ooze goose sailboat

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Instructional Videos for Building the Oz Goose Sailboat in the Philippines

During COVID we could not run our normal group builds of the Oz Goose Sailboat. So we created this instructional video series for the Oz Goose Sailboat so that families, community groups and corporate groups could run their own Oz Goose building programs.

The videos help normal people to build an Oz Goose at home from the plan or from a kit.

Most Oz Goose sailboats are built in our Family Boatbuilding Weekends (FBWs) . Three days of building an oz goose from a prepared kit. But if you can’t get to a FBW you can also build at home.

Instructional Videos on building an Oz Goose Sailboat from plywood or a kit

We have been doing the FBW projects for years and have learned a lot along the way about how to build the Oz Goose in the simplest possible way.

Not only are there the plywood boatbuilding instructional videos below, but there is a helpful resource on Facebook where you can ask questions and be answered by experienced builders and instructors. Both English and Tagalog are available.

This is an overview video from a family that built a goose – initially in a park by a beach – the links to the instructional videos are below.

Video List for the Oz Goose from Kit or Local Plywood and Timber

Note that these Videos are of the group build method where we use nails to attach the decks and bottom of the boat. We do this so that the next step can proceed immediately. Most people building at home will take more time doing work on the weekends or maybe one or two evenings.

The biggest difference to the video approach for most home boat building is that bronze nails will not be used. That temporary drywall/plasterboard screws (black screws) will be used for assembly and then removed. We totally trust the glue – 100 boats in the Philippines over 5 years can’t be wrong!

0 Using Epoxy for Boatbuilding and using the Electronic scales

Mixing epoxy precisely is very important as incorrect mixing and measuring will prevent the glue from hardening

Dry Assembly of Stage 1 of the Oz Goose Hull.

2 bulkheads, 2 tank faces, 2 bow and stern transoms, 2 side panels.

01 Dry Assembly of Bulkheads and Tank Faces

We use a dry assembly method. All plywood for the construction step is assembled temporarily with no glue. This way any troubleshooting can be done without glue getting all over the place.

Drywall/plasterboard screws are used to temporarily assemble the plywood parts.

02 Dry Assembly of Bow & Stern Transoms

Same for the front and back of the boat. Everything is aligned perfectly without the glue.

03 Dry Assembly of Side Panels

The outside skin of the boat is also added to the structure. It is pretty floppy, but once the boxes of the hull are formed later it becomes light and strong.

the Gluing process of stage 1 of the Oz Goose Sailboat Hull.

04a gluing bulkheads tanks transoms sides part 1 disassembly.

We take the parts apart and lay them out ready for glue to be applied

04B Gluing Bulkheads Tanks Transoms Sides Part 2 How to Mix Epoxy Glue

Now we show you the secret of the method. The glue is applied and the parts can be quickly assembled into exactly the same screw holes of the dry assembly step.

Because a lot of gluing is done at once this prevents wasting the expensive epoxy.

The final step is to straighten the boat so that no permanent bends or twists are built into the hull.

04C Gluing Bulkheads, Tanks, Transoms, Sides Part 3 Gluing and Final Assembly

More gluing.

Stage 2 – Fitting and Gluing the bottom of the Dinghy Hull.

05 dry assembly and gluing of hull bottom.

Same process for the bottom. Dry assembly, disassembly then glue application and screw the panels together in the same holes.

Stage 3 – Fitting out the Interior with centrecase and mast support

06 aligning the boat and dry assembly of interior components.

Hull is levelled again so that it is not twisted. Now the centrecase, mid seat, mast partner and mast step are dry fitted. It is very important they are straight.

07 Gluing All Interior Components and cutting out the centrecase slot

The components fitted in the last step are carefully glued in place.

Fibreglass the Bottom and Epoxy coat the outside of the Oz Goose Sailboat hull

08 fibreglassing the bottom.

One-fourth plywood in the Philippines is thinner than the ply in the rest of the world. So we use 4oz fibreglass to cover the bottom and go 25mm/1″ around onto the sides of the hull.

Only use woven cloth of 4oz (preferred) or 6oz for the bottom. See video to see the style of the glass.

If you are using plywood that is really 6mm or 1/4″ thick only the chines need to be fibreglassed with 2″ (50mm) fibreglass tape – see the plans for this simpler and cheaper method.

Decks – coat underside, coat inside tank, Fit the Decks trim and prepare for coating the exterior.

