Nice video, I restored a “Torch” dinghy last year for cruising, It takes a while to fit out , it has to be allowed to evolve. After a capsize on the first outing it got some extra buoyancy and a Steel center board, this was initially 10 mm thick but has since been replaced with a 6 mm, the difference was amazing , it gave me confidence in the stability of the boat . fair winds and good cruising
Thanks David, now that’s interesting. I sailed a new Wayfarer only a few days ago that has a lead weighted centre board and I was very surprised how much difference in ‘feel’ and stability it gave. I will be thinking about changing mine now assuming the casing will handle the extra weight. 👍
Thank You for taking the time to help others with your vid. After 2 years building my GP14 No.14282 and now finally adding the finishing touches to take my 3No. 4 year old grandchildren rowing and sailing it's good to see your set-up. I wish I'd seen your stirrup for climbing back on board earlier, simple but effective. My system involves a forward hook 2 fairleads and a rear single cheek block along with an amount of splicing. All this is mounted either side along the underside of the rubbing strip. Took a long time to sort out, where as yours is so simple. Also like various other installations which I will do like wise. Having no sailing experience as yet and no other nearby boats to glean from the internet is my friend. So Thank You
@@sailingskismo Hi. I cruise on a windsurf board ( 20 mile-ish ) with other old farts in Weymouth, Poole Harbour, Calshot/Solent, River Blackwater, Round Mersea Island and once round Isle of Sheppey. But no Dinghy sailing as yet. The Dinghy is rigged mainly for cruising and safety and the only other GP14s I've seen were at this years Dinghy show. So all rigged for racing. I'm based in the Test Valley North of Romsey.
All these tips are excellent, yet still does not overcomplicate the way the boat is set up. The roller for the foresail is really interesting and must make life easier , as do the side stirrups for getting back in on the rare occasion it may capsize. These old GP14 boats are really good to buy and tailor exactly as you want them without breaking the bank. Thanks for all the tips. I wonder if you could maybe do a video with advice on the requirements for the launch trolley and trailer, particularly for the GRP hull, which I think needs good broad support?
Hi and thanks for watching, much appreciated. I’m glad the video was helpful. The trailer requirements is a great suggestion, one I hadn’t thought of. I shall add it to my list.
Congratulations! I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the boat, I’ve had Skismo for 7 years and I have another wooden one that I’ve had for over 20 years, great boat and is the perfect weight - size balance for me and the kind of sailing I do. 👍
Thanks for your full explanation of your cruising set up found it really useful. I have exactly the same Mark II GP14 and similar experience with the furler although only had it less than 2 years using a perspex triangle as separator. I found the front deck very weak by the mast so I epoxied an oak sampson post just in front of the mast to which I attach a grapnel anchor and a cleat on top of the deck which it supports. Want to do some day cruising but not over night like youl. This year have not have many sails as have had to repair storm damage tot he hull. Thanks again for the post.
Very comprehensive, I have much work before my first solo cruise! I like your priorities - it is too easy to concentrate on `nice -to-haves`. Also like your `everything tied down` approach for when/if you find yourself holding onto the centreboard ;) ps can you demonstrate sculling please? I am trying not to buy a petrol driven egg whisk, and my wayfarer is too wide for oars I am told. THANKS
I don't yet have a sculling video edited but I can recommend this one by Roger Barnes th-cam.com/video/kNbv9cxFFLk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3X0EK2FkTuJwuVSa. Thanks for watching :)
Thank you and thanks for watching. The GP14 association has a good, albeit small, cruising group and offer a handful of cruising events throughout the year. Where do you / would you sail?
@@sailingskismo it looks like my boat is older than thought. Circa 1970 if I’ve read the plate correctly. I’m based in the midlands but hope to take it all over, your trip to the Broads looked awesome 👌 definitely going to do an overnight in the summer.
