Team Seacats

It’s really hard getting a photo of this boat that adequately conveys the nice shape it’s got…the perspective makes it look different in a 2D image. This image isn’t all that great but it’s the best perspective I’ve been able to come up with.

Using some glazing putty, I filled a couple other minor pin holes and scratches, wetsanded, and sprayed another coat of primer on it. Hopefully, that will be the last coat of primer. Some quick wetsanding tomorrow night, and I can start to apply some color and finish coats. It’s unbelievable how much sanding is required of something even this small to get a really really nice faired finish. When my patience starts wear thin, I just keep thinking about how every pin hole and scratch will show up in every boat that comes out of the mold. A little diligence here will go a long way in the future.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

I thought I was getting near the end of fairing the hull and I decided, just as a matter of being thorough, to check the length of the hull. Guess what? It was 3/8″ too long for the US One Meter class rule. I took a tiny bit of the extra length off the stern but most of it came off the bow. I spent the entire evening reshaping the nose to get it right again. I am happy to report that it looks great and I have the third coat of primer drying on the top deck surface. Once that dries, I’ll turn it over and put three coats on the bottom and start sanding again later tonight.

In the days prior, when I was fixing up the shop, I modified this workbench to accept a piece of peg board on top and boxed in the bottom of the top. A hole in the side allows me to connect my shop vacuum so I can sand away and the vacuum gets almost all the dust. I have been impressed with how well it works.

   

Our mold making nut is back at it again with several updates on the SU27 (R/C airplane) project. It looks like he’s almost got a flight ready plane now. Click HERE to go there and get some google translator action.

If you make it all the way to the bottom of page 72, there is a video clip of a landing gear test.

Is alive and well! I’ve spent the last couple of weeks getting my shop back in order as I had let things slide for a while and the shop was practically unusable. I threw away a lot of unneeded things, fixed broken items, and reorganized a lot. Not only can I get to my mini-bathroom in the shop, but nothing leaks anymore either! So now, the one meter project can get back underway.

We have a new hull shape that’s much narrower and a lot more traditional on the underwater surface. Neville built the plug using a strip-plank method from shadow drawings I generated from some 3D design software. I’ll put up a link soon to the 3D drawing of what this boat will become.

I hope to get the plug faired today and maybe even get a coat of primer on it. Because the bow is so flat and narrow, I’m going to mold this boat in halves – “clamshell” style (like typical modern catamaran hull construction). This should provide a very strong hull as the deck will be molded in place. We also have some other ideas how to get some advantages out of this construction method…but more on that later – I’m not telling all our secrets just yet!

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

Well….what-da-ya-think?  I’ve still got to move some stuff around, finish filling in some content, and get the sponsor’s information loaded up – but I’m pretty happy with it so far … not real sure about that header yet though.