after a very full summer of daughter’s marriage, helping her and her husband remodel kitchen (cabinets and flooring) along with work and my own home “chores” my grandson’s boat (FINALLY) hit the water for some testing. I decided to leave the hard deck off the boat until I knew all systems were working. With the exception of a rudder set screw I only hand tightened, and an obvious need for a boom vang - the first true sail (as opposed to a float) went really well. I was worried about water over deck - so in the photos you will see some “temporary” plastic tape to keep most water out. As it went, the tape wasn’t needed as winds started to lighten up by time I dropped it in the water.
Really impressed with the speed given the light wind conditions. I can understand how existing boats and their owners have so much fun.
Anyway, not with a list of final “ToDo’s” the hard deck with hatch can be added and all rigging finalized (with out using tape)
German
Your feedback has been very interesting, thanks.
Does anyone know if there are any drawings of a vadala65 design or Pedro Styer’s brazilian boat available in ‘the public domain’ and if so where? I am keen to compare the leading designs in South America with the designs being sailed ‘over here’.
The B (and C?) rigs seen in the pictures of the South American championship seem relatively low aspect ratio, though there seem to be a few higher aspect A rigs in evidence. Is this the norn ‘over there’? It has to be said that I have very limitted experience of reduced rigs as my sailing has been pretty much done in A rig conditions and much of my knowledge about reduced rigs has been gained from looking at photos and vidios. I’m about to start building a B rig so any extra guidance would be very much appreciated.
Hi Phil
dont waste ur time, the drawings for the vadala and pedro’s boat are highly classified… they tried to kill me when i asked for more info… lol
for the rigs, they are really small, the b is like 1800-2000 cm2 and the smallest c rig is like 1200 cm2. i do not have the measurements but the rates are like 60/40 for the 2 sails.
hth
german
As long as you are still alive and in the “witness protection program” - perhaps you can do a bit more “snooping” and tell me… why, if the lightweight boats are so fast, is everyone trying to sell theirs … or did you mean all the “heavy” (relative term) boats are up for sale?
If the owners can manage to remove keel and rudder for shipping, it is possible there might be some buyers up this way looking to get started and even though “heavy” by comparison, they would make good fist boats for many. Not sure about the mast, but maybe cut and then with a joiner they could be shipped too. Just a thought if there aren’t many Brazilian buyers.
Hi Dick,
Not all that shines is gold!!!
Remember the second boat in the South american Championship was a “common” balsa (2 mm.) home-made boat with traditional rig.
The secret here is the “fingers” of Pedrinho Stier.
He is a monster!!!
He won the two classes RG65 and One Meter ULY.
In this championship there were 4 or 5 boats equal to the 1st. and they dont get a good place.
You can make hull, deck, keel box and rudder tube at about 80/90 gr.
The trick is in the servos and bateries. They use swing-rig, so the sail-servo could be of 3 kg/cm.or less. weigt (30 gr.) use 4 AAA bateries. and a ruder servo of .75 kg/cm. (15 gr.)
All the Brasilian boats weght 1.00/1.200 kg. 300/400 gr for all the boat and 700/800 gr por the keel.
German & Maximo
More thanks for keeping us as up to date as you can about what is happening in South America.
German, please don’t risk ‘life or limb’ on asking questions on my account, if the information is that ‘classified’, but thanks for trying any way!
Maximo, it was such a relief to read your ‘ball park’ ‘all up’ specifications and break downs for the separate components. I have started being really ‘sad’ and stripped the boat and rig down and started weighing everything.I still need to plan how to build my next hull down to those weights but the rest seems quite achievable without too much trouble and expense.
On a very positive note, we have two RG65’s sailing regularly here in Basel, Switzerland with recent confirmation that three more are being built right now. I hope this momentum can be maintained and we persuade some more of the other local radio sailors to join us. There are a few Micro Magics, quite a few one meters and even a few ten raters in the area for us to ‘work on’.
Phil
as Maximo said, Pedro is the one to beat… this year was the champion on both classes, just like it has been for the past 2 or 3 SA champs, his boat is kind of a standard boat… his fingers are the ones to break!! lol
now, seriously, all the brazilian boats this year were the same boat and all were for sale as they did brought them for that… its usual for them so, no news on that. he even was selling his one meter…
dont be sad for the boat, weighting all is a good thing… i mean, my boat sucks big time cause all the stuff i have on it its too heavy and i tried to make it light where it cant be done (meaning bulb and keel)… but at least i’ve learned the hard way and it might be that my new boat, or the mods im planning for the two boats i have here, will work in a good way… i think i’ll move to swing rigs on one and the other will be kept as standard sail-foq config… who knows… maybe they will sail again after all…
great news about the swiss guys up there!!! i saw Maximo’s face expresion full of pride when we talk about the worldwide growing of the class, it was surreal!.
cheers to all!!
german
What spar sizes are being used for the swing rigs on the latest boats?
I am hoping to build a swing rig equipped boat this winter and it would help to know what mast diameter is the lightest one can use with good stiffness.
I am using 6mm carbon arrowshaft for my Puma conventionall mast and 4mm carbon tube for both booms, which is good in our wind conditions.
