Rg65

Hi Calou, the Apsara (maybe with my building and finishing skills, “Áspara” [rough] would be better and it’s also the reason I’ve only posted a couple of photos :blush: ) hull is finished, I’ve made the swing rig, sails, keel and bulb and rudder. That just leaves the electrics to be decided, and bought, when the budget allows.
There’s a photo on: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=802385#post9124794

Martin -

questions …

Depth of keel ( in inches if possible)
Material of keel
Weight of bulb - are your own build or purchased?

Thanks.

Only a little bit of work done this weekend - temps were -17 plus wind = -35 to -50 Brrrr…

Grandson had his first taste of using scroll saw and was fun to watch. Although he practiced, he would forget about holding wood to table and wood would go up and down with the blade. Fortunately balsa was soft, and only one bulkhead had to be recut (twice). He was excited about the cutting - not so much about the layout/tracing first. He was really disappointed when parents said it was time to leave, but we did get all bulkheads cut as well as the two side panels and one hull panel. I will probably take some time to cut out bulkheads and get a sandpaper board ready for him to straighten out his cut lines ( a little wavy in some areas).

All I can say is this is wonderful project for kids - and since it is larger by far than a Footy, parts are big enough for the hands of a child. Also, it is, to his age group, an impressive size at 65cm / 25-1/2 inches.

The keel is about 13.5" (34 cm) from base of hull to top of bulb and I had no alternative but to laminate it from epoxy/glass and is just under 1/8" (3mm) thick (the wood colour is from a piece of veneer I used as a pattern and is now pemanently moulded in). The bulb is home cast in lead (scuba belt weights) and came in slightly overweight at 18.4 oz (520 g). A quick going over with the rasp should get it to the 500 g (17.5 oz) target.
I should have had a grandad like you:D

Martin - thank you so very much for posting those dimensions and weights. They are very helpful, and will give me a starting point from which to proceed.

By the way - I like your swing-rig. Currently I am still looking at a standard rig to start, but perhaps will try the swing-rig as an alternative on one of the other boats to see how well they are matched for speed.

Interesting in that it costs me USD $8.81 for carbon mast, and another $8.00 for shipping. I think I should have added more tubes to the order. :smiley:

Added: www.KiteBuilder.com is supplier for anyone interested. Mast diameter is 3/8 inch x 48 inches long.

  1. A good german supplyer is rc-station www.rc-station.de (but the shipping would be expencive). The Keelfin is easy to build (Pictures available).

  2. I would cover the hull with epoxy and one layer of Glas 49g/m²

If you have more questions check the german forum on www.rg65.de/forums. You will find there enough experienced people. And dont worry most of them understand english. Just post your problems (in english) and i am shure somebody will tell you the solution.

Sven

oh i ansered on a old post on page 11 sorry just ignore

From SvenS in the US.

I was born in Lubeck and have a nephew named Sven in Germany. And another nephew in California named Sven.

I think there’s an army of Svens’ out there…LOL

you must be kidding… i was born in Luebeck and lived in Travemuende for 20 years. There are a lot of Rgs in Luebeck.

have a nice day

SvenK - (not to confuse with any others) :smiley:

Thanks for the tip about German site. I had been directed there before, and between a very rudimentary knowledge of German, and a computer translator, I was able to identify most. There were still some words that popped up which remain unknown - and so I hope they aren’t important.

I was reluctant to post in English, but with your encouragement I will give it a try on next question.

In the meantime, I got out the CA glue and the first hull has sides attached, and one hull bottom panel cut oversize. Will cut the second tonight and then start the fitting process. Getting a nice fit along the chine will be key, and I can see my grandson will have a challenge. Fortunately, mis-matched panels and small holes are easily fixed with a bit of epoxy and silica for him. Will be a good part of learning experience for him to take time and be careful to get a nice looking boat. After initial education on CA, he did a great job. I still had him wearing latex gloves as saftey along with safety glasses - just in case. Great fun to have a beer with my son (his dad) and play building supervisor! :wink:

Once hull bottom panels in place - more photos.

