Hi Richard,

I’m a veteran of NS14s as well, so know what you mean.

In general I have had a pretty dismal view of self bailers as much as they often allow you to “sail the water out” they usually are a place for leaks particularly as they become a season or so older.

It is hard to balance I think. I would love to recommend them in an unfettered way. But leakage as well as the initial cost make them unattractive too.

I think my thinking is modifying a bit on this. That people are using Goats for much more than they were intended … originally a couple of people launching the boat and going sailing for an afternoon with the possibility of also carrying some camping gear on a long weekend.

That’s pretty much how I used my NS14s. And looking at the Goat layout you can see a lot of NS14 in the layout and hullshape – it profoundly influenced me as did Moths and when the Skiffs started moving to smaller, less draggy hulls in the early ’80s.

But the alternative sailing world really has developed in a different way from what I thought when I drew up the Goat 15 or more years ago.

RAID events or company cruising like the TEXAS200 and the tendency of people to seek adventure. It is all great. Also another change is the tendency for older people to be involved in the alternate sailing scene.

These are all great developments, but they do throw an additional responsibility on the owner to think about how they will equip the boat and get out of difficulties as they ask the boat to do more and more.

Happily the online community for the Goat – the storer boat plans forum, the facebook goat island skiff group are great ways for people to share information to stretch the envelope.

Noticed a few recent posts on GIS launching and conversations about drainage, especially after capsize.
Sailing an NS14 many years ago, we had a couple of these at the lowest point in the hull, either side of the heel: http://bit.ly/yENn4U
After righting the boat from capsize, on a number of occasions we’d sail off, full of water, me baling and when we had steerage way, Dad would open up the ‘venturis’, as he called them; after a while you could hear the loudest sucking noise from the bottom of the boat as it drained.
“All day suckers”, Dad called them.
He was horrified to find out that they now sell for almost $100.00, when they can be such an essential part of small boat safety.

All the best

Richard