Three times in my life I have gone sailing in small boats without a lifejacket. Two times the boat sank. One time I capsized and found that swimming and trying to get back on the boat is very difficult in FRESH water. Also a hint about how to get kids to wear their lifejackets … wear YOURS!
IMPACT! How hard is your boat going to hit something. For most of us it won’t be very hard at all. So it is better to save weight. For expeditioners they may require a lot more from their boats. What are the strategies one can think about?
A birdsmouth mast is a nice way to make a simple tapered hollow round mast. But what is the best way to join the wood. We show you how and why.
Torture boards are used for the highest grade of smoothing for visual smoothness of the whole structure. Fairing a strip planked hull.
Fairing a join between adjacent plywood sheets in a hull or deck.
Fairing a composite structure
Fairing deck substructure. Deckframes and deck stringers ready to take plywood.
Most epoxy mixes are 2 to one resin and hardener. Or 4 or 5 or 6 to 1. Some companies offer 1:1 and push ease of mixing. But are they a good choice?
In the Philippines imported boat parts look extremely expensive compared to local incomes. So we have worked hard to eliminate them as much as possible or replace them. What is easy, cheap and good for racing performance? The result is a big way to save money.
Canoe Video resource. Paddling canoes, Electric canoes, Sailing Canoes. Drop in rigs to make any canoe work as a sailboat. Videos on building, Paddling and sailing canoes
A two and a half week project – The Taal Stand Up Paddleboard is very different from the majority of SUPs out there.
Light stable and quick with much less effort than the normal surfboard shapes used.
This shows the building method to help those who have purchased plans.
A new design for a “Stand Up Paddleboard”. It is designed for excellent travelling speeds for less effort but retains the stability of a beginner/intermediate board. It can be built much lighter than the standard weight of 12 to 14kg (28lbs). Strategies for major weight saving are in the plan
By far the bulk of Goat Island Skiffs are built as one sail boats. Is the complication, labour and expense of the extra sail on the yawl/ketch option worth it? What types of sailing does it assist or hinder?
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?
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!
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
Peter’s Blog about building two quick canoes. Includes a couple of camping/touring photoessays. The Quick canoe is very quick to build.
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.
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
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
Nice little video showing the easy speed of the Goat Island Skiffs in moderate conditions. Venue is the Small Reach Regatta.
It also shows the standard cat rig and the optional Yawl rig.
BETH sailing canoe – The designer has lots of fine things to say about the sailing performance of BETH – but Andrew Barclay has been racing his against mixed fleets in British Columbia where she sails equal with Laser Radials in light wind and gradually outclasses them in stronger.
I provide some tips about getting a bit more from the boat.
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