Thread: Michael Storer's Interesting Boat Links

Originally Posted by Boatmik

Howdy Watermaat,

I have never sailed a heavyweight, but imagine that the wonderful handling (providing you keep the boat dead flat) would be the same. Nothing loves rough water more than a sharpie.

MIK

With 230kg of minimum hull-weigh these narrow gaff-rig sharpies do tack against waves like nothing else In late 60-ies clubracing we were faster upwind than the Flying Dutchmen in most conditions, but lost the battle as soon as the FD hoisted the spi.
Due to their weight they reacted more like yachts, than dinghies. You have more time to react.........but you certainly need a heavy-weight crew to get them full speed.
These wooden gaff-rigged sharpies allways have surprized me with their impressive tacking ability, faster and closer winded than lots of bermuda rigged racers.........and what about their looks ................Oke........a bit off topic But some old loves never die.

Yes,

The Australian Sharpie retains the close windedness. And as they have spinnakers and trapeze they are pretty equal with a FD up and downwind. But if the water is rough, the slimmer boat is advantaged!

With spinnaker and trapeze (and only 80kg hullweight) you get some pretty exciting rides downwind too.

I wasn't able to find any pics of one going fast downwind, but here is a former employer of mine who has been at the top end of the Sharpie and 505 fleet for many years.



Just a hint of the upwind speed. This is Lake Illawarra.

One for the propeller heads.

This is a discussion of performance prediction of yachts that I have just stumbled upon.

It does focus on the IMS scheme to some extent so is outdated in some senses.
http://cmst.curtin.edu.au/publicat/r...ernyacht98.pdf

MIK

Hello Boatbuilders,
I don't know if you now about it. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) has published several fishing boat plans in order to help developing countries local fishing developments. Check this out.
You can find other plans in the Corporate Document Repository of FAO - just search for boat building.
Best regards
Csaba

Howdy,

I have mixed feelings about these types of projects.

There is so much culture tied into boats and the way they are used, and the last thing I would like to see is boats of these designs become common in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Vietnam.

How sad that would be!

It also is a boat that will only move well with a motor and won't be as efficient with small motors as many of the boats in Thailand or the Philippines.

Maybe these are a better choice for a hullshape?

I do think if a local boatbuilder in one of the target places might get some benefit from reading the document and might borrow some methods - I think that would be a better way - produce an informative newsletter with traditional boatbuilders from Thailand, Sri Lanka etc contributing about the real problems they find and real methods they find useful.

One of the pictures of the Taiwanese aboriginal people's boats I have shows a method of using rope to tie the two sides of the boat together in the bow. I've seen the same method on Polynesian boats.

I am on my mother's computer, so don't have the bandwidth to find the pic at the moment.

The idea of producing a method like this is good, but I think if it focusses more on the method than the boat, it might be even more useful.

Best wishes
Michael

Haven't seen anything as exciting as this for some time. Heavish boats going fast with some degree of precariousness. The start procedure is pure art.

[ame="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7796071923054969577&hl=en"]BARQUILLOS DE VELA LATINA CANARIA en Fuerteventura[/ame]

This is the page if the embedded link doesn't work
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...ent=firefox-a#

MIK

Micro as Art - thanks Pindimar.



Set of unmanned micros set up for ocean crossing.

Chris Burden - July 11 - August 30, 1996 - Gagosian Gallery

Originally Posted by Boatmik

Howdy,

I have mixed feelings about these types of projects.

There is so much culture tied into boats and the way they are used, and the last thing I would like to see is boats of these designs become common in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Vietnam.

How sad that would be!

It also is a boat that will only move well with a motor and won't be as efficient with small motors as many of the boats in Thailand or the Philippines.

Maybe these are a better choice for a hullshape?

I do think if a local boatbuilder in one of the target places might get some benefit from reading the document and might borrow some methods - I think that would be a better way - produce an informative newsletter with traditional boatbuilders from Thailand, Sri Lanka etc contributing about the real problems they find and real methods they find useful.

One of the pictures of the Taiwanese aboriginal people's boats I have shows a method of using rope to tie the two sides of the boat together in the bow. I've seen the same method on Polynesian boats.

I am on my mother's computer, so don't have the bandwidth to find the pic at the moment.

