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Working up the Alioth. Boat 2 First of all thank you to all those who have bought a coffee to support the web site for the long term future. This is not a commercial site and I make no profit from it but I do need support to ensure its longevity. People tell me that it is a great source of information and the only site of its kind, so if you do enjoy it and get value from it why not pop over to Buymeacoffee . It takes any currency. If you do thank you. If 10% of the 5000 plus visitors bought 1 coffee, I could do so much more with the site This is a story about going backwards to go forwards. Move from a well set up boat to one that had to be developed and optimised. I am not a designer so some of the steps could be seen as labourious but every stage was tested and each change offered improvement. Spoiler alert, the story is still ongoing. None of this would have been possible without the help of Paul Barton. He is probably one of the most experienced 3d printers of the Alioth in the UK and is a brilliant ideas man. Of course we would not be doing this had it not been for the creative thinking of Juan Egea. Not only has he come up with a great design but opened the door for home building once again and allowed IOM’s to become freely available to new owners (for a reasonable licence fee of course). At the MYA AGM last year, I had a chance to buy an Alioth. It was a completely standard boat, sprayed with clearcoat but un sanded, with an old Alioth fin and bulb. I thought what better way to rest the Britpop than to buy the Alioth and sail it over the winter with the Britpop rigs. When I started to sail it, I was hooked on the design but my boat setup had some issues. I sailed a bit with Craig Richards but he was months ahead of me and truth be told a better sailor. My boat needed to sail with the rigs at zero degrees rake for balance which meant the booms pointed upward and it all looked rather ugly. Having the boom band 150mm from the step meant the boom was too high. I also had a poor A rig with prebend that occurred mostly around the 600mm mark, more of a kink than a bend which was created with rollers. The end result was a poor performing boat. The first thing to do was to rake the fin aft 2 degrees so I could put some rake on the mast. Unfortunately this moves the bulb back over a centimetre so the transom dropped in the water. Then I lowered the boom band to just off the foredeck above the mast ram. I had to the rakethe fin a degree forward to get the fore and aft balance better and that resulted in weather helm which to be frank was slow. With the Britpop it was easy to power off upwind and drive hard. With my set up I had the opposite and every time I took my eye off the boat it slowed. Craig had moved his fin aft so he could rake the rigs and achieved a balanced boat and was quick from the start with his V3. Eventually after struggling at the the ranking event at Eastbourne, I bit the bullet and moved the fin leading edge rake to a full 2.5 degrees (the aft edge was dead perpendicular to the waterline and then I moved the bulb forward 1.5cm to achieve balance and keep the stern just out of the water. I was then able to test the following week and had a balanced boat with the bow and stern just out of the water. To measure things accurately (see the instruction at the bottom of the article), all you need is paper, pen and a right angled set square. Once you have the dimensions, it is easy to replicate on a new boat. The boat came with under deck sheeting which gave me some issues, tangles and restricted range of movement which took a while to sort. Since trying it out I would prefer on deck sheeting in another boat as you can see any wear on the sheet and quickly repair any fraying cord. Having sorted all of this I ended up with a boat on weight but a bulb 25gm lighter than my Britpop. So after 6 months I got the boat set up that I wanted it. Remember I am not a designer and have to work by trial and error. I also get nervous about moving things around although my confidence is building on this as my knowledge builds. In a way it is good to fiddle as you learn on the journey whereas sailing a setup boat with instruction is quick but ones learning is limited. So what to do next. We heard a rumour that Juan was going to release a file for a 2 piece boat which would make it lighter and stronger. After some gentle persuasion we got the file and printed the boat which I could put together just before the nationals. I wanted a Craig Smith fin which is the lightest available and a Robot bulb. I could not fit a Smith fin to the current boat as I had glued the fin insert for the Alioth fin into the fin box but it would fit nicely in the new boat with a customised insert and this would allow us to vary the rake from zero to 2 degrees. The only thing we lacked was time. Putting an untested boat on the water 3 days before the Nationals was fraught with risk and so it proved. Other things we did to the new boat were to fit on deck sheeting, put the pulley in the centre at the back of the boat to minimise drag in the water, move the shroud base in a few mm as the eyes had the potential to damage other boats when healed over and it would not hurt to bring the shroud base in a bit. As a consequence I shortened the spreaders on the A and B rig and modified the jib tack fitting on the boom so I can get the jibs booms as close to the deck as possible. Then it was a case of going over the boat and minimising windage as far as possible. There was a structural change. After Juan had cracked his boat near the shroud area having been hit by a Venti without a bow bumper at an event earlier this year, Paul changed the aluminium posts that provided triangulation strength at the mast and shroud area replacing them with wires so that if there was impact in this area, the boat could flex and not split although the Polymax is extremely robust. I have hit a piece hard with a hammer and seen no damage or even a mark for that matter. It was a race against time especially as we had a couple of issues with the gluing. While Paul was sorting the boat I went through my rigs and did everything I could to and make sure the setup was good. New Cunningham design, lower the bottle screws, get the booms as parallel to the deck as possible. One mistake I made was to try 80lb fishing line to attach the jib luff to the mast. Unfortunately, the bowsie kept slipping the day before the Nationals so I went back to my trusty thicker cord. I had put the same on the backstay and had to replace that as well. One of the challenges I had was running the sheeting system under the deck using PTFE tube bent through 180 degrees. The winch could not handle the friction but then it was suggested I apply silicon grease to the cord and that solved the problem. So I picked up the boat on the Saturday before the Nationals, with the biggest job, fitting the fin and bulb in the afternoon but I had my map/diagram laid out on the floor with the optimal positions from the previous boat so I could position the fin and bulb accurately knowing the boat would be balanced and with the fore and aft weight distribution correct. What I did not realise at the time was that the bulb cant to the waterline was at 2 degrees when hand fitted but when I secured it with the nut the bulb cant increases to nearly 4 degrees. I only realised this after the nationals. One little check would have shown me the issue with the bulb. One thing I was able to do was accurately measure the bottom of the bulb in relation to the waterline and calculated I would have a 2 mm gap in the tank. The on-deck sheeting was a pleasure to set up and worked well although the way I had set the winch up meant that you had to move the stick a long way to ease the sheet making precise adjustment upwind difficult. Also the mix for a high mode was not working properly. I did not have time to fix that. I did drop the shroud bottle screws to the deck to get them out of the slot and that meant fitting longer shrouds Also checked the mast was a firm fit where it entered hull at the deck and happy to say it is rock solid. One final tweak was to the transmitter rudder control. I have a habit of over steering just after the start so I have introduced 20% of exponential to the steering. I had a quick test sail on Monday to check the sailing balance and that the boat sat in the water correctly. The transom was just out of the water and the bow 25mm out. I had 200gm of correctors to play with which I would position when the boat was measured. The boat was measured in Gosport on the Tuesday. It was exactly 1m long and the bulb 2mm above the limit and the rudder just inside the perpendicular from the transom. I had got something right. We had time to precisely locate the corrector weights. Wednesday was spent practice sailing at Frensham and then Thursday I raced at Gosport. That is when I got concerned about speed. The boat was just not powering off the start line. Yes it was shifty but I was getting rolled by boats around me. Not much I could do but live with it and take it to the Nationals. On the Friday at Poole there was a decent breeze and this is where I learnt that 8mm was not enough prebend in the mast. The jib luff sagged, the leach opened too much and the result was a boat slightly off the pace. I could have increased the prebend for the weekend but if I snapped the mast I would be off home. Thankfully the forecast was for light winds. The first day of the nationals was difficult (a polite way of saying bloody frustrating). After the seeding race I was put in C heat and progressed to B the A and stayed in