Thread: Building Shesha, a Hunter Valley GIS, Australia

Originally Posted by woodeneye

Four days? I wish! Well, 9 weeks to be exact.

Probably more than 4 days you need... But it will be a great time

Realy good work and big progress! I like it!

Thanks Robert!

I'm wondering about the necessity for a block on the mid point of the yard. Given that the halyard, which is tied to the bottom of the yard, and passes through the block about half way up the yard will never "run" through the block as the distance is fixed, why put a block there? Would a loop be OK? or am I missing something?

Thanks Robert!

Robert's post on his thread today just reminded me about a question that I've been pondering, but haven't asked yet. I'm wondering about the necessity for a block on the mid point of the yard. Given that the halyard, which is tied to the bottom of the yard, and passes through the block about half way up the yard will never "run" through the block as the distance is fixed, why put a block there? Would a loop be OK? or am I missing something?

Bruce!
All info is there (I think):
Goat Island Skiff (GIS) - systems for lug sails and rigs - Michael Storer Wooden Boat Plans

Originally Posted by robhosailor

Bruce!
All info is there (I think):
Goat Island Skiff (GIS) - systems for lug sails and rigs - Michael Storer Wooden Boat Plans

Thanks Robert, I'm just asking about the block where the white arrow is pointing. Why is it there? Would a loop suffice?
Attachment 134802

Originally Posted by woodeneye

Thanks Robert, I'm just asking about the block where the white arrow is pointing. Why is it there? Would a loop suffice?

I think - it's for good balance of yard, sail etc.
You can put the block on other places and to try it for convince by yourself.

There are known other types of mounting of yard - traveling ring and simple system used by Jim Michalak etc. etc., but I think this one will be the best for GIS.

Originally Posted by woodeneye

Thanks Robert, I'm just asking about the block where the white arrow is pointing. Why is it there? Would a loop suffice?

Yes, it will do the job perfectly. Very quickly I replaced the block I had on my yard with a loop of dyneema rope as the block on the yard was "eating" the edges of my square mast.

Attached a picture (yes, I know it is rather big, but otherwise the loop on the yard is not really visible):



Best regards,

Joost

Thanks for confirming this Joost!

I see you have a block for the halyard, so no doubt that makes hoisting the sail somewhat easier.

With the block in top attached to a saddle (which is bolted to the mast) hoisting goes very smooth and easily.

No sign of any wear yet on the loop (6 mm dyneema).

Joost

I spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning sanding the cockpit. After that it was a two hour job to vacuum the debris and wipe it down with a microfibre cloth in readiness for epoxy coating. Sanding is my least favourite part of the build and it’s certainly not very healthy!

Now that the epoxy coating is on, it will get a light denibbing (sand) before commencing about 5 coats of marine varnish. Then it will be flipped over and the procedure repeated on the bottom.

For those interested, I used West System 105 epoxy with 207 hardener. The 207 is specially formulated for coating and has UV inhibitors added. It doesn't run as much as the others either.

I will use an Australian made marine varnish, ie. Norglass Weatherfast Marine Varnish.

Here are today’s pics…

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WOW!!! Bruce!!!
Beautiful work and really great photos!!!
Congrats!

How did you apply your coats of epoxy?

I used a squeegee with mixed results (some drips around the gunwale back into the boat).

I'm loathe to use a foam roller because of all the epoxy it sops up, I feel like it's a waste, but maybe a neater job?

Beautiful job, Bruce.

Yep beautiful work.

Looks like you don't need any varnish the finish is excellent. A bit of tutorial on epoxy application would be helpful to the rest of us. We all want to get that sort of result.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks guys!

I find the yellow West System rollers are very easy to work with, and use a cheap hogs bristle brush (60cents each from my epoxy supplier) to tip off. The West rollers are a thin 1/8" foam around a hard cardboard core, so don't "load up" like some of the others I've tried.
Also, the 207 hardener makes life a lot easier. It doesn't get hot like the 205 or 206, seems to flow on better and doesn't run easily. The 207 is mixed 3:1 whereas the the 205/206 is 5:1, so you can't use the pumps for measuring. I found that small batches of 120ml at a time worked out well for me as it was 3 pumps of the 105 and 30ml of 207.
Other features of the 207 hardener are that it has reduced blush and it also has UV inhibitors which is a good thing for boats!
While the finish isn't bad, it still has the epoxy tendency to "pinhole". This even while temperatures were dropping in the late afternoon. I don't think it's possible to use epoxy as finish coat and some sort of solvent based coating over the top will be required in order to produce a smooth finish. But yes, I'm pretty happy with the result and not much sanding will be required before the varnish coats can be applied.