Search Results

The new optimised Alternative boat build When I play golf, if I drive off the tee and lose my ball because of an errant swing, why is it that my second attempt is nearly always perfect making me wonder why didn't I swing like that on my first shot! It's kind of like that when you build a second boat. The first attempt is full of small errors, air bubbles, lifted glass at the bow and stern, too much epoxy used, etc. The second boat has errors but it is much better and lighter. I started the second boat yesterday afternoon and unwrapped it this morning and what a beauty she looks. If you are interested, here is what I did with a few pictures. I started by repairing the old hull plug, patching up some damage when I cut the previous boat off the plug with a dremel. After a rub down and 5 coats of release wax it was good as new and ready for the layup. I cut out 3 sheets of 124gm S glass from a paper pattern I made earlier. I acquired 3 sheets of brown paper which were from a delivery of an old flower arrangement (my wife's!). With care, I cut the glass cloth straight onto the brown paper from the paper pattern I made earlier. The cloth was cut with no mess. In addition to the cutting, I drew a centre line with a felt pen and perpendicular lines (to the centreline) for the bow, stern and edge of the foredeck. This is done to allow easy alignment (when laying down the cloth onto the plug) with a centreline drawn down the keel of the hull along with a mark to indicate the foredeck. The brown paper not only seperated the 3 layers of cloth but also allows the cloth to be rolled up and carried as well as protecting the edges, keeping the cloth flat and clean. (Image 1) Last summer on the first boat build, I cut the glass outside on a table, did not use any paper or protective cover and ended up with strands of glass fibre all over the patio! With the cloth prepared, I was ready to lay the hull up in the garden shed. Yesterday it was about 12 degrees which is just warm enough to work with epoxy. I needed a workbench to clamp the hull upside down (Image 4), a piece of wood hanging from the shed ceiling to screw the plug support post to work on the deck (Image 3), paper towel to wipe up mess, acetone for cleaning, nitril gloves to protect my hands, West System epoxy (slow cure), three plastic pots (I use fromage frais pots), a 2 inch paint brush and an aluminium roller for removing air bubbles, peel ply for wrapping the epoxy, screwdriver and electric drill for mounting and dismounting the plug. With all the bits together on site, I was ready to go. After mixing the epoxy using the self measuring plungers that you screw on the resin and hardener tins (3 pushes of the plunger will do one layer of glass) I applied resin to the hull side of the plug, being careful to wet the curves of the deck. The epoxy will not lie smooth on the wax and will pull back into globules looking a bit messy but it won't matter. Taking the first layer of cloth and with the boat mounted upside down on the workbench, hold it over the hull aligning the centreline, bow, stern and foredeck marks before laying the cloth down on the epoxied plug. (Image 2 3 and 4) Gently smooth out the cloth with the paint brush and work out from the centre until the cloth is flat all over. This is quite fiddly but by taking time and being patient the cloth will lay out perfectly. Next step is to go over the cloth with the paint brush (be very gentle) and wetting the cloth where dry, removing air bubbles as you go. Use the epoxy sparingly as excess resin just adds weight. Finally go over the hull with the aluminium roller to get any missed air bubbles. Now remove the plug from the workbench and screw to the bar dropping from the shed ceiling. Initially fix the hull upside down and then carefully allow the plug to rotate down while supporting the cloth over the deck, until the deck is level. (In my first build last summer, I picked the plug from the workbench after wetting the cloth on the hull, rotated it so the deck was uppermost, raised it up to the supporting bar and the glass cloth fell off onto the floor. You have been warned!) Before you work the cloth into the deck with the paintbrush, cut away any excess. On the first layer I used a 1 inch overlap. On the second layer, I butt the ends of the cloth (ie no overlap) and on the third layer use an overlap again. In this way you avoid too much weight along the centreline of the deck. On my first boat I ended up with 6 layers of cloth on the centreline which produced a strong boat but heavy in the ends. Work the cloth into the deck with the paint brush in the same way as the hull, until flat and smooth. Sorry there are no pictures of this as my gloves were coated in epoxy at the time! Check over the hull and deck in good light to make sure there are no air bubbles and the cloth is tightly bonded at the bow and stern. Leave the plug until the epoxy remaining in your mixing jug starts to go stringy. When this happens, the first layer of cloth will be stuck nicely to the plug and won't move when you apply the second layer. The longer you can leave it between layers the better. Half an hour should be long enough. Wash your paint brush, gloves and roller in acetone and mix the second batch of epoxy. Bin the 1st mixing pot. For the second layer, drape the cloth over the hull taking care with the alignment marks and brush out as before using just enough epoxy to wet the cloth. Repeat for the third layer remembering to clean tools in between. I use four plunges of epoxy for the last layer because I wanted the outer layer slightly wetter. Any excess would be absorbed by the peel ply. Finally wrap in peel ply. I used 10 metres of 100mm wide. Overkill I know but it did an amazing job even though the hull look a bit mummy like. (Image 5) At the same time as laying up the hull, I made the components in Image 8. 9. 10. 14, 15 and 18. The fin box was Dave Creed's work. A thin sheet for the bow stern and bulkheads The mould for the deck layout above the fin box and final deck Strip of S glass for bonding the deck Reinforcement for the fordeck understanding the jib tack eyes The radio pot and forward bulkhead Paper template for forward bulkhead I peeled the peel ply off this morning to discover a hull with no air bubbles, perfect adhesion at the bow, stern and foredeck. In all the process took about 3 hours All I need now are two coats of epoxy primer rubbed smooth and I am ready to pop the hull off the plug. Here is the rough finish prior to sanding The finished hull popped off the mould safely in its supporting jig with the deck taped together to hold it secure It all looks good and I know that the hull is useable so I can pay the second design fee and fit the boat out. Having added two coats of epoxy primer, it is time to rub it all back to the surface of the S glass to make the hull as light and as smooth as possible. Up to two hours sanding. Joy! but the end result is worth the effort. After painting on 250gms of High build epoxy primer, I sanded 200gms off on Saturday. The result is a very light smooth hull which you can see through. The hull will remain in this condition until the deck has been finished and all the holes drilled. Then it is time for the vinyl wrap in metallic blue. Can't wait to see how it ends up when cut off the mould. Once the hull is off the mould it goes straight into a support jig, with the frames cut from the design plan. This jig is marked and used for setting the fin position and rudder. (Image 7) The foredeck and aft deck is bonded using 1 layer of 124gm s cloth (Image 13). The hull is strong and ready for the fin box, bulkhead and adjoining deck and radio pot to be bonded in. On Sunday I cut all the access holes, (Image 33) and added two further layers of S glass around the fin box area in the hull, bonded the deck with an extra layer of S glass at the jib take off point and fitted the transom I put small reinforcing plates in the deck at the stern and put 1 layer of S glass about 1 inch wide down the centre of the foredeck. All up weight of the hull with all glass infrastructure but ex fitting will be around 400gms, considerably lighter than my first hull especially