I started sailing back in Greece.  I was racing various classes including Finns, Lightings, Dragons, concentrating to Solings.  Offshore racing was popular in Southern Greece with the center being Athens.  During the college summers, I was going down to Athens racing IOR boats from 1/4 toners to 2 toners.  It was Summer, I was 20, the only worry was in which boat am I gonna spend the night.  When I came to the States, back in September of 82, I got back into racing PHRF boats on the east coast of Florida.

I was introduced to RC sailing in Portland on 2008.  I sail Victorias and IOMs simply because that’s what our club sails.  I love building the boats, sometimes more than actually racing them.  I love working on 5 projects at a time and that becomes the point where "sequential" builders make fun.  Below are some of my projects:

 

Building a Lintel

I got 4 Lintel kits from Dave Creed on 1/6/2012, a delayed Christmas present. We (me, Steve Young, Chris Brundege and Dave Glassow) were waiting for them like kids waiting for a piece of chocolate cake on a birthday party.  Once I got mine, I was determined to get started on it and have it ready in a matter of 12 hours, maybe 10 if I don’t get a cigarette break.  I went against my grain and decided to first read the instructions that came with the kit and second to talk to somebody that had build Lintel kids before.  You see, I need to modify the infamous saying “measure twice and cut once” to something more appropriate for me “read instructions, ask questions, measure twice, cut once”.  With that in mind, I sent an email to my friend in Louisiana, Al Ross.  Al and Hew Hamilton had ordered 8 Lintel kits from Dave, build a number of them for friends and for themselves.  Al emailed me back and then called me.  We talked about the boats, tips and techniques.  After the phone call, Al flood me with emails, pictures, info that will definitely make my life easier building the kit.  In the album to the left I included some of the pictures that Al send me and some of the pictures that Hew published on Facebook and Fliker.

 

After looking at the pictures, and going over Dave Creeds instructions I started my build.

1) Gluing the fittings on the deck starts with marking their locations and sanding the deck underneath for the new epoxy to adhere.  After drilling the holes, I mount the fittings prompting them in place with a drinking straw and tacked them with CA. I used marine epoxy from Tap Plastics with medium hardener (1 part hardener to 4 parts epoxy).  I added silica to make the epoxy “stiff peanut butter” consistency.  Mixing the resin and the hardener, I tried pumps and estimating volumes and I had hard time producing a consistent mix, either too little or too much hardener especially when I was making small butches.  The best investment I made regarding mixing epoxy was a small digital scale from Harbor Freight accurate to 0.1 grams with max weight 500 grams. No more gummy or brittle epoxy.

2) I did not use the shroud mounts that came with the kit.  Dave is supplying eye-bold type bolds (4-40 I think).  I used cylindrical type swivels made by S-PRO, #4 rated for about 300 lbs. The benefit of this approach is that these “shroud bases” rotate above deck so that I can use a quick release clevis (4-40).  I attach the shrouds to a 4-40 stud (with hole) and have an inexpensive way to adjust shroud tension.  To adjust the tension, hold the stud and rotate the clevis.  I mounded the swivels using bicycle spokes, 90 degree bend on the swivel and a hook to the mast trunk. The kit directions are talking about mounting a horizontal 4 mm bar (port to starboard) in the mast trunk for the mast to step on.  I used an old broken Dremel shaft instead.

3) I covered all fittings and shroud bases with epoxy.  To hold the swivel shroud bases in place while the epoxy cured, I set an A rig mast on the trunk and tied some line “shrouds”.  A bar stool makes a good stand for the deck while the epoxy cures.

4) The way Dave Creed designed the support of the pivot points is simple, easy to build and will outlast the life of the boat.  I mounted the deck “tongue” to cover the under side of the jib pivots, measured from the bow and located the hull “tongue”.  I spaced the 2 parts of the hull tongue by putting a drinking straw between them.  The reason was to make sure that I had enough “spring” so that the hull tongue parts will close tight around the tongue coming down from the deck.

5) I cut the whole for the keel trunk at the hull.  The hull comes with a line mark of where the keel is going to be.  Since I was going to paint the hull anyhow, I made sure I cut the hole big so that it does not bind on the keel trunk and causes any torsion on the hull.

6) I cut the depression on the deck for the RMG.  Per instructions, I left about 8mm “lip” on the cut to maintain rigidity on the deck and have enough backing to glue the slider mount for the RMG winch.

7) I looked at the sheeting system that Dave recommends and the sheeting system that Hew and Al did in Louisiana (see the album above).  I decided to go with deck-mount drum.  Experiment with various locations and blocks and end up with single block on the deck by the stern, double block on the starboard side about 1.5” aft of the shroud base and the drum about the save height as the sheeting post. I will be building a cover for the drum to avoid line foul-ups. There is no tensioning pulley on the return line.  The self tensioning drum from RMG is a valid option but I choose to use an elastic line on the return side (the whole line, not just 2” of it) that I got from Wal-Mart. The elastic is inside a cloth sleeve and hopefully UVs will take longer than one season to do their harm.

I mount a standard size rudder servo in the servo compartment per instructions.  Instead of epoxying nuts underneath the deck I used 4-40 blind nuts.  They give more surface for the epoxy to stick on.

9) I drilled the rudder hole on the hull (4mm diameter) and the corresponding hole on the deck.  The deck hole is wider (about 10mm diameter).  Next I put a home made sleeve glued on the hull to the deck height.  Once the deck is glued, I will be able to shove the brass sleeve for the rudder shaft from the deck, align the rudder and then put epoxy from the top with a syringe.  The hole on the deck will be covered with a plastic washer glued to the deck.

