Still no official first race...

Well, the first race day was today. What a disaster. Actually disaster's a bit harsh, the Hindenberg was a disaster, this was a bit less horrific. Super puffy westerly breeze on Pittwater which sucks in a westerly at the best of times. I got trashed sailing out of the moored boats and capsized a bunch of time (but managed to stay dry), the boat is real easy to right luckily. I then tried to sail upwind into the worst of it but had a hard time tacking as I couldn't hold any momentum to take me through the tack. I kind of sorted this out with more speed into the tack but this also resulted in a few over tacks and a quick swim. My wife sailed near at this stage and said she wasn't going to venture down to the race course so I decided to stay with her. Upwind got better and there were some smoking reaches followed by some smoking swims in the gybe. Anyway, I made it back to the club without breaking anything and as I de-rigged the conditions moderated (of course). In the end I would have probably been OK by the time the race started but as it didn't count towards anything I'm happy with my decision and best of all, because I didn't start, I haven't had my first race yet so I can save it for a better day...

First race today

Well today (Sunday 13th Sept) is the first race for the new boat. I should be up against some Finns and Contenders but I don't think the Moth will be out. As a practice my wife and I went out for a sail yesterday and she took the photos above from her Spiral. Not a bad day all in all...

Thoughts on my first sail

Yee freakin haa, how cool are these boats!

I just got back from my very first sail in an IC. It was my AUS 33 "Magic Carpet Ride" and it was her very first sail too. I was stoked with how it went! Breeze was only 5 knots with puffs to 8 maybe. I was surprised with the stability, I was expecting it to be much tippier. I guess once I get into waves and stronger winds it will be different. I'm not convinced that the vectran rigging will work in the end. Since it's a una rig I don't need heaps of rig tension but after about an hour of sailing the boat felt wobbily while tacking as the rig had streched in a bit.

The boat felt comfortable underfoot but I was cheating a bit. I didn't bother with sliding the seat across all the time, just centered it and sat out. I need some more tell tales as the cambered sail didn't give much feedback on pointing and I think I was pointing too high, but once I came off the wind the boat took off. I know you are always fast when sailing by yourself but I recon I was doing at least better than windspeed while running back to the club.

I know the sailing anarchy rule of "pictures or it didn't happen" but this was a super secret first sail. I didn't tell anyone I was going incase it was a dismal failure and the boat needed to be burnt in a hurry but happily it was a success, for me anyway. I'll be out on the weekend and hopefully get the wife to take some shots from her dinghy (if she can keep up )

All in all a great session of sailing...

Nearly there

I went down to the club today for the first full scale, full tension rig up. All went pretty well and I was about to go for a sail when I noticed that my mast foot (which is a standard windsurfer universal) wasn't up to the job and was compressing too much to risk. Oh well, I'll find something better...

Boom in the bag

Oh, well. I missed out on doing the nationals but as I understand, the new boats suffered from various failures due to being new boats so I don't think I would have faired any better.

I spent half of today laminating up the boom. It's a tapered oval section (I don't believe in going easy on myself). Basically a 60mm OD PVC tube cut down the horizontal centerline to within a meter of the back and a wedge shoved down the front end to create the taper. The whole thinf is then wrapped in plastic which becomes the inside of the bag. 1 layer od 450g 45*45 carbon, 3 layers each side of 300g unis (which over lap top and bottom to create 6 layers) then a finishing layer of 200g plain weave to make it look pretty. Unfortunatly I don't think the 200g will help in the pretty dept as I think it will have some creases in it once it's out of the bag :-(

P.S. By the way, yes it is supposed to be bent...

A god's eye view

I spent today figuring out and screwing on fittings. I was all set to do the carriage tracks until I realised that the carriage has to be totally finish as once it's it won't come off (it hits the rudder post before it leaves the track, Doh). I've only drilled six holes in the wrong spot so considering how many holes I've drilled, it's not too bad...

Starting the foils

OK, I've started bagging the foils. The one in the picture is both sides of the rudder so it looks more high aspect than it is. I still need to do both sides of the centerboard and put all the fittings on the boat and then organise a boom, all before the nationals in two weeks. On top of this it looks like I might have a new job but I'm not sure when I will be starting. It will be nice to have money again but the boat building might suffer. Oh, well...

