As a newbie, I’ve been sailing a Soling 1M. I have interests in multihulls and I’ve noticed there’s a lack of affordable multihull boats I can simply purchase in the 1M to 1.2M size. The idea of sending someone a fairly large chunk of money and waiting some unknown number of months doesn’t strike me as an appealing way to go.
What are the best references for getting started with building my own? I’ve read about vacuum bagging, fiberglass, carbon fiber, epoxy, etc. I’ve come across some design plans – although I’ve yet to select something specific.
Question is, what’s the fastest process for taking a concept from paper to a hull? I would think working with a material such as balsa, I could very quickly shape this into a male plug and from there, use this to create a female mould. From here, I could then create a hull. Are there better/faster ways to go?
What other methods would you recommend for a quick “one-off” build?
Is there a specific book I need? Or, just pummel you guys with frequent questions? (which you might not want from a newbie?)
Try foam hulls. They take simple tools to build and are easy to shape and modify.
To get some background in using foam, read some of the posts by Brent Carter, Brett McCormack & Butch Bragg. Brent and Brett have some good recent disciussion on pros & cons in “Thinner Footy” thread here in www.rcsailing.net and discuss sailing boats without coating over foam hulls. Here is a link: www.rcsailing.net/forum1/showthread.php?t=4662&page=11
Butch has some photos on his site. Google: Sand Point Model Sailing Club Titusville - to find it. Also search this site for: foam hulls.
Maybe you can post: “How to Build a Cheap Cat w/Free Plans” - some day or post a build log of your process as you go.
hay hows it going ? well im a new builder but i have worked with fiber glass and gel coat a lot and i just built a hull with a 2 by 4 a pice of door skin and blue foam insolation it olny took me like 20 hours total for the hull gel coat buffed waxed and all i layed up the mold today hopefully it goes well and i can start on the deck i made the rudder and the keel shaft that took a couple hours no i have to build the bulb for the keel ive been taking loots of pictures check them out and if you have any questions feel free to ask
Capt77 very nice hull, which plans AC-120 did you use ? Hard to see clearly in you pics but the fins look very thick, the keel fin looks to be roughly 25 mm + thick !? rule of thumb is thickness should around 10% of chord i.e 100 mm chord fin = thickness 10 mm.
if you do a search in the multi hull section, you will find some ideas and I’m sot sure if Ersnt is still sending plans for the nightmare series of tri’s several guys, Dick, Claudio, ect are well into using the insulating foam with packing tape to make a male plugs. I think dick even made an rg65 multi… Claudio has extensively documented his process
I am on my second rg65 foam plug. not sure if its any easier than a plank on frame hull…but I am sure its is messier with all the foam shavings…
In multi-hull thread are some very basic (but useful) line drawings for a 1 meter multihull - basically cross sections for main hull and another for floats. Build as a cat or tri. Third sheet is is you want to layup a bunch of small sections (spacing) for the hull/floats. Just search on “IMPULSE” in that series of threads.
hay hows it going im not sure what the chord is ? their was no measurments for how thick to go didnt even know till you said something i measired them the keel is 18mm and the rudder is 10mm the plans are or were the alinghi sui100 but the bow is more rounded up like a canoue and with out the little flat bit and i didnt rake the bow back a bit but its the first boat like this ive built cant wait to sail i live abord my sail boat and love sailing :zbeer:
