More information on the Loire trip 2011 – New website
There is a new website for the Loire trip in France 2011.
It has been a bit traumatic putting it together, but it seems to be working now.
Sailboats and canoe hire on the Murray Lakes – an hour from Adelaide.
My friends Rob and Jane Hylton run sailing boat and canoe hire on some of my favourite sailing waters – the lower Murray Lakes – just an hour south of Adelaide.
The boat hire is quite cheap but linked with you overnight staying in the small town of Clayton Bay – on the edge of the Murray River. There are a number of different options. My favourite is a tent or an on site caravan on the river’s edge camping area. But there are classier (?) options as well.
Low season is quite cheap and the days down there can be very beautiful in winter with a good weather report. They also offer sailing lessons which can include a picnic and/or a tour of the fascinating Murray wetlands.
OZ Goose sailing dinghy – build and launch pics
Jim Post in the USA sent me a USB drive crammed full of building and launch pics of the OZ Goose design – the Big Brother to the OZ Racer (formerly the OZ PDRacer).
Looking forward to some sailing reports!
“All boat design is a compromise” – Rubbish
Reprint of an article I wrote a few years ago for Watercraft magazine in the UK.
The article points out why I think most of the discussion about boat design being a “compromise” is rubbish and taking that point of view means that the design is sure to be compromised.
What happens if we don’t accept the compromise?
What I was busy with last week – building a Quick Canoe
I built the Quick Canoe in a day and a half. This is way slower than some of my customers.
It is the first time I have been disappointed building a complete boat this quick.
The risk of high expectations!
But a day and a half with the problems I had is pretty good.
Slideshow of assembling a plywood canoe with duct or gaffer tape. Quick Canoe
Is it revolutionary?
The Quick Canoe uses Duct tape to hold the plywood together while the glue or glass tape sets up. This can save a huge amount of time.
The Quick Canoe is designed to take maximum advantage from the method.
Slideshow of building Method for the Eureka Stitch and Glue Plywood Canoe
Slideshow and pictures resources to show some of the methods for building the Eureka Stitch and Glue Plywood Canoe.
Invitation for storerboats (and others) to Oklahoma in October
Sailing on Lake Eufala, Oklahoma
The wonderful Sail OK event with hosts Jackie and Michael Monies
All wooden boats welcome! Or friends!
Want to build a canoe and travel down the Loire River in France? 2011
Want to travel down the Loire River in France? A group on the Duckworks forum are planning to build a bunch of quick build boats, possibly including the Quick Canoe for a 14 day trip.
Everyone covers their own expense. Maybe September.
Setting up for performance – Balance Lug – Goat Island Skiff
John Goodman who recently spent 5 days semi racing a Goat Island Skiff in the Texas200 event got back to me with some observations and even some pictures of aspects of the boat and the sailing.
I have responded with suggestions to make some further improvements. Between John and me there are some useful tips about setting up a boat for more speed.
However the standard setup of the Goat is fine for most – it is still pretty quick in standard form.
There is advice for both lug and sprit traditional rigs here.
Jani in Finland converts a Quick Canoe for rowing.
Jani is a friend of Perttu in Finland.
Jani wanted a boat for rowing and fishing. He built a Quick Canoe and modified it with outriggers and also worked out a scheme where it can carry one or two people simply by changing the bow.
Maybe it is so clever because Jani is an Industrial Designer!
A few more pics of the GIS yawl in the Texas 200 Mile event.
Sailing the Goat Island Skiff in the Texas 200 for the first time. The Goodman family boat is now a regular in this 200 mile quite difficult sailing event in often extreme conditions.
Two plywood canoes designs – How to choose a plan.
This page compares the two plywood canoes in my range. Both have detailed plans and are simple to build.
The page is to explain the differences and to help potential builders see if one of the boats suits their needs.
Lots of links to pictures, build articles and even videos.
The cla
Robert Hoffman in Poland in his BETH sailing canoe – Pics
A bunch of photos of Robert Hoffman sailing his Beth Canoe.
He built it over winter but now is enjoying Spring.
Five days and 200 miles up the Texas Coast. John and David Goodman in their Goat Island Skiff
Exciting News, John and David Goodman finished the Texas200 event in their lime green Goat Island skiff.
Five days and 200 miles up the Texas coast dodging huge barges and commercial traffic.
They had a great time and are very happy with the performance of the Goat
Another Plywood Quick Canoe finished in a week – Clinton in Sydney
Another Quick Canoe built in less than a week. This time by Clinton.
He shows how quick and cheap the boat can be. Probably our friends from the Americas can build for about half this price for the same materials quality.
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.
Goat Island Skiff Launching 2 – Woodeneye in the Hunter Valley, NSW.
Bruce in New South Wales, Australia has launched his Goat Island Skiff plywood sailing dinghy at Port Stephens.
They had a nice day sailing around but capsized the boat by accident when someone tripped up. Ooops.
I am still not sure who is to blame!
We are still waiting for launch day pics to be retrieved from the waterlogged camera.
Goat Launching 1 – BobWes in Sacramento
Bobwes has been using his Goat Island Skiff over the last weeks.
It is brightly coloured and looks pretty great.
PJ and Cliff show how to build a plywood Quick Canoe in one week
Cliff and PJ live in Warm Queensland and Wintry Tasmania. However they both like to go the the yearly (June) wooden boat festival in tropical Far North Queensland.
This year they decided to build one of my Quick Canoes. They started on Saturday and finished including putting the canoe on the car roof by the following thursday.
They are experienced woodworkers so added some very nice details.