Can someone provide some good steps/advice/tips for creating the softer, streamlined front of the bow? What material is used? Is it shaped somehow once applied?

1 hour ago, mdeleo said:

Thanks John. Again, I truly appreciate the experience and advice you've been providing. It's invaluable, especially the "sailing my 6th attempt..." comment.

Re carbon, absolutely the best choice for something competitive. There are a couple of determining factors that are in play for me right now:

Sounds like a right ol' journey Mike, in all, sorts of ways!

Praise for unashamedly sharing your journey tho. Learning here what to do, and also what not to do, - whether building/sailing/rules - is valuable info to share.

2 hours ago, mdeleo said:

Thanks John. Again, I truly appreciate the experience and advice you've been providing. It's invaluable, especially the "sailing my 6th attempt..." comment.

Re carbon, absolutely the best choice for something competitive. There are a couple of determining factors that are in play for me right now:

Sounds like a right ol' journey Mike, in all, sorts of ways!

Praise for unashamedly sharing your journey tho. Learning here what to do, and also what not to do lol , - whether building/sailing/rules - is valuable info to share.

First half of the hull mold.

I see you have opted for hull / deck molds whereas most commercial molds are vertically split to ease the release of a rounded deck edge. The experts say you need at least a 6 degree angle for the mold to release successfully. The last one I did had a rounded deck edge but I had to break the plug up to get it out of the mold and you have to leave the bow / stern open to have any chance of getting the shell out of the mold.

Good luck

The plan is to "mold" the flat deck on a waxed sheet of Mylar separately and join that finished part to the hull after all of the supporting internal structure is installed. That approach requires that I only leave about an inch of flange on the mold where the deck will attach along the full hull length. Again, thanks for the insight and industry expertise.

Edited September 22Sep 22 by mdeleo

After a little worry (thanks John), a few silent prayers and some coercing, the mold halves came away from the parting board and plug. Some trimming and a bit of wet sanding in a few spots and they'll be ready to mold a hull.

Sorry hadn't noticed that you had split the mold for the hull. It's usually recomended to put alignment pins or similar in the two halves before you take it off the plug. Incidently you have seen the videos on Easy Composites web-site? Loads of great info on how to do things. I make flat mouldings on a sheet of glass with male shapes for mast recesses etc. Paint it with PVA and off you go, gives a very good finish. Also easy to tape the vacuum bag to. I don't have a sheet big enough to make the deck in one go so I butt join. Depends if you want a carbon look finish or are going to paint it.

It took a while to get to this point but a hull is finally in the mold. Prepped molds with 3 coats of Partall wax and sprayed a few coats of PVA barrier.

Created a light gelcoat out of West Systems 410 and a bit of 423 graphite powder for color and rigidity.

The layup is 5.6 oz biased, 4-harness carbon cloth in the middle section around the mast and keel, 5.6 oz s-cloth for rest of hull, 5.6 oz uni-carbon 1 inch wide both sides running entire bottom length of hull and 2x1 inch forming an L at the full length of the deck edge.

West Systems epoxy for the gelcoat and FiberGlast System 2001 for the structure.

This is all an educated guess so we’ll see how it works out.

Mike

Edited October 13Oct 13 by mdeleo

Are you taking orders?😉

40 minutes ago, Gary Dickens said:

Are you taking orders?😉

With all of the hours I have in this little project, they’d probably need to be priced at a full-size America's Cup hull to break even.

Edited October 13Oct 13 by mdeleo

Epic fail on the first deck go-around. Plan was to paint the Mylar and do an s-cloth/Divinycell sandwich with some carbon reinforcement but it ended up a mess.

Edited Tuesday at 23:261 day by mdeleo

But the recovery came out better. Spread tow/Divinycell sandwich with aircraft plywood at the mast step. Applied thin teak veneer with a coat of West System epoxy with special clear hardener. Likely get several more coats with wet sanding in between.

Looks fantastic. A lot of skill involved!

I’m enjoying seeing progress.

Looks pretty but have you weighed it yet?

I've treid all sorts of ways of making the deck, but now I use internal structure to support all the fittings and the desk is only there to keep the water out. I use a single layer of 200 gsm carbon made on a glass plate. I use a shaped block to make the mast recess and butt joint the sections. I was going to make a mould for the fin box / mast tube but Dave Creed makes them at a price that's hard to refuse.

1 hour ago, David Davies said:

Looks fantastic. A lot of skill involved!

I’m enjoying seeing progress.

Thanks David. I really appreciate the compliment. Was wondering if anyone was following along. It was awfully quiet...

1 hour ago, John949 said:

Looks pretty but have you weighed it yet?

I've treid all sorts of ways of making the deck, but now I use internal structure to support all the fittings and the desk is only there to keep the water out. I use a single layer of 200 gsm carbon made on a glass plate. I use a shaped block to make the mast recess and butt joint the sections. I was going to make a mould for the fin box / mast tube but Dave Creed makes them at a price that's hard to refuse.

John,

The hull came out of the mold at just under 500g. I've since added reinforcement to it as the layup was too aggressive (light) in a few areas. Once I add the bulkheads and cutout the access holes in the deck, I'll report back.

The spread tow is hard to work with as well as being expensive and overkill for this. The next deck I do will be biased 6 oz 4-harness carbon cloth sandwiching core material.

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by mdeleo

18 minutes ago, mdeleo said:

Thanks David. I really appreciate the compliment. Was wondering if anyone was following along. It was awfully quiet...

I’m here, lurking like a maritime voyeur in the shadows! 😁

I lack the skills, precision and craftsmanship to get anywhere close to what you’re doing here, so I keep checking in to see how you’re doing. Keep posting! (Please!)

I'm convinced that had I been able to find the Western Red Cedar (or something similar) to plank the hull I would A) be done by now and have this thing in the water and B) have a really strong and light boat. To promote someone building one in that fashion, I'll donate the formers I made from the plans. You'll need to buy a set of plans from Frank but that's a small price to pay for all of his hard work.

Edited Tuesday at 23:141 day by mdeleo

I agree about the work involved but unfortunately I don't believe a planked hull can be competitive in a class with no minimum hull weight. Wooden (and 3D printed) IOMs can be made to the minimum hull weight which gives home builders a fighting chance. Commercial 10Rs & Ms are built as light as possible using expensive tooling and equipment. This makes them expensive and fragile. It's very hard for home builders to compete as the costs for a comparable one-off would be eye watering. In my view the lack of a minimum hull weight is driving up the cost, increasing the fragility and a major factor in the dwindling popularity of these classes.