Thread: Texas GIS

Originally Posted by BobWes

Stephan -

That's not a bad idea.

Anyone else notice the number of "experienced" folks drawn to the Goat Island Skiff? Seems there are more over-50 builders than under-50 - but that is strictly an impression. No numbers to back it up. Interesting that a performance boat like the Goat would attract an older following. I'm looking forward to sailing - and racing - mine!

Hi, Bob
I think what attracted me was the building challenge and that the resulting boat is easily manhandled on land, versatile (sail, oar, outboard) and can be 'detuned' easily when sailing by adding ballast, putting in a reef or adding in a younger crew member to pull the captain out of the drink( for the less fit or competent ) while leaving plenty in reserve for the performance sailor. I have a couple of pretty fit nephews dying to try it out. The other factor is affordability - a performance rig without lots of expensive tackle.

Best

Steve

I will be 51 in July 2010, so fit the over 50 group. So why the GIS? Simple design, light weight, good looks and quick build time. I have raced multihulls all my life and enjoy fast boats. Building a small multihull would just be too expensive and time consuming. Hard to store too.

I do want to go sailing with my other 2 children before they go off to college. Oldest son heads back to college today.

Another reason is it gives me a chance to decompress from work. When I am "in the groove", working on the boat, I forget about work and all my other professional obligations.

Now it is time to go glue my foil staves together. I need to relax before a big meeting tomorrow.

Biting Midge (Peter Hyndman) who bought the first set of Goat plans and was one of the first to get a boat to the water is also a multi sailor. Mostly offshore.

Best wishes
Michael

Originally Posted by StephenR

This is probably heresy, but if you, like me, are concerned about having too much water sloshing around after a capsize and getting rid of it ( I will be pushing 60 by the time my GIS hits the water) then what about killing two birds with one stone and craftily putting a small 12v bilge pump on one side of the centrecase and a sealed, small, 12 v battery on the other, with a discrete hose over the side.

Looked for your idea on the net and found the following:

EasyBailer - automatic small boat bailer

This looks about what you describe.

Originally Posted by john goodman

Looked for your idea on the net and found the following:

EasyBailer - automatic small boat bailer

This looks about what you describe.

Aha! Will look further into this - many thanks. If you are in the middle of doing the foils, but the way, bear in mind that the top bit of each foil does not need to have the absolutely perfect foil shape as it will never go into the water. You will be wanting to make them look foil-shaped throughout, but dont need that millimetric precision in the bits that will stay in the centreboard case and rudder cheeks. Or so I hope!

Steve

Cut the curve of the back edge before you shape with the template though.

MIK

Originally Posted by john goodman

Looked for your idea on the net and found the following:

EasyBailer - automatic small boat bailer

This looks about what you describe.

A lot of these "bailers" and bilge pumps are not designed to cope quickly with "cataclysmic" amounts of water that result from a capsize. Despite what they might say in the blurbs or its given capacity rating , most will really only cope with amounts that either leak or splash into the boat. The bigger ones will work but you'll need a heavy duty battery, which is a significant amount of ballast to carry, and you'll have to work out where and how to fix the thing.

A bucket will get rid of the water far quicker than a bilge pump!

Last night while planing some spruce for the tiller, the planer blades found a hidden nail in the board. Both blades were damaged. The other edges, blades are double sided, were very dull and roughed up the board too much to continue. Our local woodworking shop cannot fix the blades, because they are considered "disposable". I did get a 2nd opinion and they said the same thing. Ordered the blades and nearly choked on the price. The replacement blades cost about half of the original purchase price of the planer. It will take 3 to 14 days for them to get them in. WHAT?

So if you are going to buy a planer make sure the blades are thick enough to sharpen. Apparently if the blades are not thick enough, have enough mass, the magnets that hold them in the sharpening machine will let them move around some and you cannot get a straight edge. Ok, how much of this is true? I don't know because this is the first time I have ever used a planer. (13" Sears Craftsman borrowed from a co-worker)

I will continue with the rudder glue up and shaping the oars.

John - Planers are designed with either/or. Some come with disposable blades. Some come with sharpenable blades. Most of the new, benchtop, 12 - 13 inch planers (DeWalt, Porter-Cable, Rigid, Bosch, etc.) have the disposable blades. The nice thing about them - particularly for the occasional user) is that they are indexed. No fussing to get them set right. But one does pay for that convenience.

As a professional, I have Old Arn. A vintage Rockwell that's heavier than heck, and comes with sharpenable blades. They never knew anything different back when this was built. The nice thing is, I can lightly touch them up right in the machine.Even better, if the blades are newly sharpened, or even still decent - and I hit something (nail, rock, knot, etc.) - all I have to do is loosen one blade (of the three), slide it over a skosh, and it's all good. No ridge from the chipped blades.

Originally Posted by john goodman

13" Sears Craftsman borrowed from a co-worker

I feel for you - there's not much worse than borrowing a tool and having something go wrong with it which you can't fix immediately.

When I first saw the GIS rudder housing, it reminded me of the Rob Givens, designed 14ft Paper Tiger my brothers and I built in 1977 under a tarp in the backyard. The concept is very simple and we never had any problems with it. You guys down-under are very clever.

The tiller attachment at the rear of the housing calls for some thru bolts that connect the tiller to the plywood housing. What I am seeing in some of the pictures of other GIS is that bolts are either not installed or cleverly hidden. In a few pictures[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/THE313%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG], Joost's, GISwerk for one, the thru bolts are not there. So, are the bolts hidden or is the tiller bonded to the plywood so well it is never coming apart no matter what the rudder loads are? Or maybe the rudder housing was not finished when the picture was taken?

Any thought?

Howdy - the paper tiger is exactly where I stole it from! I saw it the first time in 73 or 74.

The bolts are essential. The plans say this several times but some leave them off. The rudderbox will self destruct if they are left off.

Michael

I put the through-bolts in at the front of the rudder box but omitted the short ones aft. I'm thinking stress on the assembly aft put the joint in compression so mechanical fasteners seemed unnecessary to me.

Originally Posted by MiddleAgesMan

I put the through-bolts in at the front of the rudder box but omitted the short ones aft. I'm thinking stress on the assembly aft put the joint in compression so mechanical fasteners seemed unnecessary to me.

MiddleAgesMan,

Do you recall the manufacturer and model numbers of the pindle and gudgeon you used?