It's funny, I just went back to a hankon "cruising jib" in place of the roller furled genny. Like you I could never get the luff tight enough, but I never considered a highfield lever to take the slack up. While I wish I could modify my boat as thoroughly as yours for cruising, mine is a 60 year old Series one with it's original wooden mast. I just do not wish to butcher all it's lovely wood work. I will be using some of your ideas though, they have given me a few thoughts to make mine just that bit nicer.
A lot has been thought of in this boat, I have seen many things that I will certainly use. But what about visiting the toilet? Officially you are not allowed to discharge it into the water surface and I don't see any chemical toilets or something like that.
Hi, thanks for watching 🤓 That’s a great question. Going to the toilet is a bit of an awkward subject but I do have a solution and it doesn’t involve ‘dirtying’ the water around me. I use what’s called a bivvy loo, it’s a collapsible seat with a poo bag inside. When done, you can tie the bag ( like you would with a dog poo bag ) and stow it ( carefully! ) until you get to land where you can dispose of it sensibly. For a No.1 I must admit I use the centreboard casing.
After practice capsize I found my stirrup rope wasn't long enough to grab and pull on to right the boat. Have you tried a practice capsize? I'm thinking a knotted rope spooled up in a net bag and attached to the centreboard case. With a weighted tennis ball on the other end I can sling the ball over the gunwhales while the boat is on its beam ends. The theory being I then swim around the boat to the centreboard, grab the tenis ball and hoist myself onto the centreboard and bring the boat upright using the knots on the chord. Instead of stirrups I have slack lines running the length of the gunwhales. I can attach a tether with a rated carabina one end to the slack line the other end to my safety harness, when sailing alone a lifeline is always a good idea. The slack lines are slack enough to use as stirrups and are grabable along the entire length of the boat. I sail with the slack lines over the sides. My boat is Ye Olde Worlde ilur with a lug yawl rig, so ropes alongside don't look out of place. I've seen a navigator with shock chord lines under the exterior gunwhale lip. They look a bit smarter.
Thanks again Andy. Yes I have done a few capsizes, one in benign practice conditions and one for real in horrible conditions (let's not focus on that one! lol ) Being a very different boat to the Llur I can easily get mine righted from the hull side. You make a good point though for perhaps when I become less 'bendy' than I am currently. I do have a fixed stern mooring rope which is long enough to use as a means to get back on the centreboard if I find I'm struggling to do so. I like the weighted tennis ball idea, that's good.
Hi, and thanks for watching. The black line under the fenderliste ( gunwale ) is part of my boom tent set up which can be seen in my 8 days on a dinghy part one video. My boom tent has Velcro straps sewn into the bottom edge and those straps wrap around that black line and then back onto themselves to hold the boom tent lower edges down tight. 🤓
That black rope is quite tight and runs all the way round the boat just under the gunwale. It is what the velcro straps on my boom tent wrap around to hold the boom tent sides in place. :)
Thanks Andy, very kind. I do have a tiller impeder it’s just a different design to the huntingford one, uses no rope and doesn’t get in the way. I believe I may have omitted that from the video. I will get that sorted asap so I can show my method, which probably won’t work on all boats but once the principle is seen I’m sure it could be morphed into a working feature on any boat 🤷♂️
thanks for all the great info. much appreciated. id love to add the hardware for your oar stocks. might you share the position and oar lengths. in your liesure of course. thanks again.
Hi Bob. Took some measurements today. With a tape measure on the tip of the bow, and in a straight line to the side deck, the centre of the rowlock hole is exactly 3m from the bow. The rowlock socket is placed as close to the gunwale as possible, leaving enough room to fit a hardwood 25mm thick block underneath to help spread the weight. My oars are 7 feet 6 inches long. The GP14 association would recommend having longer oars no doubt but mine are what came with my original GP14 (still in the garage being tinkered with!) and they fit nicely inside the boat and they work very well for me at that length.