in the ends but heavier than the professional hulls. Having said that the hull is very strong, light in the ends and should be competitive. Todays job is to fit the fin, bulkhead, deck moulding and radio pot and a post for the jib tack take off point. On course to finished hull by end of week. A long day sealing the bow and stern, (Image 18 and 19) strengthening the foredeck, building an ultra light foredeck post (Image 14), cutting a slot in the hull (Image 21), measuring and shaping the forward bulkhead (Image 15 and 16) , fin case and deck. Lots of pictures below in a slightly random order. Tomorrow I hope to bond in all the pieces and then the only other major jobs are to fit the plates for the servo and rudder stock which will likely be done on Wednesday. Then a final rub down and drill all the holes for the deck fittings. Finally after that I can wrap the boat in its metallic blue vinyl. Its an experiment but I am sure it will be worth the effort and if it doesn't work I can always paint it. Fitting the fin Yesterday was all about getting the fin box fitted. Alignment of the fin in exactly the right position with the design measurements and having it vertical is the most critical job on the boat. Get this wrong and the boat will be hard to balance and may sail higher on one tack that the other. The boat in my jig is set up to be level on its water line, ie there is a horizontal line connection the bottom of the bow and bottom of the stern. The leading edge of the fin sits perpendicular to this line. Get the jig right and everything is easy. On the plan there are two measurements, one from the hull to the leading edge of the fin and then one from the tip of the bow to the bottom of the fin where it enters the bulb. Set these measurements and the fin leading edge should be perpendicular tp the waterline of the boat. I was less than a degree out. See image 24-27. To get the fin exactly vertical looking from the stern, I level the boat at the shroud point and use a level on the fin to make vertical and then use masking tape to secure it. Gravity helps in picture 27. The string in the picture is used to measure from the bow to the fin but I did have to make holes in the jig. Tomorrow, I can fit the final pieces of the deck and the bulkhead. Finishing the bonding Yesterday was gluing day. Fitted the forward deck, pre drilled bulkhead, radio pot holder and mainsheet post. Only one small error. I forgot to seal and reinforce the top of the fin box I have the fiddliest job to do that today plus final fit for the servo mount and rudder stock mount. Nest jobs are to pre drill all the fitting holes, apply filler where required and final sand ready to apply wrap. When fitting the mainsheet post, I accurately measured a centreline at the deck and then did the same with a string 6 inches off the deck. Then using a set square I was able to get the mainsheet post upright and aligned with the fin case, back stay, jib sheet eyes and jib attachment points which are all marked up. Fingers crossed the sails will set the same on both tacks. Hull weight so far is 420gms. Old hull weight at this point 620gms. Maybe 350gms is achievable with a slightly thinner layup. I was generous with the epoxy at the base of the fin but this is where the correctors with be anyway. Estimate approx 400gms of correctors will be required. Tidying up Final bit of reinforcement went in yesterday. Not much to show as boat looks similar to day before but with addition of rudder stock and servo supports. Giving the hull a good t cut to look for any rough spots and then the metallic blue wrap Little remaining jobs to do after the wrap like final fit of fin and add the electronics and fittings Finished the build With the final jobs knocked off on Friday the hull is ready for wrapping. I spent today sanding and cleaning the hull and deck, final fit of the fin and rudder which ended up exactly according to the design plans and are both in line with each other. Tomorrow will be wrapping day. Ordered the new PG tubes from Potters Solutions and a couple of bits and bobs from Sailsetc. Once the boat is wrapped I can set up the new rigs using existing fittings apart from the shrouds. Then a bit of in house tuning and I am ready to get on the water. Its not a wrap The wrap failed. There is so much curvature in the hull and deck, you need to stretch the wrap so much before application and you need several pairs of hands, so it's back to the paint spraying. The boat is finished bar the spray and as Mr Gibson said you are far better off with paint as damaged vinyl is impossible to repair. He should know he used to wrap 18 footers amongst other things. Why didn't I speak to him first. The dream was there, the experience was missing. Loved the metallic finish but it is not to be. Onwards and upwards and off to watch the 18 footers race round Sydney harbour in the JJ Giltinan. On the computer of course Decision time on paint It has been a long process trying to sort the paint for the boat. I could use my tried and tested 2 pack polyurethane which I know is hard durable and the right solution, but I do want to spray to keep the decks looking smart. As you know I tried using vinyl wrap but the curves of the boat proved too much. The search took me to spray cans of epoxy, enamel and other finishes but I came across an industrial acrylic based paint in a spray can. It is designed for repair of industrial coatings indoor or external. Its a risk I know but I prepared a sample this afternoon and it has great colour, is hard, flexible, great UV properties and resistant to scratches. The date sheet is here: http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/3165638.pdf So on it goes tomorrow and we will see how the paint performs. The pictures below show the new spray look on a sample and the effect I am trying to avoid when painting 2 pack Polyurethane. I will show you the result tomorrow and then see how it wears when we get sailing. Den nye optimaliserte alternative båtbyggingen Når jeg spiller golf, hvis jeg kjører av tee og mister ballen på grunn av en feilaktig sving, hvorfor er det mitt andre forsøk alltid perfekt, og får meg til å lure på hvorfor jeg ikke svingte slik på mitt første skudd! Det er litt sånn når du bygger en andre båt. Det første forsøket er fullt av små feil, luftbobler, løftet glass ved baugen og akterbenken, for mye epoksy brukt osv. Jeg startet den andre båten i går ettermiddag og pakket den ut i morges og for en skjønnhet hun ser ut. Hvis du er interessert, her er hva jeg gjorde med noen få bilder. Jeg begynte med å reparere den gamle skrogpluggen og la opp noen skader da jeg kuttet den forrige båten av pluggen med en dremel. Etter en gnidning og 5 strøk slippvoks var den god som ny og klar for opplegg. Jeg kuttet ut 3 ark med 124gm S -glass fra et papirmønster jeg laget tidligere. Jeg skaffet meg 3 ark brunt papir fra en levering av et gammelt blomsterarrangement (min kones!). Med forsiktighet skar jeg glassduken rett på det brune papiret fra papirmønsteret jeg laget tidligere. Duken ble kuttet uten rot. I tillegg til skjæringen, tegnet jeg en senterlinje med en tusj og vinkelrette linjer (mot midtlinjen) for baugen, akterenden og kanten av fordekket. Dette gjøres for å muliggjøre enkel justering (når du legger kluten på pluggen) med en midtlinje trukket ned av kjølen på skroget sammen med et merke for å indikere fordekket. Det brune papiret skilte ikke bare de tre lagene med klut, men lar også tøyet rulles opp og bæres i tillegg til å beskytte kantene, holde kluten flat og ren. (Bilde 1) I fjor sommer på den første båtbyggingen, kuttet jeg glasset ute på et bord, brukte ikke papir eller beskyttelsesdeksel og endte med glassfiber over hele terrassen! Med kluten klar, var jeg klar til å legge skroget opp i hageskuret. I går var det ca 12 grader som bare er varmt nok til å jobbe med epoxy. Jeg trengte en arbeidsbenk for å feste skroget opp ned (Bilde 4), et treverk hengende fra taket for å skru pluggstøttestolpen for å fungere på dekket (Bilde 3), papirhåndkle for å tørke opp rot, aceton for rengjøring , nitrilhansker for å beskytte hendene mine, West System epoxy (slow cure), tre plastpotter (jeg bruker fromage frais -gryter), en 2 tommers pensel og en aluminiumsrulle for fjerning av luftbobler, skall for å pakke epoksy, skrutrekker og elektrisk drill for montering og demontering av pluggen. Med alle bitene samlet på stedet, var jeg klar til å gå. Etter å ha blandet epoksyen med de selvmålende stemplene som du skruer på harpiks- og herderformene (tre trykk på stempelet vil gjøre ett lag glass) påførte jeg harpiks på skrogsiden av pluggen, og pass på å fukte kurvene til Dekk. Epoksyen vil ikke ligge glatt på voksen og vil trekke tilbake til kuler som ser litt rotete ut, men det spiller ingen rolle. Ta det første lag med tøy og båten montert opp ned på arbeidsbenken, og hold den over skroget slik at midtlinjen, baugen, akter- og fordekkmerkene justeres før du legger kluten ned på den epoxede pluggen. (Bilde 2 3 og 4) Glatt ut kluten forsiktig med penselen og trene fra midten til kluten er flat overalt. Dette er ganske vanskelig, men ved å ta tid og være tålmodig vil duken legge seg perfekt ut. Neste trinn er å gå over kluten med penselen (vær veldig forsiktig) og fukt kluten der den er tørr, og fjern luftbobler mens du går. Bruk epoksyen sparsomt, da overflødig harpiks bare tilfører vekt. Gå til slutt over skroget med aluminiumsrullen for å få eventuelle savnede luftbobler. Fjern nå pluggen fra arbeidsbenken og skru til stangen som faller fra taket i skuret. Fest skroget først opp ned og la pluggen forsiktig rotere ned mens du støtter duken over dekket, til dekket er i vater. (I mitt første bygg i fjor sommer, plukket jeg pluggen fra arbeidsbenken etter at jeg hadde fuktet kluten på skroget, rotert den så dekket var øverst, hevet det opp til støttestangen og glassduken falt av på gulvet. Du har blitt advart!) Klipp vekk eventuelt overflødig stoff før du legger kluten inn i dekket med penselen. På det første laget brukte jeg en 1 tommers overlapping. På det andre laget støter jeg endene på duken (dvs. ingen overlapping) og på det tredje laget bruker jeg en overlapping igjen. På denne måten unngår du for mye vekt langs dekkets midtlinje. På min første båt endte jeg opp med 6 lag tøy på midtlinjen som ga en sterk båt, men tung i endene. Arbeid kluten inn i dekket med penselen på samme måte som skroget, til det er flatt og glatt. Beklager, det er ingen bilder av dette da hanskene mine var belagt med epoxy den gangen! Kontroller skroget og dekket i godt lys for å forsikre deg om at det ikke er luftbobler og at duken er tett knyttet til baugen og akterenden. La pluggen stå til epoxyen som er igjen i miksekannen begynner å bli tøff. Når dette skjer, vil det første lag kluten sitte godt fast i pluggen og ikke bevege seg når du påfører det andre laget. Jo lenger du kan la det være mellom lagene, desto bedre. En halv time burde være lang nok. Vask penselen, hanskene og rullen i aceton og bland den andre omgangen med epoxy. Beholder den første blandingsgryten. For det andre laget, dra duken over skroget. Vær forsiktig med justeringsmerkene og børst ut som før du bruker akkurat nok epoxy til å fukte kluten. Gjenta for det tredje laget, husk å rengjøre verktøy i mellom. Jeg bruker fire fall epoxy for det siste laget fordi jeg ville ha det ytre laget litt våtere. Eventuelt overskudd vil bli absorbert av skalllaget. Pakk til slutt inn i skallet. Jeg brukte 10 meter på 100 mm bred. Overkill jeg vet, men det gjorde en fantastisk jobb, selv om skroget lignet litt på mamma. (Bilde 5) Samtidig laget jeg komponentene i Bilde 8. 9. 10. 14, 15 og 18. Finboksen var Dave Creed sitt verk. Jeg fjernet skallet i morgen for å oppdage et skrog uten luftbobler, perfekt vedheft ved baugen, akterenden og fordekket. I alt tok prosessen omtrent 3 timer Alt jeg trenger nå er to strøk epoxy primer gnidd glatt, og jeg er klar til å ta skroget av pluggen. (Bilde 6 og 7) Hvis alt ser bra ut og jeg vet at skroget er brukbart, kan jeg betale designavgiften og passe båten. Etter å ha lagt til to strøk epoxy primer, er det på tide å gni det hele tilbake til overflaten på S -glasset for å gjøre skroget så lett og så glatt som mulig. Opptil to timers sliping. Glede! men sluttresultatet er verdt innsatsen. Etter å ha malt på 250 gram epoxy primer med høy konstruksjon, pusset jeg 200 gram av på lørdag. Resultatet er et veldig lett, glatt skrog som du kan se gjennom. Skroget vil forbli i denne tilstanden til dekket er ferdig og alle hullene er boret. Så er det tid for vinylfolien i metallblått. Gleder meg til å se hvordan det ender når jeg skjærer av formen. Når skroget er av formen, går det rett inn i en støttejigg, med rammene kuttet fra designplanen. Denne jiggen er merket og brukes til å stille inn finneposisjon og ror. (Bilde 7) Fordekk og akterdekk limes med 1 lag 124g klut (bilde 13). Skroget er sterkt og klart for finneboks, skott og tilstøtende dekk og radiopotte som skal limes inn. På søndag kuttet jeg alle tilgangshullene, (Bilde 33) og la til ytterligere to lag med S -glass rundt finboksområdet i skroget, limte dekket med et ekstra lag S -glass ved jib -startpunktet og monterte akterspeilet Jeg la små forsterkningsplater i dekket ved akterenden og la 1 lag S -glass omtrent 1 tomme bredt nedover midten av fordekket. All vekt av skroget med all glassinfrastruktur, men ex -fitting vil være rundt 400 gram, betydelig lettere enn mitt første skrog, spesielt i endene, men tyngre enn det profesjonelle skroget. Når det er sagt at skroget er veldig sterkt, lett i endene og bør være konkurransedyktig. Dagens jobb er å passe finen, skottet, dekkstøping og radiopotten og et innlegg for jib tack -startpunktet. På kurs til ferdig skrog i slutten av uken. En lang dag med forsegling av baug og akter, (Bilde 18 og 19) styrking av fordekket, bygging av et ultralett fordekkstolpe (Bilde 14), kutting av et spor i skroget (Bilde 21), måling og forming av det fremre skottet (Bilde 15 og 16) , finnekasse og dekk. Mange bilder under i en litt tilfeldig rekkefølge. I morgen håper jeg å binde inn alle brikkene, og da er de eneste andre store jobbene å montere platene for servo- og rorstammen som sannsynligvis vil bli gjort på onsdag. Deretter en siste gni ned og bore alle hullene for dekkbeslag. Endelig etter det kan jeg pakke båten inn i metallisk blå vinyl. Det er et eksperiment, men jeg er sikker på at det vil være verdt innsatsen, og hvis det ikke fungerer, kan jeg alltid male det. Montering av finnen I går handlet alt om å få finboksen montert. Justering av finnen i nøyaktig riktig posisjon med designmålingene og å ha den vertikal er den mest kritiske jobben på båten. Gjør du dette feil, vil båten være vanskelig å balansere og kan seile høyere på den ene takten den andre. Båten i jiggen min er satt opp til å være vannrett på vannlinjen sin, det vil si at det er en horisontal linjeforbindelse bunnen av baugen og bunnen av akterenden. Finens forkant sitter vinkelrett på denne linjen. Få jiggen riktig, og alt er enkelt. På planen er det to målinger, en fra skroget til forkanten av finnen og deretter en fra tuppen av baugen til bunnen av finnen der den kommer inn i pæren. Angi disse målingene, og finnens forkant skal være vinkelrett på båtens vannlinje. Jeg var mindre enn en grad ute. Se bilde 24-27. For å få finnen nøyaktig loddrett å se fra hekken, flater jeg ut båten på lindingspunktet og bruker et nivå på finnen for å lage vertikal og bruker deretter maskeringstape for å feste den. Tyngdekraften hjelper på bilde 27. Strengen på bildet brukes til å måle fra baugen til finnen, men jeg måtte lage hull i jiggen. I morgen kan jeg passe de siste brikkene på dekket og skottet. Avslutter limingen I går var det limingsdag. Monterte fremre dekk, forborret skott, radiogryteholder og hovedarkstolpe. Bare en liten feil. Jeg glemte å forsegle og forsterke toppen av finboksen Jeg har den vanskeligste jobben å gjøre det i dag pluss endelig passform for servofeste og rorstangfeste. Nestjobber er å forbore alle monteringshullene, påføre fyllstoff der det er nødvendig og endelig sand klar for påføring. Når jeg monterte hovedarkposten, målte jeg nøyaktig en midtlinje ved dekket og gjorde det samme med en streng 6 tommer utenfor dekket. Ved å bruke en angitt firkant, klarte jeg å få hovedarkposten oppreist og justert med finnerhuset, ryggen, jibbladets øyne og fester for fester