Build Your Own Sailboat. STEEL. FIBERGLASS. TIMBER

1095 Pages·2008·23.65 MB·English

by  Bruce Roberts

BUILD YOUR
OWN SAILBOAT
STEEL . FIBERGLASS. TIMBER
CHAPTER 1.
HHHHHiiiiissssstttttooooorrrrryyyyy ooooofffff CCCCCrrrrruuuuuiiiiisssssiiiiinnnnnggggg SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllllbbbbboooooaaaaatttttsssss
CHAPTER 2.
BBBBBuuuuudddddgggggeeeeetttttsssss &&&&& PPPPPlllllaaaaannnnnnnnnniiiiinnnnnggggg
CHAPTER 3
CCCCChhhhhoooooooooosssssiiiiinnnnnggggg ttttthhhhheeeee HHHHHuuuuullllllllll
CHAPTER 4.
DDDDDeeeeeccccckkkkksssss aaaaannnnnddddd SSSSSuuuuupppppeeeeerrrrrssssstttttrrrrruuuuuccccctttttuuuuurrrrreeeeesssss
CHAPTER 5.
RRRRRiiiiigggggsssss aaaaannnnnddddd SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllll PPPPPlllllaaaaannnnnsssss
CHAPTER 6.
CCCCChhhhhoooooooooosssssiiiiinnnnnggggg aaaaa BBBBBuuuuuiiiiillllldddddiiiiinnnnnggggg SSSSSiiiiittttteeeee.....
CHAPTER 7.
BBBBBuuuuuiiiiillllldddddiiiiinnnnnggggg iiiiinnnnn WWWWWOOOOOOOOOODDDDD
CHAPTER 8.
BBBBBuuuuuiiiiillllldddddiiiiinnnnnggggg iiiiinnnnn FFFFFIIIIIBBBBBEEEEERRRRRGGGGGLLLLLAAAAASSSSSSSSSS
CHAPTER 9.
BBBBBuuuuuiiiiillllldddddiiiiinnnnnggggg iiiiinnnnn MMMMMEEEEETTTTTAAAAALLLLL
CHAPTER 10.
SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllllbbbbboooooaaaaattttt EEEEEnnnnngggggiiiiinnnnneeeeeeeeeerrrrriiiiinnnnnggggg
CHAPTER 11.
SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllllbbbbboooooaaaaattttt EEEEEllllleeeeeccccctttttrrrrriiiiicccccsssss
CHAPTER 12.
SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllllbbbbboooooaaaaattttt IIIIInnnnnttttteeeeerrrrriiiiiooooorrrrrsssss
CHAPTER 13.
SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllllbbbbboooooaaaaatttttsssss 1111199999fffffttttt tttttooooo 3333300000fffffttttt
CHAPTER 14.
SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllllbbbbboooooaaaaatttttsssss 3333311111fffffttttt tttttooooo 4444400000fffffttttt
CHAPTER 15.
SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllllbbbbboooooaaaaatttttsssss 4444411111fffffttttt tttttooooo 5555500000fffffttttt
CHAPTER 16.
SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllllbbbbboooooaaaaatttttsssss 5555511111fffffttttt tttttooooo 6666600000fffffttttt
CHAPTER 17.
SSSSSaaaaaiiiiilllllbbbbboooooaaaaatttttsssss 6666611111fffffttttt tttttooooo 8888800000fffffttttt
CHAPTER 18.
WWWWWhhhhhaaaaattttt iiiiisssss aaaaa SSSSSppppprrrrraaaaayyyyy
CHAPTER 19.
SSSSSppppprrrrraaaaayyyyy 2222222222,,,,, 2222277777 ,,,,,2222288888
CHAPTER 20.
SSSSSppppprrrrraaaaayyyyy 3333333333,,,,, 3333366666 ,,,,,3333388888,,,,, 4444400000,,,,, 5555555555
CHAPTER 21.
CCCCCeeeeennnnnttttt..... SSSSSppppprrrrraaaaayyyyy 3333344444,,,,, 3333366666 ,,,,,3333388888,,,,, 4444455555,,,,, 5555500000
CHAPTER 22.
SSSSSppppprrrrraaaaayyyyy 333334444400000,,,,, 333337777700000,,,,, 444440000000000,,,,, 444446666600000,,,,, 5555522222,,,,, 5555588888
CHAPTER 23.
SSSSSaaaaafffffeeeeetttttyyyyy
CHAPTER 24.