Carriage attachments

I had decided on and bought a Ronstan slide system for my boat a long while ago, before I'd seen the trendy carbon slides everyone is doing. Aligning the slides and the track has proved to be quite the dilemma. I had trouble getting the track parallel in all planes and once they were screwed down I couldn't bolt on the carriage sldies. I decided it would be easier to align the slides on the carriage first and then use the carriage to place the tracks on the hull (which I should be doing this weekend). If it works well I'll post some photos, if not I'm in the shit...

Bagging the spreaders

Progress has slowed dramatically lately as the boat fund dries up. I'm going for a second interview for a job this week so I'm pretty confident of the boat fund getting some more funding soon but working will reduce the amount of time I'll get to spend on the project. Anyway, here are the photos of the spreaders getting bagged (I'm a big fan of bagging)...

Sailplan

I was getting ready to put up the mast so I could measure the shroud lengths and such and thought I'd put the main on the mast just for giggles. It's at the approximate rake I'll be using. Hope it works in a few weeks...

Float test

Floats pretty high in the bow (good or bad, don't know???)
Nice stability, might make a nice stand up paddle board if it's not fast as an IC
Bow is about 30mm higher than I would like but this should come down once the rig and fittings are on.
Testing the stern buoyancy. I should be able to come in over the stern without too many problems

Outside photos

Seat has a lid

Hi all

I've just lidded my seat and I think it's going pretty well so far. I was a bit worried about the twist resistance while I was building but now with the deck clamped while the epoxy sets, it's already a lot stiffer so once the glue is good it should be fine.

Seat started

I've started assembling the seat and I gotta say, the pre-cut Steve Clarke inspired CNC pieces are working a treat. It's gone together really well and also quickly. I had an idea about how I would do it differently if I do another but that's not to say I'm unhappy with this one. I think it will be fine.

Don't panic, I've found it

Yes, the camera has been found. Turns out the wife put it in her bag for when we went windsurfing on Friday. Anyway, here are the latest shots.

Bugger

Yeah, bugger. I've lost my digital camera. I took the photos of the deck on Wednesday and uploaded them and now I can't find it. Anyway, I've flipped the hull over and given the bottom two coats of epoxy. I reckon that this is the first boat I've ever built right side up. I didn't even see the bottom until the hull was basically a completed structure. I guess every boat needs to be a first in some regard.

Hopefully I'll post some bottom shape photos soon...

Bedecked?

That's right, she be decked! It's not quite watertight yet but it looks like a boat. Note the judicial use of that staple of boat building assistants, the common house brick. When coupled with my patented deck sled they are quite effecting in providing even weighting to the new deck.

CB case fited

OK, I've now got the centerboard case fitted (with a nice 2 degrees angle to one side 'cause I'm stupid) and all the internal bulkhead and mast step structures are double coated in epoxy. Luckily I can re allign the centerboard when I put the top and bottom plates on.

Shroud & mast foot structure

This post is mainly to remind me how I did the structure around the shrouds and mast step for if I do another boat. The top photo shows me how far the cleat reinforcement goes along the gun'hle. Those with a eye for detail will see that, yes, I have dragged my hairy arm through the wet epoxy resin trying to take this photo and yes, it's gunna hurt later when I try and cut it out.

Proof of foam flotation

Hi everyone

I call this my "Proof of foam" entry. I bought a sheet of 50mm foam with a volume of 144 Kg's and I have less than 25% left so I easily have my 75 Kg's of flotation, probably more like 95-100 Kg's. It's spread from behind the main bulkhead (seen in the picture reversed) to down near the rudder post.

P.S. I just weighed it and it's 20Kg's at this stage.

Chainplates and bulkheads

This week I've been busy fitting the chainplates, forestay and foam bulkheads. The foam is to get up to and beyond my 75Kg's of floatation requirement. It's been made even more difficult due to the fact that I chose to do them from 50mm foam. More bulkheads reduce the unsupported distance on the deck.

Week two

Here I've started fitting the foam bulkheads and trimmed up the stern a bit so you can see the general shape of the cockpit and the gudgeon strut.

one week into build

Just a couple of shots of the hull after a week of building

Day 3

Not much has happened visually today. I've spread the sides and filled & carbon taped the inside seams.

Day two was pretty stressful. The huge piece of ply on the floor was one thing but once I started to wire the joins and it started lifting off the floor it became a massive, unweildly floppy monster. Once it was all joined thought it became more managable.

Day one of the build sees the pieces glued together using the wave scarf that Steve Clark put me onto. It seems like a good way to do it but you need to get the pieces CNC cut to ensure an accurate join. The ply still bends across the join as if it's not there (from my small test so far).