som alle er merket opp. Fingrene krysset seilene vil sette det samme på begge hakene. Skrogvekt så langt er 420 gram. Gammel skrogvekt på dette tidspunktet 620 gram. Kanskje 350 gram kan oppnås med en litt tynnere oppstilling. Jeg var sjenerøs med epoksyen i bunnen av finnen, men det er her korrekturene er uansett. Anslagsvis ca 400 gram korrektorer vil være nødvendig. Rydder opp Den siste armeringsbiten gikk inn i går. Ikke mye å vise til da båten ligner på dagen før, men med tillegg av rorlager og servostøtter. Gir skroget et godt snitt for å lete etter grove flekker og deretter den metalliske blå omslaget Lite gjenværende jobber å gjøre etter viklingen som den siste finpassen og legge til elektronikk og beslag. Bygget ferdig Med de siste jobbene slått av på fredag er skroget klart for innpakning. Jeg brukte i dag på å slipe og rengjøre skrog og dekk, siste passform av finnen og roret som endte nøyaktig i henhold til designplanene og begge er i tråd med hverandre. I morgen blir det innpakningsdag. Bestilte de nye PG -riggene fra Potters Solutions og et par biter og bobber fra Sailsetc. Når båten er pakket inn kan jeg sette opp de nye riggene ved hjelp av eksisterende beslag bortsett fra dekslene. Så litt tuning i huset, og jeg er klar til å gå på vannet. Det er ikke en wrap Pakningen mislyktes. Det er så mye krumning i skroget og dekket, du må strekke omslaget så mye før påføring, og du trenger flere par hender, så det er tilbake til malingssprøytingen. Båten er ferdig med å spraye, og som Mr Gibson sa du har det langt bedre med maling, da skadet vinyl er umulig å reparere. Han burde vite at han pleide å pakke inn 18 bunntekster blant annet. Hvorfor snakket jeg ikke med ham først. Drømmen var der, opplevelsen manglet. Elsket den metalliske finishen, men det skal ikke være. Fremover og oppover og av for å se 18 foters løp rundt Sydney havn i JJ Giltinan. Selvfølgelig på datamaskinen Beslutningstid på maling Det har vært en lang prosess å prøve å sortere malingen til båten. Jeg kunne bruke min utprøvde 2 -pack polyuretan som jeg vet er hard holdbar og den riktige løsningen, men jeg vil spraye for å holde dekkene smarte ut. Som du vet prøvde jeg å bruke vinylfolie, men kurvene på båten viste seg for mye. Søket tok meg til å spraye bokser med epoxy, emalje og andre overflater, men jeg kom over en industriell akrylbasert maling i en sprayboks. Den er designet for reparasjon av industrielle belegg innendørs eller utvendig. Det er en risiko jeg vet, men jeg forberedte en prøve i ettermiddag, og den har flotte farger, er hard, fleksibel, har gode UV -egenskaper og er motstandsdyktig mot riper. Dataarket er her: http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/3165638.pdf Så det går i morgen, og vi får se hvordan malingen fungerer. Bildene nedenfor viser det nye sprayutseendet på en prøve og effekten jeg prøver å unngå når jeg maler 2 -pack polyuretan. Jeg skal vise deg resultatet i morgen og så se hvordan det blir når vi seiler. Problemer med batteriet Skroget passer ut med kjøl og ror som er perfekt tilpasset. Da jeg gikk for å teste elektronikken begynte jeg å lade batteriet og la umiddelbart merke til at det var hevelse. Jeg fjernet batteriet utenfor, da det er interessante historier om batterier som blåser opp. To til på bestilling. Fremgangen stoppes inntil nye `PG -sparer og batterier kommer neste uke. Vær advart, hold øye med Lipo/lifo -batteriet hvis du ikke har ladet dem på en stund. Hvis de viser tegn på ekspansjon, får du dem ut av huset. Inne i radiopotten Jeg leste en artikkel av Darren Paulic som ble lagt ut på Facebook RC Sailing Group og finnes her. Radiokontrollseiling i saltvann. I artikkelen snakket Darren om viktigheten av å holde elektrisiteten din ute av vannet og dekke til med vaselin eller silisiumfett . Han la et lag med neopren på bunnen av batteriet og mottakeren for å holde dem utenfor bunnen av radiogryten for å beskytte dem mot vanninntrengning. Jeg tenkte et skritt videre for en enkel, fin løsning, og fant ut at du kan bruke klebrig bakborrelås som fester seg som du vet hva, selv til Correx, for å holde batteriet og servokomponentene adskilt og utenfor bunnen av potten. Du kan også sette et lite stykke på enden av mottakerledningene for å holde dem 90 grader i forhold til hverandre for optimal radiosignalytelse. Husk å plassere batteriet på båtens midtlinje. Bilde 38 og 39. Problemer med vinsjen, eller var det operatørfeil (Bilde 40) Først og fremst et stort rop til Bill Green (RMG UK) som tilbyr en super service og er så rask til å svare på spørsmål. Da jeg demonterte og monterte radioutstyret mitt for å overføre til den nye båten, kunne jeg ikke finne ut hvorfor når jeg snudde senderen på vinsjen som flyttet forbi over en sving. Slå av senderen og den returnerte til sin opprinnelige posisjon. Et anrop til Bill burde løse problemet. Han sa med rette at jeg skulle programmere vinsjgrensene i henhold til manualen som jeg ikke hadde kuppel tidligere og se hva som skjer. Jeg gjorde det, men det løste ikke problemet. Duh, jeg husket til slutt. På en Emsworth -opplæringszoom hadde mannen deres Richard Ballas, som er en radiosizker, snakket om å sette opp en feilsikker modus på senderen. Dette lar deg sette roret og arket på båten slik at det vil gå rundt i sirkler i stedet for å seile ut i det fjerne hvis båten mister radiosignal. Jeg hadde satt opp dette for noen uker siden, men hadde glemt hva det ville gjøre. Hver gang jeg skrudde av senderen, ble arket lindret en og en halv omdreining og roret snudde 25 grader. Slå på senderen og arket og roret går tilbake til sin opprinnelige posisjon. Problemet er løst, nå er det bare å finjustere vinsjinnstillingen når den er fullstendig rigget. Strømvekter så langt: Bare skrog malt 460 gram Beslag og RC 373gms Ror 32gms Pære og finn 2500g Rigg anslår 235 til 300 gram Beregn derfor 365 til 400 gram korrektorer. Her er båten i all sin prakt. Next Section Build the rigs

Før et arrangement Bestem hva som er målet ditt med seiling Kjenn din racing regler og taktikk Administrer investeringen din med den forsiktige vedlikehold av båt Seil raskt med høyre tuning og oppsett av båter Kjenn radiokontrollene dine Effektiv båtøvelse Sørg for konsekvent konfigurering ved bruk sjekklister Vet hvordan været vil hjelpe deg Nyttig referanser

Working up the Alioth. Boat 1 This journey with the Alioth is not about 3d printing but about working up a boat to make it competitive. My objective with the Alioth project was to work the boat up in stages and see how speed developed. There was no speed edge to start with in fact the opposite was true to start with as there were some deficiencies in the set up, but confidence is building as I optimise the boat and I see it get faster. First a caveat on the story below. If I was to do the same again, I would have bought the fins from Juan and fitted them as standard. This would give me a balanced boat. I saw the new fins fitted on a new Alioth at the end of 2024 and I have to say I was totally impressed. Save yourself a lot of trouble and go with Juan for the full boat and foil package. You won't regret it. The kit on the boat Alioth hull in Polymer PLA assembled by Paul Barton. The hull is so strong you can give it a good punch with a fist. Alioth standard fins (these were early generation fins) Winch is RMG fast 290 H1 with 45mm spiral drum Spars are PG 11mm Roller bearing gooseneck on A rig Coreless 20g Digital Metal Gear Dual Bearing Mini Rudder Servo - DFMGD1 BG Sails The Journey Now the boat is close to full race mode. It has been an interesting journey to race a vanilla standard boat, no finishing on the hull just a clear coat or 2 and no sanding. All the rigs were set with the boom band at 150mm from the step which made for a rather ugly look with the booms high and pointing up in the air slightly. The look wasn't improved on the A rig with a prebend in the mast that was more like a kink than a smooth bend and made the boat very hard to set up and sail. It did not have an edge as you can imagine. After the Hampton Court charity day, I trashed the A rig and converted it to a B rig. Then I carefully prebent a new A mast and set it up with 62mm spreaders. The result was an impressive looking