10) Gluing the deck to the hull is probably the most complicated task in building the Lintel kit.  Having build other boats before I was really thankful to the way Dave Creed designed that connection.  Following the directions and having a second person to help will greatly simply ones life.  Russ Caul happily came and helped.  We dry fit everything and rehearsed the process twice before we started mixing epoxy.  I used the same hardener (medium) and silica to bring the epoxy to “stiff peanut butter consistency.  We mixed 40 grams total (32 resin, 8 hardener) and we had enough to do the job.  I put heavy epoxy on the deck hoping to squeeze out and cover any misses during the spread.  Before we started we made sure that both the deck flange and the hull lip were sanded good.  Russ held the stern open and I put the bow in the hull first making sure that the deck and the hull tongues connect right.  The hull was taped to protect it from epoxy stains.  Rubber bands and bars were used per instructions.  I had glued 2 L fiberglass pieces on the keel trunk and put epoxy underneath them.  Whet the deck was pushed on the hull, these brackets push the epoxy on the hull.  I did not have to go back and try to make a fillet of epoxy around the keel trunk to ensure good seam.  Half way through the curing of the epoxy, I removed all tapes and cleaned up with acetone any epoxy that wonder out of place.

 

Building 2 Tingets 

UPDATE Name Change:  The new name for the Tinget is Pinot Gris.  The reasoning was that Pinot is the favorite wine in Oregon (the boat was build in Oregon) and Gris means gray in French and gray market (after market) parts were used

First of all, what on earth is a Tinget?  Russ Caul and I are building 2 IOMs based on TINTO hulls, WIDGET decks, Dave Creed fins and bulbs. TINTO is a Bantock design with a similar underwater design as RED WINE (Bantock 1994) and it was designed to maximize performance in the expected light airs conditions at the 1994 World Champs, which the prototype won. There are similarities between the TINTO / RED WINE and MERLO3, a 2010 design from Graham Bantock.  Another way to see it, Tinget is a Widget with a Graham Bantock light air hull.  Our hulls were casted by Herb Hosier, a long time founding member of OMYC and a veteran IOM builder.  The decks were casted by Lawrie Neish a pivot member of the Sweat Equity (SE) IOM build in BC and the fin, rudder, bulb, keel trunk were build by Dave Creed.

1) We started by defining the position of the keel leading edge.  We moved the keel aft and we maintain the same location of the CG to assure that the boat will float on the designed waterline.

2) We did not want to use wood for the deck to hull connection.  Instead we casted fiberglass beams, “P beams”, glued them to the hull so they can receive the deck on the top part of the P.  The result was 33% weight savings compared to the cedar connection approach.  Also, all deck reinforcements and all supports were made by casting custom fiberglass beams, a mix of P and Omega beams.

4) For the deck layout we wanted to (1)avoid patches on the foredeck and (2)a simple and easily serviceable sheeting system.  That lead us to a deck mounted sail drum winch.  Talking about sail drum winches, RMG is the established solution.  Unfortunately the associated cost was out of our budget so we selected the Eurgle sail winch.  I had used this winch before and I know that it has the power to handle the sails at an acceptable speed.  Driving the Eurgle at 8.4 volts (fully charged 2 cell LiPo) can bring the sails from full out to full in, in 1.6 sec.  This is satisfactory.  The arm winch solution was also considered but it would have involved a more complicated sheeting system.

5) We are mounting both servos, rudder and sail servo, suspended from the deck, with the horn and the drum up on the deck, covering the hole with the cut-off piece of fiberglass waterproofing the opening with insignia cloth patch. Similar to the sail winch drum being on the deck, the horn of the rudder servo is also on the deck connecting to the rudder horn.  This approach reduces openings to the hull and produces an easy to maintain setup.

 

Building Medusa

 

Medusa is a hull designed by Wick Smith.  I got the hull and deck from an eBay auction. 2009 was a dull winter so I decided to play with it.  The hull was different, the deck has a step at the stern to get the pull rods out to the rudder servo.  Vertical sides, almost no flare, soft chines, flat stern, shallow hull draft (+-50 mm). It was going to be a blast or a bust.  Here are pictures of the build, some are self-explanatory.

 

 

 

Building a Pikanto

Since I first saw Ron’s Pikanto (Ron Blackledge USA 208) I fell in love.  I think that this boat is a good all around performer and one of the best designs that Graham Bantock produced up to this date ( well I am talking mid 2011, there are and will be more designs from GB).  I had the opportunity to get a kit (hull and deck) and I couldn’t resist to build one. 

1) I have seen Pikantos using fins, bulbs and rudders, from Graham Bantock, Craig Smith, Dave Creed to name a few.  I had very good experience with the Dave Creed ones so that is the way I chose to go.

2) For the the sheeting system I am using an arm winch instead of a sail drum.  Sail drums are simpler to implement but in general heavier, more expensive with limited selection while the sail arm winches are lighter, cheaper wider selection but result in a more complicated sheeting system.  My approach is to use a +- 400 oz in servo with 360 rotation.  Use a “cam” shape arm instead of the conventional straight one or even the circular one.  The 360 rotation and the cam shape of the arm will make possible to use single purchase and save battery going upwind since the moment arm will be minimal. The problem is that I have to come up with my own arm.

 

Building my Victoria

With the 2012 Victoria Nationals being hosted by my club, I decided to build a new boat.  I was not taking pictures as I was going along but I took pictures of the finished product.  I like the result but then again it is my baby…

Before I post my pictures, I would like to post pictures of a Victoria build in the UK by John B Kiff.  John used parts designed and build by Dave Creed and Martin Roberts.  If you don’t know who Dave or Martin are, you probably are not into IOMs or live under a rock where RC sailing is not your thing.  The boat that John build is by no means a “class legal boat” as defined in the US, but is a stable and sails like a dream.  Here is a link to John’s album http://www.flickr.com/photos/iombuildsail/sets/72157629985677595/