GGGGGrrrrrooooouuuuunnnnnddddd TTTTTaaaaaccccckkkkkllllleeeee
INTRODUCTION &
Introduction &
Acknowledgements
Firstly let me apologise / apologize for the ‘Trans-Atlantic’ spelling in this
book ! Having lived many years in the US, being of Australian origin and
having finally settling in Europe; one may understand that when it comes to
spelling I use a ‘mix’ which causes the editors of my printed books to give me
a lot of stick ! Also as this e-book will be read on both sides of the Atlantic and
across the Pacific, I could not quite decide which of the main spelling choices
I should use. I hope you will enjoy reading BUILD YOUR OWN SAILBOAT as
much as I have enjoyed collecting the material from my correspondents who
as you will see are
sailboat owners
themselves and have
made a massive
contribution to this book.
Where to start! So many
people have contributed
so much; if your name
or perhaps a photo of
your boat appears
within these pages; you
are one of thousands of
sailboat owners &
builders who have
helped to make this
book possible; my
thanks to you all.
Special thanks are due
to the following people:
to my wife Gwenda, who
has supported me in my
work for forty years; to
Andrew Slorach, my
long-standing associate;
Edgar van Smaalen my
partner in Holland, to George Love, my boatbuilding mentor; to the editors of
all the boating magazines worldwide who published notices that helped me
collect the details of so many of my boatbuilding projects; to David Sinnett-
Jones, the circumnavigator who encouraged me when I was starting this
manuscript; to Philip Sheaf who assisted in collecting the material.
This book is written for those who are still undecided as to which boatbuilding
method and or material they would use to build their next boat. The word
‘build’ is meant to cover a boat you totally or partially build yourself or have
totally or partially professionally built by others.
My own exposure to custom boatbuilding began in the early 1960s when,
after purchasing a boatyard as an investment. I decided through choice and
circumstances, to take a more ‘hands on’ approach to protect my
investment.The latter involved serving a five year informal apprentership (after
all I was the boss) under three great boatbuilders: George Love, a wonderful
old time boatbuilder, Barry Long, who had served a long apprentership & had
considerable experience in all aspects of his craft, and finally Len Freestone,
a pioneering fibreglass boatbuilder who had immigrated from the UK to
Australia and brought his considerable skills with him.
My next step was to enroll on the US-based Westlawn Yacht Design course.
As with many things in life, my decision to study further was caused by a trick
of fate when a so-called ‘expert’ we hired to design a boat for our yard made
a mess of the job, so I decided some in-house expertise was needed.Thus
began my yacht design career over all those years ago.
Experience in plywood and timber boat construction using the cold moulding
technique was soon followed by the introduction of fibreglass boatbuilding
methods. During the early 1970s when the oil crisis at the time made the
supply of fibreglass resins doubtful at best,
I explored steel construction methods by visiting Holland and spending
considerable time in the local boatyards. Fortunately the Dutch are very
forthcoming when it comes to sharing their knowledge and I was able to
quickly grasp the finer points of this boatbuilding technique. Now, over 30
odd years and 35,000 boats later, I am pleased to share my boatbuilding
knowledge with you.
Bruce Roberts-Goodson. www.bruceroberts.com
CCCCCHHHHHAAAAAPPPPPTTTTTEEEEERRRRR 11111.....
HHHHHIIIIISSSSSTTTTTOOOOORRRRRYYYYY OOOOOFFFFF OOOOOFFFFF CCCCCRRRRRUUUUUIIIIISSSSSIIIIINNNNNGGGGG SSSSSAAAAAIIIIILLLLLBBBBBOOOOOAAAAATTTTTSSSSS
First a little history. In my opinion cruising as we understand it today - that is
long distance sailing in small boats for pleasure rather than for profit - began in
the late 1890’s. It all started when retired sea captain Joshua Slocum found
that he could not make a living out of the rebuilt former oyster dragger, the 36 ft
9 in (11.20 m) Spray. The record of Slocum’s rebuilding the Spray and his
subsequent adventures has inspired tens of thousands of people to cruise in
their own boats ever since he wrote his book Sailing Alone Around the World.
