Trailer Made

We've been out here in Madang for the last week now. I've only managed to actually sail Shan Skailyn once yet. Though most of that was because of the fact that I didn't yet have a trailer to get it down to the water. That's not to say Shan Skailyn hasn't been out on the water though. We've been out paddling quite a few times with the kids and our friends and their kids. It's fun but this boat is definitely not a good paddling canoe. I've found though that if you get the weight distribution just right it can be much easier. But that's not what this post is about... and don't think sailing has gone by the wayside either. We've sailed once and I'm planning on milking it this weekend now that I can take the trailer out by myself instead of enlisting at least 3 others to help carry.

Here are the pix of the trailer being built... and of course, the final product. The axle is provided by a junked golf cart I found from which I cut out the chassis. Just welded up a suitable frame for the boat and then welded that on top of the chassis. You might notice the welder not wearing a mask... no joke! He says he's been welding since '85 and just shuts his eyes before it lights up. He's gotta have some damage to his retina, I'd think!

I took it in the water today... again with the kids begging to go out... so we just paddled. I'm not sure I want to take my young kids out sailing until I get some confidence on the water being the only one manning things. So when the kids really want to go we just paddle. They love it. We had 3 adults and 5 kids in it yesterday! Anyway, today we took Shan Skailyn out using the trailer for the first time. Kind of a messy ordeal; one I hope to make a little more graceful tomorrow. Today the only way I could get that thing in the water was to lower the trailer into the water, axle, differential and flywheel (left over from the golf cart) and everything. So now I'm really worried about rust. I've been told by friends if I want the trailer to last, not to put it in that salt water. Blew that one today! Hopefully tomorrow's attempt will have me figuring out a better way.

You might be wondering about the folding iakos and how I deal with that. One word... acrobatics! Actually it's not that difficult, but must be very clumsy looking to monohull enculturated onlookers. Once the trailer is in position, I have to unfold and pin the iakos so the ama is in the fully extended position. It doesn't take very much at all to keep the boat from tipping out of it's trailer. But then the acrobatics. I have to somehow, while keeping the boat from tipping out of the trailer, manage to slide it off its trailer and into the water. Today's attempt was too messy to say it's easily doable, but time and necessity usually provide a way.

I won't leave you hanging for too long on the sailing pix and update. Just that my only sailing so far was short and very calm and uneventful. And I've not had much time to just sit and write yet. Sail first... then when our little vacation is over I should get some time to post more.

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.

Hinged Crossbeam

Today was one of those moments in Shan Skailyn's construction that I've been waiting for a long time! I got the crossbeam hinges mounted!

It was a scary thing to cut into the crossbeams knowing there was no turning back after starting with that. Since I originally had not planned on these hinges, the crossbeam section needed some modification to make it work. I had to chisel out the old spacer block after cutting the crossbeam. Where the hinges had to go just happened to be right where one of spacer blocks was put for spacing between the two stringers. That block, had it been big enough to take the hinge bolts would have been perfect. But alas it wasn't to be. So I had to carefully chisel that out, then dress up a new block that had the length that would be needed to properly secure the hinge. All that went surprisingly well. When installing the hinges the fit was just tight enough that I had to lube up the crossbeam to be able to get the hinge on. I chose to do that with epoxy so as to seal it all up and keep moisture from doing damage to the wood underneath the stainless steel. The fit was still tight enough that I still had to pound the things into place. But it wasn't so tight that it shaved any wood off or otherwise destroyed anything. In other words... perfect! Each hinge side has 4 flush mount machine screws that are epoxy bonded into the now solid wood core of the beam. Sometime after the epoxy completely hardens I'll clean up around the edges and touch up with some paint. What started out as kind of a scary project has turned out to be well worth it. These hinges are very stout... probably quite a bit stronger than they need to be. But better safe than sorry! One more good thing I noticed is that there is no room for any rattling in the hinges. Everything is tight fitting which should minimize annoying sounds while sailing.

The finished crossbeam hinge

Tadaaaa! The hinges are finally finished! Can't wait to get them back to Mibu and make the modifications to mount them.

Special thanks to Jim Ellis at Credence Engineering (http://credenceeinc.com/) for giving so much time and effort and resources to make these for me and consider it a donation. Wow! So extremely grateful!

Crossbeam Hinge Saga continued

Things are coming together nicely on the crossbeam hinges. I'm super thankful for my friend, Jim Ellis, at Credence Engineering for offering to do all this for me at no cost. He's put a lot into this and I just can't appreciate it enough! So I'm doing some of the manual cleanup of these parts with files and a buffing wheel. Also made this wood block (in pic) so that the pieces can be clamped together square and then welded. Still got a few hours of work left before Jim's ready to weld the pieces. Seeing it all come together, I'm certain this is going to be a solid hinge and will be worth it's weight in gold when transporting Shan Skailyn.

Folding iako hinge in the making

My friend emailed me these photos today of the hinge parts having been cut. Awesome! Can you guess what these were cut with? W A T E R ! ! Yeah, these were cut out of 1/8" stainless steel with a water jet!

Folding iakos (crossbeam) hinges

I worked together with a machinist friend of mine to design this hinge for a folding iakos conversion. Obviously the design originated with Gary Dierking's as seen on his Va'a Motu. Thought we'd beef it up a bit and make it a complete box construction. Not sure when they'll be ready, but I'm quite excited to see the real thing and get it installed on Shan Skailyn!