After early planning and plotting around food, we received a visit from Jane Marr, the local council Culture / Arts person, bringing us a copy of a book she edited and organised through the council of stories about the Port River. Some more interesting things to keep us awake at night! I would like to include a link to the book, but it seems not to exist…

A fellow turned up yesterday after hearing about the project on a mailing list. We chatted, he measured, then today he arrived again with a trailer, a mainsheet, spare flares, an anchor and all sorts of gear that we need. What an angel!

We haven’t reported in the past few days because there has been little of interest to talk about. We have chopped wood, tested the sail, sealed pipes, found and repaired holes in the dinghy hull and a miriad of other small and rather unnoteworthy things. Today has been a bit different – the vessel is beginning to take shape.

Pix and Dave got into solvent sniffing heaven as they cut up 6 pipes into 12, then capped the ends of all of them to give us our buoyancy chambers for the raft. When three were ready, they took a roped togeth bundle down to the water and gave it the log roll test – and it was as ridiculous as a log roll could be.

Going, going, GONE! Pix and Dave test the pipes. They were hardly sinking (the far end is still quite out of the water) so we should be fine.

Only later did we find out that some water has apparently gotten it – we will have to do some search and seal mission to remove that.

The test shows us that our estimates of the carrying capacity of the vessel with the pipes was not too far off. We should be able to fit four people, food, gear and the rest on this thing and not go under. Unfortunately we think that the planned bike for the bike generator will have to go. Which is one of the wonderful things that Greer from Magnificent Revolution would have brought along. But we cannot have everything! Next time….

But we finally have a bit more of an idea how it all will look.

Some parts of the Subak 2 brought together; the triple long 160mm pipes on the side, the platform of shorter pipes at the rear. It is starting to look right.

Tomorrow morning the next stage: the second triple roll, finding the leak, setting up the rear section. And then maybe some test sailing!

However there are some things to say. The first surprise is that the sail actually works. Without too much messing around, we were pointing about 60 degrees off the wind. For the non sailors out there, that means that we can sail a bit towards the wind: not enough for America’s Cup challenges, but better than some boats. So we will have certain control over the boat. Getting off the wind, a broad reach was very snappy while sailing downwind was almost scary: I think there is some work to do on our rigging to get ourselves safer with the wind behind. The mast foot will need to be stabilised, the boomlet is a menace for grown-ups. It will feel a lot better when the extension is built.

The next step is to add some 150mm diameter PVC pipe along the edges of the boat to get an extra platform for people, gear and other nonsense. Tomorrow we get 6 x 6m pipes plus end caps to maek up the raft. These will be assisted by a few smaller pipes. We exerimented with a cut price sealing technique: heat, PVC glue and some Sikaflex.

PVC cement is in place, now heating the tube to squeeze it flat. Then a bead of sikaflex across the weld and then we repeat the process on the last 30mm of tube to have a perfectly waterproof end.

The pipes we constructed, two short, two long, will mate with the remaining 150mm diameter tubes to form the raft.

Of which, more tomorrow.

There were two jobs for Sunday. Getting the sail set up and getting the A-frame mast set up. Two relatively simply stated but somewhat complex tasks.

The sail laid out, the yard and boom attached.

The sail was probably the most annoying thing to do. We are using a recycled advertising tarpaulin  – “Freedom from Thirst” – which is pretty tough but slippery and a pain to sew. Frustration is built in. As are bobbin thread knots, broken needles along with swearing, cursing and general self-doubt. ARGH! But we got through, the sail has the desired shape and then we could start hammering in eyelets for the yard lacing. Note that the shape of the sail is very long and flat, close to the water. And leaving space below bridges and overhead lines. Which will be important. The bamboo boom was a good idea at the time but the bamboo that we had access to (some abandoned lot) is floppy and weak – not the structural black bamboo that we would really need for this job.

The A-frame was less of a pain. The two overdimensioned pieces of laminated pine (radiata, not Scots pine (Sylvestris) or anything of quality) were shaped, the electric plane was damaged, the structure was, glued, screwed, bolted and nailed, chocks were cut and after several cups of tea, big sandwiches and too much lemony sweet softdrink, we had a mast. Mounted in the boat – after removing all the old damaged hardware – it is held down with some recycled spectra. A rope hanging point and a repaired bow attachment point – the vessel is ready for a test hoisting of the sail.

Mast rainsed, sail raised (watch out for that light!) and it is all looking fine so far.

The test raising made us a bit more relaxed – it looks like it should do. The sail curves nicely, it looks like we will have enough headroom.

There remains a few details to be dealt with. We need eyelets for the attachment of sheets, and a boom to hold the sail stiff out behind the dinghy. Once we have added length to the vessel, we will have some more attachment points, but we think that a small boom on the outer lower edge (foot) of the sail, like the attachments on the foot of a gaff topsail.

But a good Sunday was had. We move forward. Hurrah!

Hopefully waterproof

We started today by repairing the hole in the side. A piece of wood on the inside, sikaflex to glue it on and a ring of screws around it should give us a waterproof repair. Tomorrow we will fill it, fair it and paint it. Plus a number of the other small cracks caused by the boat being abandoned for far too long on the hard.
Then we built a mockup of the sail. As a lateen, we have a long yard along the top of the sail, but we will use an A-frame to suspend the sail, so that it will be equally well-shaped on both tacks. We are pretty sure that all will be well, but are concerned how the sail will handle a dead run, i.e. with the wind right behind us. There are a lot of interesting looking videos and discussions about lateen sails out there, but this seems to be one aspect that is insufficiently well described anywhere we can find.