A for two more races. The things unfolded. I was demoted to B then C and took 3 attempts to get out of C and then two attempts to get from B back to A where I stayed for the rest of the regatta. In summary, I was getting great starts but lacked pace and dropped back into the fleet but once back in A fleet after my excursions was always able to find a way to stay there. The result from the Nationals was not what I wanted but I was going through a commissioning process, so 14th is OK. The boat was not as quick as I would like, and I was able to nail down the reasons why and quickly fix on Tuesday. So, what was the list of things to do after the Nationals On mast bend, 8mm of prebend proved to be too little to support a firm jib luff and leech when sailing upwind. I wanted to use the same mast but with more prebend without using my rollers. I have found with the rollers that you have to get the roller settings to a certain point before the mast bends permanently. It is very easy to get hard spots, so I thought it time to bend the mast by hand. Surprisingly it is not that difficult to achieve a smooth bend by bending the mast carefully around my middle. So my 8mm turned to 15mm over 600mm and I put a gentle reverse bend into the whole mast. Only a few mm. The result when rerigged was stunning. Complete control on the jib leech and the ability to set any bend I liked and no hard spots on the mast. I will not be using rollers again. I also discovered the bulb cant was nearly 4 degrees rather than the two I thought I had. I took the bolt off, and the hand fitted bulb was 2 degrees but what I had not realised was there was a high spot in the slot on the bulb and when the bolt was tightened the bulb rocked and increased the cant. I also need to increase the weight of the bulb by 15gms. There is a hole in the slot which I can fill with lead shot so should be able to get the bulb and fin to full weight. I fiddled and reprogrammed the winch, so I was able to have full control sheeting when sailing upwind. That also restored the mixing which gives me high mode. I will put a blog up on that later. Those three things alone will surely increase the performance of the boat. All this done, I am ready to test the improvements. The journey continues. 5 months to the worlds. How to measure fin and bulb position (see picture below) After a ranking event where the weather helm caused me issues, I ended up raking the fin 2.5 degrees and moved the bulb just over a centimetre forward. This required careful trimming of the slot in the bulb but with a Dremel you can do a neat job but how to get the bulb in the right place Take 2 A2 sheets of drawing paper and tape them together along the shortest edge. Lie this on a wooden floor and place the boat on it. Use the top side as the waterline. The bulb draft limit is 3mm below the bottom or the A2 sheet. Using a right-angle triangle or T square, put a mark on the water line of the boat at the bow at the point where the designer says the bow should kiss the water. Align the boats water line with the top edge of the paper marking the exact bow and stern position. If you do this right, you will be able to move the boat and relocate with precision. Once you have the waterline established, raise the fin so it is parallel to the floor (3 dvd boxes should do it) and recheck the boats position. Also it is worth checking at this stage that the boat is 1m long. Once the boat is in position, you can mark the four corners of the fin, then mark the tip and back point of the bulb so you can measure the cant. Each point is marked on the paper using the adjustable right-angled triangle which also allows me to measure precise angles. This Alioth design requires the bottom of the leading edge to be a certain distance from the bow by drawing that line with the fin in that position and marking the front point of the bulb is, I had my starting point for the bulb position. I then marked where the centre of gravity of the bulb should be so I can line up the C of G of my new bulb in the same place with a raked fin. When I changed to a bulb with a different length, I was able to position its centre of gravity with ease.

A checklist of everything to do before and event Some notes on measuring your settings I put this section in, because as a newcomer I was confused over how to measure some of the settings. e.g. was the jib foot measurement from the foot of the jib to the side of the boom or the centre of it. So just for clarity I show the measurements for a Britpop. All measurement are from the BG web site. Different designs will have there own measurements to achieve perfect sailing balance. To emphasise the importance of this, take a lesson from Zvonko Jelacic who won the 2023 Europeans. Every morning he would be seen with his boat fully rigged laid horizontally on a table and measuring all his rig settings before he went sailing. To get the mast rake accurate I use a a measuring stick. There are two measurements, one from the deck to a measured point on the mast. A second from the bow (at the back of the bumper to the aforementioned measured point. The marks on the rig stick are the same for the Alternative plan. See pictures below Measuring main/jib foot depth, jib boom angle and leach twist, mast ram, main boom angle Jib foot and the mainsail foot are measured from deepest part of sail to the side of the boom. Jib leech twist is measured from the topping lift wire. Jib boom angle is measured from the centre of the mast to the inside of the boom. Golden rule is the A rig should be just inside the shroud, B rig centred on the shroud and C rig pointing outside the shroud. Mast ram is measured from the 1st sheet loop. Measure the main boom angle from the centre of the post to the side of the boom ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, start with the base measurements recommended for your design. Only with experience and talking to the experts will you learn how to fine tune from there for the wide and varied conditions we experience. A couple of mm adjustment here and there can make a huge difference to performance. Lastly and there is probably some debate on this in some circles, measure your rig tension. I bought a rig tension device recently and was amazed to see the impact of one turn of a bottle screw on the rig tension. Of course once you have it right, put locking nuts on the thread into the bottle screws and you will achieve the same tension when you rig the boat. It is only worth checking again from time to time in case the wires stretch or the boat appears to slow. They are available from johngill1003@gmail.com . I thoroughly recommend these to you and no, I am not on commission.

Tuning tips from one of the worlds greatest sailors, Ken Read at the Newport Model Boat Club Dragonflite 95 Spring Clinic 2024 `(Good to see he has studied the tuning tips from our 2023 Global Champion, Craig Richard s) VIDEO Synopsis For a simple one design boat, who would have thought there was so much to think about. Measure the rake multiple times a week. Rig and setup the boat at home away from any wind to make sure balance is right A rig average rake 1135. Set the backstay before measuring the rake Use a rig stick Set the mast right back at deck level. Keep the backstay the same and tighten the jib luff bowsie slightly as wind builds. Moves rake from 1135 to 1132. Only 3mm. In light weather ease backstay 2-3mm Mainsheet bridle - glue in place so ring is level with boom eye. Makes sure it is centred Jib sheet eye on boom is well forward of deck sheet eye. Main boom out just under 90. Jib boom at 90 degrees. On a windy day sheet in slightly Main halyard. Use a single line so it can swivel and set just below silver band so the sail can pivot Use cord instead of the metal sail ties Making changes. Do down wind and behind yourself. Static loads are so much higher on shore than on the water. Learn where the max bend is on the backstay and mark as a reference. When on the water if you have heavy weather or lee helm you have not got the original set up right. If you change the rake you have to change the topping lift. 2marks on topping lift, 2 marks on headstay and 1 mark on the backstay. With these marks setup is quick and easy. Jib tack. Get as close to the deck as possible Jib cunningham - never used because the sails are board flat. Deck measurements 3 marks on the deck for sheet locations. The marks run down the boom. Make a mark with the boom and then draw 3 1 inch lines on starboard side with a ruler in line with mark to jib tack. Set up consistently to those marks. Use for course tune to get rid of weather or lee helm and a repeat reference if boat is fast. Foot measurement. Use fingers. 1 to 1.5 fingers. Measure and check with your fingers Check vang sailing downwind on the water. Taping a hatch. Start at the back and work forward so you create a water ramp. It is possible to roll gybe the boat. Jib weight pushed right in to avoid getting hooked up in a crash. Tacking in a breeze, you have to let the sheets out. High mode fast mode - Ken just uses the throttle

Innan ett evenemang Bestäm vad som är ditt mål i segling Veta din tävlingsregler och taktik Hantera din investering med de försiktiga båtunderhåll Segla snabbt med höger båttuning och inställning Känn dina radiokontroller Effektiv båtövning Säkerställ konsekvent installation med checklistor Vet hur vädret hjälper dig Användbar referenser