Sven - thank you too for your continued input, information and encouragement. It is greatly appreciated.

Martin - poking around in my lumber, I found a piece of Baltic Birch ply that may become my keel core. I haven’t measured as yet but “looks” to be about 1/8 thick - or less.

Hi, Dick
if you need help with the translation - some guys from Germany are reading and writing here. Simply post your questions.

The guys from RC-Station told me some days ago, that they are working on an English translation of their web-site. They will come up with it soon.

I remember going to Travemunde when I was 14 with my sister back in '72 to visit all my relatives, sure are a lot of them. Want to know something funny???
My middle name starts with a K (Kay)

Tonight, I cut the second bottom hull panel and attached both, then removed entire hull from building board, flipped the hull over and CA “spot-glued” along chine, keel and at a few of the bulkheads. Started to sand down the edges along the side chines and found a bit of flex, so will postpone sanding for now until I’ve had a chance to fillet inside hull with thickened epoxy on seams.

I am amazed at how incredibly light-weight this hull is. I know some internals for mast support, keel box, radio board and gear will add weight, but I now see why many are only using 500 gr. of bulb weight. I honestly thought that might be too light, but now I can see not much is needed, especially at 13-14 inch keel depth.

A few photos from tonight’s assembly.

Sven or Haegar -

I have submitted my information to join the German RG65 forum. I must now wait to receive confirmation.

I want to ask if anyone has tried to shift the mast and keel location further aft to reduce pitch-pole tendencies downwind? If they have how far back did they move everything?

Any info appreciated before I locate and mount my keel trunk box.

tis concept was tried on the Paolo de A. . The poroblem is the shorted distance between Keelfin and rudder. This makes the helming relative sensitive. The german Paolo sailors changed the keel position more foreward. They say that the helming is easyer now. But thin depends on the preferences of the helmsman. If you like verry nervous helming why not.

Hi, Dick,
be careful when moving the keel. You will also move significantly the center of gravity, because approx. 50% of the weight is concentrated in the keel. Moving the center of gravity aft may be a big advantage in stronger winds, but it can be a mess in light wind conditions.

I made this experience with my Laerke65. Although the keelposition is correct (according to the drawings) the center of gravity is about 1/2 inch behind the right position (I had the bulb mounted to far aft). The boat performs extremely well in windy conditions. It has only little tendencies to nose diving and tacks very good. During the last German Championships my Laerke was the fastest boat upwind!

On the other hand, in lighter winds she accelerates extremely slow … I just build a second keel with a lighter bulb mounted 1cm more forward. I checked the consequences with the Hullform software. It results in approx 3-4% less wetted surface due to the changed trim angle only (not to mention the reduced weight). This reduction in wetted surface is a lot in light wind conditions. Now I hope that it will work. During the first test last week there was no wind at all …

Thanks for the note about moving the rig/keel.

I think for this first one, it will stay where the drawing indicates, and for one of the other ones I will experiment a bit and shift them back. One nice thing is boats will be of same design, so it will be interesting to see the performance differences.

Mast should be here today.

You can also think about a movable keel. Make a longer slot in the hull and use a long box for keel fastening. With some pieces of plastics you can fill the gaps before or behind the fin. Then you will have the possibility to try different keel positions. Move the keel towards the bow for light winds, move the keel back in stronger winds.

Hi Haegar.

You can´t do that. see rule 4.1

4 KEEL, BALLAST and RUDDER.
4.1 Keel.
The kell will have to be located in the center line of the hull,
and could not be mobile. However it can be removable to facilitate
the transport of the model.

regards from Argentina

Sorry - I’m at work and rules not handy, but is there anything in the rules too prevent changing keels if one changes rigs due to wind strength?

If not, wouldn’t you be able to use the keel box with a variety of keel shapes and locations, much like you do the rigs/sails? I’m not suggesting moving them while racing - but selecting the keel depending on expected wind for the race day.

Something like this as example?

Rule 7.1
“During the day’s regattas, only the declared sails shall be used, one fin (with its ballast) and one rudder.”