Thread: GIS - She finallly hit the water!!! Netherlands

Hello Joost,

Just saw your launching thread.

Congratulations on the beautiful boat. I specially like the painting!

Hope you enjoy the sailing. Where is it you launched her?

See you soon!

SOLing

Thank you all for your very kind words.

MAM,

Just go for it when the winds are very light. I am certain it will go alright if you take some care.

Maximus,

I believe you can have the same looks on the inside (or for that matter, on the outside) of your GIS. The inside of mine is coated with 3 layers of epoxy and than varnished with 5 layers of Epifanes (both for the looks but especially to protect the epoxy from UV light).

If you are going to paint the inside of your boat without the epoxy coating, you should be able to do the job in clear varnish as well (all paints/varnishes serve the same purpose: to protect your boat!).

Although I do believe in the additional protection that epoxy provides, others advocate an approach that only uses epoxy as a glue to put the boat together, but not to coat the whole boat with it for protection (for example the well known designer Iain Oughtred). I personally believe it would be okay to go without the epoxy, as long as you give the boat lots of layers of paint or varnish (the epoxy should give a lot of abrasion resistance),

Soling,

Thank you for your compliments regarding the paint job. I went through hell and back (on the outside only, the varnish went okay), but I believe she has turned out alright after many, many sanding sessions!

The boat was launched in Bergen op Zoom on the Bergse Plaat. It is only a small stretch of water and very shallow as well (mostly only about a meter or so).

Joost,

Your GIS looks great! I can only hope that mine turns out nearly as well.

Cheers,
Jamie

Originally Posted by keyhavenpotter

Great job Joost, she looks terrific



Brian

I see you've already mastered MIK's preferred sailing posture--the Stand!

She's a beauty, Joost. I really like your choice of colors for the hull and interior.

I've been monitoring the wrong weather stat--water temp. I should be looking for light wind and water temp be d__ned!

With regards to "the Stand"; after having watched those video's of Michael over and over again, I feel that this is the only correct position to sail a GIS.

Thank you MAM. I really like your color scheme too!!!

Exactly!!!

Joost, I like the combination of woods you used in the gunwales and knees/breasthook...and the interior looks gorgeous. Please tell us about your choice of woods. For example, I also like that the frames and planking blend together...I assume it is Okoume ply and fir or cedar frames?

Cheers,
Clint

Hi Clint,

Okoume ply (6 mm marine quality with 15 years guarantee) was used throughout the hull for its lightness. The boat really weighs next to nothing and can quite easily be moved and turned by two men on land.

All internal framing and cleats and the gunwale spacer blocks are western red ceder.

Gunwales and inner part of the rubbing strake are made from oregon pine (just like the spars).

The outer part of the rubbing strake, knees and breast hook, top block in the mast and the mast step are mahogany.

I must say that the okoume and ceder work together very well in the interior, just like the oregon pine and the mahogany (the redness in the pine just blends very well with the red mahogany) in the top structure.

Dagger board and rudder are made from western red ceder and oak and consequently glassed and varnished. I felt compelled to do so because of the beautiful wood grain and colour scheme.

I also think that white is a very neutral “canvass” so to say for wood (it also reflects very nicely in the white paintjob), maybe more than other colours. But again, colour schemes and such are very personal. I liked Peter’s boat Gruff a lot and must say I copied quite a bit.

Everything was coated with 3 layers of epoxy. All bright woodwork is varnished with Epifanes, the white hull was painted with Sikkens Universal Primer (3 layers) and Super Gloss (high quality one pot yacht paint, I believe in the end 4 layers).

Hope this helps.

Regards, Joost

Originally Posted by Joost

The boat was launched in Bergen op Zoom on the Bergse Plaat. It is only a small stretch of water and very shallow as well (mostly only about a meter or so).

Joost, I'm not a boatbuilder, but I must say you did a wonderful job.
Recognized from the pictures ''de Bergse Plaat'',
Have a lot of fun with your boat.
Ad

Hi Ad,

Thanks for dropping by to make that nice comment!

One correction though .. before we build the first boat ... we are not boatbuilders either!!!

Best wishes
Michael

Joost, cool, thanks. I may have to copy you if you don't mind...I have to re order some lumber, but I like too much what you have there. This is my first varnished interior I've ever done, so it is great seeing some examples. I have a bunch of Cypress and have a feeling that species would blend in nicely like your WRC frames did...and the mahogany knees and b'hook...small pieces, not an appreciable weight gain, looks spectacular!

And, I'll tell you guys as a semi-pro builder looking to go pro eventually, we can do a nicer job than many pros b/c our time is worth much less. I see it time and time again. I'm enjoying that aspect right now...less pressure.

Awesome work, Joost. Would LOVE to see more pictures, especially close ups of interior.

Cheers,
Clint

Hello Clint,

Of course I don't mind, on the contrary, this is a big compliment!

I have uploaded some more photo's on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37084156@N07/

Next outing I will make sure to make some detailed shots of the interior and fittings. Friends and family have taken a lot of pictures though, that I have not received yet…





Regards, Joost

Originally Posted by Joost

I have uploaded some more photo's on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37084156@N07/

Great boat indeed and fine photos

This weekend we had planned our first proper sail after the launch party with our GIS. The weather however did not cooperate much: Saturday about 20 knots of wind and today 0 and rain!



I inserted this one - mik

We did however get some sailing in yesterday late afternoon and now know that some minor changes are required to get it all working properly:

1. We will probably move the traveler a bit back (one inwale spacer / appr. 15 cm back) as it gets tangled with our tiller extension and especially the bit of rope that connects it with the tiller. It would also make it easier for someone to sit on the edge of the rear deck when in rowing mode.

2. We had a very hard time getting the mast out of the boat: it really sticks to the sides on the bottom of the mast step, probably because of all that epoxy/varnish as we did not encounter this problem at all when trying the mast in the mast step unpainted.
We were only able to get it out after setting the boat on it's side on a patch of grass. I now intend to glue a 6mm piece of plywood in the mast step to raise the mast a bit to prevent it from getting wedged (I will first try it unglued). It would be great however to hear other possible solutions...




Later this week, if the weather gods will permit it, we are going to sail for 4 days in the north of the Netherlands (Friesland) to really get to know the boat. Friesland has a lot of lakes which are interconnected via an extensive canal and waterway system and should be very good testing ground for both the sailing and the rowing qualities of the GIS.

Attached pictures were taken this afternoon just before we loaded the boat back up her trailer again.

Some detailed pics (upon Clint's request). Will try to remember to make some more next weekend.

Hmm, inserting pictures remains a problem for me. Looking at the bottom of this reply page however, it seems that the HTML code is turned off.

Could this be the problem? And if so, how to switch this function on?