Richard98

Stephen, sorry for delay in responding. Boat has been on "back burner" for last few weeks. Everyone has their favourite adhesives. I use the following: SP 106 for structural filleting etc. XCR coating epoxy from Easy Composites for coating. It has built in UV protection. Aliphatic resin from Deluxe adhesive for planking. Easy clean up so all excess can be removed with the usual eye to keep weight off. It sets waterproof. Picture to date. Ready for deck. Richard

Finished the easy bit last week; planking the hull. Epoxy coated and 50 gsm lined. Weight a constant factor. The peel ply on the inside removed 35 grams of surplus resin! Fiddly bit now: setting up mast / fin box. Richard

Thanks for the comment Mike. Thinking of a lowered deck aft of the mast to avoid a mast well. I know the current fashion is back to flat aft decks but It is easier, lighter and stiffer for a timber boat than a multi part well or inserting an Ikon or similar moulding. Some more pics of progress. Rough trimmed and sanded hull. Richard

Decided to use up my old stock of cedar planks ( at least 3 boats worth) and build a modern One Metre. Thanks Brad, have gone for your "Alternative" design. Super efficient looking lines and looks a little tricky to plank up. Picture of starting point. Note the string passing through the 2mm datum holes in each shadow, each one is aligned by shining a bright light from the end and sighting down the hull. Richard

Stephen, when I used to build One Metres using cedar planks, I contacted several timber yards and found one who was prepared to rip down 10 X 3mm planks for me, about 1400mm long. I found that, despite being used to cutting HMS Victory sized timber, he was quite prepared for this smaller task. Even sourcing old pieces of cedar for me. I used to collect 100 or so planks at a time. What I am saying is that there may well be a timber firm near you and it is well worth phoning round. Cedar hulls are really light and tough and do not require skinning in glass. They have an additional bonus of being stiffer than epoxy glass hulls. Planking for strength and lightness requires a different approach to the layup used for conventional model hulls though. Richard

That is interesting Mike. I know you use them on Moths and multis. All my experience of pocket luffs and wings has been on full size. While I like the look of the pocket luff B main that I have; it seems more logical to be applied to the swing rig. Also would not then require the pocket "hinge" that the fixed mast necessitates. I am sure you have all been here already on the Marblehead so do not want to re invent the wheel, but why are they not used for the swing A ? Richard

Currently racing my restored "starkers" with a home made set of A sails on a swing rig while I await delivery of a decent suit. However I have two very nice Sails etc B shroudless sets of sails: one main with a pocket luff 1845 X 370 and another eyelet main 1800 X 340. Ignoring the slight difference in area; what are the views on the use of pocket luff mains and, given the choice, which one gets the vote to rig ? Richard

Hi Graham, thanks for your PM, I have tried to answer several times now but must be doing something wrong. Yours, Richard

Decided to dip a toe into the Marblehead class. Just sold my Mini40 to fund project. Have a beautifully moulded Starkers, Creed carbon hull with cored deck, 468grm.. A parallel fin with fairly stubby ballast at 3620grm and guestimate draft of 580mm. Some pics attached. Would appreciate any advice on several decisions I need to make, and I have read the excellent articles by Brad and Graham plus several others. Lack of experience with the rig inclines me towards shroudless. However the aft mast tube would need replacing with the same size diameter as the forward swing rig tube; is it worth the hassle? Can a swing rig just be fitted as shroudless anyway, with a few mods of course. What are the different rig ratios and how do I determine which I need. I have a very old PJ top swing rig to play with initially. I really want to dual rate as a 10R also so, once again which is the best top (max area) rig to go for; plus swing or shroudless ? Thinking of stumping up for an RMG, however as this is my "starter" boat which slower winch is worth considering. (have RMG in my IOM) So there we are for starters. Looking for any used sails/rigs to get a good feel before commissioning new, so where is everyones spare/surplus kit ? Thanks for reading. Richard