What is that crease in my lugsail, How to diagnose and fix.
Getting rid of a familiar crease in many lugsails.
Boatbuilding 30 Year Review – Epoxy vs other Glues
I’ve been in and around wooden race and recreational boats for a few decades now. As a designer who sells plans I can really only direct people towards the most tried and true methods that work just about anywhere. This article explains a large part of experience that leads to my approach.
Chines vs Round bilge – Is there evidence of superiority?
Traditionally we were all told that chines were draggy, induced vortices and were slow. But in restricted dinghy classes where different hull designs are allowed chines predominate. And now chines are appearing on yachts as well. Sailors seem to be voting with their feet. Is there evidence?
Goat Island Skiff Calendar 2015 now available
Year four of the high quality Goat Island Skiff Calendar is out!
Boats from the USA, France, Uruguay, The Netherlands and Greece
OzRacers, simple efficient homebuilt boats meet up in Hungary
The OzRacers are steadily growing in numbers in Hungary. This increases the chance of meetups like this occasionon Lake Valence. Two very experienced sailors participate and enjoy the boats.
Launching – Quick Canoe Electric in Hungary
A boat for an electric trolling motor will go very fast with 2hp. I suggest that smaller power might be good for a cargo canoe, motor canoe. Not to mention the gas saved!
GIS and Storerboats Sailing Meetup 26-29 September, Cayuga Lake State Park, NY State
A camping get together for Goat Island Skiffs, other storerboats and friends and fans and other boats. Three or Four days camping by the water with friendly people. Interesting in building a Goat or actually building one … all are very welcome.
Oz Goose launch and sailing Video
Video – Ian Henehan worked out this 12ft Goose Version and launched it into 20 knot winds. You can check the video to see that this is probably correct. It certainly is, despite the poor camera angle which changes a few times the boat is fairly smoking along
Reefing a lug sail, New fast method, quicker Than ties and Tingles
How to reef a Balance Lugsail. A neat trick of using shock cord (bungee) for the intermediate ties makes it much faster to tie in a reef as well as remove the reef after. it also minimises the risk of damaging the sail if something major breaks elsewhere.
First sailing photos of low cost sails for Storerboats
After a week or so of bad sailing weather, Daniel in Uruguay got out on the water in Piriapolis harbour to try out his new sail from ReallySimpleSails.com in the Philippines. The idea is to halve the price of sails for my plans so that it is even more economical to build a storerboat. This can save $300 plus
Affordably Priced Sails for Storer Boats
ReallySimpleSails.com saves $300 or more on your Goat Island Skiff, Oz Goose or Oz Racer.
Custom sails for other boats are also available and will represent a cost saving on your boatbuilding project.
These are full quality sails that we all have worked hard to keep the price down on without reducing quality.
Phil and his Quick Canoe, Touring in a simple plywood canoe.
Peter’s Blog about building two quick canoes. Includes a couple of camping/touring photoessays. The Quick canoe is very quick to build.
S-12 Club, new dinghy design launched (very light wind)
The new dinghy design is now called the S-12.
Launched into light winds, there’s not a lot to report, but a photo essay. And some comments about the staying of the rig and keeping boats cheap and simple.
S12 Club New design – lightweight and efficient plywood racing dinghy
A new lightweight 12ft plywood dinghy under development. This prototype by Canadian Rick Landreville. It won’t have a cloud of sail area,but will be light enough low drag enough to hit consistently high speeds relative to other boats of this length.
Dave LaFontaine and his Goat Island Skiff in New York
Dave Lafontaine built his Goat Island Skiff in New York over the last couple of years. He’s now using it for some of the things he had planned.
Wave performance of the 23ft Dayboat with flat bottom- Video in Chop.
Dayboat Launch 23ft (6.5m) by Stephen Foster – great photos of a fantastic looking boat.
It is a very simplified hull – basically a square box, but I’ve done my normal trick of making it look rather nice. And Stephen’s clever adaptation of the cabin is just excellent!
Electric Canoe – Joe’s family picnic on the Snohomish River
Cheap Electric Power and a day sightseeing!
The boat is driven easily at reasonable speed with a small electric trolling motor – some are well under 200 dollars. It doesn’t require a trailer. It comes from three sheets of exterior plywood. Costs are down on every front.
And the family is happy! Snohomish Estuary
OzRacer wins PDRacer Worlds for the fourth time in five years
2013 – Once again an OzRacer wins the PDRacer World titles. That is four times in the last five years.
An OzRacer does need to be modified to fit the PDRacer rules or as standard is an excellent boat for first time sailors. It sails REALLY well which aids learning. And doesn’t need to cost any extra money. Plans $20
Video: Quick Canoe Electric flying with 2hp Honda outboard
Just for the hell of it, Stephen put a 2hp outboard on the back of his Electric Quick Canoe.
Watch the boat fly in the video. Speed with little or no fuss. Also a discussion of hullforms for different speed ranges.
Club Racing the Goat Island Skiff – PY yardstick handicap racing
So how does a lug rig boat go in club racing? My designs won’t be outclassed in club racing. I’m really keen to find out how the yardstick (handicap) changes as George and crew get used to the realities of course racing making the boat sail faster. We end up with an estimate of PY – Portsmouth Yardstick for the Goat Island Skiff.