BG mainsail which could be set twisty and deep for a chop or flat for a breeze on flat water. There were no hard spots causing any creases in the luff as the mast bend matched the luff curve. The challenge with prebending devices is that you can get an immediate bend at the 600mm point. The bend needs to be progressive and other than bending by hand I know of no device that can achieve this. If anyone knows a way, please advise me how it is done. The A rig mast bend matches the luff curve with no hard spots. This is the limit of bend before the sail breaks down. This Mainsail was first use in 2020 and used for practice over the last year. Pretty impressive duration and still looks superb. All three rigs had 15mm taken off the bottom of the mast to bring the boom band to the deck. It is still 70mm or so from the measuring point on the deck. I needed to shortened the gooseneck housing to lift the kicker adjuster off the deck so I could get my fingers in to adjust. Here you can just see the rake of the fin and mast and how the boom band sits just above the deck. FIngers crossed it will be perfectly balanced The jib attachment point was lowered so the jib boom is as close to the deck as possible. There has been quite a bit of discussion about end plate effects which I do not buy into because as soon the boat heels or gets into chop, the wind is blocked and disturbed by the hull turbulence. However with the jib boom low and the main boom low and parallel to the deck, the centre of effort of the sails is as low as possible. The look is good and a good looking boat is often fast. Time will tell. You cannot achieve a main boom parallel to the deck on the standard Alioth settings. The mast is too upright and if you try raking the mast you just create weather helm. To achieve the mast rake the fin has to be raked back approximately 2 degrees. Using a standard Alioth fin I shaved 2 degrees off the aft edge of the fin where it enters the fin box and added a front edge fillet using Isopon car filler making for a nice secure fit. The 2 degrees was measured with a protractor acquired in my university days. Remember to adjust the bulb angle, 2 degrees up from back to front should do it. Of course if you rake the fin 2 degrees, you move the bulb back 8mm relative to the hull which will effect the position of the correctors. When I first launched with this configuration, I removed the correctors to see how the boat would sit and was delighted to see it sat on its marks, so I added the 70gm of correctors back on the aft side of the fin box, considerably forward of their original position. The final job was to finish the hull. I had two choices. Either sand the 2 pack clear coat on the hull which was recommended by my builder, 3D printed RC Yachts, who is a licensed builder or go the whole hog and take off the clear coat and thin the hull to reduce weight and paint again. I chose the former as it was a lot quicker. The hull finish is superb with just a hint of evidence of the the two hull joins. I filled any groves with Isopon car filler. To sand the hull I started with specialist finishing paper. It has a lubricant coating which prevents clogging and saves a lot of time over wet and dry sanding. The main advantage is you can easily see the high and low spots. I used 320 grade specialist finishing paper and then polished with 1500 grade wet and dry and T cut car polish. The other minor job was to add an additional fairlead for the jib sheet. The boat only came with two fairleads so I reposition one for the B rig and added the 3rd for the C rig. Each jib boom now goes out 85 degrees on the run. I had to drill a new set of holes forward on the jib boom for the A rig. The boat is now in a position for me to check the balance which I am hoping to do tomorrow if I can find an ice free lake. What is left to do Consider the right fin, rudder and bulb shape. My early generations Alioth blades have a reverse camber at the aft end of the chord. I believe the new clades are good. The bulb has the max chord 25% from the front. There are a few choices for the rudder, e.g. John Gill (UK) who makes a nice product as well as a rig tension meter, Robot,Yachts (UK), Dave Creed (UK), Craig Smith (Australia). Need to do some two boat testing before making any decisions on this front. Once I have checked the balance and got the boat footing nicely and we get near some meaningful regattas , I will bend on some new sails as the final stage of optimisation. Of course all this work is combined with as much practise as I can fit in. It is the nut on the end of the tiller that gets the boat round the race course and all the speed in the world won't make up for bad starts and poor tactics. The sheeting set up - Feeding the main and jib sheet through the small guide hole in the upper left of the radio pot holds any loose sheets away from the winch and drum. Here you can see the 3 sheet lead positions. The numbers on the deck were hand drawn and cut. If I was to build another Alioth what would I do In constructing the hull, remove as much redundant plastic as possible and sand the hull well to reduce weight as much as possible before painting. The printed hull is approx 1mm thick. There are two options for sheeting systems. On deck sheeting where the sheets enter the deck behind the foredeck bulkhead. This will keep the boat dry. The other method is under deck sheeting with the deck entry points on the centreline of the boat. They let a tiny amount of water in although nothing significant even in wild weather. The boat does need rinsing inside after salt water sailing. Personally I like the latter set up. Other than that I would do the same as above.

A checklist of everything to do before and event Some notes on measuring your settings I put this section in, because as a newcomer I was confused over how to measure some of the settings. e.g. was the jib foot measurement from the foot of the jib to the side of the boom or the centre of it. So just for clarity I show the measurements for a Britpop. All measurement are from the BG web site. Different designs will have there own measurements to achieve perfect sailing balance. To emphasise the importance of this, take a lesson from Zvonko Jelacic who won the 2023 Europeans. Every morning he would be seen with his boat fully rigged laid horizontally on a table and measuring all his rig settings before he went sailing. To get the mast rake accurate I use a a measuring stick. There are two measurements, one from the deck to a measured point on the mast. A second from the bow (at the back of the bumper to the aforementioned measured point. The marks on the rig stick are the same for the Alternative plan. See pictures below Measuring main/jib foot depth, jib boom angle and leach twist, mast ram, main boom angle Jib foot and the mainsail foot are measured from deepest part of sail to the side of the boom. Jib leech twist is measured from the topping lift wire. Jib boom angle is measured from the centre of the mast to the inside of the boom. Golden rule is the A rig should be just inside the shroud, B rig centred on the shroud and C rig pointing outside the shroud. Mast ram is measured from the 1st sheet loop. Measure the main boom angle from the centre of the post to the side of the boom ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, start with the base measurements recommended for your design. Only with experience and talking to the experts will you learn how to fine tune from there for the wide and varied conditions we experience. A couple of mm adjustment here and there can make a huge difference to performance. Lastly and there is probably some debate on this in some circles, measure your rig tension. I bought a rig tension device recently and was amazed to see the impact of one turn of a bottle screw on the rig tension. Of course once you have it right, put locking nuts on the thread into the bottle screws and you will achieve the same tension when you rig the boat. It is only worth checking again from time to time in case the wires stretch or the boat appears to slow. They are available from johngill1003@gmail.com . I thoroughly recommend these to you and no, I am not on commission.