Hi Chris,
From what i saw, the spars were 10mm (CF tube) and 6mm for the a-rigs (some used 8 and 6mm), b-rigs are 8/6 and c-rigs were all 6. For the c-rigs they used bars, not CF tubes, on the mast. For the booms the 6mm tubes are the ones to go. One of the brazilian a-rigs had 4mm CF for the booms also… so no exact science there…
If u ask me for swing rigs, i think 8mm tube for the big rigs mast is more than enough, and 4-6 mm for the booms will do the job perfectly. My boats are all using conventional mast with 6mm for both mast and booms.
On one of the boats, the rig was fitted with an RC helo ball bearing. If i found a good pic of it i’ll post it…
Cheers
German
Received the following email today… thought I would share…
"Dick, I had so much fun building my first RG 65 that I’ve started building another. This time, I am building a JIF 2. Can you give me another registration number? The next available number will be fine.
Alan S."
:zbeer:
Ummmm - this brings us to 40 registered boats in the US… Nice Job Guys.
I probably should mention that there are several owners with more than one boat out there - excluding Sven of course as one of our few members that I know of building for others that are available for purchase.
Besides myself, and at least two other owner/members who are building two or more boats, I would guess that as the first boat gets “splashed” - another may soon follow for some of our owners.
For those who are NOT builders, you may want to watch for some to sell off their first boat - or second, third, etc. to finance the building fun of another.
Hi Dick:
Remember that the each owner have only one number.
Dosen´t matter the number of hulls he build.
For example:
If I have five RG65, all must have the same number on the sail.
My number is 71 doesn´t matter the number of hulls I have.
The number is personal in this class.
unfortunately, it doesn’t allow for a member to race their boat for a year and then sell it to a friend locally - since there then would be two boats with sail number 71 (as your example).
Most new buyers want to purchase the boat complete and ready to sail - and so by giving a new number to each boat (and hull) the buyer will get a sial number that is unique. They don’t have to go out and purchase a new set of sails in order to race.
Example is that we register “owners” - but also keep separate sail number because it is also the hull number of the boat. In this way of registering and assigning ssial numbers, you will never see the same sail number on the water at one time.
We chose this method to help individuals sell their older boats to new memebrs and the new members are ready-to-race without having to buy or make new sails.
How do you handle the sale of a boat - do you require a new owner to buy the boat and then go out and buy a set of sails? Our way allows a builder with more than one boat to “loan” their boat for a local race.
Perhaps just a different way of looking at how to register a boat? I can pull all registered owners for any reporting - but I can also tell you how many registered “boats” there are - in addition to registered “owners”.
I don’t think this should pose any serious problems, as it is strictly a “book-keeping” issue.
Added - in the case of my earlier post - the one registered “member” built a Palo de Agua and now he wants to build a JIF-2. If he sells a boat, I only need to change the name and info of the new owner - and we can still track who built it and who now owns it. NOTHING changes on the boat itself, and new set of sails aren’t required by the new owner.
hi Dick:
You can use any method but, This class grow very fast and the owners build many boats per year so you will have for example an owner with 5 diferent numbers . In a few years you will have to give the number 1000 or more to a boat. In general nobody sell his boat complete. If you build a new hull you use the same old keel, sails etc. The problem came in the case you have 3 or 4 hulls with only one rig. You can´t give 3 or 4 diferent numbers because you have only 1 rig (one number).
I’m probably not alone in switiching around between rigs and hulls, and so I find the ICA practice of assigning numbers to individuals to be eminently sensible. As a newsletter editor I also appreciate how it simplifies the identification of boat owners in photo captions.
Earl - sent you an email. Let’s discuss more after seeing my reasoning.
I’m afraid that by providing multiple sail numbers for multiple and different boats, I may have opened Pandora’s Box. Is the Genie out?
One question is how to keep from changing hull designs midway in a regatta if the sail number is the same for 5 hulls and all hulls are yellow? We register by sail numbers in regattas - and a name is associated with the sail number - with boat type being secondary information.
Hi all:
Resume:
1-one number one boat.
pro:
1-when you sell the boat the new owner can use this boat as it is, he don´t have to touch nothing.
cons:
a-we will have a lot of numbers.
b- one owner can´t use all the rigs he have in one hull because it will have diferent numbers on its sails.
c- You have to build a complete boat ech time (hull, rig, keel, etc.)
d: It´s very dificult to recognize an owner in a “one year championship”
(maximo use the number 71 in the first regatta, the 45 in the second and the 87 in the third)
2- one number one owner
pro:
a- you can combine all the diferents parts, hull, keel, rigs, etc.
this point is very important because you can experiment with “all” the elements you build.
(remember you can have all the rigs you want, but you can use only 3 per regatta)
b-It´s easy to register an owner in a “one year championship”
cons:
a- when the boat is sold, the new owner have to erase the nunber in the sails, and write a new one.
One question is how to keep from changing hull designs midway in a regatta if the sail number is the same for 5 hulls and all hulls are yellow? We register by sail numbers in regattas - and a name is associated with the sail number - with boat type being secondary information
At the begining of the championship you have to sign the hull, same as you have to sign the keels, sails and rudder.