10 coat interior of tanks and underside decks, glue the decks.

NOTE that the underside of the decks is epoxied with two coats before being glued down.

Check the boat is level and untwisted before fitting the decks. Any remaining twist will be impossible to remove from the hull after this stage.

11 Final steps before Epoxy sealing decks and cockpit

Important details to make your Oz Goose Look Good and be comfortable to sail.

Rigging the Oz Goose to go Sailing

12 rigging first time for phbyc oz goose projects.

This is the preparation of the boat and rig before leaving home. It takes some time but most of it will not have to be done a second time.

13 First Sailing Day – Set-Up Boat and Rigging to go sailing

With practice the rigging of the Oz Goose on a sailing day takes a little bit more than 5 minutes.

A Small Memorial

Most of the videos on this page were filmed and edited by Rolly Perez. A dear friend to many of the volunteers that have made the Oz Goose movement possible here.

He and Marte introduced and helped support many people in their adventures in boatbuilding. Rolly died after an illness in 2022.

He is deeply missed by all of us.

Home » Surprising speed difference 12ft Oz Goose vs 8ft OzRacer

Surprising speed difference 12ft Oz Goose vs 8ft OzRacer

The 12ft Oz Goose was originally designed as an “extra hull” to take the rig and foils of the 8ft Oz Racer to take the family out, we were expecting around a 20% increase in performance but we found much more than that.

A resizing that worked beyond all expectations and taught us something about the limitations of conventional thinking about “what works in boat design”.

Oz Goose Group on Facebook Oz Goose Website with lots of building and rigging and sailing tips Buy Oz Goose Plans $36 Buy Oz Goose Fittings and Ropes

First of all a Caution. This article is not permission to change the length of a boat plan.

Please consult the designer of your boat.

I have written articles before talking about the dangers of thinking that boats can be stretched or shrunk. They often cannot unless one understands what corner of design the boat inhabits. A very short Goat Island Skiff was a disaster for one amateur builder.

Is it OK to Stretch or Shrink an Existing Boat Design?

First Shock – 8ft Oz Racer handles 81/89 square feet mainsail easily all wind strengths

There are dangers in shrinking and stretching designs.

One way of avoiding dangers is to know which corner of design the starting boat inhabits.

In the article link above shrinking the Goat Island Skiff didn’t work because it is already a very small boat for its length and beam. Narrow waterline, light weight, minimal construction and big sail. So making it smaller was a disaster.

The 8ft Oz Racer was different.

We originally designed the 8ft Oz Racer to sail with an 8ft Duck class. Most boats had sails around the 40 to 45 square ft range with one or two boats with a bit more.

We decided that because the sails were so cheap (Polytarp) we may as well go big – as a sort of nationalist Joke.

After all it is an Australian Tradition.

What we were not expecting was that the 8ft boat fitted with well designed and made foils and sail/mast interaction would handle so very well even when the wind was strong. This was not without some struggle as we went through 4 mast designs and four sail designs to get the gust response we wanted.

The secret is the enormous stability of a rectangular platform boat. Any cutting away of the shape to make it more curvy or pointed reduces the stability very quickly.

The difference is radical – how many 8ft boats sail and handle well in all winds with a 90sf lugsail?

This is me coming in after a record breaking sail at 9.1kn. Not so fast, but this was a day at the Goolwa Wooden Boat Show where no other boats were on the water because the wind was going through severe gust cycles.

You can see I’m a bit damp from spray!

Why the Goose was designed – an extra hull for familysailing

I originally designed the goose as an extra hull for family sailing using the OzRacer rig, foils and rudderbox. Occasionally a plan would be sold.

Then around Ian Henehan started putting up videos – 10kn, then 12, then 12.9. This is the 12.9 video. It turned out these speeds were not uncommon for the goose. And that led us to start building a fleet in the Philippines – now 50 boats with another 20 by the end of this month.

Wrong – our underestimate of Oz Goose performance.

Being a 50% scale up we expected a performance jump mathematically related to the increase in waterline length. I know many of you know this.

Roughly 22% greater speed. But it didn’t work out that way.

That was our expectation. So the Oz Goose was designed around 2008 but it wasn’t until we saw Ian Henehan’s Videos in 2014/2015 that made us realise there was something unexpected happening.

Qualitative performance jump for the Oz Goose

I’ve written articles about hullspeed and particularly “planing” are such mushy definitions in practice that they are kind of misleading. What happens in reality?