Mocked up version with a lashed A frame and the mast hung as a yard.

Plans tomorrow are to set up the A frame, mount it on the hull, sew a simple lateen sail from an advertising banner and set it all up on the vessel. Then Sunday we might try sailing it, without the planned pipe outrigger / platform. Let’s see.

Recycled boat Subak sailing the Danube near Linz

As you can see from the original Subak‘s construction, we not only reused existing boat hulls, but we drew on world boating history and sewed a Asian inspired “Junk” sail. When working with found and donated equipment it’s hard to have a firm design, so with the Subak II we had to wait until yesterday to start planning

After our interview with Radio Adelaide we confirmed that we’d be using a 125 racing dinghy hull and mast that’s been left abandoned and damaged at the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron. Inspired by Taiwanese boat building, we’d earlier identified recyclable poly pipes as a possible material. In addition we visited That’s Not Garbage in Beverley in the search for recycled components, where we found laminated canvas advertising banners that will be perfect as sails and tarpaulins.

Not only are we working with a random assortment of bits and pieces, we’re also working with specific boat needs. We need a boat that can be propelled by human and / or wind power and which will fit underneath bridges and along Rundle St for the Adelaide Fringe opening parade. So not only do we need sails, yuloh, oars and maybe even a pedal powered paddle, we need a low or removable mast and light construction.

125 class sailing dinghy hull and bonus hole!

In the end we’re planning on extending the 3.8m dinghy hull with some sewerage pipe and converting the rigging to a lateen sail as often seen on Arabic dhows. We’ll hopefully make a rear platform stable enough to easily yuloh from and work out a way of adding a reclining style pedal run paddle on either side of the boat.

computer sketch of Lateen sail Subak II Design

First things first, we need to get the little hole on the starboard side repaired and work out how to modify the centreboard for optimal control.

We’ll be down at the RSAYS in Outer Harbour over the next week – if you’d like to get involved, donate some pulleys or camping equipment just give us a call! 0432 659 809. If you feel like joining us on the trip please let us know – we’ll have limited space on the boat itself, but would love the company of anyone who wants to kayak or canoe alongside us!

Related articles

• The Subak sails! (timesupboatingassociation.wordpress.com)
• Yuloh design cycles (timesupboatingassociation.wordpress.com)

Thanks to Tim and the show’s producer Angus Randall!

[Radio Adelaide Breakfast blog - Interview MP3 and Pictures!]

Voyaging down the Murray and Danube Rivers and the Canals of Belgium through the first 6 months of 2012, Control of the Commons (CoC) aims to investigate and document the attitudes of people to water and waterways.

The vessels, all constructed from locally produced, recycled or reused materials, are propelled by the wind, the current and what the crew ate for breakfast. Moving slowly, dependent upon the elements, the crew can easily interact with the locals and other river users, observe and document.

The journeys are not didactic, rather documentary and explorative, gathering anecdotes, opinions and attitudes and exploring how these relate to people’s relationships with and along the river.

The first vessel was constructed in Linz, Austria, on the Danube in August 2011 and will set sail downstream in April 2012. Built from a discarded Zille (a regional boat type) with a windsurfer outrigger and junk rig sail, the Subak is a melange of styles. (See attached photo)

The second vessel will be built at space offered by the Royal Yacht Squadron in Port Adelaide in late January 2012. The team is currently collecting pieces and parts that will be used, construction beginning after the 20th of January. The core team will depart near Wentworth on the Murray River at the beginning of February. Fellow travellers will include technologists, comic artists, science communicators and bicycle activists. The journey will last three weeks, with the final destination depending on the speed of the river, the people encountered and the lengths of stories told.

Dates:
21-31 January: Construction at the RYS in Port Adelaide
1-21 February: Travel on the Murray River from Ned’s Corner / Lock 9
24 February: participation in the Royal Institution / Fringe Parade
April: Danube voyage
May: Belgium construction and voyage
6-9 June: presentation at the Burning Ice festival in Brussels
For more documentation, blog entries and images, please visit http://timesup.org/coc

CoC is a project from Time’s Up, an arts technology group from Linz, Austria. Time’s Up were last seen in Adelaide last year in their TUART lecture tour and before that in 2000 as a part of Biomachines at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts. Time’s Up have pioneered physical interaction and narrative installations, developed innovative VR technology and have held a series of workshops on topics ranging from digital physics to steam power. The last exhibitions were in Brighton, UK (Sept 2011), Hong Kong (Nov 2011) and Wels, Austria (Dec 2011).

CoC is part of a EU funded project Resilients and has been supported by the Australia Council and IETF.
http://timesup.org/
http://timesup.org/resilients

Recycled boat Subak sailing the Danube near Linz, Austria.

Subak construction from recycled components

[PDF Version of Press Release]

Related articles

• Control of Commons – Workshop 03 (timesupboatingassociation.wordpress.com)
• Getting to know the Murray (timesupboatingassociation.wordpress.com)

Build another boat – as simply and sustainably as possible

Now we wish you all a great New Year and look forward to sharing a lot more news with you over the next months as these projects take place.

Soon we’ll head over to Australia for the holiday season, a wedding(!) and the Murray river / South Australian stage of the CoC project.  Which means that we’re starting to look out the raw materials to build the Subak II from.  Do you know of a suitable dinghy hull, spare sail or beautifully aged pieces of timber?

If you know of a yachtclub or other South Australian community group which might be interested in helping out CoC – please print out this poster and share it with them!

Download the PDF