Thread: Texas GIS

I'd definitely try using the rudder part way down to act as a skeg. On my boat, I'll be doing this and possibly rigging the tiller to swing up or detach.

Originally Posted by john goodman

I am trying to keep my nose from burning off with my homemade head sock.

I am headed to one of our local rivers for a float trip. I have built a short daggerboard that will stick out the boat about 12" to act as a keel. Would anyone recommend using the rudder on a multi-day rowing trip? I have a shock cord system that keeps the tiller centered.

Can't see any harm in taking it!

MIK

Originally Posted by MalcolmSmith

I may have missed this. How did you do your graphics?

I am lucky that my neighbor owns a small printing company and has a sense of humor because he inspired the idea of the life ring with the boats name on it.

The graphics are a large vinyl decal. I provided a jpg file of the image with some dimensions on it. He prepped the image in a Macintosh based printer/cutter machine.

They are printed on ORAJRT digital printing media. ORACAL USA. It is used for outdoor signage. This is really cool vinyl since it has little ridges on the backing that help reduce the bubbles that get trapped while putting on vinyl decal.

As a joke my neighbor printed the boats name, GIR in 8 inch tall red letters for the bottom of the boat, just in case I capsized. (That would help everybody know who to pick on at the next camp) They were underwater for 5 days and still look great. A few scratches, but no delamination.

He says most of the cost to do this is in the preparation of the art work and programing the printer/cutter. He said that if someone can do all the artwork themselves it will save them some money. If you can strike a deal with a local printer they might be able to include your art work while running a bigger job that has the same colors and can fit your image in a blank spot in the other clients layout.

Hope this helps.

Just returned from a 97 mile 3 night rowing trip on my Goat on one of the local rivers. Best day was 30 miles with help from a 1 knot current. After being rained on for 1 night and a whole day and possible flash floods I called it quits. Learned a lot about rowing a Goat and I am willing to share, so maybe a new topic called, ROWING A GOAT?.

Do you how fast a Goat will fill up during a Texas thunderstorm?
How fast can a Goat sail up river with a mizzen just before a Texas thunderstorm?
How long can a very tired guy sleep during a Texas thunderstorm huddled under a very small sun awning?

All those and many more practical stories are ahead.

John & GIR

That title misses the point by a little ... Maybe "rowing/camping down a river in a Goat Island Skiff". The same technical stuff will come out, but also will be interesting for those who like the sound of the story of the trip.

I always like to mix something technical with something interesting or a little inspiring as well.

Travelling and camping in a rowing boat will be interesting to many!

MIK

This will be a welcome treat for me, who is also gearing the Goat for similar kinds of trips. I forget John if you made a fold up tiller. If not I expect that to be one of your first suggestions.

Originally Posted by Compass Project

This will be a welcome treat for me, who is also gearing the Goat for similar kinds of trips. I forget John if you made a fold up tiller. If not I expect that to be one of your first suggestions.

Fold up tiller, short rudder & short dagger board, all would be good. I only had the short dagger board I carved out of some cheap 3/4" plywood.

The rudder can just be partially submerged. The daggerboard idea is good to keep the lateral resistance up when rowing. The Goat is pretty squirrely under oars, not a flaw, but the trade off for its sailing performance. Have we seen a good solution yet for the fold up or detachable tiller. Someone on the Forum did one.

How are the oars, John?

I built a detachable tiller. At first it was one bolt with what I hoped would be tensioned enough to hold the tiller up or down, depending on my position on the floor, rail, or standing. You can see this in the pictures in my Maiden Voyage blog post. Too much leverage, however (my tiller is about 1' longer than plan), and it didn't work like I would have liked it to and it kept flopping down.

So I put in a second bolt and kept it in the high position-- as in straight out. With my Australian Ronstan Battlestick extension, I can be anywhere in the boat. The tiller then dismantles if need be, leaving two short nubs from the rudder through the transom and into the boat.

To be honest, I've only dismantled it to add a coat of varnish... but if I've got a crewmember and we want the rear seat it will come in handy.

To be perfectly honest, I'm also very thankful that Mik talked me out of the swing up rudder idea. The rudder cassette/bungee system works far better than I could ever imagined. I had to hit the rudder on the bottom and watch it pop up to actually believe it. I can lift the rudder in an instant if need be. Thanks Mik- great idea.