When we first sailed the 8ft Oz Racer we found that while it would plane, the speed always wanted to quickly deteriorate back down to roughly 4 knots.

There was a really feeling of speed fluctuation up and down. The speed would quickly build in a gust and then quickly drop down with the slightest drop in gust strength.

As a measure of how seriously I sailed the OzRacer – my record of 9.1knots agrees with the best peak speed in the Duck class by Kenny Giles of 9.0knots.

The goose feels totally different – you get the speed up easily and it does not deteriorate – it is happy at the higher speeds. A slight drop in wind pressure and the boat speed drops only slightly, a slight pressure increase and the boat accelerates slightly. More wind is more speed.

This is the PSA (National Team) giving a great demonstration of the easy speed in fairly moderate wind – it is easy to see the acceleration with the gusts even with two aboard.

This is Not disparaging the 8ft boat which has some practical advantages and probably a performance advantage in very light winds where the Goose is not a slouch either.

Speed is not the only criterion – handling in strong winds

Both the Goose and the OzRacer have excellent handling in stronger winds. In our club racing fleet we frequently have beginner/intermediate sailors complete all their races in fairly strong winds without any capsizes.

That huge stability makes the boats very forgiving.

Additionally the high volume of bow and stern – and that they are so similar – means the boat has no vices when heavily heeled. If it sticks its nose into a wave in stronger winds it will still go where the crew points it – very different from a pointy nosed dinghy.

Thus the “wow” from the commodore who is filming my bearaway to avoid the committee boat.

Numbers on boat performance Oz Goose Compared to Oz Racer

Ozracer performance.

So a big qualitative difference as we have numbers from GPS readings over time. What about the numbers.

I spent a day in light and moderate winds and smooth water sailing the Oz Racer around with a GPS.

The big sail pushes the small hull up a bit over hullspeed even in light winds. See a lot of speeds around 3.7 plus or minus 0.2knots.

Downwind is much the same. With significantly stronger winds the 8ft boat will burst up to 6 or 7 knots but quickly drop down to around 3.7 plus/minus with just a slight change in pressure.

Just before the first of our masts breaks we see the somewhat slow planing speed of the 8ft Oz Racer.

With ideal speed conditions of winds over 20knots and good waves it is possible to see occasional speeds higher, but it is very hard to get much faster than 9 knots.

Oz Goose Upwind – Light and Moderate conditions

We have had 5 years of racing the Oz Goose now in fleets. We have also had other crews come from other classes of boats and occasionally hand our butts to us – because they found something new. Also we have crews that have made speed breakthroughs within our group.

When winds are light and the crew is just sitting upright on the side deck speed is typically pretty much in line with the 8ft OzRacer – around 4 to 4.5 knots.

A bit more wind and crew goes out to full hiking and the best upwind speed seems to centre around 5.2 knots plus or minus about 0.2. This is a good speed to practice sailing at for solo practice if enough wind for full hiking – try to sail as high as possible while retaining this speed range. You can actually hear the difference … the thump thump sound of the boat hitting waves changes to a cush cush sound.

It is also important to know the idea of “luffing in gusts” upwind is an old and slow technique. It is no longer used in dinghy competition. If a gust comes … don’t luff – just ease sheet to keep the same angle of heel. This works because the boat keeps moving fast at the target speed. If you practice with GPS you will see that speed drops and the boat makes more leeway every time a gust hits if you try luffing.

Planing upwind in the Goose

More wind than this and the boats with two crew start to have another option that the solo sailors don’t have. We were taught this by the first PSA crew to join us. First race of ’18 Nationals was pretty strong – around 16 to 20knots of wind.

I don’t have the speed readings for how fast they were going but they were about 25 to 33 percent ahead of our best sailors. This gives an upwind speed of around 6.5 to 7 knots. Around 7 is the speed where the Goose starts to feel Loose in planing mode.

Why is this possible?

With two people aboard the righting moment has doubled but the increase in overall displacement has gone up somewhat less – maybe only by 50% – but the boat must be sailed very level by constant sheeting.

If the water is not too rough this is a very effective mode. Big waves can hamper this approach.

Downwind in the Oz Goose

We saw that the smaller boat mostly sailed a bit above 4 knots and required significant wind to get up to 6 or 7. This puts average speeds very firmly a bit above 4 knots

When the wind is lighter, sailing performance of the 12ft goose is probably around the same.

