11-16-2009, 05:22 AM
Hi,
My name is Gianluigi and I live in North Italy near the widest and deepest Italian lake, Lago di Garda. I have a very basic sailboat experience (since now I took only two lesson when I applied for navigation licence), but I am a quite expert windsurfer, that remain absolutely my favourite water sport.
I started my Weekender construction at the end of March 2009. In this moment the external lower part (untill first rubrails) is ready and painted, the upper is fiberglassed while inside of the cabin and ofthe front bay there is still at raw wood state.
This is basically my first real boat contruction (last summer I built a âOne sheet Skiffâ just for training), therefore I have introduced very few modification to the original design.
One common variation is the employ of epoxy resin for fiberglassing.
Another quite usual personalization is in the rudder wheel set up. I maintained the wheel, but I made the rudder box detachable from the tiller (in order keep overall length shorter) and I found my way to make a âbetterâ tensioning system. When all this will be tested Iâll come back to you with some pictures.
I increased the cabin heigth (quite common, I think) and also the sides (not so common). I did this last simply because I had available larger plywood panels and I decided to keep the same waterline and to raise a little gunwales from the deck.
I built also a simple hollow mast. May original intention was to use a standard mast cut off from stock, but someone adviced my to cut the rough beam in two longitudinal parts and then to joint them upside-down. This would have preserved mast from natural deformations, being internal stresses counterbalanced.
Once I had the two halves at my sight I had the idea to take the router and to make a grove in both sides for the whole length. I donât really know if I will never need the channel inside, nor if it is now too weak (I used Douglas fir wood), but I did in this way.
In the last weeks I read in these forums about buoyancy.
I noted this potential problem since I saw drawings the first time. I thought to solve it by filling seats back with Cola and Mineral water PET bottles, but when time to close seats backs came (and after hundreds of bottles drinken) I decided else.
I could not rely on bottles that I could not inspect and that could be damaged by sun heat or by ice. I didnât want also to accept to hear loose bottles move around nor that their expansion cause some crack in the seats backs. So I threw them away and I opened two small windows in the cabin bulkhead that made spaces behind seats back visible for inspection an available for long parts, such as paddles, oars etc. . Being the access to these rooms from cabin, they maintain buoyancy until water fill the cabin, it is therefore much better than the âopen seat backâ configuration.
In this way the deck bottom remain accessible for future equipments bolting and, of course, for the splash coaming screwing that has recently troubled another member.
Unfortunately once deck and hull sides are attached to the bulkhead, these cuts become difficult, so I would suggest to include these windows in the original bulkhead drawing and to cut them soon, they can eventually be closed later bolting over two plywood lids.
Iâm therefore intentioned to preserve instead buoyancy by a buoyancy bag tied down behind the lazarete: The type used for Optimists seems to be suitable, but a small hauling roll is also OK and it can result useful in many other occasions.
The same I will probably do also in the forward bay, but Iâm not sure about, because Iâm considering to fill it with the cheap spray foam sold in department stores. I think that it is not completely suitable for this purpose, because it probably becomes a sponge after long lasting immersion, nevertheless in case of sudden capsizes it works well.
Regards
Gianluigi
My name is Gianluigi and I live in North Italy near the widest and deepest Italian lake, Lago di Garda. I have a very basic sailboat experience (since now I took only two lesson when I applied for navigation licence), but I am a quite expert windsurfer, that remain absolutely my favourite water sport.
I started my Weekender construction at the end of March 2009. In this moment the external lower part (untill first rubrails) is ready and painted, the upper is fiberglassed while inside of the cabin and ofthe front bay there is still at raw wood state.
This is basically my first real boat contruction (last summer I built a âOne sheet Skiffâ just for training), therefore I have introduced very few modification to the original design.
One common variation is the employ of epoxy resin for fiberglassing.
Another quite usual personalization is in the rudder wheel set up. I maintained the wheel, but I made the rudder box detachable from the tiller (in order keep overall length shorter) and I found my way to make a âbetterâ tensioning system. When all this will be tested Iâll come back to you with some pictures.
I increased the cabin heigth (quite common, I think) and also the sides (not so common). I did this last simply because I had available larger plywood panels and I decided to keep the same waterline and to raise a little gunwales from the deck.
I built also a simple hollow mast. May original intention was to use a standard mast cut off from stock, but someone adviced my to cut the rough beam in two longitudinal parts and then to joint them upside-down. This would have preserved mast from natural deformations, being internal stresses counterbalanced.
Once I had the two halves at my sight I had the idea to take the router and to make a grove in both sides for the whole length. I donât really know if I will never need the channel inside, nor if it is now too weak (I used Douglas fir wood), but I did in this way.
In the last weeks I read in these forums about buoyancy.
I noted this potential problem since I saw drawings the first time. I thought to solve it by filling seats back with Cola and Mineral water PET bottles, but when time to close seats backs came (and after hundreds of bottles drinken) I decided else.
I could not rely on bottles that I could not inspect and that could be damaged by sun heat or by ice. I didnât want also to accept to hear loose bottles move around nor that their expansion cause some crack in the seats backs. So I threw them away and I opened two small windows in the cabin bulkhead that made spaces behind seats back visible for inspection an available for long parts, such as paddles, oars etc. . Being the access to these rooms from cabin, they maintain buoyancy until water fill the cabin, it is therefore much better than the âopen seat backâ configuration.
In this way the deck bottom remain accessible for future equipments bolting and, of course, for the splash coaming screwing that has recently troubled another member.
Unfortunately once deck and hull sides are attached to the bulkhead, these cuts become difficult, so I would suggest to include these windows in the original bulkhead drawing and to cut them soon, they can eventually be closed later bolting over two plywood lids.
Iâm therefore intentioned to preserve instead buoyancy by a buoyancy bag tied down behind the lazarete: The type used for Optimists seems to be suitable, but a small hauling roll is also OK and it can result useful in many other occasions.
The same I will probably do also in the forward bay, but Iâm not sure about, because Iâm considering to fill it with the cheap spray foam sold in department stores. I think that it is not completely suitable for this purpose, because it probably becomes a sponge after long lasting immersion, nevertheless in case of sudden capsizes it works well.
Regards
Gianluigi