Fitting the sails onto the rig Logga in Setting sails on the rig A conversation with my brother the other day got me thinking about how the IOM rig should work. We both used to sail on dinghies and yachts. Mostly we would sail on fractional rig yachts where the bottom of the mast was controlled by the shrouds, spreaders and runners. The bend was fixed up to the hounds and you increased or decreased that bend, using the runner, however once set the mast was fairly rigid. The trick was to have the mast work for you above the hounds on the un-supported section of the fractional rig. The ideal scenario went like this. If you hit a gust the top of the mast head would bend, flattening the upper part of the mainsail and opening the leech so the boat could accelerate into the gust. As soon as the wind eased the mast would straighten and power was restored. We once sailed on a boat which had the balance of the rig exactly right. It meant you could carry more sail in greater breeze and gave a massive competitive advantage. The boat won a lot of key offshore and inshore races. However the IOM rig is between a fractional and a masthead rig on a yacht where the forestay and backstay meet at the top of the mast and the bend and therefore mainsail leech control is managed entirely through adjustment of the runners. Of course you have other adjustments on yachts which are important, eg mainsail foot, cunningham, etc, all of which have to be adjusted through the wind ranges, but in this article I am just focusing on mast bend and impact on the mainsail. The IOM rig is somewhere between a masthead and fractional rigged yacht. .Our forestay sits above the hounds with a backstay at the top of the mast. The geometry is set up so that with prebend build into the spar, straightened out by the backstay, tension is put into the luff and leech line of the headsail. The position of the jib swivel line to the deck ensures that most of that tension goes down the luff of the jib and not the leech line. Mast bend and therefore mainsail leech shape is controlled throughout the mast ram, spreader rake and tension on the backstay. Jib leech tension is controlled by the leech line. We want a rig setup that will give a little in puffs so the boat accelerates and drives, rather than heels and stall. So how can that be achieved. If you read all the key advice on rig setup, you tighten your shroud tension just enough to stop the leeward shroud going soft when upwind. This allows the mast to flex a little in puffs providing acceleration. If the mast is too rigid, airflow will stall and the boat will not accelerate in the puff. Start your boats setup with the boat pointing as though on a run. Trim the back stay so the mast is straight fore and aft. Set the mainsail foot to a depth of 15mm or whatever your sailplane suggests. Set up the kicker tension so the mainsail leech is slightly twisted with the top batten just outside parallel to the main boom. Check both gybes to make sure the mast is straight vertically. The twist should be the same on each gybe. Then point the boat as though on a beat. I assume you have set the rake as per the boat plan using a measuring stick or tape measure. Our goal is to set the mainsail so the top batten is parallel to the centreline of the boom by adjusting the backstay and mast ram. Once set up there should be little need for change through the wind ranges other than 1mm tweaks on the backstay. In a recent zoom meeting with Brad Gibson for the Central Park MYG in the US, Brad talked about adjusting the backstay by plus or minus 2mm. I don't know about you, but in the past I was slightly more aggressive about the use of the backstay. Now I understand more about the precision of the setup and know what the top guys do, I am more careful. With any luck if you have done all this you will have a perfect looking rig, and if you have not overdone the shroud tension, the rig will work for you in the gusts. There is enough information available on rig setup up on the web, that you should be able to achieve the right setting first time and more important, recreate that setting every time you go sailing. Here are some pictures to show the impact of 1 mm changes on the B rig backstay. Start from the bottom Sätta segel på riggen Ett samtal med min bror häromdagen fick mig att tänka på hur IOM -riggen ska fungera. Vi brukade båda segla på jollar och yachter. Mestadels skulle vi segla på fraktionerade riggbåtar där botten av masten styrdes av höljen, spridare och löpare. Böjningen fixerades upp till hundarna och du ökade eller minskade den böjningen med hjälp av löparen, men en gång var masten ganska stel. Tricket var att få masten att arbeta för dig ovanför hundarna på den icke-stödda delen av fraktionsriggen. Det ideala scenariot gick så här. Om du träffar ett vindbyst skulle toppen av masthuvudet böjas, platta ut den övre delen av storseglet och öppna iglen så att båten kan accelerera in i vindbytet. Så fort vinden lättade skulle masten räta ut och strömmen återställdes. Vi seglade en gång på en båt som hade balansen i riggen precis rätt. Det innebar att du kunde bära mer segel i större bris och gav en enorm konkurrensfördel. Båten vann många viktiga offshore- och inshore -lopp. IOM -riggen befinner sig emellertid mellan en fraktionerad och en mastheadrigg på en yacht där skogstaget och backstay möts på toppen av masten och böjningen och därför hanteras storseglskontrollen helt genom justering av löparna. Naturligtvis har du andra justeringar på yachter som är viktiga, t.ex. storsegelfot, cunningham, etc., som alla måste justeras genom vindområdena, men i den här artikeln fokuserar jag bara på mastböjning och påverkan på storseglet. IOM -riggen är någonstans mellan en masthead och fraktionerad riggad yacht. .Vår skogsstopp sitter ovanför hundarna med en ryggstång högst upp på masten. Geometrin är inställd så att spänningen sätts in i luff- och igellinjen i huvudseglet med prebend in i sparren, rätas ut av backstay. Jib -svängningslinjens position mot däcket säkerställer att det mesta av den spänningen går ner i jibben och inte igellinjen. Mastböjning och därför storseglformen styrs genom masten, spridaren och spänningen på ryggstödet. Jib leech -spänningen styrs av igel -linjen. Vi vill ha en rigguppställning som ger lite puffar så båten accelererar och kör, snarare än klackar och stall. Så hur kan det uppnås. Om du läser alla viktiga råd om rigginställning, stramar du din höljespänning precis tillräckligt för att förhindra att bottenhöljet blir mjukt när det blåser upp. Detta gör att masten kan böja lite i puffar som ger acceleration. Om masten är för stel stannar luftflödet och båten kommer inte att accelerera i puffen. Starta dina båtar med att båten pekar som på en körning. Trimma ryggstödet så att masten är rak fram och bak. Ställ in segelfoten på ett djup av 15 mm eller vad ditt segelflygplan föreslår. Ställ in kicker -spänningen så att storsegelbladen vrids något med den övre läkten strax utanför parallellt med huvudbommen. Kontrollera båda gyberna för att se till att masten är rak vertikalt. Twistningen ska vara densamma på varje jibe. Rikta sedan båten som på ett slag. Jag antar att du har ställt in raken enligt båtplanen med hjälp av en mätpinne eller måttband. Vårt mål är att ställa in storseglet så att det övre läget är parallellt med bommens mittlinje genom att justera ryggstödet och maststödet. När det väl är inställt bör det vara lite behov av förändring genom andra vindintervaller än 1 mm tweaks på backstay. I ett nyligen zoommöte med Brad Gibson för Central Park MYG i USA talade Brad om att justera backstay med plus eller minus 2 mm. Jag vet inte om dig, men tidigare var jag lite mer aggressiv om användningen av ryggstödet. Nu förstår jag mer om installationens precision och vet vad de bästa killarna gör, jag är mer försiktig. Om du har lyckats med allt detta kommer du att få en perfekt snygg rigg, och om du inte har överdrivit höljespänningen kommer riggen att fungera för dig i vindbyarna. Det finns tillräckligt med information om riggkonfiguration på nätet för att du ska kunna uppnå rätt inställning första gången och ännu viktigare, återskapa den inställningen varje gång du seglar. Här är några bilder som visar effekterna av 1 mm förändringar på B -riggen. Börja från botten Börja längst ner och arbeta upp uppsättningen bilder. De visar förböjningen inbyggd i masten och sedan den gradvisa effekten av upp till 5 mm tilläggsstöd. Du kan se effekten bäst på mjukningen av lakan. Prova detta på din egen båt och se hur din rigg ser ut. Ignorera inställningen av focken eftersom iglen är för tät och bommen kan lindras något. Nästa gång jag försöker detta kommer jag att sätta upp kameran på ett stativ så att vinkeln inte ändras mellan bilderna. Jag kommer att få en liknande uppsättning skott för A -riggen imorgon. Rigge setup - Effekten av 5 mm på A -riggen Bara ett kort inlägg för att återspegla min lek med A -riggen och tankar om inställningar för olika vind- och huggförhållanden. Se bilderna nedan. Självklart kommer seglet att se lite annorlunda ut i en bris. En rigg med 15 mm fotdjup och rak mast. Inställning för hackigt vatten. Det kommer att tappa vridning i en lätt bris för acceleration över vågorna Bilden visar hur man börjar med en rak mast, vilken inverkan det har att lägga 5 mm till bakstycket på en A -rigg. Över 10 mm ryggstöd orsakar segelförvrängning Next Section Weigh and check measure

