just been having a look round this site and recognised a few of you from the rcgrops site but im gesing there are a few outhers on here that arnt on there so thought id post a link to what ive been upto on there
Very nice! Getting it (the plug) perfectly symmetrical is the tough part. I see a lot of similary between many of the current designs tho, which could be a good thing. Maybe great minds think alike? :sly:
Or pehaps making Footies conform to boxed dimensions doesn’t facilitate a great deal of variation.
Or perhaps making Footies conform to boxed dimensions doesn’t facilitate a great deal of variation.
Thats right the scows ,cats and all the other hulls look exactly alike!!
when will we see a 150mm wide version of your concept Niel?
Now, the catamaran and the scow that have been featured with photos on this forum both came from Pete Jefferson. I am sure that there are other interesting ideas being tried somewhere in Footydom. I was just responding to Tomo’s remark.
I would agree that most of the Footies do look similar and here’s why. The maximum length and beam are determined by the box’s dimensions, and the average displacement for most of the boats is pretty similar (as light as the average builder can manage, in the range of 520 to 600 gms). Except for the aforementioned craft most of the Footies are monohulls and appear to be pointed in the front and with a general dingy shaped hull (be they hard chined or round bilged). The restricted beam and the 12" overall length coupled with average displacement don’t leave a lot of leeway for variation in hull design on a conventionally styled boat. The reason is the displacement has to be distributed along that length somehow. (For those readers not familiar with the term displacement it refers to the volume of water “displaced” by the immersed part the hull. The weight of that volume of water corresponds to the weight of the boat.) In a class like the IOM (where the minimum displacement is specified) hull shapes vary quite a bit. This is because the displaced volume can be distributed in along the length of the hull in different ways, like wide beam with shallow rocker or deep canoe body. You can’t really do this with a Footy because the displacement is greater in proportion to the length. And the boats need to be as wide as the box restrictions allow to provide as much righting moment as possible.
(Righting moment is the ability to resist the heeling forces of the sails.) But this beam dimension was chosen as a result of experience with much larger r/c yachts, not from experience with these boats. Its apparent to anyone reading the posts on this forum, and those who’ve sailed a Footy, these are tender boats and hard to control as the wind picks up. Brett made a similar comment to me about his boats.
I bring all this up because if the Footy is to grow beyond the realm of the dedicated OG’s then the performance shortfalls in upwind sail carrying ability and downwind performance need to be addressed. Taking a good look at the ramifications of the box’s dimensions and brainstorming ways to address these issues to make the Footy a more all around performer is a responsibility we all owe to the original spirit of the class.
hey all didging my old thread back up as ive got anuther intesive 2 weeks of footy action while im on my hols in florida.looks like all the talk is on this forum now instead of rc groups so ill cary on where i left of here.if you want to se where i had got to cheque out the link at the top of the page theres a few vids and stuf toward the end.
what i have planed in the next few days is to take a mold of the origanal to incorperate the modified bow into the mold and to create a lighter hull basicaly so i can make a second boat so we can do some raceing between me and my bro and family over christmass.hopfuly i should be laying the mold up later on today so ill try get some new pics if anyone has any sugestions or tip just post them up and hopfuly i can improve on the first design
also are there any outher footys in the orlando area?
We have a Footy fleet in Daytona, about an hour east of Orlando, when will you be in Florida ? We could throw together an impromptu international event.
im in florida now untill the 29th although i dont have much use of trasport outher than trying to get my brother to try and take me places ill have to see when i get his boat built he will take me some places.if not we live on a lake if theres anyone local that wants to join in
few pics of the new plug and new fin and rudder
Stunning craft!
I like the bow flare shape as well. Good idea.
origanly i didnt have it but soon as i started experamenting it helps in many ways from dealing with chop as it stops the bow bobing right down and also when going down wind if the bow starts to dig in it helps resist it and push it back up.ive got a desent vid camera now so when im done building them in the next few days ill get some close up vids
ps will probly be making a few extra huls to try and recoop some of the costs of the molds so if anyone is interested in a basick hull molding let me know
Always a good idea to make a few extras.
This class needs more designs out there, to maintain diversity and encourage creativity. 
few pics of the new swing rig mast and booms
UKsail;
I might be interested in buying one of the extra hulls you intend to make. I’m In Lakeland, FL. PM me at RSTinstruments@AOL.com with price and details.
Gene
pm’s sent regarding hulls
right ive just been trying to figer out how to try and make some better sail with a proper curve in but ive been reading up and its all a bit complex and a few two many no. to understand,the anoying thing being is that bret showed me last year at his place how he did it using a curved template but ive kinda forgot most of how to do it.
im on the mision to try and make the sails tonight can anyone give me any help on what i need to do,the mast is 21 inches tal and the boom is 6 inches long.
any help would be mutch apresiated
rite im not having mutch luck building a desent sail so if anyone wants to trade a well made set of sails for a hull let me know
If you want to publicise huls on the markt, let me now and I’ll include it in the next UK newsletter - whixh also filters hrough to the USA.
ok many thanks ill see how this one goes and then maybe take it a little further although im not realy doing it to make money just to kind help me keep depeloping fotey but if it means a few more being able to have boats then thats all good