The Finn Dinghy has been one of the most important of the racing classes over the past six decades.
It was always in the forefront of sailing developments.
One fellow contacted asking if there were plans to build a Finn dinghy … and I was able to find a partial answer.
One of the most important things as a designer or sailor is to keep an open mind, but also to be able to analyze things in light of real experience and prior knowledge.
This article, after a bit of a spiel, goes on to give some great resources that “opened my eyes” at different times in my life.
They focus on areas of structural design, sailing, sail aerodynamics and touch on a bit more.
This is the second of my talks in the USA. It focuses a bit more on construction and some of the methods that can be used to keep a boat light and simple, but very strong and stiff.
It also discusses how there is a “creep” in boatbuilding and design that increases the weight of boats way over what is really needed for a strong structure.
Thorne (aka David Luckhardt) is well known in both wooden boating and historical recreation circles (particularly those involving gunpowder).
He normally lurks around San Francisco, but on this occasion had driven up to Timothy Lake underneath the summit of Mount Hood.
I had the chance to interview him while sailing on Lake Timothy in Oregon.
It is a bit hard finding information on my forum as the list is not very ordered, so I have attempted to fix this.There is a general building section then each boat is in alphabetical order.To see all the images you may need to become a member, however, they are a good bunch and will read more →
More Taiwan Boats. People may or may not be aware that Taiwan has its own aboriginal people belonging to quite distinct groups. Some lived inland, but others were coastal and some live on the smaller islands around Taiwan. Their culture is distinct from the prevailing Chinese culture. There were rumours that the people were headhunters read more →
The OZ hollow mast is the bee’s knees – the nicest mast we can come up with at this stage. A simple long box with the faces made of 4 planks 12mm (1/2″) thick with a taper. Easy enough to build about 35% to 40% lighter than a solid mast. Making the mast out of read more → INDEX FOR THIS MONSTER EUREKA CANOE THREAD – MILESTONESEven more info at Peter Hyndman’s Eureka Pages Marking out the plywood and cutting Joining up the Prefabricated panels and starting stitching Filleting on the inside of the Eureka Canoethe tidy way Marking out the canoe bulkheads Getting ready to put the decks in place – I read more → Furled Sails – They call themselves the “World’s First Sailing Podcast” based in North America. Anyway, last week Christy and Noel called me up chatted to me for a couple of hours. So they have an interview with me on their site followed by a part 2 next week. This looks like the permanent linkhttp://www.furledsails.com/article.php3?article=760 read more →
Gluing Endgrain Gluing timber end grain with epoxySee drawing of endgrain right.. The basic problem is that end grain is highly absorbent so it can steal the resin from the join leaving insufficient for good bonding. The trick … is to feed the end grain some mixed resin before the glue mix is put on read more → This is a problem most of use come up against at least once. However it is unlikely to happen a second time. Richard wrote to me asking why his epoxy was still soft 3 days later. He suggested it might be because of one of: 1. The immediate guess is that it’s been too cold read more → There are two tricks to sikaflexing between strips. Use the Sika Primer – it improves the bond strength to the timber for a permanent job. You can get away without it often, but it changes the situation from a fairly strong bond to a hugely strong bond (you’ll know this if you have ever removed read more →
Most people know about using Cordless Drills to drive screws into timber now, but I remember when it was new and exciting! Here’s my spiel from my plans sets Cordless Battery Drill with Clutch. A marriage made in heaven. The drill can be battery (most convenient) or mains powered. It is best if it has read more → If ply sheets are precoated it saves lots of time. It is easier to coat areas on the flat Gravity works with you to keep the coated surface level so there can be no runs. It is easier to get an even distribution of epoxy on the surface There is much less chance of missing read more → There are two tricks to sikaflexing between strips. Use the Sika Primer – it improves the bond strength to the timber for a permanent job. You can get away without it often, but it changes the situation from a fairly strong bond to a hugely strong bond (you’ll know this if you have ever removed read more → “Soaking” Epoxies – not so good Generally the thinners based products were a precursor to the full high solids epoxy catastrophe (and I mean that in the most positive sense). The most common in Oz is the dear old Epicraft Everdure which we all used to seal the insides and underdecks and often under the read more → This was as a response to the idea that one should chuck a handful of salt into interior areas of a boat to prevent rot. Not a good idea. The problem is that salt sucks moisture. So it will remain almost perpetually moist. Then on a warm day the moisture will evaporate. At night the read more → Should one fibreglass using epoxy or polyester resin over wood. In this case it was to join the plywood panels of a stitch and glue boat. First, Woven fabric will give a smoother finish than chopped strand matt and is much stronger for the same weight. It also requires less filling of the weave to read more →
English