But a bit more wind and the Goose starts spending a lot 7 to 9 range where it comes alive and feels like it is doing something. It is starting to feel exciting and is quite effortless.

Once it is there it likes to be there and more wind means significantly greater speeds. Averages are much higher – 7, 8 or 9kn is possible for leg averages. Getting up towards double the OzRacer’s numbers.

Peak speeds (all on tideless lakes) have ` 12 , 12.9, 13.8 and 18.0 (for a full 2 seconds and three GPS points ).

SUMMARY – Design is always interesting when performance is not as expected

This was one of the huge surprises to me as a designer. Same cross section, same sail, same rocker, same righting moment, same foils.

A theoretical speed around 20% greater, – yet utterly utterly different.

This doesn’t mean that any design will benefit from extra length. For example I doubt adding more length to the goose would improve performance much.

But in the case of increasing the 8ft OzRacer hull by 50% we had a hull

• with exceptional stability from the rectangular planform (which means power)
• a very large sail for the hull length and width
• overloaded with two sailors aboard

The Goose gives us

• Much higher average speeds
• A real sense of planing performance downwind
• Upwind planing with two crew in stronger winds
• Excelling light wind performance even with three adults aboard (instructor and two students)

6 thoughts on “Surprising speed difference 12ft Oz Goose vs 8ft OzRacer”

Interesting read. Thanks. It would be interesting to run the disp/length figures. And the D/L limited speeds. I wonder how a 16 foot version would go?

Judging by performance difference is it over some sort of hump.

D/L is a very crude measure. Further increases may not show the same benefit and start hurting in the Sail area to wetted surface.

Oz Goose designed 2008, Ian Henehan’s videos 2004 ?

Thanks Johan.

Should be 2014/15. I fixed the typo.

Very grateful Michael Storer

Has anyone tried shifting the transom forward an inch or so to allow the bottom hull panel to extend slightly past the transom? I wonder if this would help the boat plane (and hold the plane) a little easier by creating a sharp exit of the water surface tension as opposed to the 90 degree angle of the transom.

Hi Michael.

From the water’s point of view it sees no difference between the planing boards as you describe and a transom.

In general the thing we want there is a sharp edged corner. So we don’t usually glass tape along the edge of the transom.

As long as it is reasonably sharp the water will go straight. If it is rounded the water will go around the corner and make a little wave at the back of the boat implying energy lost from making the boat go forward.

So no difference.

There is a risk though. The overhang of the planing boards becomes a very easily damaged edge as it is a continuation of the bottom ply. And it adds a bit of fiddling to the building process.

So in the end … if the bottom and side edges of the transom are reasonably sharp, the planing boards are redundant.

Best wishes MIK

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Product Description

The Oz Goose is a low-cost sailing dinghy that is easy to build and is perfect for clubs, regattas and learning to sail.

Australian boat designer Michael Storer created this fun sailing dinghy as a project that makes dinghy sailing accessible to everyone. Where he lives, in the Philippines, family and corporate groups are able to build ten Oz Racers for the same price as importing a single Laser dinghy.

The Oz Goose is light and simple to build, with no complicated woodwork. It also sails extremely well despite the low cost.

The Oz Goose will carry an instructor and two adults for sailing lessons, or one or two adults for club racing. It is equally at home with two adults and children aboard for family picnics.

The kit is for the epoxy filleted construction method. An alternative timber-framed method is also described in the plans, for builders in countries where timber is cheap.

The kit includes:

• Pre-cut wooden panels (6 mm plywood) with pre-cut joints
• Solid wood for gunwales, spacers and frames
• Epoxy resin and activator
• Epoxy fillers
• Woven glass fabric
• Woven glass tape
• Mast staves (for hollow wooden mast)
• Wooden blanks for boom and yard
• Daggerboard blank
• Daggerboard case
• Rudder blank
• Tiller blank
• Comprehensive building manual
• Free technical support from a competent builder

The kit does not include the sail or warp although we can supply them.

What else do I need?

The 114-page A4 plans for the Oz Goose are more like a book or a boat building course. They contain detailed information on each building step, including how to join the plywood, mark the shapes of the panels and use the epoxy.

The plans are highly detailed and fully dimensioned. That means that there is no poring over them with your scale rule and getting scale conversions wrong: the measurements you need to know are written in clear type and in the area that you are looking at.