Yep! On mine there is a rope to raise and lock rudder blade in the raised position and then underneath the tiller arm is a bungee that holds the rudder blade down yet allows it lift if you hit the ground, or in my case this week, allow the accumulated weed to swim free in the wild 🤓
@@sailingskismo I'm seeing my halyard for main is fraying. If it were to snap. What is way of feeding new one through mast. Does it just get pushed through. Any help appreciated
@@jakedonnely4094 you could change it before it snaps, all you have to do then is tape new to old and feed it through. However, if your mast is like mine, then both halyards run up the same slot as your mainsail luff and it is very easy to run a new halyard using a thin bit of wire or metal or plastic. In fact there are many ways to run a new halyard. Once you have the mast down and laying on the ground you’ll figure a method out quite quickly because you can easily see what needs to go where.
@@sailingskismo thanks,. The other thing I wanted to ask you was about transom flaps. Mine are clear perspects with bungee cord pulling them in,. I'm only going to cruise mine very slowly. So was thinking of just fiberglassing the transom holes or glassing the perspects in then again over top of them. I've got self bailers anyway. Have u heard of people doing that? I've seen other dinghies with just a solid transom. That's what I'd prefer. Thanks for the help.
@@sailingskismo no worries, 2.5 it is then. Just for those times when no room to sail or room. GP 14 seem very highly thought of. So glad I went for this one
Nice setup Simon. Is it a Bourne plastics boat? That's what mine was and it looks the same. Does it have a little aluminium plate on the port side under the deck, high up? If it's fallen off (mine did) there will be a mark in the laminate. I'm going to have to do some of there mods on my boat.
Thanks Chris :) - I believe it is a Bourne Plastics boat although my plaque suggests otherwise, I must make a note of it. I've had it 5 years and yet can never remember what that plaque says! Nice to hear from you.
@@chrislee7817 Lakes were amazing as always, although someone switched off Summer and switched on Autumn at the start of our second week. Look out for my Coniston cooking video (coming soon!) :)
Good question and you will get many answers! The obvious observation is that if they are too short they will not function properly. If they are too long you will have harder 'purchase' on the water and they will take up more space both inside and outside the boat. Mine are just shy of 8 foot long and performance wise I would like them to be 8 foot. However, they do function well but they also fit nicely inside the boat without being 'in the way'. If they were any longer they would be 'in the way' for me and my set up. I use them also to skull and for that I wish they were 6 inch longer. So, in a wafflleish way of answering (or not) your question, approximately 8 foot, but then a bit shorter or a bit longer would also work. The longer they are the harder they will be to pull through the water though because the fulcrum will always be in the same place. The amount of oar inside the boat (from the rowlocks to just short of centreline) will always be the same (because thats where your hands will be! )
Nice video, I restored a “Torch” dinghy last year for cruising, It takes a while to fit out , it has to be allowed to evolve. After a capsize on the first outing it got some extra buoyancy and a Steel center board, this was initially 10 mm thick but has since been replaced with a 6 mm, the difference was amazing , it gave me confidence in the stability of the boat .
fair winds and good cruising
Thanks David, now that’s interesting. I sailed a new Wayfarer only a few days ago that has a lead weighted centre board and I was very surprised how much difference in ‘feel’ and stability it gave. I will be thinking about changing mine now assuming the casing will handle the extra weight. 👍
Thank You for taking the time to help others with your vid. After 2 years building my GP14 No.14282 and now finally adding the finishing touches to take my 3No. 4 year old grandchildren rowing and sailing it's good to see your set-up. I wish I'd seen your stirrup for climbing back on board earlier, simple but effective. My system involves a forward hook 2 fairleads and a rear single cheek block along with an amount of splicing. All this is mounted either side along the underside of the rubbing strip. Took a long time to sort out, where as yours is so simple. Also like various other installations which I will do like wise. Having no sailing experience as yet and no other nearby boats to glean from the internet is my friend. So Thank You
Hi and glad you liked the video. Where in the world are you? And where do you sail? Thanks for watching 🙂
@@sailingskismo Hi. I cruise on a windsurf board ( 20 mile-ish ) with other old farts in Weymouth, Poole Harbour, Calshot/Solent, River Blackwater, Round Mersea Island and once round Isle of Sheppey. But no Dinghy sailing as yet. The Dinghy is rigged mainly for cruising and safety and the only other GP14s I've seen were at this years Dinghy show. So all rigged for racing. I'm based in the Test Valley North of Romsey.
