My name is Abraham and I’m a Graphic Designer/ 3D Generalist/ Instructor living in Greece.
My first sailing experience was in the 70s with Optimists. I then raced for some years the family Lightning and then…nothing…due to a knee injury, college, career etc.
In 2003 begun RC sailing with a brand new Bagheera IOM, I got from Meterboats in Sweden.
In 2011 I build my first model, a Footy Razor3, then an RG65 Apsara Bouchain which is now RIP (Rest In Pieces). You may see it’s build log here http://www.rg65.gr/build-log
In 2013 I participated in the RG65 Europeans, with a loaner Round Ranger, but we both where not ready for the task and ended at the bottom
Last year a very good friend, gave me one of his Marblehead test boats, build in Kevlar from Claudio’s Esterel Diamond plans and that is what I’m now racing with.
Welcome Abi,
glad to hear that you are presently sailing with a M Class “Esterel Diamond” that have BTW (by the way) changed the name in “Esterel Ruby” to avoid confusion with another existing Diamond.
Hope more news about.
Cheers
ClaudioD
Hi Claudio,
Thank you for the warm welcome.
BTW the boat sails very well in both light and stronger breeze, even though I currently only have a single A swing rig. I’m using it even when the others switch to B, with minor overpower problems.
In January I was second out of seventeen boats.
October the 16th, we raced for the first time at an artificial lake with sea water. I had just painted the boat purple, but due to obviously a not very good prior cleaning, it was full of spots even though I spent a day sanding most of the paint away. I was finally 4th out of 18, sharing the same points with the guy in 3rd. There where two more Esterels in 8th and 12th place.
Ha ha ha, I used to have more screen time but that day I didn’t know the camera man at all.
I would really like to read about your nArrow’s performance.
After destroying the Apsara I started a Coriolis (fiberglass) and another of Andy Hoffmann’s design (full carbon) all three boats are waiting to be finished.
The plan at the moment is to build, with a friend, one of Claudio’s RG65s even though I don’t think we will be racing them for another couple of years.
In 2011 we had many active classes Footy, RG65, Victoria, Open, IOM and we were planing on some classic ones based on the idea of racing them the same time as the Spetses Classic Regatta. http://spetsesclassicregatta.com/en/
Due to various reasons the M class emerged quickly and all others fainted. The M fleet now numbers around 30 boats with more being build as we speak.
Meanwhile a friend is now finishing a boat he started two years ago. A J class, again from one of Claudio’s designs.
Hi Abi,
very nice to see what is possible to see.
Yes Ruby is a narrower hull, but of course a bit deeper from 46mm to 51mm.
Here below the Reverse Bow version of Ruby Class M.
Actually I’m working on a Class M with shorter LWL for the same principle already discussed on IOM and RG65 designs
Cheers
ClaudioD
I’ve got the plug for the hull and bulb done for Claudio’s nArrow 3b version. If you want the cad files I did for the bulb and fin I can send them through.
I have done my best to get foil shape theory etc. correct but I can’t guarantee it. In Freecad all the COM etc line up so it looks like it should work. It would be great if you could test them out against other boats at some point… hint hint…
Just finished reading the build log. Very cool and nice to have a new site to read through thanks
As I (sadly) stated earlier, we have temporarily suspended racing for all classes other than Marbleheads, so don’t expect any new postings at the rg65.gr site anytime soon.
But YES! Please send any CAD files you have. I would appreciate it very much.
I’m currently also working with a 3D printing company and we were talking about trying to build a boat using their equipment. They have a 3D printer that uses plain A4 paper, another with PLA, ABS, Nylon etc and an SLA laser/resin one.
They where thinking about printing an almost RTR hull but I explained that it would terribly expensive with no good results.
I’m more towards using the paper 3D printer to build the molds for the hull, fin and rudder. The bulb could be 3D printed in paper or a castable resin (depending which is cheaper).
I was reading about your shorter LWL designs and was intrigued by them. Have you posted anything about the M version yet?
Last year out of the entire fleet I was mostly fighting against a Berlingo a Fuxia and an Azure.
Let us not forget that in Greece we are always racing in sea water.
Last Sunday was the first time a slim boat Ark (10-11cm wide) won the day, ahead of the Fuxia and the Berlingo (with a new captain).
I was overall 10th, 100% due to my lack of skills, correctly trimming my sails. Sorry no video from that day.
Would it be possible to get a 3D file of your shorter LWL RG65 to 3D print it?
Im messing around in FreeCad using a very basic Prusai3 clone - good fun!!
What format would you like? I’ll have to check out to see what Freecad can output but I can give you STL’s immediately.
If there’s a bulb shape you want to try for a Marblehead, give me the length, foil shape and weight we are aiming at and I can make up the file in Freecad and take it from there. It will be interesting to see if the underlying theory I’m attempting works lol.
Sorry Abi, I do not have 3D drawings.
It happen some time to make via Rhino (evaluation) an exercise, but nothing else since too lazy to learn more.
Cheers
ClaudioD
No problem Claudio I’ll take it from here.
I was just being equally lazy and also trying to avoid possible misfortunes that usually happen close to the bow where the lines converge. The program’s splines do not act the same as balsa, causing small differences in the 3D object.
I have been professionally using Softimage (XSI) since 1996. Before that, it was Alias Power Animator (later on became Maya) and Lightwave, on Silicon Graphics Workstations and it all begun at my post graduate with Version 2 of 3D Studio (1993, way before it became MAX).
I just talked to the 3D printing people and we agreed to start with something easier but (maybe) more important, fin-rudder-bulb molds for my Esterel.
So Naptalene, first of all my favorite file format would be OBJ (Wavefront object) but I do read STLs too. Actually there are only a few formats that I can’t read.
About the bulb I’ll ask Christos, who build the boat, to tell me which of Claudio’s plans he used for it and come back to you asap.
I am in the process of restoring an old (1970’s) Marblehead. I have a wood lath and was planning to make a wood plug for my keel bulb. I may send you some numbers later this winter/next spring to see what you come with - numbers wise. Will be in touch when ready to discuss further - if you are up to it.
Sorry for the late response.
Try these OBJ test files I made of the keel and bulb for the RG65. I obviously have the bulb and fin seperated etc. but check if these import ok.
Is this for me Dick? Let me know what the weight you are aiming for is, and what foil shape you think it should be and I’ll chuck it up for you.
The nice thing is that there is a plug-in for the software that gives you the volume in the CAD program. So i double checked that value with the weight of lead.
Then once that is done, you put the file into the software to slice it for the 3d printer and it gives you the volume again. So far they have been the same values - so the theory is solid lol.
The main thing that is freaking me out is the compensating for the shrinkage of lead and the mould if plaster is used. And if the plaster shrinks does that mean the bulb cavity gets bigger?
So in summary, I think my methodology is correct in getting the file into the CAD program, but I’m completely in the dark wrt how far out the final weight will be.
I tried to make a seperating board for the bulb I attached above and failed dismally so I will go back to floating the bulb on sticks and pouring the plaster around that. Let it dry and do the top half.
Hopefully I can then give better feedback/ask advice on what the best way forward is.
Took a quick look today and the obj files import fine. What I was saying though, is that for now, we are planing on printing molds for my Marblehead Esterel not the RG65.
Christos send me some plans and as soon as I can, I’ll build a 3D model and inform you all.
Perhaps I should open a new Subject since we have gotten the discussion way past the “new member introduction”.
It could be called “3D printing parts” or “M Esterel build log” ?