In 1962 a Brisbane yachtsman affectionately known locally as ‘Shotgun’ Spen-
cer presented me with a battered copy of Sailing alone around the world . E H
Spencer was a well-respected Brisbane businessman, who took his sailing very
seriously; so seriously that during one important yacht race when another com-
petitor did not obey the starboard rule, he showed his annoyance by diving
below and appearing on deck with his shotgun and firing both barrels across
the bows of the offending yacht. ‘Shotgun’ Spencer had certainly earned his
name. Barred from taking part in future races, he was something of a local hero
to the younger yachting fraternity. I would like to recount those early days when
I was in my twenties and had just learned to sail in one of Australia’s skiff
classes. The Australian 18ft [5.5m] skiff, is an open boat with a veritable cloud
of sail. The 18 footers have a smaller sister, the 12ft [3.6m] skiff. This design is
still raced, and is an open boat with an oversized sail plan. The whole arrange-
ment is only kept upright by the
weight and tenacity of a crew
of four; kept busy, especially
the bailer person, whose job it
is to remove the water that of-
ten flows over the gunwale.
Our 12 foot skiff was named
Desire and had been raced in
Sydney and won a national
championship, but, as hap-
pens with many fine boats, she
was in sad shape by the time
the hull came into my hands.
The rig was unrestricted, so
Desire was fitted with the com-
plete rig, formerly used on Reg
DESIRE our 12 ft skiff with sliding gunter rig.
Lipke’s race winning, 16ft
[4.9m] skiff. Re-
membering that the
hull was 12ft [3.6m]
long, the dimen-
sions of the rig
make interesting
reading; mast 27ft
[8.2m], boom 14ft
[4.3m] bowsprit 8ft
[2.4m] and the spin-
naker required a
three piece pole
measuring 20ft
[6.1m]. There was
no ballast, other
than that supplied
by the live and very
Here we see DESIRE with her new rig - Crew Bruce, Ian, Noel and Gwenda
active crew. After a
Roberts-Goodson as bailer girl, see white water going over the side !
stint of building and
racing multi-hulls, time was taken out of the boating industry to enable me to
study Naval Architecture. Soon after re-purchasing my old boat yard in partner-
ship with Andrew Slorach, I became reacquainted with the Spray when Charlie
Jupp and John Haskins walked into our office and by coincidence both ex-
pressed an interest in having Spray replicas built in fiberglass.
The stories of Joshua Slocum and his sloop Spray are standard reading for
any cruising yachtsman, and his book, makes fine reading. Over the past eighty
or so years, Sailing- Alone-Around-The-World has been the inspiration for many
of those who go to sea in small boats.
John Haskins, a Spray enthusiast approached our design office and as asked
if we could prepare plans for building a replica Spray in fiberglass. John had
already built a perfectly executed scale model of the boat and had incorporated
some small modifications that he felt would update and improve the vessel
without losing the concept of the original design. By some lucky coincidence
while we were considering John Haskins’s request, another yachtsman, Charlie
Jupp approached us with similar requirements. Charlie had just sailed an 8ft
draft [2.4m], narrow beam boat out from England to Australia. The experience
had convinced him that a shoal draft sailboat was better suited to his needs.
Charlie was already familiar with the Spray, and suggested that if our negotia-
tions with John Haskins came to fruition he would also like to build a Spray for
himself.
At about this time, we were fortunate in securing a copy of Ken Slack’s book In the Wake of
the Spray, which provided a wealth of information for our project. Ken, an Australian, had
included details not only of the original Spray, but had researched the twenty or so replicas or
copies that had been built since 1902. For those not already familiar with Joshua Slocum’s
Spray, perhaps this is a good time to recap some of the exploits of this fine boat, and to lay to
rest some misconceptions and half truths that have persisted about her over the past 90
years.
This rare photograph shows SPRAY off Sydney with Joshua Slocum and Sydney business man Mark
Foy. They are trying out the new set of sails that Foy had presented to Slocum. Photo courtesy Dr
Kenneth E Slack.
In 1892 at the age of 51, Joshua Slocum was given a decrepit sloop called Spray. and spent
the next two years rebuilding this vessel. He removed the centreboard and replaced nearly
every piece of timber in the hull, deck and superstructure. He sought to improve the seawor-
thiness by adding some freeboard, so that the boat would be better suited to the deep water
sailing he obviously had in mind. All the materials used in the reconstruction were collected
around Fairhaven, in Massachusetts, where Spray had lain in a field for several years. The
boat’s lineage is clear when one examines photographs of early examples of the North Sea
fishing boats that have worked off the coasts of several countries bordering that area; and
rumour has it that the Spray was over one hundred years old when she was given to Joshua
Slocum. There was a story that she had worked as an oyster dragger off the New England
coast. Joshua Slocum, a seaman with vast experience, must have recognised something of
the potential of his new acquisition, for otherwise he would not have invested two years of his
life in the total rebuilding of her. As it turned out, he could not have made a better choice.