Reasons for building a boat – Part Three – sometimes it’s not about the boat.
Why is every boat different despite the best aim of the designer?
It’s because every customer is different. Which is OK!
Mark Milam’s spectacularly gorgeous wooden Duck – an OzRacer RV sailboat. Bubinga, and Cypress
The OzRacer RV sailboat is meant to be a very simple boat that can be homebuilt.
Most build it to get on the water quickly, but Mark Milam has done an amazing job of overseeing a project combining his work with that of a boatbuilder friend.
Wonderful woods, some great detail design and the very best fitting of a windsurfer rig to a dinghy that I have ever seen.
Russki – Surfski or sit on Paddleboard with Simple Plywood Construction
Russki is a short surfski in plywood. It has simple construction and is light enough for cartopping.
Thanks Bob for the nice Photos!
A UK Agent for Michael Storer Wooden Boat Plans – Fyne Boat Kits
Fyne Boat Kits has an excellent reputation for customer service and quality.
I am happy to announce that they will be gradually phased in as the UK Agents for storerboats kits, plans and materials.
Storerboats on Hungarian Television – Eurekára, Egy fakenu magyarországi sikere
Csaba Mezai, storerboatplan’s agent in Hungary translated my plans into Magyar (Hungarian). He also runs by far the biggest website in that language - www.hajoepitok.hu which includes a very active forum. It is seven or 8 minutes long looking at the Eureka, discussing the Quick Canoe and OzRacer simple sailboat and discussing the plans are at about [...]
Goat Island Skiff Videos – Goat Island Skiff Sailing, Reefed and Manoeuvring – Handling the Goat!
Some examples of sailing nicely in the Goat Island Skiff, reversing, sailing at nice speed in comfortable conditions.
Locations are San Diego, Australia, Texas, Florida and Maine
Goat Island Skiff Videos – at speed with and without weight aboard – GIS planing freely
A small collection of the many videos of the Goat Island Skiff Planing fast in different places around the world.
Sailing OzRacer RV in rough water – simple boat with two adults
This OzRacer mk2 has a number of changes from the original design, but Bob has pulled it off. The biggest risk is that the windsurfer mast might break because it is not meant to be supported in this way – it is meant to be held up higher by the arms of the sailor. Additionally [...]
Slide show of Storer Free Paddle Plans – built by David Graybeal.
David Graybeal of Harbor Woodworks in Portland, Oregon built a pair of my wooden paddles from the free plans
See the link in the left column. Simple, but look way nicer than other simple paddles.
Lets talk about outriggers on canoes and sailboats. For Proas, Trimarans and even Catamarans.
Some basic questions were asked on my forum about the design of amas.
There are so many permutation of ama length, crossbeam width, ama volume with performance ranging from very poor to very good. But what are some of the basic criteria?
Learning to sail – building a good foundation for improvement. Sail and boat trim.
In general I don’t like most sailing books and most sailing lessons.
I think that a learner doesn’t need to learn many new words. Also because they don’t explain the correct principles in the beginning their explanations become really complicated.
If you understand how to use a sail to get power – when it is at maximum power and when it isn’t it all becomes very logical.
What is “lead” in sailboat design – CLR and CE. Joe self designs a rig for his Electric Quick Canoe and finds something interesting.
Joe sent me a question about why his self designed sailing rig for my Electric Quick Canoe design works better if he moves the leeboard forward of the theoretical point for a balanced helm.
He has stumbled upon a nice observation of a design element called “lead” (I lead you … not the metal Lead).
I explain
“Planing” is Bunkum – Myths about Planing, Displacement and semi Planing Hulls and modes
It always bugged me about how people said that some powerboats and fast sailing dinghies would “plane” to reach high speed. But multihulls reach higher speed, but they “don’t plane”.
It’s illogical to have two different explanations.
Also how a classical “displacement hull” go much faster on an ocean wave. Theory says it has a speed limit no matter the power you throw in.
I worked out a reasonable explanation for all this but it shows “planing” does not exist.
Correction to OzRacer RV plans – Transom widths – an easy fix at any stage.
A correction to the OzRacer RV plans.
There was a small discrepancy in the corners of the boat which can be filled. Or if the panels are not cut yet they can be corrected so no filling is required. Apologies to all affected – I do my best but sometimes something sneaks through. Thanks Ryan for the building feedback.
Philippines Boat Types – Canoes for rapids and rocks – Pagsanjan Falls – evolution of dugout canoes
I am in the Philippines at the moment.
I took five days out to go to the area where one of my Australian Filipino friends has her hometown. The general area is Laguna, I was staying at Lumban and nearby was a canoe trip to Pagsanjan falls.
I was really interested to see the local boats and to see how they might relate to the timber boats that existed previously. The boats are elegant and very well suited to their environment. Paddling and motor canoes are used on a daily basis.
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This might be the first Hungarian Messabout for Homebuilt Wooden Boats
A few photos and a short report from Hungary.
They held their first wooden boat messabout. 30 people, 10 boats and a big pot of homemade goulash!
Goat Island Skiff on Google Maps – put your Goat on the Map!
Paul Haslett is putting together a google map showing as many Goat Island Skiffs as possible.
If you want to be on the map you can contact me.
Visit to Duck Flat Wooden Boats in Adelaide.
I used to work at DuckFlat many years ago. Now they are one of my main Australian plans agents.
I visited them in Adelaide. Photo and text of a fast plywood trimaran, 40ft steam liveaboard boat, kayak, rowboat and a Hartley Powerboat restoration
English