Goat Island Skiff (Guatemala)

[Boatmik]

Good epoxy work and a good cover will keep the maintenance right down.

MIK

[MiddleAgesMan]

Card reader is fixed and back from vacation. Here's a photo for any road cycling fans.



And here are some photos of the holes for the oarlock mounts.

Attachment 329112Attachment 329113

I'm still cleaning up the inside of the hull, filling small gaps with epoxy and sanding.

Those oarlock sockets will be much more secure in the long term if you chisel a recess that hugs the base. Just draw a fine pencil line around the base, get out your trusty chisel and let those babies down into the gunwale. You don't have to make them flush, just close. That way the wood surrounding the base will take the strains of rowing instead of the screws.

[phoran]

I just took a couple minutes to "digitally" explore your neighborhood! that is really something! the local resorts look so beautiful, especially looking out my window at 38 degrees and rain! is it hard to get to? I even looked at roos on trip advisor!

[surlyone]

Back again.

I've been working on the boat for the last month or so, but it has been the case of two steps forward one back.

We were coating the outside of the hull with three coats of epoxy, wet on wet, when a flash storm arrived just prior to coat number three. Having to sand the outside of the hull before the third coat could go on has resulted in a lot of extra work. Partly due to the weather and partly due to the need to fill the fiberglass tape along the chines with epoxy, we ended up with lots of drips on the sides of the hull. These required a lot of effort to remove with out stripping the hull entirely back to the timber in these areas.

I am now pretty sick of epoxy and sanding.

This first photo is after the storm hit, with two coats on along with lots of rain drops. One edge of the tape has a bead (or similar) along one edge. This was a real pain to remove.



This is after I have sanded back the second coat. It was very difficult to plane of the edge of the tape, especially on the bottom, without damaging the hull.



Finally the third coat is on and ready to be sanded. Hopefully the last coat for the outside of the hull.

[BrianMCarney]

Do you want to know what I did? I decided that the bottom was good enough, FG tape seams and all. Let the fish complain.
Yours looks great by comparison.

[surlyone]

Do you want to know what I did? I decided that the bottom was good enough, FG tape seams and all. Let the fish complain.
Yours looks great by comparison.

Some timely information - I decided not to spend to much time on the bottom. We put some primer on the outside of the hull today.

[surlyone]

Some photos with primer on the outside of the hull. Three coats of System Three Yacht Primer. It went on pretty well after we worked out during the first coat that we weren't putting it on thick enough. Even with the thicker coats I think we ended up using less then recommended. Mostly, expect in a few small areas that we screwed up, it went on very flat and it was easy put on and clean up.

As usual all the original photos are stored here: https://picasaweb.google.com/1153149...oatIslandSkiff

[Poit]

I'm in go-slow mode at the moment because I'm trying to figure out what lengths to go to to fair the boat. And how to fair the boat. Yours looks nice and fair, surlyone - I'd be quite happy with that.

[surlyone]

I'm in go-slow mode at the moment because I'm trying to figure out what lengths to go to to fair the boat. And how to fair the boat. Yours looks nice and fair, surlyone - I'd be quite happy with that.

I think the boat looks pretty good right now, but the photos don't show some of the imperfections. I was expecting that the primer would highlight even the smallest of problems but it seems to have done the opposite. Some things seem to have disappeared.

It felt like I was trapped in an endless cycle of over sanding and applying additional coats of epoxy. There are some imperfections, some which aren't fixable with filler and others like the bottom tape lines that probably are. If you look closely you can see a tape line in the first photo above.

In the end I filled in the worse of the scratches and a few depressions from the temporary screws and then decided I needed to move forward. I'm sure the HIGH gloss paint will show all the problems. I think part of my problem was that I have never faired or painted anything before, now that there is some paint on the boat hopefully this will spur me onwards.

I almost wish that I didn't already have the paint - at least one other Goat builder (Simon I think) left his with just System Three primer and after 24hrs of curing I can understand why.

[surlyone]

Here is another photo from yesterday with the boat right way up. As the primer has cured it has formed a very nice film.

Anyway next steps are to fill some dings on the rails, which happened when we moved the boat, and epoxy coat the rails. Most of the interior has been coated and sanded but there are a few areas that need touch ups.

[scooterpontus]

Looks good!


Goatislandskiffingothenburg.blogspot.com

[paulie]

Here's the terrible truth: Once the boat is in real use, it will get scratched, dinged, maybe even cracked. There is no way to prevent it. That's just what happens to any boat which is not in a museum. If that isn't happening, it means the boat is not doing the one thing you built it for, giving people joy as it moves them about on the water. A boat without scratches is one that has been entombed on land, under cover. That is a terrible thing to do to a boat.

I predict that you will give it its first substantial scratch the very first time you get it wet. I did.

Your boat is beautiful right now. Of course it isn't perfect. None are. It will still turn heads. You'll get endless compliments on it just the way it is.

So move on. Put on some paint. Ignore the fact that high-gloss paint shows every drip. Get it in the water and go sailing. And then ignore the new scratches that join the drips and other imperfections.

It will be easy to do, because you'll be having fun on the water.

[whitewood]

Paulie
Your advice and comments are spot on. You build a boat to use it not to create a piece of art. If you manage both it is a bonus.

Whitewood

[surlyone]

Thanks for the comments Paulie. I'm full speed ahead at the moment and decided to ignore all the small dings to the rails that occured when we we moved the boat recently. I still have some of the interior to epoxy and sand. In my case I think there will be a few dings/scratches getting it to the water.

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are made for." - John Augustus Shedd

[surlyone]

Progress update and some photos.

I've finally got around to painting the outside of the hull (except the transom). There were a few problems, but generally the LPU paint went on well. I had some problems removing the painters tape, it took off some of the paint with it, but it patched up well. I'm reasonably happy with the paint but if I was to do it again I'm not sure I would bother with the black paint.

The rails + interior + transom are next, they will get the traditional clear coating.

As usual larger versions of each photo can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/1153149...oatIslandSkiff