Veeeeeery useful video. Thanks for taking time showing your tips. Greetings from France.
@@gregduveau Bonjour! You’re very welcome, glad you found it useful 🤓
Nice to see your mods and improvements. Always something to learn by observing how others solve similar problems.
Thanks for your comment and for watching. There’s still one more major addition to make which I will hopefully document in 2024. 🤓
All these tips are excellent, yet still does not overcomplicate the way the boat is set up. The roller for the foresail is really interesting and must make life easier , as do the side stirrups for getting back in on the rare occasion it may capsize.
These old GP14 boats are really good to buy and tailor exactly as you want them without breaking the bank. Thanks for all the tips.
I wonder if you could maybe do a video with advice on the requirements for the launch trolley and trailer, particularly for the GRP hull, which I think needs good broad support?
Hi and thanks for watching, much appreciated. I’m glad the video was helpful. The trailer requirements is a great suggestion, one I hadn’t thought of. I shall add it to my list.
It's always interesting to see how people outfit their boats. I'm not sold on the plastic rowlocks though.
You have made huge improvements and I am impressed.
That was an excellent 30min watch, Thanks for doing this.
You’re very welcome, thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching. 🙂
Love your stuff mate, just bought a gp14 fibreglass
Congratulations! I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the boat, I’ve had Skismo for 7 years and I have another wooden one that I’ve had for over 20 years, great boat and is the perfect weight - size balance for me and the kind of sailing I do. 👍
That was cool video. I'm racing dinghies nowadays, but I'm looking forward to some cruising and all of that will come very handy. Thank you.
Thanks, glad you liked it. Where will you cruise when the time comes?
@@sailingskismo I live in California, but might be moving back to Europe. It's still up in the air. Lake Come or German waterways could be fun.
Thanks Simon, it was really nice to see how you have set up Skismo. Some great ideas.
Best wishes
Al
Thanks knucker, and thanks for watching 🙂
¡Muy bueno tu video! Excelentes ideas para hacer plenamente funcional y seguro tu Skismo.
Gracias por compartirlo.
Grazie per la visione, sei il benvenuto
I'm fitting out a 14 foot Tideway for cruising, so your video is really useful and given me solutions to a couple of problems, thank you. 👍
That’s great 😃 Thankyou for watching and glad it was useful.
Thanks for the post!
Thanks for watching :)
Thoroughly enjoyed watching, great Vid.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it :)
Thanks for your full explanation of your cruising set up found it really useful. I have exactly the same Mark II GP14 and similar experience with the furler although only had it less than 2 years using a perspex triangle as separator. I found the front deck very weak by the mast so I epoxied an oak sampson post just in front of the mast to which I attach a grapnel anchor and a cleat on top of the deck which it supports. Want to do some day cruising but not over night like youl. This year have not have many sails as have had to repair storm damage tot he hull. Thanks again for the post.
Thank you Rory for watching, glad you found it useful.
Very comprehensive, I have much work before my first solo cruise! I like your priorities - it is too easy to concentrate on `nice -to-haves`. Also like your `everything tied down` approach for when/if you find yourself holding onto the centreboard ;) ps can you demonstrate sculling please? I am trying not to buy a petrol driven egg whisk, and my wayfarer is too wide for oars I am told. THANKS
I don't yet have a sculling video edited but I can recommend this one by Roger Barnes th-cam.com/video/kNbv9cxFFLk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3X0EK2FkTuJwuVSa. Thanks for watching :)
Great video, just got 11470 and looks very similar to yours. Hope to join you at some point once I have sorted some bits out 👍
Thank you and thanks for watching. The GP14 association has a good, albeit small, cruising group and offer a handful of cruising events throughout the year. Where do you / would you sail?
@@sailingskismo it looks like my boat is older than thought. Circa 1970 if I’ve read the plate correctly. I’m based in the midlands but hope to take it all over, your trip to the Broads looked awesome 👌 definitely going to do an overnight in the summer.