Tuning tips from one of the worlds greatest sailors, Ken Read at the Newport Model Boat Club Dragonflite 95 Spring Clinic 2024 `(Good to see he has studied the tuning tips from our 2023 Global Champion, Craig Richard s) VIDEO Synopsis For a simple one design boat, who would have thought there was so much to think about. Measure the rake multiple times a week. Rig and setup the boat at home away from any wind to make sure balance is right A rig average rake 1135. Set the backstay before measuring the rake Use a rig stick Set the mast right back at deck level. Keep the backstay the same and tighten the jib luff bowsie slightly as wind builds. Moves rake from 1135 to 1132. Only 3mm. In light weather ease backstay 2-3mm Mainsheet bridle - glue in place so ring is level with boom eye. Makes sure it is centred Jib sheet eye on boom is well forward of deck sheet eye. Main boom out just under 90. Jib boom at 90 degrees. On a windy day sheet in slightly Main halyard. Use a single line so it can swivel and set just below silver band so the sail can pivot Use cord instead of the metal sail ties Making changes. Do down wind and behind yourself. Static loads are so much higher on shore than on the water. Learn where the max bend is on the backstay and mark as a reference. When on the water if you have heavy weather or lee helm you have not got the original set up right. If you change the rake you have to change the topping lift. 2marks on topping lift, 2 marks on headstay and 1 mark on the backstay. With these marks setup is quick and easy. Jib tack. Get as close to the deck as possible Jib cunningham - never used because the sails are board flat. Deck measurements 3 marks on the deck for sheet locations. The marks run down the boom. Make a mark with the boom and then draw 3 1 inch lines on starboard side with a ruler in line with mark to jib tack. Set up consistently to those marks. Use for course tune to get rid of weather or lee helm and a repeat reference if boat is fast. Foot measurement. Use fingers. 1 to 1.5 fingers. Measure and check with your fingers Check vang sailing downwind on the water. Taping a hatch. Start at the back and work forward so you create a water ramp. It is possible to roll gybe the boat. Jib weight pushed right in to avoid getting hooked up in a crash. Tacking in a breeze, you have to let the sheets out. High mode fast mode - Ken just uses the throttle

A directory of associations, boat builders, sail makers, fitting suppliers, building, tuning and racing tip sites. The Starting Point and references My plan for the boat was to sort the rigging and sails so that I have a reliable package which I can put on the water and race with confidence. The boat was only sailed a few times times by the previous 2 owners since 2016 so there is a lot of work to do. Here is a starting jobs list. Fair top of rudder so it fits flush to the hull. Fit Futaba Servo and new 1000mA Lifo battery Check all the electrics are working smoothly and calibrate winch Replace endless sheet cord and adjust lead approach to drum so there is a direct line with no friction Replace all sheets Replace backstay and jib leech topping lift with wire. Check weigh boat Calibrate sheeting angles Check all mainsail heads are set to just below top band. One or two of the fittings may need replacing as they look a bit dodgy Tune all rigs and calibrate and log settings Test sail and check boat is waterproof Buy more deck patches. The jobs were straight forward and I had loads of spares so no additional cost. If the hull is competitive which I believe it should be then I think an order for new sails will be on the cards as well as a lightweight swing rig and maybe a gismo to control leech tension upwind. For now I will work with what I have and assess whether the investment will be worth while. Looking around on the web I found the following references Marblehead section on the MYA Web site. This provides links to all the relevant Marblehead web sites Pimp my Marblehead by BG on the MYA web site Great information on how to pimp up older designs. More from the man himself on pimping. Here is the web link but have put extracts of the text below because it adds to the jigsaw. Its well worth reading the full article HERE Originally Posted by Brad Gibson on RC Groups.com Weight - Anything with a designed displacement upwards of 5 kg ready to race will struggle in light winds. The current competitive parameters for an all round design live between 4.4 - 4.8 kg with the most recent winning designs sitting in the 4.7- 4.8 range. - Any hull weight with radio and rudder installed ready to sail, less rig and fin/ballast, should not be more that 900 - 950 grams. The better boats live within the 780 - 840g region. - Beam Waterline should be no greater than 160mm. Current designs are as low as 130 -150mm Hull weight is 840 grams, less rig and keel. Overall designed displacement is 4.9kg. - With a newer thin profile stiff fin we go a fraction deeper on the fin and shave 100 grams off the lead. Lighter boat, similar righting moment with less drag. Win win! - The original Bantock rigs are stiff as hell for their weight so very little to do there other than modernise the sail plans to modern ratios if you desire, and replace sails accordingly. The original rigs were set some 85mm off the deck to the lower mast bands, so we follow what works on our IOM's and modern M's in cutting down the goosenecks to get things as low as we can. These last points are more fine tuning but give us a little more from the boat across the wind range. Sailsetc/Bantock swing rig plan How to program an RMG Smartwinch

DF 95 Tuning numbers If you search on the web for DF 95 tuning you can get similar images to the one below. I use it as a guide (ignoring the mast gate positions) to establish some starting points and then adjust as I feel fit. As I get comfortable with my setting I will mark up the cords so I can achieve similar setting on each outing. But the best way to set up is to copy Craig or find the fastest boat on the day and set up similar to that. How do I set the boat up Having raced twice now at a TT and the first day of the Nationals at Poole with top 2 results, I can conclude my light weather set up is OK. The following pages show how Craig sets his boat up and there are many useful tips there. However whilst I have copied quite a bit from his work the are some things I do a little different. I use the table above for foot depth and boom angle. So I start with the mast 2 notches forward from the back. I do this because my luff curve on the main is not shaved like Craigs so I need a bit more mast bend. This sets the mast rake so there is no need to measure bow bumper to the crane. With the jib luff slackish, I adjust the backstay to put in about 5 mm of bend so the mainsail sits nicely agains the mast. Then I apply enough forestay tension to keep the top of the jib is stable in the strongest gust of the day. This will stop the top of the jib wobbling which we all know is dead slow. Then I check my boom angles and foot depth from the chart and make sure the rudder is straight. The last thing I do is holding the boat, sheet everything in to make sure the setup looks OK and then gradually head the boat up into wind to check the jib tell tale and the tell tail I have at the top of the main react in unison. Then I know the boat should be balanced. I put the boat on the water to see how it sails upwind. If I have lee helm, I apply a tiny bit of kicker until the balance is relatively neutral and the reverse if there is weather helm. That is pretty much all there is to the set up. It is very easy to over complicate. Far better to go with your setup and focus on the sailing. These are one design boats and there is much to be gained by sailing smart. How do I sail the DF In summary, I think lower and faster upwind is my mantra usually with the sheets eased a notch or two to get better VMG. I do have a high mode for getting off the start line and sailing in the stronger gusts but rarely use it. Starting In a one design boat I have become more aggressive on the start line. In the past I have hung back but find you lose too much distance if the line is biased like it was at Poole. So on a very port biased line I want to be the pin end boat but this does require a level of skill and timing. If the line is squarer and there is no advantage to go left I want to be one of the starboard end boats so I have positional control on the fleet and always look to find a gap on the start so I can tack when I like. On the first beat I will try and stay to the right of the fleet so I do not get forced left by starboard boats and have to take pot luck coming into the mark on port. Of course if there is a favourable left side shift or more pressure I will head that way. On the reach or run in lighter conditions I find the boat does like heading up in the lulls and bearing away in the puffs as this maintains a better overall speed. I have used the technique in dinghies, yachts and model yachts. It all comes down to manipulating apparent wind. There is a lot more on tactical sailing round the course in the section "Racing and IOM". This winter I will rearrange the site so it covers IOM, DF and Marblehead and have racing as a separate section. Overall message is keep everything simple and focus on sailing fast when your boat is on the water.

