Thread: Building a GIS in Brazil

Well done Steve,

I´ve just finished my GIS in Chile and I´m waiting for the sail to be released from customs. Hopefully no white powder on it! - I think Chileans are more taugh on this kind of issues.

I agree completely with you about the holes for the chine logs in the bulkheads, In fact I cut them without bevel and was a hughe mistake, I have to put a lot of epoxy and I fill the spaces with small pieces of wood, at the end it worked well as the largest defect was in BH1 which is kind of covered with BH2.

Regardin the wood damaged with the sun exposure, I think you can safely use stain to return colour you want, sometimes you need more than one layer, and be carefully because the epoxy changes the final colour of the wood too.

Best luck.

JC.

Originally Posted by StephenR

If purgatory awaits me, I am pretty sure that epoxy resin will figure prominently somewhere amongst the punishments!

Me and you both, brother. Me and you both.

And the rain goes on - and I think it is mucking up my epoxying of the bulkheads. I look at all those lovely pics everyone posts and then I see this:


(the problem is the bulkhead, not my feet, by the way!)

Before I sand it right back and start again (or give up and paint the interior) any tips on what is going wrong. I think it is probably the humidity or the epoxy I am using - or both. Anything I can do? Suggestions welcome. (I already know one of them: "dont give up the day job")

On the other hand, the freijo wood for the hollow mast has arrived. Lovely long, knot-free, straight and light sticks so lets see if I can make a good job of it. Cost me about $150 dollars so I had better do a good job.


"keep plodding on" has become my motto.

Best

Steve

Howdy,

It sometimes happens like that when the weather gets really wet. Also differs between epoxy brands.

A dryer or less humid part of the same day might have quite a different result.

Michael

Thanks, Mik I did some experimenting and have found a work-round. A very thin layer of wood filler applied with a wet cloth so it is not even visible seems to seal the pores enough to stop the epoxy doing this. Or the weather is less humid. Whatever the case, lots of sanding to do to remove the bad epoxy and reapply. Goody - just what I love!

Spent Carnival doing the mast, in between sneaking peaks at the scantily clad ladies parading on the telly. Managed to transform this:



Into this:



Note the bench I constructed to hold everything. For once, I did some foreward planning and thought "grovelling round on the car porch floor with my creaky joints - not for me" and ran up this temporary bench in a couple of hours (for once, not worrying about those 10ths of a millimetre Mik puts in his plans). The best decision I have taken. Put those long floppy bits of wood at a convenient height and made planing and gluing pleasure. I made it according to the book, only adding a couple of hardwood (Ipe) blocks top and bottom to cover the end grain and take the knocks (and they look cool!):




If the bathroom scales are to be believed, the whole thing (epoxied and fibreglassed top and bottom) seems to weigh in at 8kg - which seems well in line with what others are achieving.

Now I have to save up for a month or so to purchase the wood for the hull panels. Brazil cleverly plans for every tax bill conceivable to become due just when no-one has any money left after Christmas and the hols. In the meantime I´m going to see if I can get myself a 'business trip' to Chile to go and see JC´s great-looking GIS, which should inspire me to finish the job this century.

Steve

That's great about the business trip!

The rack along the wall is great for the mast building. The great American yacht designer Francis Herreshoff used to recommend the same method - I had forgotten about it.

Good thinking!

Michael.

Originally Posted by Boatmik

That's great about the business trip!

The rack along the wall is great for the mast building. The great American yacht designer Francis Herreshoff used to recommend the same method - I had forgotten about it.

Good thinking!

Michael.

I reinvented something HERRESHOFFrecommended?! That makes my day! Once I have used the rack to do the varnishing, I thought I could saw it into sections, screw on some stabilising triangular feet and, voilá, two or three stands to set the hull up on. Bet you FH didn´t think of that!

S

Speaking of Herreshoff, by one of those coincidences that happen I have just been reading a local sailing mag and found out the identity of the large schooner which I see in the waters where I sail (Sao Sebastiao/Ilha Bela) and have been curious about for a while. It is the 1928 Herreshoff Wildefire, which came to Brazil in 1946 and now sails under the name Atrevida. With so much glass sailing round those waters, it is good to see someone (wealthy) looking after a classic down here - nothing like as common as the US and Europe. I must try and get a bit closer to take some photos.

S

Would be nice to see some pics.

I received an email yesterday from two locals and a French person wanting to build a Goat in Brazil. That is pretty cool!

MIK