It is possible to have a Brand-New competitive IOM in 6 weeks for less than £1500? …. Really? By Malcolm Appleton Fact or fiction? I wanted to find out, because: Like it or not we live in the Amazon generation of click and collect. What permeated the souls of Gen Z over five years ago has, supercharged by the Covid shut downs leached its way into the consciousness of the Boomer Generation. That means for me, that prospect of waiting up 18 months for delivery of a competitive hull plus another month for final fitout (or earlier for the same price as a small car) has become unacceptably frustrating. And it carries the risk that I may not live long enough to see it to fruition. ☹ But is there a solution? … continuous development of both 3D printers, filament materials and the ready availability of powerful CAD systems, could a well-designed 3D printed hulls be the answer to the maiden’s prayer in drastically reducing lead times. So, I set myself the following objectives to: prove that it’s possible to enter the world of International One Metre sailing with a modern design performance boat and win races for twice the price of a similar spec’d DF95. i.e. ready to sail with A, B & C rigs. purchase of all components and have a finished ready to sail boat in a minimum of 4 weeks, or comfortably 6 weeks find out if it was possible to build a competitive boat in my study starting from a place of never having built a boat before (feel the fear and do it anyway) and with limited model making skills plus a determination to succeed. see how the boat performed in print finished form. Being lazy, i.e. not wanting to spend too much time sanding and painting the hull, I decided to research the subject of laminar flow extensively, and concluded that at the speeds a One Metre can achieve the benefit would be marginal, i.e a lot less than one badly timed tack. Did I fulfil them? Absolutely - and this is how I chose to build an Alioth V3 Alioth V3 - IOM ALIOTH | RC SAILING LAB on the basis that a friend at Emsworth where I sail, had already printed and built a V2 and found it to be well designed and reasonable fast. Bribed with a bottle of finest Malt, I persuaded him to print one for me, and being a bit impulsive bought the licences just as the design had moved on to Version 3. How lucky was I!. I built the 5-section hull and found it to perform well, but I always wanted a 3-section one with recessed jib pivots which I think look nicer. So, I contacted Paul Barton who was happy to take my money and print a 3 section for me in a couple of weeks. Both hulls were printed using the same Polymax PLA Tough filament which seems to be as good as its word. Temperature and speed control are important if you fancy printing your own, we found in the first endeavour one of the printed parts had suspect adhesion between the layers....not good, but rectified second time around. Taking a deep breath, I slotted the prepared hull sections together, and they lined up precisely. Giving me the confidence to repeat the procedure this time with glue added to the joints. When measured by Paul Edwards at Gosport the completed overall length was exactly 1 metre, and the fin and rudder lined up perfectly. Wow - this was a pleasant surprise since I did not use an assembly jig. It’s a testament to Juan Egea’s construction design. I did use a tripod mount cross laser (Amazon £26) for ensuring the Fin was at right angles to the fore/aft water line - although strictly speaking unnecessary as the designer’s measurements are more than adequate to achieve the same result. The laser was used because I could, (another toy for the cupboard) . My biggest challenge for the build was choosing the correct adhesives. For non-flexible joints I used an MMA adhesive, which is a powerful hybrid Epoxy/CA mix. For the hull joints which need to flex to absorb potential collisions I use CT1 which is silicone based. I figured using a hard adhesive in a potentially flexible environment wouldn’t be a smart thing to do. It seems to have worked – solid boat no leaks. The printed hull was sprayed with two coats Plasticoat clear gloss, oven dried at 24 degrees (not in our kitchen oven!). Very lightly sanded in between each coat. Initial surface prep consisted very quick light sanding with 240 grit wet and dry, afterwards simply 'washing the surface’ with Multi solve CT1 Multisolve Solvent for Removing Adhesives & Sealants (500ml) cleaner to remove surface dust and any grease. I used this to clean the joints as well and has proven its worth. The finished boat ready to sail required 130gms of ballast to bring it up to 4Kgs. 120gms of which I placed astride the keel box and the remainder positioned to trim the fore/aft attitude of the boat. Trimming was to the designer’s waterline specification, using the tank at Gosport. The bare hull was fitted out using a high power DF95 rudder servo, RMG J series winch, John Gill carbon rudder (a work of art and beauty) Dave Creed Fin and Bulb, SAILSetc spars and Sailboat RC one piece moulded sails. All the parts arrived within 3 weeks allowing me to complete the hull build in time for arrival of the sails which took just over 3 weeks to get to my doorstep for the equivalent UK sourced price. In use, the hull has proven to be tough, substantially stronger than that of my Kantun K2 the Polymax filament proving highly resistant to accidental collision damage. Without other distractions I calculate that the entire build would have taken me four weeks. To conclude: This project exceeded my expectations. I learnt masses about sail settings and boat balance. Ended up with a very competitive (race winning) club boat. Felt the fear and did it anyway – what could possibly go wrong? Mistakes are only costly in time, not £££ An excellent ‘value for money’ entry into One Metre sailing. The downside? Glue is smelly and best done in the garage Glueing the parts together can be scary using a quick cure (5 min) product Having to be disciplined enough to create to create time for family while building the boat. My thanks must go to those who helped and inspired me to see the project through to its best Chris Lawrence; Paul Barton; Nigel Barrow and Steve Taylor Cheers guys Author and image copyright: Malcolm Appleton January 2025

Building a hul on a male plug Components for the bow, stern and bulkhead, simply a glass and epoxy sheet laid on a flat board covered in packaging tape which is a great release agent. For the rudder and servo supports, I laid glass over strip wood wrapped in packaging tape to create a light rigid beam to bond across the boat. The hull is laid up in the same way as the plug. Pre cut the cloth and mark a centreline on the hull and the cloth. Allow for an overlap of 1 inch on the foredeck. I used West systems slow cure epoxy resin which in the Summer gave me about half an hours work time. Stop work when the epoxy starts to go stringy and clean your tools with Acetone before mixing a fresh pot of epoxy. I use Nitril gloves which I wash in acetone to remove any sticky epoxy. I also use a full face filter mask although this is not needed. Unlike Polyurethane, epoxy does not smell too bad To begin the layup, paint the hull with epoxy. Add the first layer of E cloth and saturate the glass with epoxy using the aluminium roller. Take your time and make sure you get rid of all air bubbles. I worked on the hull first and then turned the mould over to work on the deck. Allow a 1 inch overlap on the deck and cut any excess cloth away with scissors. Keep a jar of acetone handy to keep the scissors clean. I added more epoxy over the first layer of E cloth prior to adding the second layer. Roll out and finish as per the first layer. Repeat for the final layer of S cloth Wrap the finished hull tightly in Peel ply. When I built the hull in about 75 degrees, I had to mix a second lot of epoxy for the final layer of S cloth as the first lot started curing. Once hardened, remove the peel ply, then add 2 coats of high build epoxy primer. Like the plug the hull will look a mess but will look great once sanded. Sand the hull so you can see through to glass but do not cut any fibres. This will make the hull as light as possible and ready for a top coat of 2 pack polythene which is done after fit out. Fix any faults/holes as necessary. Once happy with hull finish cut through the centreline of the the foredeck and stern deck. Brad suggested a knife but I used a fine cutter on a Dremel. Prise the hull off the mould. This process was much easier than I thought it would be. The whole structure is flexible so once off the mould so put in a jig to keep the designed shape. Avsluta huvuddäcket Så snart skrovet är av formen lägg den direkt i en jigg för att stödja skrovet. Jag klippte ut ramar i plywood med hjälp av planerna och fixade dessa till en stark platt skiva Jiggen kommer att användas för att rikta in fenan och rodret Klicka på vilken bild som helst för att expandera bilden. Bond the foredeck and stern deck What you need 5 minute epoxy Slow cure epoxy Bent piece of wire as long as the foredeck 1" glass tape Bow and stern plates The process Tape the the top of the previously cut foredeck and stern together with masking tape prior to bonding below. Sand the underside of the foredeck to provide a key for the 1"tape you are about to apply Bond the underneath of cut foredeck and stern deck with 1" fibreglass tape. Allow to cure and remove the masking tape. I put the glass tape underneath the deck and on top but I think you only need to bond underneath and fill the gap on top. To get the tape all the way up the foredeck, wet the tape with epoxy and roll up. Using the wire with a 1" bend at the end, to support the roll and unroll it right (with the hull upside down) to the end of the foredeck. Once unrolled it should sit flat and use the wire to move the tape if necessary. See image 4. Remember to put some peel ply over the top of the tape on top of the deck. Image 6. (This was probably an unnecessary step as I think the tape only needs to go on the underside.) The foredeck will be very strong because you will have 6 layers of glass including the overlay and the 1" tape. Slightly over engineered I think. Repeat