Designing new rudder stock 1

Im trying to build a swing-up rudder stock design for my Goat Island Skiff, similar to the one I have on my Laser, except wood, and fitted for the GIS rudder.  The original plans call for a daggerboard style rudder stock where the rudder is removed vertically through the box, and the tiller is permanently attached to the box.  See here.  I am not a big fan of this design, though I appreciate its simplicity.

Here is why:

1.  I do not want a permanently attached tiller to the rudder stock.  I would like to be able to remove the tiller, and leave the rudder in the water, or at least raised but still attached to the transom.

2.  I do not like the bungee cord design to the hold the rudder in place

3. I want to use pintles and gudgeons, which would be difficult with a permanently attached tiller and dropping the assembly into place.

Here is a quick mock-up of a slightly enlarged rudder box per the plans, with a rudimentary rounded rudder top for swingability.

The stock has been extended 3 cm aft, and 1 cm down.  I am limited by the size of the transom and the location of the hole to accept the tiller in the transom.  The tiller would run between the two side of the stock across the top of the rudder and be fastened with a pin.  The spacer in the front of the box would be the same called for in the plans.  The exterior of the stock would have the two re-enforced areas per the plans, running across the top and bottom, and in addition a third re-enforced area to support the axle.  I will probably also trim the leading and trailing edges of the top section of the rudder in the box area to get a good climb out of the water as well as keep it from dragging along the beach.

Thoughts?

Side bar scales Fun Factor and Money Spent are totalled and explained

So on the left of the blog I have the "Fun Factor" and the "Money Spent" list.

I have totaled them up today in a completely unscientific fashion that will mystify some if they attempt to replicate my results, annoy others, or make others feel really really good about themselves.

First up, the Fun Factor.

Out of a possible of 240 points, building the Goat Island Skiff got 175 points, leaving it in the exclamation point (!) zone, but not as high as I would have liked to see it.  Overall the entire process was immensely satisfying, as it was emotional and frustrating.  On the whole since it averaged out in the 7! zone, it was fun.  But not FUN!  Thats OK.  Stuff doesnt have to be fun all the time to be rewarding, and the fun Im going to get out of this boat over the next few years will far overshadow any kind of frustration from the past year.  The learning curve aspect is also not included in the Fun Factor, and this is a shame, because I went into this project knowing absolutely nothing at all about boat building, and came out actually a lot more knowledgeable than I thought I would have.  This is a good thing.  Learning is good.  Look at some of my previous posts like this one to see how far Ive really come.  I mean, wow.  So in summary, the boat was fun to build, but it was fun like going to college was fun, the sex and the beer but also the exams and the papers and the thesis, but then feeling good afterwards!  So fun.

Second up, Money Spent.

Ok, this list is fraught with conservatism that does not reflect my situation in the least.  It was my honest attempt to track every penny I spent on this boat, but that went out the window fairly quickly.  I have compiled, therefor, a list of the materials as I mostly originally spent on them.  For instance, I got three deckplates for relatively cheap.  Well, they were cheap.  So they got upgraded to more expensive deckplates.  This upgrade is not reflected in the list.  There are other products like this also in place.

Im sorry about that, but the list in "Money Spent" is probably, by far, the LOWEST you could possibly spend, buying crappy deckplates and such.  Ive already upgraded much of the line in the boat, bought useless line, bought tons of hardware that mysteriously didnt get used, amongst other issues.  Therefor, a more realistic target for me, is the $3500+ number.

I will say:  The glue is accurate, the lumber is accurate, the paint, primer, varnish are accurate, as well as the sail (minus modifications).

So there you have it for comparison purposes on your own Goat Island Skiff project. 

Knees are fitted

Enough said! Big day mentally, for this build. This was a step I was really looking forward to finishing. I feel like the hull is basically complete, besides the millions of little things. Structurally, shes sound. I like that.




