BETH -YuanFen- Building a wooden sailing canoe in Poland - Budowa drewnianej kanadyjk

Hi All,

I'm currently preparing to building Beth sailing canoe.

Name of my boat will be "YuanFen" - thank you MIK!!!

1. Probably glueing by polyrethane D4 class expanding glue.
2. Probably birch 4 and 6 mmm ply
3. Probably pine timbers
(yes, I know - hull heavier than designed will be, but those materials -plywood and timbers- available in my region and not expensive)

and...
4. Probably white polytarp sails.

There are pictures of polytarp main sail paper model and CAD drawing of shape (based on Jim Michalak's book "Boatbuilding for Beginners (And Beyond)":

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robhosa...7618030604102/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robhosa...7618030604102/

WOW ... Yuanfen is a really great name!!!

IT is chinese of course. Sometimes translated as affinity.

But the chinese explanation goes like this ...

That for hundreds of lifetimes you walk past some other person and never notice them. But one day you say "Hi" (Witam?) and a conversation kicks off.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3606/...5c373ee6_m.jpg
This is traditional Chinese. I can get someone to write it nicely for you if you want to put it on the sail or hull.

This YuanFen is the basis of all relationships between people, places or long lived things such as Philosophies. For example, it is also used inside Buddhism and Taoism that you spend lifetimes without being interested in either ... but one day you want to know "what is this Buddhism"

So every connection to the world comes about through YuanFen. What is more appropriate for a boat being built in Poland, designed in Australia, with onlookers from many countries.

MIK

What a cool name. I am very interested in finding a Chinese name for my Goat, patterns for which are being cut once Dana's rig is all set this weekend! You'll all soon know why I want to integrate Chinese into the name for my boat.

Robert, Beth is a gem...have fun. And it is your boat, so you can build her however you want. As my 4 1/2 year old says: "People can do whatever they want to do". We're still not sure what he means, exactly.

One really nice quote is from Confucius. The nice thing about chinese aphorisms is that they are so compact. These four characters on the right (the left ones are Kong Zi (confucius) said:)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/...2fa40efc11.jpg

It means that
Mountain People are Kind, Ocean People are Wise. This is very nicely written by a friend and I can provide hires if you like it and want it.

MIK

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Boatmik

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3606/...5c373ee6_m.jpg
This is traditional Chinese. I can get someone to write it nicely for you if you want to put it on the sail or hull.

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Michael,

My daughter is a student of University of Warsaw - Faculty of Oriental Cultures and Languages in the field of Mongolian and Tibetan culture and languages (she studying Mongolian, Tibetan, Manchu and Chinese languages). She is currently in Ulanbaatar University and she is preparing to trip to the China. She promised to write it nicely for me after her returning from China. :)
But... If she will be longer time in China than planned... :roll:

Currently I've found plywood suplier in my region (few km from my house) who have great waterproof birch plywood - I'm waiting for 4 mm sheets only...

My wife promissed to help me in sailmaking from polytarp. :)

Compass Project,
Thank you :)

Of course Robert .. I had forgotten about your daughter. Nice to have a Sinologist in the family!

MIK

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Boatmik

I had forgotten

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:):):)

I had forgotten too:

Yuan and Fen are names of Chinese money too (as Dollar and Cent) - hoping it's good omen for future :;

Hey ... one set of thinking.

The Michelak method of shaping sails is OK if you have no data and just want something that works.

However that type of shaping is very fixed and makes it difficult for the right things to happen as the spars bend - the sails should flatten off.

The reason normal sails do is that the depth of the sails comes from the shape in the edges as well as a little bit of shaping the way Michelak does it (termed broadseaming.

But if the sail depth comes from the shape of the edges then the sails will be deep and powerful when the spars are straight as the excess cloth is pushed back into the body of the sail, but when a gust hits and the yard (in particular) and the boom bend the excess cloth is pulled out and the sail flattens.

So for for the PDR sails and the RAID sails ... I designed a set.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2228/...6024339e_m.jpg

Brian has made a set for his RAID using proper sailcloth but using the simple edge shaping only.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/...c7c2ba90b2.jpg

This does produce a very nice looking sail on the lug rigged PDRacers. Lots of power. The depth of the sail goes right up to the head of the sail too unlike the other method where the sail concentrates its depth at the areas around the cuts or folds.

Mike in Adelaide.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3568/...8c143613d9.jpg

The first lug rig ... Gyula in Romania.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/...b85d822dc4.jpg

Very nice sailshape for something so simple. Only edge shaping.

Best wishes
MIK

Thank you Michael for these notes!

It's very imortant for me!

Probably for my bad English I've not accuarately read all previous posts on this forum including infos about sailmaking :B

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Boatmik

Very nice sailshape for something so simple. Only edge shaping.

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Yes it is!

I can design my own set by this rules :) I will show pictures soon :2tsup:

Howdy Robert,

You need an estimate of the bend of the yard and boom in normal sailing conditions as a starting point and then add the amount of cloth that will give you the sail depth you want. You use a stardard percentage added to the full width of the sail at each point.

I can give you the spar bend figures.

MIK

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Boatmik

You need an estimate of the bend of the yard and boom in normal sailing conditions as a starting point and then add the amount of cloth that will give you the sail depth you want. You use a stardard percentage added to the full width of the sail at each point.

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Yes Michael,
On Beth's plans is standard dimensioned drawing of sails (for professional saimaker I think so) as usually in sailboat's plans I've seen. There is additional note:

"Main yard and boom are quite flexible - allow 50mm (2") deflection."

Quote:

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I can give you the spar bend figures.

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Are not the same than given in plans (50mm - 2")?
Is not properly to give bend 50 mm on sail's edges (yard and boom)?

Ha .. that is right for the mainsail .. forgot about it.

For the mizzen it is zero. The short spars just don't bend.

Best wishes
MIK

Thank you Michael.

And another question:
Round bend (middle) of edges will be good, or they needs other bend (30% forward on head /yard's edge/ and on foot /boom's edge/)???

And: How to make it for mizzen for good shape in work?

Not sure what you mean Robert,

The luff the vertical edge at the front should be dead straight. There are some that say that it should be concave, but the PDR lugs seem to set fine.

The Leach - the back edge needs 50mm of concavity.

The curve on the boom is maximum about 1/3 from the front end.

The curve on the yard is symmetrical with maximum bend in the middle.

I don't know if this covers your questions .. but it is data you need.

MIK

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Boatmik

I don't know if this covers your questions .. but it is data you need.

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Thank you Michael again :)
I think it's all. I will prepare drawings and I will show them soon to verify.