the process on the stern deck. I had to put a plate across the stern and the next bridge as I had not finished the original layup properly. Image 8 and 9. Having taped on top of the foredeck I had to re apply 2 coats of high build epoxy and sand down. There is no need to do this if you bond underneath the deck only. I fitted 2 perpendicular end plates onto the jig so I could shape the bow and stern on the hull to be, one, vertical and two, at 90 degrees to the centre line of the boat. Image 10 Trim the bow and stern plate and fit with 5 min epoxy. Spot glue in place initially and then seal and fillet with epoxy and micro balloons. Bind framdäck och akterdäck Vad du behöver 5 minuter epoxi Långsam bota epoxi Böjd trådbit så lång som fördäcket 1 "glastejp Bog och akterplattor Processen Tejpa upp ovansidan av det tidigare skurna fördäcket och aktern tillsammans med maskeringstejp innan limningen nedan. Se bild 5. Slipa undersidan av fördäcket för att ge en nyckel till det 1 "band som du ska applicera Fäst undersidan av det avskurna fördäcket och akterdäcket med 1 "glasfibertejp. Bild 4. Låt härda och ta bort maskeringstejpen. Jag lägger glastejpen under däcket och ovanpå men jag tror att du bara behöver binda under och fylla luckan ovanpå. För att få tejpen hela vägen upp på fördäcket, blöt tejpen med epoxi och rulla ihop. Med tråden med en 1 "böjning i slutet kan du stödja rullen och rulla ut den rätt (med skrovet upp och ner) till slutet av fördäcket. När den väl är rullad ska den sitta platt och använda tråden för att flytta tejpen om det behövs. Se bild 4. Kom ihåg att lägga lite skal över toppen av tejpen ovanpå däcket. Bild 6. (Detta var förmodligen ett onödigt steg eftersom jag tror att bandet bara behöver gå på undersidan.) Fördäcket blir väldigt starkt eftersom du kommer att ha 6 lager glas inklusive överlägget och 1 "-tejpen. Lite överkonstruerad. Upprepa processen på akterdäcket. Jag var tvungen att lägga en tallrik över akter och nästa bro eftersom jag inte hade avslutat den ursprungliga uppläggningen ordentligt. Bild 8 och 9. Efter att ha tejpat ovanpå fördäcket fick jag åter applicera 2 skikt av högbyggd epoxi och slipa ner. Du behöver inte göra detta om du bara binder under däcket. Jag monterade 2 vinkelräta ändplattor på jiggen så att jag kunde fora fören och aktern på skrovet för att vara, en, vertikal och två, 90 grader mot båtens mittlinje. Bild 10 Klipp fören och akterplattan och passa med 5 min epoxi. Plocka lim på plats först och försegla sedan och filéera med epoxi och mikroballonger. Fig 8 visar initial passform. Ta slutligen bort överflödigt däck så att hålen är synliga enligt planen. Se bild 7 och 8. På bild 5 är bara akterdäcket på plats. På nästa båt ska jag färdigställa däcket upp till pluggposten. Nu kommer vad jag tycker är den svåraste delen av byggprocessen. Märkning upp och skär ett hål i skrovet för fenan och limning i ett inriktat fenhölje och binda det till däcket och framåtskottet. När jag bygger min nästa båt lägger jag till bilder på finnens placering. Klicka på vilken bild som helst för att expandera bilden. The fin case, bulkhead and forward aft deck What you need 5 minute epoxy Slow cure epoxy Fin Fin case Rudder Rudder stock brass tubes Cross bars for rudder stock and rudder servo mount. Prepared forward part of the aft deck Cut out bulkhead shape to fit under fordeck 1"glass tape Various fittings, jib tack bolts, mast ram, mainsheet post, back stay bolt, mainsheet pulley blocks, fairleads to allow the endless mainsheet to go through bulkhead The Details Tape the hull into the jig so the shroud points on the deck are parallel to the base of the jig. Everything will be aligned to this. Measuring from the stern datum, mark the front and back of the fin hole on the outside of the hull. Then mark a centreline which you will have marked on the frames of the jig. This will get the correct alignment for the fin hole. Remove the hull and using the fin, mark the contour of the fin. Cut out the slot for the fin using a Dremel or similar being careful to cut well inside the line. Use sandpaper to open the slot to fit the fin exactly. Tape the hull back in the jig. With the fin in the slot, push the fin case over the fin so that the bottom of the case is lying on the hull. There are two measurements on the plan to align the fin, one shows the tip of the fin where is enters the bulb. This should be 330mm from the bottom of the hull and the other measures from the same fin tip to the bottom of the bow of the boat. If set up correctly the leading edge of the fin should be perpendicular to the waterline. Shape the bottom of the fin box and fin until this is achieved. Ideally the fin should fit all the way into the fin box. I used some string to determined the position of the tip of the fin. Reinforce the shroud bolt locations with half an inch of 1" tape and once dry fit the shrouds. There is a huge amount of strength with this design in this area and no further reinforcement is needed. Fit the shroud bolt now while you have access to the underside of the deck. Once the base of the fin box is shaped and the fin aligned, now is the time to dry fit the forward part of the aft deck and trim the top of the fin box until the deck fits snuggly. Spot glue the fin box in place with the fin in the box and support in the right position. Once fixed seal the fin box to the hull with 5 min epoxy and microballoons with a small fillet. Finally reinforce the fin box to the hull with 1"glass tape and epoxy. With the fin box in place, dry fit the forward part of the deck with the fin box and forward bulkhead. Once happy with fit, do a final check that the forward bulkhead is in the right place from the stern datum. Get this wrong and you will have issues with your mast ram. Spot glue with 5 min epoxy and micro balloon. With 5 min epoxy and micro balloon seal the bulkhead and seal where the fin box connects with the deck. Finally reinforce the top of the fin box with fin one inch tape. Finally glue the radio pot holder under the deck and seal with epoxy. In my first build I glued the pot on top which looks messy. Bond in the cross beams for the servo and rudder stock with one inch tape See image below for positions. Remember to sand the inside of the hull to create a good keyed surface. Drill the hole in the deck for the fin bolt and mast. Now is the time to check for leaks. Fill the depressed area of the deck forward of the radio pot with water and see if there are any leaks. Drill a 4mm hole in the hull for the rudder, with the central point located from the jig and distance from the aft datum measured off the plan. The rudder stock is 2 tubes of brass, one 5mm o/d and one 4mm o/d. The two tubes slot into one another and the rudder post goes inside for a very tight fit. Mark on the rudder brace bar a line which when a hole is drilled for the stock ensures the trailing edge of the rudder does not extend beyond the stern of the boat. The rudder stock will project a couple of mm above the cross bar. Drill a hole in the centre and ream it wide perpendicular to the hull. Fit the stock in place on the rudder and in the boat. Apply some 5 min epoxy with micro balloon to fix the top of the stock with the rudder exactly aligned with the keel. Leave to set, then seal the stock in the hull and reinforce the top if necessary. The worst is over. My first cross beam was so strong I saved weight by cutting it in half. The next cross beam will be much lighter. Paint the whole boat in 2 pack polyurethane top coat and lightly rub and t-cut to desired finish Fit the mainsheet post, backstay bolt, aft pulley for mainsheet, fairleads for sheet control through the bulkhead, setting these as low as possible so they don't interfere with the kicker on a run on port gybe. Fit the 4 jib sheet leads in the foredeck and the 3 tack bolts. Finally, drill a bung hole, push a needle through the centre of the bung, thread a chord and tie to the backstay. Drill two bolts to hold the winch bracket in the forward bulkhead. Align the winch with the fairleads. The bracket was just a 90 degree moulding cut to shape around the winch and enough flange to brace it securely to the bulkhead. Drill a hole for the mast ram and fit. Bond a strengthening post in the foredeck around the jib tack area to stop foredeck lifting under load. Don't fit the radio pot until correctors have been fitted. Det sista monteringsjobbet på båten Vad du behöver Roterarm för roder Anslutning från rodret till servon Servo Mottagare Batteri LiFeP04 batteri 1600mA (mer än ett helt dygn). Du kan använda så lite som 900mA om du behöver spara vikt. Vattentät strömbrytare RG vinsch och stödfäste. Processen Borra ett hål i det främre skottet på vänster sida för den elektriska på/av -omkopplaren och passa. Montera vinschen på stödfästet och lös passform på skottet. Gör ett hål i tvärfästet för servon och montera och dra kabeln till radiokärlet. Gör ett hål i ovansidan av radiokärlet strax under dess stödram och för servo- och omkopplingskabeln för batteriet till insidan av grytan genom hålet. Anslut roderservot till kanal 1 på mottagaren. Anslut vinschkontakten till kanal 3 och montera den tredje lösa vinschkabeln på en redundant mittstift, säg kanal 5. Anslut omkopplaren till vinschen. Använd XT30 -kontakter där det är möjligt eller om du vann får du tillräckligt med kraft till vinschen. Om du slår på strömmen, med någon tur kommer en påslagen sändare att flytta rodret och vinschen. Det finns ett helt avsnitt om inställningen av radiosändaren HÄR . Om allt fungerar är du redo att passa den ändlösa arkjusteraren. Det oändliga arket är ett jobbigt jobb. Jag köpte vinschen med en självspännande returrulle, dvs