The bow knee/breasthook took two tries, but I am happy with it. The plans call for the stem to be basically 19mm below the top of the ply, and the breasthook will slip over the top of it. My stem comes right to the top (my mistake) so Im butting it up against the back end. The fit is not super tight, but close enough to be filled with a little epoxy. The rest of the fit is really nice.

The stern knees also took a few tries and were a little trickier, I thought, due to the cut-out for for the inwale and the bevels needed to accommodate the sides and the transom.


Heres what I wrote to my compatriot in Sacramento about making the stern knees.


1. First I traced the corner before I installed the inwale spacer or the inwale. If you didnt do this, dont despair, make something up.

2. Bevel the Transom-side FIRST before making any cuts to accomodate the inwale. This way, you will have it appropriately sized before you cut the space for the inwale. This is what I did not do my first time around, and when I beveled Transom-side the whole knee slid back, creating a gap aft of the inwale.

3. Measure the cut you need for the inwale

4. Cut space for inwale.

5. Bevel Side-side. Then, eyeball the inside of the cut, it will be the same bevel. I used my dremel drum sander, and chiselled out the corner, carefully.

Tight DF is a bitch to plane/bevel.

Good luck. Make sure you can make a few of them if need be, materials wise.

See better pictures here.

Sail modifications

My Goat Island Skiff is now without power, since I sent the sail back to Texas to be modified.

The designer of the boat (Storer) and the sailmaker came to the conclusion that the sail has been mistakenly cut wrong.  This conclusion was reached well over a month ago while I was trying to figure out how to get rid of all those wrinkles in the sail.  See this post.  The foot needs some adjustment, and the throat-head-peak area needs to be a little fuller.  Thats OK, things happen, Im not sweating it, I still managed to get in many exciting days of sailing.  I think Im around 20 or more now.

Duckworks has been extremely apologetic, prompt, and polite about the whole thing, and the sail should be in Texas now as I type.  I was able to send it back at my convenience, and they accommodated me on my own schedule.  Hopefully itll be back next week, and the sailing adventures will continue!  Stay tuned!

Too bad, Im missing out on a great day today!

Rudder and daggerboard ready to be shaped mast lumber!

Today was a surprisingly uneventful day in the my personal Goat Island Skiff world.  Ive been stumbling around lately trying to get traction on a number of projects, some held up by other projects that needed to be completed.  Two large steps forward happened today.

First:  I wandered into Goose Bay Lumber haphazardly and found 4 pieces of 20 x1x4 finished Douglas Fir boards.  All of them were straight, maybe three knots in the bunch, and relatively nice straight grain to boot.  Just four, all four were good, I grabbed them.  These will be my mast that powers my vessel.  I had them cut to 15 8", since the mast is just a smidge over 15 6" tall, this gives me an inch of "oof" space.  Also, they had a 15" planer, I had my daggerboard, and we fed it into the mouth of the machine.  It spit it out a little thinner, and nice and smooth on one side.  The planer was not a precision machine, and while I can lose 0.75mm, Id rather do that by hand than take out a huge chunk or something.  But it helped.

Second:  I called my bro-in-law and he was home, with his 13" planer.  I strapped my mast bits onto the roof of my sedan in a fashion that screamed "I will impale the person in front of me if you rear-end me" and roared up the interstate to the second planer.  In short order I planed my rudder down to the requisite 22mm and it came out amazing.  Then, away I planed my mast stock down to the 1/2" it needs to be.  Back on the roof with a little less mass and a little more wobbliness and back to my garage where I trimmed the trailing edge of my blades and got them ready for shaping.

 

Heres my mast stock. Hmmmm Hmmm delicious stock.

 

So I need to shape the rudder, to make the rudder box, so I can install the rudder hardware to the boat, so I can finally glue down the rear seat.  Then, daggerboard so I can glue down the centercase.  Then, make the mast, make some spars, and then I can start finishing my boat.  One day, one step, at a time.