Finally, I'm back to my little boat project.
As you can see it's under a tarp. I know the boat is waterproof because the tarp had blow away in a thunderstorm. I had to take a bucket and bail the water out of the hull. The tarp is better secured this time around.
I had a few hours to make a little progress on it. Now that the framework is in place, I can fasten the plywood for the cabin roof.
After that I'm going to be going off the plans and modifying the boat for my own needs. There will be more foot room in the cabin and a bigger rowing seat. That will come at the expense of a slightly smaller cockpit.
The plans called for centerboard, but I'm going with leeboards instead. I don't want to cut a hole in the bottom of the hull. I worked too hard to make it solid. At any rate, leeboards should work better in shallow water. A different type of rudder might also be in order.
For now, I'll be going with the original mast and sails. It's a real temptation to set this up with a junk rig, but balanced lug should work just as well.
It's been a real pleasure to do a little wood butchery once more. The boat is built tougher than the original Ooze Goose plans. The bottom of the hull is thicker and covered in fiberglass. The boat will weigh a bit more because of the heavy duty construction, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. With boats, everything has trade offs.
-Sixbears
Thanks for the update - was wondering about your project.
ReplyDeleteIt's been siting too long. I'm glad to finally have the chance to work on it again.
DeleteSo what would you do with the rudder; make it longer but shallower?
ReplyDeleteI'd like one that kicks up easier than the one in the design. There have been some people who claim the original design is a bit undersized too.
ReplyDelete"... With boats, everything has trade offs."
ReplyDeleteLife too!
True enough
DeleteI haven't been reading your blog long, so I wonder do you have somewhere to sail it? Do you live near a lake, or at the beach? We have lakes here but most are too narrow to sail in. I sold my sailboat when I moved here.
ReplyDeleteWhere's your area so I can avoid moving there. :)
DeleteI live on a small lake and have my Oday 19 anchored off my beach right now. There are some big lakes near me that are good sailing.
Last winter we spent 10 weeks on the boat sailing the Gulf Coast of FL down to the Keys. I blogged about it so there's a lot of photos in the archives if you are interested.
I live in the North Georgia mountains. All the lakes here are man made and are primarily old river courses between mountains that were dammed up in the 30's. So you have high mountains on both sides and very narrow lakes for the most part. Not good sailing. Nice for pontoon and houseboats though. I saw some of your sailing posts, that would have been a good time. I lived on the intercoastal waterway for a year, used to watch the sailboats going up and down it.
ReplyDeleteI've driven through the area. Would not care to struggle with sails there.
DeleteWe had a blast sailing last winter. I miss it.
When you lived on the ICW, you must have seen a lot of interesting craft go by.