den är försedd med en fjäder som hindrar plåtlinjen att släppa. Hitta vinschens slutpunkter genom att flytta kontrollpinnen på sändaren helt upp och ner. Jag använder upp för ark helt ut och ner för helt in. Lämna kontrollpinnen nedåt (ark in). Ta två rader och trä igenom skottets ledare och spring till vinschen. Den yttre linjen drar in arken och den inre släpper ut arket. På vinschen är den nedre remskivan ark in, den övre fjädrande remskivan är ark ut. Med den yttre linjen, bind av på den nedre remskivan och linda 5 gånger runt remskivan. Knyt den inre linan till den övre remskivan men använd bara en och a halva varv. Håll linorna lätt spända så att du inte tappar omslag på vinschen, du kan nu säkert montera vinschen. Den yttre linjen löper längs däcket och genom den bakre remskivan nära ryggstödet på styrbordssidan, gängas ut till in och knyts sedan till en 5 mm rostfri ring 2 "från remskivan. Den inre linjen (ark ut) kan spännas, du kommer att känna motståndet hos den självspännande remskivan och bindas till den rostfria ringen så det ändlösa systemet är rimligt tätt. Huvud- och jibbladen knyts till ringen. Det ändlösa huvudarksystemet är komplett. If you turn the power on, with any luck a switched on transmitter will move the rudder and winch. There is a whole section on the setup of the radio transmitter HERE . If all works you are ready to fit the endless sheet adjuster. The endless sheet is a fiddly job. I bought the winch with a self tensioning return pulley, i.e it is fitted with a spring that will stop the sheet line going slack. Find the end points of the winch by moving the control stick on the transmitter fully up and down. I use up for sheet fully out and down for fully in. Leave the control stick down (sheet in). Take two lines and thread through the bulkhead fairleads and run to the winch. The outer line will pull the sheets in and the inner will let the sheet out. On the winch the bottom pulley is sheet in, the top sprung pulley is sheet out. With the outer line, tie off on the lower pulley and wrap 5 times round the pulley. Tie the inner line to the upper pulley but only use one and a half turns. Keeping the lines lightly tensioned so you don't lose wraps on the winch, you can now securely mount the winch. The outer line is run along the deck and through the aft pulley near the backstay on the starboard side, threaded out to in and then tied to a 5mm stainless ring 2" from the pulley block. The inside line (sheet out) can be tensioned, you will feel the resistance of the self tensioning pulley and tie off to the stainless ring so the endless system is reasonable tight. The main and jib sheets will tie off to the ring. The endless mainsheet system is complete. Slutresultatet Next Section The optimised Alternative build

A directory of associations, boat builders, sail makers, fitting suppliers, building, tuning and racing tip sites. Plats för några IOM -ägare över hela världen I love setting these rigs up. How does the GIZMO work. Whilst I am going to play with my rigs for a few months before I start adding complications, I was very interested to see what the GIZMO does by looking at the rig on a new Grunge from Robot Yachts. There are two pictures below showing the sheeting lines for the main and then the jib and I will describe what the GIZMO does to each. Graham Bantock also has a nice plan showing the layout on the Sailsetc web site. The GIZMO lever is clearly visible bolted to the base of the mast on the starboard side. The cord connected to the top end of the Lever is part of the mainsheet. At the top of the mainsheet post are two plastic balls through which the mainsheet is threaded. When you sheet in, the boom is brought in to the distance of the two balls from the mainsheet post so you cannot oversheet. If you did not have a GIZMO the story stops here. But with the GIZMO you sheet in a bit more and you pull the lever in the direction of the mainsheet. There are 3 cords attached to the other end of the lever. 2 to adjust the main and one to adjust the jib. Here are the pictures of the GIZMO sheeting arrangement and a video below of the sheet movement caused by the rotation of the lever Application of the GIZMO lever tightens the leach of the main slightly at the same times as flattening the foot, at the same time as increasing the cunningham, whilst on the jib, the jib boom is pulled down slightly but the clever bit is as the jib boom is pulled down, the leach line is eased to maintain the same leech twist. In addition the jib is sheeted in slightly. So the overall effect of the LAM is to close the main leech, tighten the jib luff and sheet in slightly and I guess you point higher. Here are two videos that show the LAM in action on land. Of course the key to effectively use of the GIZMO is setting up the rig in the first place. Get this wrong and the GIZMO is of no use to you How do you move the GIZMO using the transmitter. You can either set a toggle switch to engage the GIZMO or use the fine adjustment. The only challenge with the fine adjustment is you might forget it is applied or not. My preference would be for the toggle approach as the GIZMO is either on or off. Bear in mind, if the GIZMO is applied with a large amount of movement on the lever there will be a force applied to the winch and this will burn up battery power. What might need doing on my boat. The immediate things on the current rig are to lower the Jib boom to get the jib closer to the deck The first outing against competition at Abbey Meads lake I always thought this would not be an easy entry into the Marblehead class with oldish sails and rig. Today we sailed in near calm conditions and discovered three immediate problems with the swing rig. Firstly it would not swing easily and for the first few races I was sailing downwind with the sails stuck as though on a beat. Second the jib thought it would be fun to maintain a central position in the light breeze and lastly the main remained inverted after a tack if there was little or no wind. When the wind was up, 4 knots or so the boat took off and I could race competitively. As soon as the wind died the boat stopped. I liked it to being in a boxing match with one hand tied behind your back Results were poor and I retired from the first two races as I could not run downwind with the boom out. I can sort the jib out but believe I may need a light wind rig If I am to sail in these conditions competitively. My thanks to Roger an Peter Stollery for organising/setting up and packing up and Hugh McAdoo for acting as race officer. It was a great day with relatively warm sunshine. At home I got my thinking cap on and took a close look at the mast bearings on and under the deck. I removed the additional cord at the bottom bearing and cleaned the bearings adding some PTFE spray which has no residue and will not attract dirt or dust. The mast is now rotating freely. The jib requires a bit more work. Like an IOM I believe a straight boom should sort the problem and will allow me to lower and adjust the jib height a little as well as moving the end point of the jib boom closer to the sheet fairlead which gives more precise sheeting. Here is a picture of the current jib configuration.. I have a couple of bits of IOM spars to play with. I will use a straight piece of 11mm tube as a yard from the gooseneck and use 10mm lightweight jib boom. Without a Gizmo the rigging is so simple and I will continue with the grommet for sheeting until I eventually fit a Gizmo and replace the booms with carbon. The jib clew will be tied down and a bowsie run to the end of the boom to adjust the foot. What I cannot cure is the mainsail inverting when I tack the boat in calm conditions. The cloth is too stiff and there is too much luff curve. I could apply massive prebend but this will tighten the jib luff and reduce the ability for the jib boom to swing freely. The only cure is a lightweight rig. I will save that one for later Another annoying issue is the mainsheet post is glued in. There is a tube that runs from the deck to the floor which fits a Sailsetc mainsheet post nicely. When I drilled it out, there was an inch of a sailsetc mainsheet post and then an inch and a half of another post. Anyway its all out now and I can fit a new post and be able to adjust the height of the post which is key for the B and C rigs as the booms are higher. Finally got round to reprogramming the RMG Smartwinch to increase the range of the sheet movement so I can get the main boom at 90 degrees to the centreline of the boat. Here is the link to the programming guide on RMG Web site As an aside, the boat came with an unused 2018 set of BG sails for the swing rig so I will get them measured and try them out. There are a couple of events in January/february where I can get a better understanding of how the boat goes. Lastly I weighed the various components of the boat to see how I stood against the current thinking. Swing rig 356gm (OK I think as there is no data. Could use lighter cloth) Hull 924gm (Recommended 900 -1000gms. New Pro boats 800-900gms) Fin/bulb 3.618kg (3.2-3.4kg is recommended so I may have the opportuntiy to lose 200gms but I will wait until I have race data before making any adjustments here. Total 4.898kg (recomendation is 4.5 to 4.8 so I am within this range if I lighten the fin Thats it for now. Lots sorted. I guess that is life with a new second hand boat as you work it up for competitive sailing. Waiting for the bits from Sailsetc to complete the changes and then it is off to Chipstead in January. My schedule will be going up on the results page. There are only 12 Marblehead events so progress and learning might be a bit slow.