An electronic version of the plans in PDF format that can be viewed using Adobe Reader. After credit card authorisation the file will be sent to the email address put on the order form.

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Substituting aluminium spars on the Oz Goose sail boat

The plans for the various Goose versions show timber spars, butwhat about Aluminium tubing for spars. Here are sizings in Imperial and Metric below.

Here is Brad Hickman practicing on Lake Eufala. Video below.

For information on Building and sailing an Oz Goose

• BUILDING VIDEOS -Our Step By Step How to Build an Oz Goose Sailboat
• Building the Oz Goose sailboat for peanuts
• Some of the sailing performance of the Oz Goose
• Video – one of our Regattas – 17 boats – this year 32 boats!
• How the Oz Goose goes together – CAD drawings
• Ropes sizes and Fittings needed for the Oz Goose and a Supplier

I do like the timber spars because they look nice.  But you can save a bit of weight on the yard by using an alloy tube.

Brad Hickman did all the work on this and with a suitably modified boat derived from the OzRacer went on to win the PDRacer worlds.  Six months after (???) there was an anonymous challenge to the legality of his boat.  So it was measured and was found to be class legal. His boat is the one in the pic.

Correct Choice of Aluminium Alloy for Lug Masts and Spars

The correct aluminium alloys to choose for boat spars are in the 6000 series. The Temper must be T6 or the alloy will be too soft and the mast dent too easily or fold at the partner.

So typical numbers you will see are 6061-T6 6063-T6

A newer alternative below is a lower temper but has the same strength. The T5 Temper is not appropriate for the alloys above. 6005-T5

Aluminium spar diameters and wall thicknesses for the Oz Goose and OzRacer.

Also Ocean Explorer, Ooze Gooze and Goose Explorer

1/ I do think the mast will look much less nice than the timber version which has a classic taper. 2/ We do have a nice timber box boom design now.  Contact me for details or see the “files” section on the Goose Facebook group . 3/ A class Legal Oz Goose can only use timber or untapered aluminium Yard. However the other boats have a Yard option of using a used 50% (or more) carbon spar from a windsurfer. Some regions they are very affordable. Here are the details and the instructions. NOTE – WINDSURF SPARS ARE NOT SUITABLE AS MASTS FOR THIS SIZE OF BOAT. THEY ARE FAR TOO FLEXIBLE AND THEY ARE TOO EXPENSIVE TO STIFFEN. Using a windsurfer mast for a lug rig yard on a Goat Island Skiff – Storer Boat Plans in Wood and Plywood

Aluminium spars in use on an Oz Racer

And just for general fun, here is Brad using the spars to motor upwind in his OzRacer derived boat using the Aluminium spars.

More Information about the Oz Goose

5 thoughts on “substituting aluminium spars on the oz goose sail boat”.

I need to build a 3-part mast. Would 2 1/2 OD still be correct? I’m figuring my inner sleeves would be 2 feet each– 1 foot on each side of the split. Does that sound right? And is there any problem with using wooden yard and boom with an aluminum mast?

Absolutely fine. One option is that the top third of the mast can be the same section as used for the sleeve. It will save a little bit if weight and the taper effect will help the appearance.

Thanks very much, Mike. Re-examining this (after looking at the vendor and shipping options), I’m thinking of a 4-section. Bottom 2 sections would be 2.5 OD, upper 2 sections would be 2.25 OD, and top 15″ would be 2″ OD. All wall thicknesses would be 1/8″, not the 1/16″ mentioned above. Sleeves would be inserted 9″ into the outer tubes. Total weight for the mast would be around 25 lbs. Does that sound reasonable to you?

Normally a two piece aluminium mast will be lighter than the timber equivalent. . A three piece mast starts to be somewhat heavier than a timber mast and four piece heavier still.

I don’t know why you are planning to double the wall thickness – it will be a tank. Is there a problem getting the approx 1/8″ wall in the table above?

if there is no real compelling reason to go four piece I would go two or three.

After all, the yard and boom are already longer than half the mast which defines the stowage length. Looks like overkill unless you have something really specific in mind.

Saving weight in the rig is probably four times more effective than saving weight in the hull, but both will give you noticeable differences.

Thanks very much. The vendor says that the shipping has a surcharge for pieces over 58″. I’ve asked for more specifics about that surcharge, but I would guess I’ll end up with a 3-part. The vendor hasn’t responded with more specifics, yet.

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