How much fiberglass will prevent most damage to my ply or timber canoe or sailing dinghy?

How much fibreglass is really necessary to prevent damage to a plywood boat for most users? For a long time I’ve been suspicious that both designers and builders are in a never ending spiral of more and more heavier fibreglass. I argue, with data from the Turner designed Jarcat, that the weights of glass are clearly excessive for most uses and users of small boats.
April 18, 2011 0

Photos from Goolwa Wooden Boat Show 2011 – looking forward to 2013!

Photos and slideshow from the Goolwa Wooden Boatshow 2011. Over 250 boats – mostly in the water. Wooden hydroplanes, “restricted 21s”, riverboats, putt putt launches, classic sailing boats, kayaks, canoes and more. I had the quick canoe, the eureka canoe and the OzRacer on the stand that was shared with Duck Flat Wooden Boats and Boatcraft Pacific. Good time was had by all.
February 28, 2011 0

12sq metre Sharpie (Heavyweight Sharpie) for sail in Australia.

A rare beast, a circa 1960s 12 square metre sharpie with some of the original rig is for sale. I am not involved, but in the interests of helping preserve a little bit of Australian sailing and boat design history I would like to help find it a good home. The 12sq metre (heavyweight) Sharpie came to Australia for the 1956 Olympics. NZ first, Oz second. However the boat totally changed the approach to the design of Australian skiffs. Thought you might be interested to read my understanding of the design issues and influence. How the Sharpie name went from the USA to Europe and then to Australia – and how it changed our boats.
January 25, 2011 19

Helping out at the Duck Flat boatbuilding spring school.

I am currently helping at the twice yearly duck flat boatbuilding school in Adelaide. There are boats designed by me, Oughtred, CLC Kayaks, Joel White and Woodenboat. People are from Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Perth.
September 28, 2010 0

Goat Island Skiff Launching 3 – John’s CNC yawl version in Texas

John in Texas built his Goat Island Skiff from a kit made by Clinton Chase. They are experimenting with a yawl version of the Goat. They had a launch and a capsize by the dock. The boat is a great lime green. I used to have a lime green NS14 dinghy that I enjoyed so much some of the design input went into the goat.
June 22, 2010 1
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USA Interview 1 – Sailing with Thorne, Pirates, black powder and wooden boats

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.
November 12, 2009 2

A review of the Goat Island Skiff from Mike McNamara of McNamara Sails UK

Ralph Gersson in Holland got a very nice mail from Michael McNamara from mcNamara sails UK. He made a nice sail for Richard Harvey’s GIS “Blanche” and Ralph has decided to order. Michael, a racing sailor with a lot of background talks about the experience of sailing the Goat Island Skiff.
October 14, 2009 2

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USA Day 14.5 to 16 – The fleet gathers and heads up Lake Powell and the Colorado River

I have already put extensive comments on my flickr gallery. http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik/sets/72157622510542194/ So let’s introduce the participants and the boats!  They gathered in the afternoon. People as far away as Texas, California and Australia (me).  Not a huge number, this cruise works well with up to around 12 to 15 boats.  A huge thanks to Jim [...]
October 3, 2009 1

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Al Zuger in New Jersey impresses friends with his OzRacer (formerly Oz PDRacer)

From Al Zuger in Brooklyn, NY who is extending the envelope of operating his PDRacer. So I finally took my little ducky out in a real bay yesterday. I went down to the south shore of long island about an hour out of the big city, and man was it ever nice! Up until now [...]
September 30, 2009 0

USA Trip Day 7, 8, 9 – Timothy Lake Messabout with the Coots

The pics in this post are just a hint – many more on flickr – you can see them at the bottom of this page. So … What a Weekend! It is the highest I have ever sailed by far – about 2500 to 3000ft above sea level. A very nice bunch of folks. And [...]
September 21, 2009 3

USA Day 6 – Down home in a Columbia River Slough

Howdy, The full set is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik…7622383846430/ Well more interesting things to report. Actually so interesting I have gone out to buy an MP3 voice recorder so I won’t miss these conversations. This was the view out of the window on waking. I couldn’t get the colours right even with fiddling – much lighter and [...]
September 15, 2009 0