After 6 months experimenting, I think I am now at my final configuration which allows me to sail with the main boom parallel on all rigs. Through my whole dinghy sailing career I wanted to sail with the main boom parallel to the deck. It looks right and usually fast. Mast rake is up to 2 degrees and my challenge was getting a fin in the right position to work with this rig. The goal was to sail with a perfectly balanced boat with a hint of lee helm so when I am looking for wind shifts, the boat is sailing as fast as it can upwind. With the previous weather helm I had tended to lose speed when I looked up the course. I am using a Craig Smith fin with a Robot bulb. Fin Leading edge of top of fin to line perpendicular from bow (excluding the bumper). 500mm (measured parallel to the waterline). I have since moved this to 515mm (23/11/2024) to try and get the boat to drive off the jib instead of trying to luff up all the time. Fin leading edge is exactly 88 degrees (now 90 degrees as I moved the top of the fin back) to waterline (tiny rake) I had got this to vertical but the boat was not quite balanced right. Bulb angle to waterline 2 degrees. Bottom of bulb is 2mm above max draft Hull to top of bulb down leading edge of fin. 330mm Bow to tip of fin where it enters bulb 640mm. C of G of bulb is 5mm forward of leading edge of fin Fin weight. I can't give you the exact weight but it is lighter than anything I have seen. Rudder Depth of rudder 220. Very thin chord but no experience of stalling. I have since tried this down. Shortened the rudder by 15mm and trimmed 5mm off the back Rig Top of boom band to step 135mm A rig mast rake 1040 (bow behind bumper to 900 mm mark on mast measured from top of foredeck.) My next step is to work up a set of sails for open water. More on that as the summer progresses assuming we eventually get summer weather. In the build up to the worlds I settled on Sailboat RC sails and went for the max depth A Rig sails which I have to say have delivered good speed. I change the mast prebend a little bit and moved it further down the mast which made a significant difference in mast stiffness to the point I had to rake the spreaders back a few degrees more. The blog covers events at the worlds The only niggle with the boat this year was i the fin is still too far forward as I still get occasional weather helm and this can slow the boat in waves in a breeze so I am working on moving the top back (See above comments in brackets) but leaving the bulb in the same position

Weighing and check measuring the IOM Väg och kontrollera mät båten Väg båten med A -riggen med alla beslag som för att segla med däck plåster läggs löst på båt. Den ska väga 4 kg Gå igenom klassreglerna och kontrollera mäta båten. Setting the boat to float on its lines What you need to know Bring your fully rigged boat up to weight with correctors Float the boat on a calm day on a fish pond, pond, or deep bath and set correctors to put boat on its lines Check measure against class rules The process Weigh and check measure Weight the fully rigged boat dry. Add two equal weight correctors on either side of the fin box at its centre to make up the weight of the boat to 4 kg . Float the boat and check to see it sits on its lines. You may have to adjust the position of the correctors. Once the boat is on its lines, mark and bond the lead corrector in with silicon sealer. I have heard that some people put a small amount of lead in the radio pot so they can make adjustments to the corrector weight if they change a fitting. Pull a copy of the class rules from the HERE Check measure as much as you can. The one measurement you may have difficulty is with the overall length and depth from water line to bottom of fin. This is done in a special tank. Click here for Measurement and Certification Procedure Thought for the day - Getting the most out of correctors Given that we spend a lot of effort getting grams of weight off the foredeck and the mast to reduce pitching moment in a chop, I started thinking about how best to build the correctors. I am looking at roughly 400 gms of lead which I want as close to the centre of the boat fore and aft, but also as low down as possible. I looked at buying lumps of lead but ended up buying lead shot which I could fashion into shape with epoxy. My goal is to make correctors as flat as possible so they sit in the bottom of the boat. The picture shows crudely the difference flat correctors might make. Small I grant but a difference none the less. The top image shows the impact of square lumps of lead at the fin box when the boat is heeled over. The bottom picture show a flattened corrector. The arrows represent the centre of mass for each corrector. The flattened version has a centre of mass lower than the square corrector and in theory when the boat is at an angle the flattened corrector provides more righting moment. All these weight changes I have made, are small. 11gms out of the jib boom, 30gms out of the mast and main boom, 200gms out of the hull of the boat, bigger and lower correctors. It all adds up to more righting moment and less pitching moment. There is easy access to the base of the fin box if you take the winch down. It was easy to lay in two strips of velcro on each side of the hull and place the correctors on this. So now they are fixed but moveable. Once you identify the correct balance point you can fix the correctors in permanently. Moulding the correctors using epoxy and lead shot which you can get off eBay. Means you can shape your correctors anyway you like Ställer in båten för att flyta på dess linjer Vad du behöver känna till Ta upp din helt riggade båt i vikt med korrektorer Flyt båten på en lugn dag på en fiskdamm, damm eller djupt bad och ställ korrigerare för att sätta båten på dess linjer Kontrollera måttet mot klassregler Processen Väg och kontrollera måttet Vikt den fullt riggade båten torr. Lägg till två lika viktkorrigeringar på vardera sidan av fenlådan i mitten för att kompensera båtens vikt till 4 kg. Flyt båten och kontrollera att den sitter på dess linjer. Du kan behöva justera korrektornas position. När båten är på sina linjer, markera och binda in blykorrigeraren med kiselförseglare. Jag har hört att vissa människor lägger en liten mängd bly i radiokrukan så att de kan göra justeringar av korrigeringsvikten om de ändrar en koppling. Dra en kopia av klassreglerna från HÄR Kontrollera måttet så mycket du kan. Den enda mätning du kan ha svårt är med den totala längden och djupet från vattenlinjen till botten av fenan. Detta görs i en speciell tank. Klicka här för mätnings- och certifieringsprocedur Tanke för dagen - Få ut det mesta av rättare Med tanke på att vi anstränger oss mycket för att få ner gramvikt från fördäcket och masten för att minska slagmomentet i en hugg, började jag tänka på hur jag bäst bygger korrektorerna. Jag tittar på ungefär 400 gram bly som jag vill ha så nära mitten av båten fram och bak, men också så lågt ner som möjligt. Jag tittade på att köpa klumpar av bly men slutade med att köpa blyskott som jag kunde utforma i form med epoxi. Mitt mål är att göra korrektorer så platta som möjligt så att de sitter i botten av båten. Bilden visar grovt skillnaden platt korrigeringar kan göra. Liten jag ger men en skillnad ändå. Den övre bilden visar effekterna av fyrkantiga blyklumpar vid fenlådan när båten krängs. Den nedre bilden visar en tillplattad korrigerare. Pilarna representerar massans centrum för varje korrektor. Den platta versionen har ett masscentrum som är lägre än kvadratkorrigeraren och i teorin när båten är i en vinkel ger den platta korrigeraren mer rättande moment. Alla dessa förändringar som jag har gjort är små. 11 gram från fockbommen, 30 gram från masten och huvudbommen, 200 gram från båtens skrov, större och lägre korrektorer. Allt lägger till ett mer rättande ögonblick och ett mindre pitchmoment. Det finns lätt åtkomst till finkartongens bas om du tar ner vinschen. Det var lätt att lägga i två kardborreband på varje sida av skrovet och placera korrektorerna på detta. Så nu är de fasta men flyttbara. Forma korrigerarna med epoxi och blyskott som du kan få av eBay. Innebär att du kan forma dina korrigerare hur du än vill Tanke för dagen - Installera rättarna. Det finns lätt åtkomst till finkartongens bas om du tar ner vinschen. Det var lätt att lägga i två kardborreband på varje sida av skrovet och placera korrektorerna på detta. Så nu är de fasta men flyttbara. Forma korrigerarna med epoxi och blyskott som du kan få av eBay. Innebär att du kan forma dina korrigerare hur du än vill. Sista jobb innan lansering Båten är fullt utrustad, alla tre riggarna sätts upp med hjälp av riggmätstickan och startinställningar som anges på min checklista. Radiokontrollsändaren har kontrollerats internt för att säkerställa att det inte finns några trådar som vidrör gimbalsna för arken och roderspaken. Varje kontakt kan skapa mycket konstigt slumpmässigt beteende på gimbalerna. Radioinställningen på sändaren är som checklista. Båtens vikt kontrollerades för alla tre riggar och korrektorer som installerats på B- och C -riggarna. Det här var de 10 gram mastinsatserna jag köpte från Sailsetc. Eftersom jag sparade 20 gram på A -riggen kan jag använda 20 gram mindre av korrektorer på B- och C -riggen. Jag tejpade också runt masten på lägre däcknivå för att stoppa eventuella rörelser i sidled samt lägga till en modifierad hälform för att stoppa masten att rotera så att spridarna inte kommer ur linje när de startar med masten. Se nedersta bilden. Båtens totala vikt med varje rigg är mellan 4004-6 gram. De 3 däcklapparna är på plats så hon är redo att gå på sin första utflykt på måndag som råkar vara min födelsedag. Bra timing för att stänka båten. Nästa steg är att sätta ihop ett tränings- och seglingsprogram för att bygga upp för medborgarna och eventuella indikatorhändelser. Ett par bilder nedan.

