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Hull Construction

The Hull Shell Broken free of the Moulds The bare hull shells are planked from 3mm balsa. For lightness Balsa cement was used for glueing planks. Another option would be Epoxy mixed with a lightweight filler. Whatever is used it should be easy to sand!

Hulls Ready for joining The inside of the shell is sanded and coated with epoxy. light glass tape reinforcement is added at bulkhead positions. Carbon tow reinforcement is added forward. The bulkheads have had fixings bonded in before bonding into the shell. The Bulkheads are bonded to the shell. A small fillet of lightweight epoxy filler is added at the joints.

50g glass skinning - Wet lay up The glass cloth is wetted out on cling film on a flat surface. The hull is wetted out(tip:silica added to resin prevents soaking in) The backed cloth is smoothed on and cling film peeled off Known as "wet layup technique" (only for porous surfaces!)

Setting up the Hull Building Board The Main feature of the building board is an accurate centre line. (For convenience I use the design waterline and call it the WL0 line) Everything else is constructed from this. Some warping of the board is acceptable- especially if you use the same board for both sides of a hull.

How the Moulds are set up The Moulds are made from soft 3mm ply. They need to have dressmakers pins inserted to hold the planks Note that they are not a permanent feature of the Hull- contrary to popular belief

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