat sanding fairies do that. I hope yours are more efficient than mine, I having to do most of the work myself

Richard

Hi Richard,

Why would I be more efficient ? Do you think I had somebody sanding for me?

Ralph

Originally Posted by Watermaat

Hi Richard,

Why would I be more efficient ? Do you think I had somebody sanding for me?

Ralph

Sorry mate, I mucked up my original post - I mean to refer to the boat sanding fairies (now fixed)

Richard

got it now

Another update on progress building my GIS

There is not much to show ( except lots of dust in my barn ).
I am preparing many parts now for their first layers of epoxy...............so it's planing and sanding,sanding and sanding now .
Frames, mast and yard have had their first coat of epoxy. Just today I have made the centerboard foil ready for it's first coat. I still need to plane and sand the rudderfoil, ruddercase, centerboardcase and oars to be ready for their first coat.

I want to finish spars, foils, rudder and oars so I can store them "ready to use" before I start building GIS hull. In my experience it's a pain to finish those extra parts after finishing the hull. That hull takes a lot of space and you are in a rush to get it ready to launch..........when my hull is finished I will be able to sail next day .........at least if there is no ice early next year.

When parts get ready I will post some "glossy" pictures of these parts in epoxy.
Till then it will be sanding, sanding and sanding.....................

I'd like to hear about the oars. Did you make them from Michael's plan? How did you find the process of doing th plywood blades. I am teaching a course on oar making next summer at Wooden Boat and will be collecting some info from other builders...what was easy, what was hard that sort of thing. That may help me plan the course better.

Clint

Hi Clint

Last year I have build a Welsford Seagull rowing design and started making 8ft oars combining Welsford's counter-balance design ( normally with wooden straight blades) and MIK's curved laminated ply blades. Halfway I decided that finishing them was a lot of work and they became pretty heavy. So I made a pair of very simpel and quick oars with flat ply blades. I used a 6mm ply blade, sandwiched between two tapered 18x45 mm planks ( left over ply strips as spacer between oar handles. These are easy to make, are very light and row pretty well and effective.

For GIS I made a similar design 9ft long with 9 mm ply blades ( 6 mm blades appeared to be very thin if they hit any ground or rock )
I have attached pictures with last years Seagull oars and new GIS oars.

I never used them but I did make curved blades too, from 2 layers 6mm ply ( a bit heavy, but I did not have any thinner waterproof ply available ) . That's a fairly simpel job, if you have strong clamps. I made them on a flat table with two blocks of wood on both ends. Put both layers of ply and glue with their ends on these blocks and push them down towards the table with clamps. This way you can even decide where you want the curve; if you push in the middle between the blocks you will get an even curve, if you push a bit towards one end you will get a more assymetric curve.
I have attached a picture of these blades too.

I hope this helps

regards Ralph

Howdy, the plans do talk about laminating the shafts and the two pieces of ply for the blades together at the same time. But In the classes a couple of builders have made a simple jig for laminating the blades only to the right curve so there is less chance of some springback when they get laminated to the shaft later.

MIK

Hello,

I have tried the oars shortly on the stretch of water in front of Ralph's house and I can confirm that Ralph's design works.

One can of course build (or buy) nicer looking oars, but the ones made for the Seagull are very effective and easy to make at a bargain price.

Perhaps we can convince Ralph to publish a drawing of his oar design?

Kind regards,

Joost

Looks good as far as process. I am curious what elements of making oars are most tricky or difficult to do or understand for folks. That is what I was looking for in way of starting to think about how to teach the subject to people new to the work of making oars.

I'll be bringing students through the process and we'll make carbon vacuum bagged blades, light plywood blades with skins of carbon, and solid spruce blades. People will all choose the blade they want and make the looms to suit.

Clint

From Clint:

I am curious what elements of making oars are most tricky or difficult to do or understand for folks. That is what I was looking for in way of starting to think about how to teach the subject to people new to the work of making oars.

Keep in mind that I haven't built any oars yet... One thing I'm pondering is the shaping of the handle - on a couple of levels. Barrel shaped or straight? Does it matter? When is one shape preferred over the other? How do you shape them, particularly barrel handles?

Maybe the answers come naturally when making oars, but as an uninitiated "rookie" that's what I am curious about.

Thanks.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobWes

From Clint:

Keep in mind that I haven't built any oars yet... One thing I'm pondering is the shaping of the handle - on a couple of levels. Barrel shaped or straight? Does it matter? When is one shape preferred over the other? How do you shape them, particularly barrel handles?

Maybe the answers come naturally when making oars, but as an uninitiated "rookie" that's what I am curious about.

Thanks.

Bob

Barrell shaped is easier on the hands. A straight cylinder just feels odd with the tapered ones not far behind. I use a rasp and leave them rough, don't seal them, just raw timber and let your hands add the oil. Works for me anyway.

Richard

I do remember bolger or culler or some other authority pointing out that parallel and plain wood is better, but can't remember clearly enough to be definitive.

MIK

Originally Posted by Joost

Hello,

I have tried the oars shortly on the stretch of water in front of Ralph's house and I can confirm that Ralph's design works.

One can of course build (or buy) nicer looking oars, but the ones made for the Seagull are very effective and easy to make at a bargain price.

Perhaps we can convince Ralph to publish a drawing of his oar design?

Kind regards,

Joost

Okay.....here about my oars.

Blades are 6 mm ply, Now I would recommend 8 or 9 mm to have them a bit stronger when hitting ground or rocks.

Handles are made out of two pairs of 18x45 mm fir planks ( 4 pieces of any light straight grain wood without bigger knots and similar size could do the job ) .
First make two pairs of these planks with temporary fasteners and start tapering in the middle towards one end in one direction. Taper from 45 mm towards 25 mm. Undo fasteners, but keep pairs together.

Make two 700 x 150 mm ply blades and shape them temporary clamped together to get similar shape. I have made a simpel drawing attached. ( You could adapt the shape a little to be able to make them from 600x150 mm ply, so you could use smaller 2x4 foot pieces of ply if available in your market )

Make sufficient 45 mm wide ply strips ( from leftover material ) to fill the space between both planks that will make handles.

Take one plank and glue ply blade and ply strips on one side. You could use small copper nails as fasteners. Take the other plank of this pair to glue onto the other side of the ply. Epoxy is great,I have used white woodglue and lots of clamps to get pressure.
If the glue has cured you can taper the handle in the other direction, round corners and make "barrel" shape ends on them.

I finally put a few coats of epoxy and an extra layer of glas around the area of the oar-locks to protect the handles. I also put a piece of rope around them to prevent them slipping overboard.

Attached a few pictures and a simpel drawing. Exact shape is depending on what looks nice. Overall length can be anything from 7-9 foot. If you are a very strong rower and need long oars, you could put a bit more glas around the area of the oar-locks.

These 8ft oars work very nice on a Seagull, but that's a very easy driven hull. I am making 9ft oars for GIS in a similar way.

I hope this makes things clear

Ralph