After many months of lurking and commenting on the Michael Storer Wooden Boat Plans forum, it’s time for me to jump into the party and start to build my own Storer Boat. The object of my obsession has been the lovely Goat Island Skiff designed by Australia's own Michael Storer (aka MIK). (Lot's of great photos here.)
But building a wooden boat is not crazy enough for me. I want to build the boat AND make the sail. Part of that is to be economical, but really… I just want to do it. I’ve read Emiliano Marino’s The Sailmaker’s Apprentice. I’ve studied the various pics of Goats in EUR, AUS and USA and noted details where they differ. And I know there’s at least one forum contributor that made his own lugs’l. Plus, the cold weather is setting in here (the US Northeast) and I’m pretty sure that I won’t be mixing epoxy for many months; sail making sounds like a good cold weather pastime. I also seem to recall someone posting that having his sail ready and waiting made building the boat go quicker.
My plan calls for some traditional touches and some actual hand sewing. But MIK’s design philosophy has been to combine traditional aesthetics with modern materials and techniques. I will continue in that vein; no cotton here. In fact, my lugs’l will begin its life on a computer screen. I have played around with the free software SailcutCAD and I think I’ve got the hang of it. I understand how its outputs relate to traditional lofting techniques and broadseam development. I think it will be great to use this blog and the above mentioned forum as a sounding board, then take the feedback and make tweaks in Sailcut.
Wish me luck!
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