So I've had a small list of things I've been wanting to write about for some time here. They're just little details about construction and/or materials that I thought some would appreciate hearing about as they make considerations about building.
First is regarding my decision to use bamboo. If you get the right kind, I've heard it can be rock solid. I think I got the right kind because our spars held up wonderfully in some intense winds. I inspected the spars after our 7 days traveling and there were no splits or anything else that concerned me. The only problem I noticed was that the fiberglass wrap I put at the boom jaw end of the spar had a little bit of delamination going on; just a bit. I'm not concerned about it now, but will keep an eye on it. Other than that, no problems.
Next, I wasn't particularly pleased with how the titebond III held up. All 4 of my paddles, and my steering oar were made using it. I'm well aware of the need for high clamping pressure with wood glue. I clamped the bejeebers out of everything I used wood glue on. Admittedly still, it's a difficult thing to get your clamping all right with that many joints. Anyway, one of my bent shaft paddles started to delam on our trip. It was right in the bends of the handle after a few days on the water. Glad I made an extra. I also noticed in a couple spots on the steering oar (along the handle) that it looks like some small bits are delaminating. I think it'll hold up for a good while still, but I don't like that any glue joint even starts to come undone. Looking back, what with all the work it takes to make this stuff, just do it right and use epoxy for anything that's going to see that much water exposure.
I liked how our rudder worked, until it got all spongy on us. Turns out that plywood is not a great thing to use to make the pivot attachment point for Gary's kick up rudder. I mentioned the problem on the outrigger and proa thread and Gary recommended sandwiching a thinner plywood with 1/8" or so aluminum on either side. That pivot point has got to be pretty stiff and strong to work well. In slower conditions, the plywood alone worked well enough, but when we'd get moving, the weakness of the plywood shone through as the rudder assembly would begin to flex out from the force, thus rending the boat difficult to control. Not good.
I never did have a problem with the leeboard kicking up just from the force of the water. And if you remember, I varied (per Gary's recommendation) from the plans in the book and just ran a piece of timber from gunwale to chine to stiffen the side under the seat, rather than build the bracket. That worked out well and we never had a problem with it. Thanks Gary!
I did, however have a fair bit of problem with the rudder kicking up under speed. But again, I think the problem had to do with the added drag of the flexing pivot assembly. Most of the time, if the thing was hand tightened enough, it would stay put quite well enough even under decent speed (before it started flexing on us).
When arrived at our destination and I was disassembling the boat, I noticed that right under the iako attachment points, especially on the port/ama side, the iakos had rubbed the paint right off and even wore a bit of an indentation into the plywood. Not so good. For anyone building a boat out there, I would plan on having something strong between the iako and the hull to minimize wear. I found some good strong rubber strips which I intend to install after touching up the worn spots on the boat next time we're out. It's the kind of rubber aircraft mechanics put on the leading edge of wings of say a small cessna to keep flying rocks and debris. This is a stiff enough and strong enough rubber to do the trick, I think. Time and use will tell.
Finally, I thought I'd comment on how the boat handled with 3 adults plus gear. You can see in the picture how much freeboard we had in calm water. (Sorry the quality isn't great. It's a screen shot from non-HD video footage) It wasn't a great deal of freeboard, but pretty good considering our total body weight was about 250kgs and our gear was probably about 40kgs. Surprisingly, even when conditions got rougher out there we had enough freeboard to feel pretty good about things even though the bow was burying more.
To be honest, now that we're back here in the bush, it's kind of depressing not to have the building project around anymore. Shan Skailyn is done and sailed. I miss having that up here to work on even though it makes no sense to have a boat up here. I hear Gary just released the plans for his Va'a Motu... Hmmmmm. Really though, I do find I have more of the time I need to take care of things around the house now!