Originally Posted by Compass Project

The rudder can just be partially submerged. The daggerboard idea is good to keep the lateral resistance up when rowing. The Goat is pretty squirrely under oars, not a flaw, but the trade off for its sailing performance. Have we seen a good solution yet for the fold up or detachable tiller. Someone on the Forum did one.

How are the oars, John?

My oars are right off the Jim Michalak's plans. My handles are oval to fit my hands better. More specifically I am missing a few distal of 2 fingers on my right hand and I cannot hold round things very well so that is why I have oval shaped handles. The other reason my oars do not feather is they are not very round where they sit in the oar locks, so they rotate in 1/8 turns, maybe clunks would be a better descriptio,n which is hard on my wrists.

In the attached picture you can get an idea how the rudder can get in the way of the mizzen. I ran the rudder as shallow as possible to keep it from giving too much directional stability and to keep it from hitting bottom.

Originally Posted by callsign222

To be perfectly honest, I'm also very thankful that Mik talked me out of the swing up rudder idea. The rudder cassette/bungee system works far better than I could ever imagined. I had to hit the rudder on the bottom and watch it pop up to actually believe it. I can lift the rudder in an instant if need be. Thanks Mik- great idea.

Don't blame me, blame the New Zealand designed Paper Tiger catamaran which I saw with this rudder system at the age of 13 or 14.

Since then it has replaced just about every other system on racing boats in OZ.

The only reason, I think for the swing blade is if you can't get to the back of the boat so need to pull the rudder down with a rope.

Good point about the rudder blade interfering with the mizzen ... something to design around to allow it to be pulled up further.

MIK

My wife and I took GIR out into the bay today. We sailed GIR with the balanced lug today.(with left the mizzen in the car to keep it simple) What a fun & simple rig!

The water was choppy from the wind blowing all night but there was not much wind this morning to drive the boat thru the left over chop. We experienced some pounding, but the odd thing was the daggerboard slot spewing water up into the boat. We would get these geysers of water coming up thru the case that required us to bail the boat. We took on 2 gallons of water over a period of 1 hour, most from the geysers and some from splashing.

Is anyone else having water splash up into the boat thru the daggerboard case?

We did have a great afternoon run down wind after we made a brief stop on one of the new islands that the Corps Of Engineers is creating. A small beach provided a great place to stop before the next tanker wakes rolled thru. Those wakes can be 3ft tall on the shore line, but they provided us with some fun downwind surfing as the sea breeze filled in.

I was amazed at how well the boat can be driven in 1-2 foot waves with a breeze around 12-15 knots. It surfs great! I was scary at times, but with my wife on the middle seat straddling the daggerboard and me right behind her kneeling on the floor we could keep the boat balanced pretty well.

Now I just need to get her fingernail marks out of the gunnels where she was holding on so tight.

Great day and almost 20 miles of sailing.

Originally Posted by john goodman

We sailed GIR with the balanced lug today.(with left the mizzen in the car to keep it simple) What a fun & simple rig!

Haha!
(I need to try it on my BETH "YuanFen" ...)

Is anyone else having water splash up into the boat thru the daggerboard case?

I have not experiences with GIS, but many of boats which I've sailed previously have water splash up intu the boat thru the centreboard case - especially on high and short chops on lakes and rivers... My first boat with her low centrecase especially was responsive to it. (Than I prefer tall centrecase - from bottom to the deck - like my BETH has)

Flat bottomed boats (and some of veebottomed ones too) experiencing pounding in short and high chops.

Some fishermen from Vistula Lagoon experienced swamping their boats by very short and high chops during storms on their area.

Originally Posted by john goodman

We experienced some pounding, but the odd thing was the daggerboard slot spewing water up into the boat. We would get these geysers of water coming up thru the case that required us to bail the boat. We took on 2 gallons of water over a period of 1 hour, most from the geysers and some from splashing.

Is anyone else having water splash up into the boat thru the daggerboard case?

I have experienced this with other boats, like the Fireball and Dabchick. The Sprog wasn't a problem because of the deep cb case. The Dabchick (A high performance 12' scow - see pics) spewed up heaps of water, but as it had no cockpit, it was only something to chuckle about, especially if you had a girl crew.

If your dagger board slot is close to the profile of your board, it shouldn't be too bad.

I still feel tempted to install a self bailer to get rid of nuisance water.

dabchick.za.net Western Cape Dinghy Champs 2009