The finished product Sluttresultatet

Here is what you get in the Alternative plan Skaff deg planen Etter å ha sett på alle de forskjellige designene, konkluderte jeg med at alt i nærheten av en Britpop måtte være det beste alternativet gitt min totale mangel på kunnskap. Så jeg kjøpte det alternative designet av BG nettsted og det ga meg alt Jeg trengte å bygge båten inkludert den riktige riggen oppsett målinger. Hva får du i planene Design notater Dekkoppsett Dekkplan med utstyrsposisjoner Sidehøyde med alle målinger fra akterpunktet Skrogrammer Rammer i fordekk Skrogåpningsmaler Mast rigging layout Jib boom layout Hovedbomoppsett Et ekstra stykke på BG -nettstedet er rakeinnstillingene for Alternativet Når jeg hadde alle planene, var jeg sikker på at jeg hadde all informasjonen som trengs for å konstruere båten.

Working up the Alioth. Boat 2 First of all thank you to all those who have bought a coffee to support the web site for the long term future. This is not a commercial site and I make no profit from it but I do need support to ensure its longevity. People tell me that it is a great source of information and the only site of its kind, so if you do enjoy it and get value from it why not pop over to Buymeacoffee . It takes any currency. If you do thank you. If 10% of the 5000 plus visitors bought 1 coffee, I could do so much more with the site This is a story about going backwards to go forwards. Move from a well set up boat to one that had to be developed and optimised. I am not a designer so some of the steps could be seen as labourious but every stage was tested and each change offered improvement. Spoiler alert, the story is still ongoing. None of this would have been possible without the help of Paul Barton. He is probably one of the most experienced 3d printers of the Alioth in the UK and is a brilliant ideas man. Of course we would not be doing this had it not been for the creative thinking of Juan Egea. Not only has he come up with a great design but opened the door for home building once again and allowed IOM’s to become freely available to new owners (for a reasonable licence fee of course). At the MYA AGM last year, I had a chance to buy an Alioth. It was a completely standard boat, sprayed with clearcoat but un sanded, with an old Alioth fin and bulb. I thought what better way to rest the Britpop than to buy the Alioth and sail it over the winter with the Britpop rigs. When I started to sail it, I was hooked on the design but my boat setup had some issues. I sailed a bit with Craig Richards but he was months ahead of me and truth be told a better sailor. My boat needed to sail with the rigs at zero degrees rake for balance which meant the booms pointed upward and it all looked rather ugly. Having the boom band 150mm from the step meant the boom was too high. I also had a poor A rig with prebend that occurred mostly around the 600mm mark, more of a kink than a bend which was created with rollers. The end result was a poor performing boat. The first thing to do was to rake the fin aft 2 degrees so I could put some rake on the mast. Unfortunately this moves the bulb back over a centimetre so the transom dropped in the water. Then I lowered the boom band to just off the foredeck above the mast ram. I had to the rakethe fin a degree forward to get the fore and aft balance better and that resulted in weather helm which to be frank was slow. With the Britpop it was easy to power off upwind and drive hard. With my set up I had the opposite and every time I took my eye off the boat it slowed. Craig had moved his fin aft so he could rake the rigs and achieved a balanced boat and was quick from the start with his V3. Eventually after struggling at the the ranking event at Eastbourne, I bit the bullet and moved the fin leading edge rake to a full 2.5 degrees (the aft edge was dead perpendicular to the waterline and then I moved the bulb forward 1.5cm to achieve balance and keep the stern just out of the water. I was then able to test the following week and had a balanced boat with the bow and stern just out of the water. To measure things accurately (see the instruction at the bottom of the article), all you need is paper, pen and a right angled set square. Once you have the dimensions, it is easy to replicate on a new boat. The boat came with under deck sheeting which gave me some issues, tangles and restricted range of movement which took a while to sort. Since trying it out I would prefer on deck sheeting in another boat as you can see any wear on the sheet and quickly repair any fraying cord. Having sorted all of this I ended up with a boat on weight but a bulb 25gm lighter than my Britpop. So after 6 months I got the boat set up that I wanted it. Remember I am not a designer and have to work by trial and error. I also get nervous about moving things around although my confidence is building on this as my knowledge builds. In a way it is good to fiddle as you learn on the journey whereas sailing a setup boat with instruction is quick but ones learning is limited. So what to do next. We heard a rumour that Juan was going to release a file for a 2 piece boat which would make it lighter and stronger. After some gentle persuasion we got the file and printed the boat which I could put together just before the nationals. I wanted a Craig Smith fin which is the lightest available and a Robot bulb. I could not fit a Smith fin to the current boat as I had glued the fin insert for the Alioth fin into the fin box but it would fit nicely in the new boat with a customised insert and this would allow us to vary the rake from zero to 2 degrees. The only thing we lacked was time. Putting an untested boat on the water 3 days before the Nationals was fraught with risk and so it proved. Other things we did to the new boat were to fit on deck sheeting, put the pulley in the centre at the back of the boat to minimise drag in the water, move the shroud base in a few mm as the eyes had the potential to damage other boats when healed over and it would not hurt to bring the shroud base in a bit. As a consequence I shortened the spreaders on the A and B rig and modified the jib tack fitting on the boom so I can get the jibs booms as close to the deck as possible. Then it was a case of going over the boat and minimising windage as far as possible. There was a structural change. After Juan had cracked his boat near the shroud area having been hit by a Venti without a bow bumper at an event earlier this year, Paul changed the aluminium posts that provided triangulation strength at the mast and shroud area replacing them with wires so that if there was impact in this area, the boat could flex and not split although the Polymax is extremely robust. I have hit a piece hard with a hammer and seen no damage or even a mark for that matter. It was a race against time especially as we had a couple of issues with the gluing. While Paul was sorting the boat I went through my rigs and did everything I could to and make sure the setup was good. New Cunningham design, lower the bottle screws, get the booms as parallel to the deck as possible. One mistake I made was to try 80lb fishing line to attach the jib luff to the mast. Unfortunately, the bowsie kept slipping the day before the Nationals so I went back to my trusty thicker cord. I had put the same on the backstay and had to replace that as well. One of the challenges I had was running the sheeting system under the deck using PTFE tube bent through 180 degrees. The winch could not handle the friction but then it was suggested I apply silicon grease to the cord and that solved the problem. So I picked up the boat on the Saturday before the Nationals, with the biggest job, fitting the fin and bulb in the afternoon but I had my map/diagram laid out on the floor with the optimal positions from the previous boat so I could position the fin and bulb accurately knowing the boat would be balanced and with the fore and aft weight distribution correct. What I did not realise at the time was that the