It's funny, I just went back to a hankon "cruising jib" in place of the roller furled genny. Like you I could never get the luff tight enough, but I never considered a highfield lever to take the slack up. While I wish I could modify my boat as thoroughly as yours for cruising, mine is a 60 year old Series one with it's original wooden mast. I just do not wish to butcher all it's lovely wood work. I will be using some of your ideas though, they have given me a few thoughts to make mine just that bit nicer.
You could use a stainless steel plate instead of drilling a hole ..love video keep the goodwork.
A lot has been thought of in this boat, I have seen many things that I will certainly use.
But what about visiting the toilet? Officially you are not allowed to discharge it into the water surface and I don't see any chemical toilets or something like that.
Hi, thanks for watching 🤓 That’s a great question. Going to the toilet is a bit of an awkward subject but I do have a solution and it doesn’t involve ‘dirtying’ the water around me. I use what’s called a bivvy loo, it’s a collapsible seat with a poo bag inside. When done, you can tie the bag ( like you would with a dog poo bag ) and stow it ( carefully! ) until you get to land where you can dispose of it sensibly. For a No.1 I must admit I use the centreboard casing.
After practice capsize I found my stirrup rope wasn't long enough to grab and pull on to right the boat.
Have you tried a practice capsize? I'm thinking a knotted rope spooled up in a net bag and attached to the centreboard case.
With a weighted tennis ball on the other end I can sling the ball over the gunwhales while the boat is on its beam ends.
The theory being I then swim around the boat to the centreboard, grab the tenis ball and hoist myself onto the centreboard and bring the boat upright using the knots on the chord.
Instead of stirrups I have slack lines running the length of the gunwhales.
I can attach a tether with a rated carabina one end to the slack line the other end to my safety harness, when sailing alone a lifeline is always a good idea.
The slack lines are slack enough to use as stirrups and are grabable along the entire length of the boat.
I sail with the slack lines over the sides. My boat is Ye Olde Worlde ilur with a lug yawl rig, so ropes alongside don't look out of place.
I've seen a navigator with shock chord lines under the exterior gunwhale lip. They look a bit smarter.
Thanks again Andy. Yes I have done a few capsizes, one in benign practice conditions and one for real in horrible conditions (let's not focus on that one! lol ) Being a very different boat to the Llur I can easily get mine righted from the hull side. You make a good point though for perhaps when I become less 'bendy' than I am currently. I do have a fixed stern mooring rope which is long enough to use as a means to get back on the centreboard if I find I'm struggling to do so. I like the weighted tennis ball idea, that's good.
Thanks, an excelent video. But what is the line along / under the “fender liste” …. dont know the correkt name. 🙏🏼🇩🇰
Hi, and thanks for watching. The black line under the fenderliste ( gunwale ) is part of my boom tent set up which can be seen in my 8 days on a dinghy part one video. My boom tent has Velcro straps sewn into the bottom edge and those straps wrap around that black line and then back onto themselves to hold the boom tent lower edges down tight. 🤓
@@sailingskismo , thanks, makes sence 🙏🏼
On re-watching (multiple times ;) I noticed a black rope tied to your bow S hook, seems to run under the gunwale - what is that for?
That black rope is quite tight and runs all the way round the boat just under the gunwale. It is what the velcro straps on my boom tent wrap around to hold the boom tent sides in place. :)
Thanks, that was very interesting.
No Huntingford impeder on the tiller then?
How do you furl the jib if you need to keep hold of the tiller?
Thanks Andy, very kind. I do have a tiller impeder it’s just a different design to the huntingford one, uses no rope and doesn’t get in the way. I believe I may have omitted that from the video. I will get that sorted asap so I can show my method, which probably won’t work on all boats but once the principle is seen I’m sure it could be morphed into a working feature on any boat 🤷♂️
Спасибо!
thanks for all the great info. much appreciated. id love to add the hardware for your oar stocks. might you share the position and oar lengths. in your liesure of course. thanks again.
