Behold the Fold

This weekend was the first time I've been able to assemble Shan Skailyn since I installed its hefty iako hinges some time ago. Works like a charm! That'll come in super handy.

Thought I'd throw in a picture of my 'land crew'; youngsters from the area who were all too pleased to help with the assembly process. Note the reefed sail. I've got the sail and rigging completely done now. The whole thing can be reefed in just a few minutes with relative ease. Same for the reverse.

This composite photo is my attempt to overcome the difficulties of sending pictures over email. Our HF radio system doesn't handle multiple pictures well. So maybe it'll handle this better.

In Pieces

Shan Skailyn's hull is made to disassemble into three 8' sections for storage in smaller spaces.

All assembled... again

I've had Shan Skailyn set up out on our little helicopter pad for the last couple weeks. I just needed to have it assembled for a while so I could check some details that I otherwise would have a hard time checking. With the heavy rain we get I just kept it under a tarp until I would work on it on the weekend. I also made the discovery that both my ama sections are leaking somewhere! Ughhhh! I've checked them over for any bad joints... nothing. I'm pretty sure it's just the inspection ports. Gary recommended I grease around the o-ring seal. Will have to do that and set back out in the rain to see what happens.

Saturday morning I disassembled the whole thing again and moved all the parts into our little office building where I store it here in Mibu. Now that I have everything built, I'd really like to weigh everything and get a total rigged weight. Really curious what that is. Will post when I do end up doing that.

Really the only difference in these pictures is that I have Shan Skailyn's hiking seats installed. I took a number of other photos of details that I'll post throughout the week. So stay tuned.

Raise the Sail

Ugghhh, our email system keeps butching my emails... Trying again

Today was an exciting day! For the first time ever I got to see how Shan Skailyn's rigging is all going to work out. Raise that sail!

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Primer all done

Okay, let's try this email thing again. For some reason it seems incapable of delivering an email with its attachments. This is the message that was supposed to go with the last two pix.

Got Shan Skailyn's iakos (crossbeams) and both ama sections (the outrigger float) painted with primer today. Not just one coat, but three... all in one slam bam morning working in the warm sun. The stuff was drying fast enough that once I finished putting a coat on the other pieces, the first piece was ready to sand and coat again. So just busted it all out today. Next step will be to put the top coat on everything.

At little odd times here and there through the week I managed to put the strip of fiberglass over the keel line of the ama as well as the reinforcing wraps around the end of the crossbeams where the ama struts mount and exert lots of forces that threaten splitting the beams.

Really the only thing left to paint will be the motor mounting bracket which I have yet to build. For the motor mount, I'm seriously thinking about deviating a bit from Gary's plans and lashing the thing on the crossbeam, rather than using a bolting assembly. I figure if I modify the design just a touch so that the sides, instead of just resting flat under the crossbeam, are built up a couple inches higher and then given cutouts into which the the crossbeam sits snugly, then some nice tight lashing should hold the thing quite well. Can anyone with experience tell me if this is folly? After assembling Shan Skailyn the other day and seeing just how amazingly strong those lashings are, I figure with the proper modifications the motor mount could be installed the same way (still using Gary's recommending anti-torqueing line of course).

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Seeing it all come together

We have the pleasure of a visit from our helicopter pilot, Mike, and his family this weekend. Coming in with them and with the helicopter today we got our supplies in... including our mail... which also includes the hex nuts that I've been anxiously awaiting for the bolts to connect the hull pieces together. I can finally assemble the hull!
Mike and I spent the afternoon putting all of Shan Skailyn's pieces together to see just how everything is looking so far. Such an awesome feeling to see all that come together!
Everything fit the way it was supposed to. That's a good sign! I was surprised at how strong those lashings actually are, joining the iakos (cross beams) to the hull. One helpful piece of information for anyone ordering parts for a similar project is that each lashing point on the iako to hull connection takes about 9 feet of small diameter rope. In my ignorance, I had only planned and purchased enough for one meter on each lashing point. By the time we had joined everything together, including the ama to iako connections, I had very little left of the mere 65 feet of rope I had purchased. Gonna have to buy more.
There was a lot of interest generated among our kids and the many Mibu kids that were up playing in the area as they saw this oddball project come together in this place with nowhere to sail!
Mike and I also took this chance to talk about how things will have to work out when the helicopter that you see in the background carries all this 12 miles out to the coast sometime next year for its maiden voyage.

Ama Complete! (well, nearly)

I finished Shan Skailyn's ama this weekend! Also finished the iakos (crossbeams). Ama pix in this post. Iakos will be in another since our email system seems more likely to butch things up with more attachments.
For the ama, I went with Gary's advice and filled them with styrofoam. Don't ask where we got that much styrofoam out in the middle of the bush... we just have it. I filled each section to the max. Will help me feel better about any potential leaks sprung while enjoying God's great big ocean!
The stitch and tape job (oh, that reminds me, I've yet to 'tape' the whole keel joint) went well. Never done that before. Definitely takes some fussing with to get things right though. I'm also really pleased with how the ama struts turned out. I was wondering if I might screw something up there. But everything fit and my double and triple checks reveal that all is well. Pretty sure I got all my angles right too. Nothing backwards or otherwise messed up. Whew!
Not a whole lot else to say except, "Bring on the paint!" Realistically, it'll be a couple more weekends before I get to that as there is a lot of preparatory stuff that needs to happen first (ie. fairing and sanding the fiberglass bottoms and then sanding the entire hull).

Beginnings of iakos and ama

Lots of little details that need working on lately. Most of my efforts last weekend went into the ama and the iakos. Along with those, I've also been working on the solid wood stub mast as well as it's mast step (the step with the square hole). Next to that you'll see the mast step for the luff spar (the step with the round dish carved into it. Saw the idea for that one mentioned somewhere by Gary on his website. This seems like a reasonably simple way to make a universal joint for the luff spar when you don't have access to windsurfing supplies. The base of the spar, which will have a rope passing through it, will sit in the cup, with the rope passing through that. With the rope pulled and fastened tightly on the other end, it will provide a great universal joint. And it should be easy and quick to drop the sail if needed. Just loosen the halyard and the rope passing through this mast step and the whole thing comes down.
Should be ready to finish gluing up the ama and the second iako this weekend sometime.

All cut up

Finished cutting the rest of the plywood pieces today. Not much to say about that except that's all I can do for now till I get back into Mibu where we live and have all the rest of my lumber available to work with.