bulb cant to the waterline was at 2 degrees when hand fitted but when I secured it with the nut the bulb cant increases to nearly 4 degrees. I only realised this after the nationals. One little check would have shown me the issue with the bulb. One thing I was able to do was accurately measure the bottom of the bulb in relation to the waterline and calculated I would have a 2 mm gap in the tank. The on-deck sheeting was a pleasure to set up and worked well although the way I had set the winch up meant that you had to move the stick a long way to ease the sheet making precise adjustment upwind difficult. Also the mix for a high mode was not working properly. I did not have time to fix that. I did drop the shroud bottle screws to the deck to get them out of the slot and that meant fitting longer shrouds Also checked the mast was a firm fit where it entered hull at the deck and happy to say it is rock solid. One final tweak was to the transmitter rudder control. I have a habit of over steering just after the start so I have introduced 20% of exponential to the steering. I had a quick test sail on Monday to check the sailing balance and that the boat sat in the water correctly. The transom was just out of the water and the bow 25mm out. I had 200gm of correctors to play with which I would position when the boat was measured. The boat was measured in Gosport on the Tuesday. It was exactly 1m long and the bulb 2mm above the limit and the rudder just inside the perpendicular from the transom. I had got something right. We had time to precisely locate the corrector weights. Wednesday was spent practice sailing at Frensham and then Thursday I raced at Gosport. That is when I got concerned about speed. The boat was just not powering off the start line. Yes it was shifty but I was getting rolled by boats around me. Not much I could do but live with it and take it to the Nationals. On the Friday at Poole there was a decent breeze and this is where I learnt that 8mm was not enough prebend in the mast. The jib luff sagged, the leach opened too much and the result was a boat slightly off the pace. I could have increased the prebend for the weekend but if I snapped the mast I would be off home. Thankfully the forecast was for light winds. The first day of the nationals was difficult (a polite way of saying bloody frustrating). After the seeding race I was put in C heat and progressed to B the A and stayed in A for two more races. The things unfolded. I was demoted to B then C and took 3 attempts to get out of C and then two attempts to get from B back to A where I stayed for the rest of the regatta. In summary, I was getting great starts but lacked pace and dropped back into the fleet but once back in A fleet after my excursions was always able to find a way to stay there. The result from the Nationals was not what I wanted but I was going through a commissioning process, so 14th is OK. The boat was not as quick as I would like, and I was able to nail down the reasons why and quickly fix on Tuesday. So, what was the list of things to do after the Nationals On mast bend, 8mm of prebend proved to be too little to support a firm jib luff and leech when sailing upwind. I wanted to use the same mast but with more prebend without using my rollers. I have found with the rollers that you have to get the roller settings to a certain point before the mast bends permanently. It is very easy to get hard spots, so I thought it time to bend the mast by hand. Surprisingly it is not that difficult to achieve a smooth bend by bending the mast carefully around my middle. So my 8mm turned to 15mm over 600mm and I put a gentle reverse bend into the whole mast. Only a few mm. The result when rerigged was stunning. Complete control on the jib leech and the ability to set any bend I liked and no hard spots on the mast. I will not be using rollers again. I also discovered the bulb cant was nearly 4 degrees rather than the two I thought I had. I took the bolt off, and the hand fitted bulb was 2 degrees but what I had not realised was there was a high spot in the slot on the bulb and when the bolt was tightened the bulb rocked and increased the cant. I also need to increase the weight of the bulb by 15gms. There is a hole in the slot which I can fill with lead shot so should be able to get the bulb and fin to full weight. I fiddled and reprogrammed the winch, so I was able to have full control sheeting when sailing upwind. That also restored the mixing which gives me high mode. I will put a blog up on that later. Those three things alone will surely increase the performance of the boat. All this done, I am ready to test the improvements. The journey continues. 5 months to the worlds. How to measure fin and bulb position (see picture below) After a ranking event where the weather helm caused me issues, I ended up raking the fin 2.5 degrees and moved the bulb just over a centimetre forward. This required careful trimming of the slot in the bulb but with a Dremel you can do a neat job but how to get the bulb in the right place Take 2 A2 sheets of drawing paper and tape them together along the shortest edge. Lie this on a wooden floor and place the boat on it. Use the top side as the waterline. The bulb draft limit is 3mm below the bottom or the A2 sheet. Using a right-angle triangle or T square, put a mark on the water line of the boat at the bow at the point where the designer says the bow should kiss the water. Align the boats water line with the top edge of the paper marking the exact bow and stern position. If you do this right, you will be able to move the boat and relocate with precision. Once you have the waterline established, raise the fin so it is parallel to the floor (3 dvd boxes should do it) and recheck the boats position. Also it is worth checking at this stage that the boat is 1m long. Once the boat is in position, you can mark the four corners of the fin, then mark the tip and back point of the bulb so you can measure the cant. Each point is marked on the paper using the adjustable right-angled triangle which also allows me to measure precise angles. This Alioth design requires the bottom of the leading edge to be a certain distance from the bow by drawing that line with the fin in that position and marking the front point of the bulb is, I had my starting point for the bulb position. I then marked where the centre of gravity of the bulb should be so I can line up the C of G of my new bulb in the same place with a raked fin. When I changed to a bulb with a different length, I was able to position its centre of gravity with ease.

How I chose a design and built my IOM Building an IOM. (Click on a heading) Introduction and cost Acquire the plan Build the plug First Alternative Build The Optimised Alternative build Build the rigs Add the sails Weigh and check measure The end result

A directory of championship races from around the world Videoer fra hele verden 2021 Region 5 IOM regatta Corpus Christi Texas 27. februar - 1. mars 2020. Verdensmesterskap i Brasil 2019 Heat 6 Fleet A Heat 6 Fleet E Heat 6 Fleet B Heat 8 Fleet A Heat 8 Fleet B Heat 9 Fleet A Heat 9 Fleet B Heat 14 Fleet A Heat 17 Fleet A Heat 19 Fleet A Heat 19 Fleet B Heat 20 Fleet B Heat 22 Fleet D Heat 23 Fleet B Heat 24 Fleet A 2019 australske nasjonale mesterskap Dag 1 2. seeding race Race 4 A Fleet Race 2 A Fleet Race 10 A Fleet Race 5 A Fleet Race 5 B Fleet Race 3 B Fleet Løp 13 En flåte 2018 Australia Sunshine Coast regatta Dag 4 Race 1 Heat 2 Dag 4 Race 1 Heat 1 Race 4 B Fleet Seeding Race 1 Seeding Race 2 Race 2 B Fleet Dag 1 Race 3 D Fleet Queensland State Champs Race 2 A Fleet Race 2 B Fleet Race 15 A Fleet Race 18 A Fleet 2017 åpen IOM Masters Holland 2017 LEIPZIG CUP 2017 Australian IOM Nationals Kogarah Bay I OM Worlds 2015 Foster City Siste dag 2012 britiske statsborgere på 2 Island RYC Dag 1 Race 1 A Fleet 2011 VM West Kirby Race 18 A Fleet Race 23 A Fleet - Strålende kampløp mellom Peter Stollery 39 og Brad Gibson 42 Dag 1 Dag 2 Dag 3 Dag 4 Dag 5 Dag 6 Litt nostalgi