Sorry, late reply, I will do that for you very soon ( next weekend )
Hi Bob. Took some measurements today. With a tape measure on the tip of the bow, and in a straight line to the side deck, the centre of the rowlock hole is exactly 3m from the bow. The rowlock socket is placed as close to the gunwale as possible, leaving enough room to fit a hardwood 25mm thick block underneath to help spread the weight. My oars are 7 feet 6 inches long. The GP14 association would recommend having longer oars no doubt but mine are what came with my original GP14 (still in the garage being tinkered with!) and they fit nicely inside the boat and they work very well for me at that length.
I've got my gp14 now. What is the thinner rope I have attached to my tiller for. Scrub that. It's to raise and lower rudder. Much to learn!
Yep! On mine there is a rope to raise and lock rudder blade in the raised position and then underneath the tiller arm is a bungee that holds the rudder blade down yet allows it lift if you hit the ground, or in my case this week, allow the accumulated weed to swim free in the wild 🤓
@@sailingskismo aha! I'm slowly learning! Hopefully at one point I'll get a video uploaded :)
@@sailingskismo I'm seeing my halyard for main is fraying. If it were to snap. What is way of feeding new one through mast. Does it just get pushed through. Any help appreciated
@@jakedonnely4094 you could change it before it snaps, all you have to do then is tape new to old and feed it through. However, if your mast is like mine, then both halyards run up the same slot as your mainsail luff and it is very easy to run a new halyard using a thin bit of wire or metal or plastic. In fact there are many ways to run a new halyard. Once you have the mast down and laying on the ground you’ll figure a method out quite quickly because you can easily see what needs to go where.
@@sailingskismo thanks,. The other thing I wanted to ask you was about transom flaps. Mine are clear perspects with bungee cord pulling them in,. I'm only going to cruise mine very slowly. So was thinking of just fiberglassing the transom holes or glassing the perspects in then again over top of them. I've got self bailers anyway. Have u heard of people doing that? I've seen other dinghies with just a solid transom. That's what I'd prefer. Thanks for the help.
Is it difficult to attach a small outboard bracket. I was thinking of adding a small outboard say 3.5hp for cruising
I think the normal for a GP14 might be more a 2.5hp outboard. As regards fitting a bracket, I couldn’t comment as I’ve not done it ( yet 😉 )
@@sailingskismo no worries, 2.5 it is then. Just for those times when no room to sail or room. GP 14 seem very highly thought of. So glad I went for this one
Nice setup Simon. Is it a Bourne plastics boat? That's what mine was and it looks the same. Does it have a little aluminium plate on the port side under the deck, high up? If it's fallen off (mine did) there will be a mark in the laminate. I'm going to have to do some of there mods on my boat.
Thanks Chris :) - I believe it is a Bourne Plastics boat although my plaque suggests otherwise, I must make a note of it. I've had it 5 years and yet can never remember what that plaque says! Nice to hear from you.
@@sailingskismo I have just ordered stuff to make an anchor drum, hope it works. How was your lakes trip?
@@chrislee7817 Lakes were amazing as always, although someone switched off Summer and switched on Autumn at the start of our second week. Look out for my Coniston cooking video (coming soon!) :)
What length of oars would you say are best match for GP14?
Good question and you will get many answers! The obvious observation is that if they are too short they will not function properly. If they are too long you will have harder 'purchase' on the water and they will take up more space both inside and outside the boat. Mine are just shy of 8 foot long and performance wise I would like them to be 8 foot. However, they do function well but they also fit nicely inside the boat without being 'in the way'. If they were any longer they would be 'in the way' for me and my set up. I use them also to skull and for that I wish they were 6 inch longer. So, in a wafflleish way of answering (or not) your question, approximately 8 foot, but then a bit shorter or a bit longer would also work. The longer they are the harder they will be to pull through the water though because the fulcrum will always be in the same place. The amount of oar inside the boat (from the rowlocks to just short of centreline) will always be the same (because thats where your hands will be! )
@@sailingskismo thanks a lot!