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Romanza Build Blog


Mike Ewart

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Hi Everyone I have to report a major victory the peters (Shepherd and Jackson) are building a six, not just any old six but a Romanza possibly the fastest six to be seen follow the build blog on the website, we will find out after all these years if the Romanza is as quick as the VPP says it should be, mind you a bit different to the footies they normally sail

Mike Ewart

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

I Have been so inspired by the Romanza building blog (well done the Peters) that I have also decided to build one this winter. The plans have duly arrived from Sails etc and the shadows are half made. Currently lacking in spare time so progress is likely to be slow I'm afraid. Spring 2015 is my current target. Not sure of all the assembly details yet but current thoughts are that I shall build a cedar planked plug and cast a carbon shell over the plug.

I will post progress and pictures along the way, and of course will welcome any comments.

For a starter, anyone know the weight and spec of carbon cloth appropriate for a 6?

Brian

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Not sure what everyone else uses but I would use 200gms/m2 and have at least 2 thicknesses at stress points but lots of much better qualified builders will now say I am wrong and tell you the correct way to do it, well done with the choice of a new Six, and it will be interesting to see as we now have 4 Romanza's building counting yours, after a number of years with the design sitting all of a sudden a great popularity,keep it up

Mike Ewart

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sorry Gents it's not 4 but 5 that are being built. I have aquired plans and already made shadows. To be honest i must be mad as i have never sailed a 6M let alone built one, but i wanted to get into the class, so what better way than building your own.

I have Alan Bright and Terry Burton advising me, but hope you don't mind if i pick your brains as you are at the sharp end.

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Sorry Gents it's not 4 but 5 that are being built. I have aquired plans and already made shadows. To be honest i must be mad as i have never sailed a 6M let alone built one, but i wanted to get into the class, so what better way than building your own.

I have Alan Bright and Terry Burton advising me, but hope you don't mind if i pick your brains as you are at the sharp end.

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Vinnie, welcome I promise you will enjoy sailing theses yachts, any info you want just put a question up on the website and we will attempt to guide you in the right direction, are you building in wood? The blog on the six metre website is very good but that of course is building a plug slightly different. Do look at your sail wardrobe slightly differently these boats carry their sail very well and most of us dont have huge sail wardrobes generally a full suit a skinny main ( full suit with most of the roach curve taken out and a reduced height and area suit, you can mix and match mains and jibs if you want to and this is often quite a useful compromise in certain wind strengths. Some people are still using a twin winch set up to alow a bit more flexibility in control but most are now on a single 380 or a big titan winch, do go to a higher voltage for the battery to prevent brownouts when pulling in the sail in a gust 2 cell LiPo is probably the way to go. Lastly look carefully at the sail fixing to the single allowed mast as changing the rig when it is blowing a bit out on the lakeside can cause problems with certain rig fixings, I personally prefer a groovy mast .

Mike Ewart

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Thanks for the welcome Mike. Plus your offer of advise.

Just been out this morning to get my bits and pieces to start the build. I intend doing it in 3mm Balsa with a Carbon outer and Glass inner coat.

Havn't even thought about rigs and sails, all in time.

Will keep you informed on my progress.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Boat all planked up and readyfor fibre glassing. Suprised myself as it looks quite nice, but must admit it was a real pig to do and had to use a little bit of filler. Originaly i was going to coat it in carbon but was advised to use ordinary cloth. So after more advice we are using 80gr cloth for both sides, My mentor Allan Bright is ariving this morning to give me a hand to glass the hull. I am then going to leave it for a couple of weeks whilst i go to Malta for a break. On my return will coat the interior. Question for all you PRO BUILDERS! Is 80 gr cloth enough or do i need to put on a second layer.

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Hi Vinnie,

I am definitly not a pro builder but I would put 2 coats of the 80gm cloth on because you are going to have to sand down a bit between coats I would assume, also they are large heavy boats and a coming together can cause problems with an ultra lightweight hull

Mike Ewart

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Boat all planked up and readyfor fibre glassing. Suprised myself as it looks quite nice, but must admit it was a real pig to do and had to use a little bit of filler. Originaly i was going to coat it in carbon but was advised to use ordinary cloth. So after more advice we are using 80gr cloth for both sides, My mentor Allan Bright is ariving this morning to give me a hand to glass the hull. I am then going to leave it for a couple of weeks whilst i go to Malta for a break. On my return will coat the interior. Question for all you PRO BUILDERS! Is 80 gr cloth enough or do i need to put on a second layer.

 

Vinnie

I would be interested to know what weight your hull comes in at, the first carbon one out of our mould weighed in at 1080g using three gel coats & two layers of 200g carbon with a bit of additional stiffening here and there. Hopefully you will be prepared to compare notes.

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  • 4 months later...

Hi all, bet you all thought that i had given up. Well i have not and if i can work out how to do it, i will post a photo.

I have now nearly finished the hull and have just married the Hull, Fin and keel. Hopefully i will float it later in my Ozzie dogs padling pool.

Have all the fittings for the rigs and Terry Burton has kindly volunteered to help me put the rigs together as i don't have much of a clue.

Will keep you posted.

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