hey i’m building a us one meter by the balsa planking method. is there a large fleet of these in south east michigan. any tips on building and setup is much appreciated as well.
i love tinkering with these boats it takes up time i’m sure my girfreind is going to hate it soon
why dont you check with jim lindville. he is the director of the us 1 meter. he might be able to help. and i do know he is a realy friendly, and is helpfull
check him out on the amya home page
good luck
cougar
What hull are you building?
My general advice is to read the USOM construction guide for building help and set up, if you haven?t done it already, and then go to the pond and talk to the guys sailing. I learned a lot just by asking question and looking at boats.
Gio
Oh, and talking to Jim is a good advice too.
um i’m building either the zipper or the advance mkII, prolly the advance because it has a wider flater rear too it which i like, the zipper is to high outta the water and too skinny for my likeing
i love tinkering with these boats it takes up time i’m sure my girfreind is going to hate it soon
express
get her involved. she gets the casts off. that is what i have done. and i get a new boat every year:-)
i agree with the NO on zipper. I think it could be a pain to rig, and on windy days, it might have a problem. i like advance. cleaner lines and in the whole scheme of things . it would be the easier of boat hulls to make and set up
cougar
Did you look at Zipper III which Jim has. All the rest are 20 years old except the Zipper which is 10. The Zipper III was just sent in. I sent in a plan of a 7" wide boat for Jim to review because no one would send in any of their designs. Then came Zipper III. Thanks Steve! I see a lot of home built on the US-1M site but could not get any one to submit their designs. The old plans are for 8# boats and the new ones are all running 5 1/2 #.
Cougar:
My Zipper and Zipper II used a rig that is the same dimensions as the ODOM rig. It was the same rig used on my fatter USOM from 5 years earlier. NOT A PAIN TO RIG. The Zipper did good in light and heavy air when sailed by some one who knew how to tune it and sail it. THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAD IN HEAVY AIR WAS I COULDN’T RUN FAST ENOUGH TO KEEP UP WITH IT. I have two sides of a column in my condo covered with 5 years (91-96) of trophies won by the Zipper and Zipper II. However, I know the Zipper III is a better, more forgiving boat than either of the previous Zippers. In fact, the Zipper III 36/600 with an ODOM rig and a pound less lead and overall weight has beaten a lot of USOM’s upwind and down. If I were a novice or an expert, I wouldn’t build a Zipper I or II either, but I would build a Zipper III or a Talon II or another model that weighs about 5.5 lbs and can carry a 4 lb bulb.
express,
I see no one has answered your question about boats in your area, so I will take a crack:
There are 2 clubs in SE michigan that have US1M fleets - The Ann Arbor MYC and the Detroit MYC. I belong to the AAMYC and we have a fleet of about 8 to 10 US1Ms. Trouble is only 2 of them show up with any regularity. But the fleet seems to be staging a bit of a resurgance as last year we had a 3rd boat show up regularly at the end of the season and another guy showed up more than twice during the year (after not having sailed in 5 years). I am building a boat as well, so that will add to the ranks.
I do not know much about the DMYC fleet. One of the US1M guys at our club (Dick Hein) sails with both clubs, so he would be a good guy to ask about the DMYC activities.
The AAMYC sailing schedule, contact information, etc is on the website:
http://www.orgsites.com/mi/aamyc/index.html
Same for the DMYC:
http://www.orgsites.com/mi/dmyc/
Hope to see you on the water in a month or so…
Will Gorgen
Steve: Where can I get the Talon II plans.
Hoj:
There are no Talon II plans, like the Zipper II it is a proprietary model. It used to be produced by Chuck Black and then Ken Bauser in CT. I do not know if Ken is making them anymore; I sent him an email last week and have not gotten a response. The Zipper III numbers look better than the Talon II values I got from the measurements off my Talon II.
You were suggesting to build a ZipperIII or the Talon II so I thought it was available. Thanks again for the Zipper and ZipperIII.
Hoj:
I use the term build to include the process of completing a molded hull. The only thing the builder doesn’t do is mold the hull.
I am hoping that Ken is OK and that the hulls are still available.
hey will? is there a place around here that carries 42" or over sheets of balsa? also do you guys have build days? just curious
i love tinkering with these boats it takes up time i’m sure my girfreind is going to hate it soon
Hi express27,
I just built a US 1 mtr model. (Although I’m a little unsure of the difference between IOM and USOM) I suspect my rig is more like IOM, but the hull was the Mistral which I understand is USOM. Anyhow, I have a heap of pictures that I took during the building process which may give you some ideas. Covers the hull, the bulb fin and rudder and sails and radio installation.
The whole thing cost around $200 - $300. (I even show how I made the sails for around $7 !!)
http://mistral.instantlogic.com
Hope that helps, and if you have any questions let me know.
Making plans avaialable. . .
I have 2 sets of plans that I am considering making available, HOWEVER, I dont know if I should as they are NOT a design most people would like to sail. For most sailors, my designs would be considered far too narrow for practical use. They do fine in flat water, light to medium air. . . but not so well in heavy air. If my newest design does well after it is on the water, I will release those plans to jim.
I would have to personally fully endorse the mistral design. There are several of them in our club, and they do QUITE well. Next year, I will be designing a boat “for the masses” that will be on the narrow side of average, but wider than anything I currently have lines for.
~tb
this is good
i like what you guys are doing. design a boat for everyone. and talking. like adaults. bravo and keep up the good work
what the minuteman did was to put the mistral on a diet. to create the mistress. and that boat works well. as for making a narrow boat. i would suggest againt it. you want a beam of atleast 7 inch
but that is just my opinion
cougar
long live the cup
Anyone know of any sailing clubs in the Columbus Ohio area? I’m building a US1M Mistral from the plans everyone refers to on the US1M site.
I tried to locate the clubs in Columbus mentioned on the AMYA clubs page but both have gone out of “business” and contact phone numbers are disconnected.
We have some lakes, slow rivers and reservoirs here and over 1 million people so I know SOMEONE must be doing some sailing somewhere around here…