The idea of producing a method like this is good, but I think if it focusses more on the method than the boat, it might be even more useful.

Best wishes
Michael

Mik
Just seen this post. Have you seen a book called "Sails as an aid to fishing" published by the UK Ministry for overseas Development a long time ago - 1988? It is all about getting sails back onto traditional fishing boats as a cost-effective replacement to the then-rapidly spreading engines. It looks in a very practical way at rigs like the lateen, crab claw, sprit, gunter, dipping lug. Doubt very much it is still in print and no idea if it had an impact. If you are interested, just send me your mailing address in a private message and I´ll send it to you. Better than sitting gathering dust on my shelves. You can see something about it on pp.25 of this pdf; http://www.spc.int/Coastfish/news/Fi...sh_News_46.pdf

Best

Steve

That is too cool!

I wonder how the artist came to choose Phil Bolger's ugliest ducklings for the exhibit....

Originally Posted by StephenR

Mik
Just seen this post. Have you seen a book called "Sails as an aid to fishing"

If you are interested, just send me your mailing address in a private message and I´ll send it to you. Better than sitting gathering dust on my shelves. You can see something about it on pp.25 of this pdf; http://www.spc.int/Coastfish/news/Fi...sh_News_46.pdf

Best

Steve

Very kind of you Steve, but on my return to Adelaide I am going to start getting rid of all my books to fit with my new relocatable lifestyle.

MIK

Howdy,

For a long time I have been recommending to avoid ball bearing blocks (pulleys) on boats because of the extreme expense compared to cheaper blocks



The above is a cheaper non ball bearing block. It costs about $10 as against a ball bearing block from the same manufacturer for around $40.

For a long time people involved in racing have been saying that the most important things with block choice is to make sure the rope is well inside the diameter capacity of the block. So if a block will accept up to an 8mm line diameter then maybe you only run a 4mm rope through it.

Now I have found some research using actual measurements that supports the point of view that ball bearing blocks are probably not really needed in most applications, so it may be possible for raceboats to reduce their rigging costs by 50% over the conventionsl craze for ball bearings everywhere.

The point the study makes is that most of the friction comes from the rope itself. When it bends around a corner all the fibres rub against each other.

1. The best way to reduce this friction is to use thinner ropes (something raceboats have been doing for some time) and
2. Increase the sheave (the spinning part of the pulley) diameter - achieved by following the guideline of using blocks that will handle larger rope for smaller rope.

Anyhow here is Martin Schoon's (in Sweden, i think) research.
http://hem.bredband.net/b262106/Boat/Blockfriction.pdf

He also has some other great articles for propeller heads.
Overview of documents referred to on Martin's web

MIK

I've been writing a lot about Moths lately, prompted by a visit to the worlds where I took pics and observed from the "relative" safety of Bruce's Goat Island Skiff.


More pics

Here on this forum - https://www.woodworkforums.com/f169/b...ml#post1259829

and here a conversation ends up being about hydrofoil moths on my own website

That's in the past ... however ...

Here is the best article I have found on what foiling Moths are like to set up and sail complete with techical descriptions.

Not quite wooden, but we learn from everyone - right!?

Very cool links indeed Mik. I have just caught up with your Rules of Thumb article, the one that developed into a most interesting discussion with David on boat design and Moths. It was absorbing stuff between two guys who know what they're talking about.

If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a favour and take the time to read it through from top to bottom. Don't skip anything, because you'll learn something!

An unmissible link.

As you know one of my theses (yes ... groan ... just one of them) is that all the major technical developments that have improved boats have happened independently of sexy materials.

You don't necessarily need the expense of carbon fibre parts or ultralight ball bearing blocks to get ever single advantage of the last 150 years of small sailing boat development.

Not that it has ever really been a cheapie (maybe in its early days) the Star Class has led the way in many of the developments that make modern boats what they are.

But it is worth remembering that all these developments in the Star happened using wood, rope and wire - even cotton fabric.

This page on the Star website has a bunch of articles by some of the prime movers in the class. Just fantastic.


Picture stolen from Star Class Racing Yacht who likes stars as much as I do!

Articles are here - Star Boat Design and Development

Best wishes
Michael