Thread: Goat Island Skiff building in Denmark :-) Sejl-jolle bygges i Danmark

Hi Bjarne,

it is possible to capsize in any wind speed.

However there are lots of ways to help prevent it.

One is to have some people in the boat!
One is to build your sailing skills - practice and go sailing with other people on their boats, pay for some lessons from a local sailing club. Everything helps!
One is to put some extra weight in the boat ... DavidG started off sailing with two 30kg bags full of sand under the centre seat. This will make a BIG difference
One is to reef the boat - because the boat moves so easily you don't need a lot of sail to sail well.

BTW ... Now David G has been sailing for a year or two he never puts the sandbags inside the boat now.

Michael

Hi Mik

I have also considered the sand-bags option, atleast in the beginning, my father have so many sandbags that i can sink the boat if i want
And reefing the sail sounds like a very good idea - in the beginning is speed not that important, i prefer not to capize

Bjarne

I wouldn't want to capsize at 56deg North either.
Cold enough for me at 35deg South.
Too cold actually.
Sandbags & reefed sail. All good.

Leaving on the trailer would be even drier.

Yup, that's true. One of the reason why its so important to do what i can to prevent capsize. Our water is very cold for app. 3/4 of the year. The sailing season is only 3-4 month each year.

Bjarne

Main thing is that the boat will perform quite well even with the reefed sail.

Michael

And the boat performs well with the two 70# sandbags. I view them as my "training wheels". They could also come into play if I wanted to sail solo in a hard blow.


"In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists" -- Eric Hoffer

Hey again

I have been talking with some family today and we did, ofc', talk about my boat-project (he is a active sailor) and we were talking about the use of the boat where im gonna sail with it. One thing we were talking a lot about is that the bottom of the sea is very rough, there can be some rather big stones scattered around the bay and the deep of the water can vary pretty much. Actually so much one place i can a lot of water below the boat and 20m away i can the bottom. Sometimes it would be a rocky bottom with stone a the a very vary size.
I think that the biggest problem would be the spear/keel can hit the bottom if im unlucky and perhaps also the rudder (not sure its the right word, but the piece you turn the boat with)
So here i have been wondering if there is something i can do to prevent damage to the boat ?

Another thing is that no matter where i decide to go to land will there be stones, properly not big stones, the biggest is normally on size of a egg. So i have really considered laying some glasfibre on the bottom to prevent damage. I have been looking at something with 300g and i cant get a 5m2 sheet and polyester for a fair prize, so there will be enough for 2 or 3 layer on the bottom.
Is that a solution that have any kind of impact on the sailing of the boat ?
I know it will get app. 10kg heavier, but i can live with that more easy than i can with the boat being wrecked everytime i hit the beach!

Bjarne

There prices are ok, shipping I don't know.

http://www.fiberglasssite.com/servlet/StoreFront

Coogs

Hi Bjarne,

As you get used to sailing the boat you will become quite good at knowing where rocks in the water are. But you will hit them sometimes ... we all do.

The rudder is the perfect system .. it is very difficult to damage because the blade moves out of the way if it hits anything.

The centreboard is unlikely to get much damage ... if you are really unlucky you will damage it. But usually you can hit lots of things without doing much damage. It is almost impossible to damage the hull and with BETH or peter's GIS I have had to do two repairs when the damage has been too much. And the water is shallow in both places.

I have hit things really hard with the GIS, BETH and the PDRs. The damage to the GIS and the PDRs would not have been noticed by most people, but I fixed it by sanding and a couple of coats of epoxy to make sure it was OK.

I have never used one on my boats, but some racing boats make a shock absorber by getting a length of garden hose (plastic hose for putting water on the garden) and put a length inside the centrecase down the back. Hold it to the case with two small screws with washers under the heads. The bottom end of the hose should be about 12mm shorter than the lenght of the case.

If there are only a few egg sized stones on the shore I probably would not worry too much, but if it is very common and very hard to avoid then some fibreglass will work well. Use a very light glass and only a single layer. A typical weight that will work well is 75gsm or 2oz.

Bigger boats find that this weight of glass works well over plywood.

Glass adds more weight than almost everyone expects ... so I don't like to use it too much. Do the glassing before the long pieces of timber go on the bottom of the boat.

If the glass goes around the corners onto the side panel you DON'T need to use the 50mm glass tape in the plans.

If using glass you can cover the bottom and go 25mm around the corner of the bottom onto the sides of the boat.

Best wishes
Michael

Hey Mik

Its ont only a few stones, they are everywhere - it would almost impossible to avoid them if im gonna sail ashore anywhere there will be stones

The lightest glassfibre i can find here is 300g / 1m2 - i have trouble comparing it with the measurements that you use 'down there'
If you say that one layer of glassfibre is enough, ill stick to that.

Sound good that the rudder and the centreboard can take some damage too without breaking.

Thank you

Bjarne

Hi Bjarne,

Keep an eye out for lighter cloth.

That one is really heavy! But if there is no choice you will have to use it.

The normal heavy cloth for boats of this size is around 200gsm. And if you can find lighter then that is even better.

http://www.defender.com/category.jsp?path=-1|10918|16458&id=311437&start=21&results=6&sort=products

These guys are pretty international....this link should bring you to the 2 oz. cloth section.

Here is a link to get some Kevlar...it is very hard to wet out I have heard but it would sure sheath the hull.
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...ne=1&page=GRID

The thing about f'glass is that it is not very abrasion resistant. If we're going to go through the work (I too am beaching on jagged rocks), perhaps we should think about Kevlar or Dynel is also abrasion resistant. Dynel apparantly does better vacuum bagged in place b/c it swells. These latter cloths are going to be expensive, unfortunately. The Defender link has a 1 oz. 'angel hair' f'glass cloth.

I've seen it done, but what is your though on Kevlar Michael for those of use whose beaches are rock?

Cheers,
Clint

I have been googling around on the net and its very difficult to find something smallere than 300g. So i think im gonna stick to that. I'll just use one layer then and dont hope the boat would get way to heavy.

Bjarne

Originally Posted by Compass Project

http://www.defender.com/category.jsp?path=-1|10918|16458&id=311437&start=21&results=6&sort=products

These guys are pretty international....this link should bring you to the 2 oz. cloth section.

Here is a link to get some Kevlar...it is very hard to wet out I have heard but it would sure sheath the hull.
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...ne=1&page=GRID

The thing about f'glass is that it is not very abrasion resistant. If we're going to go through the work (I too am beaching on jagged rocks), perhaps we should think about Kevlar or Dynel is also abrasion resistant. Dynel apparantly does better vacuum bagged in place b/c it swells. These latter cloths are going to be expensive, unfortunately. The Defender link has a 1 oz. 'angel hair' f'glass cloth.

I've seen it done, but what is your though on Kevlar Michael for those of use whose beaches are rock?

Cheers,
Clint

Sorry, you posted after me
Kevlar, hmm, im very novice and have never worked with glasfibre before, and my budget is limited, so ill think ill stick to glasfibre
But thx for the advise!

Bjarne