Craig Richards Tuning guide (Page 1) My Thanks to Craig Richards to allow me to copy his guide that he posted on facebook following his win at the 2023 Global Championships at Fleetwood . Mainsheet bridle: The mainsheet bridal is not your friend. It can burn out winches if incorrectly set and if that does not spoil your race then it has sneaky ways of snagging your mainsheet, which it will always do at the bottom mark when you are in the lead! I think I had one of the loosest mainsheet bridle setups at the Globals. I will show detail later of what the bridal looks like with each of the rigs, but its not something I adjust. It stays the same for all rigs. Mine looks like this: The first snag is probably only on the older boats. The bridle eyes were originally a bit larger and not always screwed all the way into the hull. Because they stood slightly proud, the mainsheet could loop around them and snag. This could be fixed by tacking away if lucky, but often the boat will stall head to wind and it is very difficult to recover from quickly. If you don't realise what has happened and continue to sheet in and hope for the best, the winch is stalled and may overheat etc. The fix is to screw them in all the way and fill the recess with epoxy glue. This is about as close as I will ever sheet in. There is never less than about 5mm between the bridle eye and the boom fitting. The starboard bridle line is slack, so this is as high as you can get the bridle eye off the deck. There is almost no vertical mainsheet tension so the winch has very little load and fine adjustments to the sheeting angle are possible without affecting the mainsails leech tension. The port bowsie should be hard against the deck eye, but I mucked with it for demo purposes and have not fixed to my preference yet. With a straight run for the jib sheet, it can get a bit snagged against the mast. Yes, jib fairlead is glued as well. I'll do a section on each rig, but the further forward you move the jib boom sheeting eye the further the jib will go out on the run. I've set mine so that both the main and jib reach 90 degrees at the same time on the runs Sheeting: This is how I run my sheets. It's not optimum from a friction point of view, but there is a tradeoff between reliability and the jib setting slightly differently on port and starboard tacks. If I only use the front jib sheeting deck eye then the jib boom goes slightly further out on the starboard side. It's a small amount, which is reduced by going through both eyes ... at least I think it does. I put the jib sheet through the port bridle deck eye to keep it away from the mast. In light conditions the thin yellow line (0.20mm) gets snagged between the boom gooseneck and the deck. It's only slightly sticky, but enough to stop the jib going out on the runs occasionally. Its not necessary for stronger conditions, but I stick to one way of routing all my sheets just to keep life simple. The A rig: I'll be posting some measurements, so just want to show what my masthead crane looks like as some of them sit a bit proud of the plastic mast insert. I think the standard sail templates have too much luff curve. I have a 'custom' luff curve from Catsails that has about 2mm less mid mast. I run the top of the sail at the bottom of the silver band and the attachment point to a second hole in the mast crane. I think the top of the sail behaves better with this setup. I run the mast gate as far back as possible and never touch it. It stays like this for all rigs. The DF seems to want as much aft rake as possible. So I rake it as far as it will go. I would rather take luff curve out of the front of the sail than bend the mast further. Too much mast bend means you need more vang on the beat, but this can lead to too tight a mainsail leech on the runs Mast Rake: With no Jib Forestay tension I want the mast curve to match the front of the main sail as far as possible. The curve I settled on was to tighten the backstay until the second attachment point from the bottom was just behind the mast (NB, remember I have about 2mm less luff curve than standard). This was easily repeatable without needing rulers etc. I then marked the backstay adjustment lines and always adjust straight to this point. I never change the backstay again except at the very top of A rig I might add a mm or two. The measurement from behind the bow bumper to the front hole in the masthead crane is 1140mm. This may seem further back than the rigging guides, but remember there is no forestay tension at this point. With a flat edge behind the mast, the mast curve is only 3-4mm, which is less than I was expecting.

How I built a male plug Bygg kontakten Processen är bäst förklaras av Brad Gibson, i sin video Bygg skrovpluggen men Det finns några nyanser som jag täcker nedan: Klicka på vilken bild som helst för att expandera bilden. 1 Build the styrofoam hull What you need A measured 1.1m flat board to lay the styrofoam frames onto. 2 off 600x600x100mm sheets of styrofoam. Ebay shop UHU POR glue to stick paper onto styrofoam. Amazon Hot wire cutter. Amazon Balsa wood planks for sanding the styrofoam 300*50*3mm and 400*20*5. EBay shop Builders square 600mm rule 5 minute epoxy to stick foam frames together. East Coast Fibreglass Sandpaper - Dry, various grades, course to fine, wet and dry 150 down to 2500 Epoxy resin - slow cure gives about 30mins of work time Glass to cover foam - 2 layers of 135 E cloth and 1 layer of 125 S cloth as the outer skin. East Coast Fibreglass Epoxy micro balloons for filling and for use later on. East Coast Fibreglass 2 pack high build epoxy primer. SML Paints The process The Foam Plug Mark up the board with a centreline and 100mm frame positions and a 50mm and 38mm mm frame positions according to the plan. Mark as accurately as possible and use the builders square to mark the frame lines. Print all the frames onto coloured card and cut out each frame. R ed or black provides good contrast to blue Styrofoam. The colour becomes relevant later. 6 Cut out the red paper frames with a stencil knife. Remember that the plan lines will mark the outside of the hull. You need to account for the thickness of the surface of the plug and the skin of the hull, so I cut the frames two mm inside the plan line and stick to the styrofoam with UHU Por. Cut the centre of the frame out so the epoxy can bond the foam together for a strong plug. Only glue round the edges of the card and avoid putting any glue in the deck area of the frame. Once the frame is stuck on the foam, cut a very narrow slit marking the deck about 2mm wide. The use of the slit will become obvious when you sand in the area of the deck as the gap in the red paper will indicate you are nearly at deck level. When it comes to cutting out the frames on the foam block Bear in mind when cutting out your frame, frame 5 is the largest. When cutting the stern frame, mark an outline for frame 2 and cut that out. Do the same for each frame until the central frame 5 and then do the same form the bow back to frame 5. Do this otherwise you will end up with steps rather than a fair hull. Cut out the frames using a wire cutter. As mentioned above, mark out the next largest frame and cut out. I wedged my wire cutter into a wooden board so I could get a vertical cut all the time. Practice with some samples first to judge how fast you can cut. It is a smelly process so cut the foam out doors. See image 5 above. Carefully cut out the centre of the red card hull frame and a narrow slot on the deck line to help when finding the deck during sanding. To cut the 50mm and 38mm slices I marked a line on my board, held a straight piece of wood on the board and used that as a guide to get the right thickness of frame. When you add all the frames together they should give you a length of 988mm. However, because you have added glue and card to the foam frame the width of the frame will be slightly more so sand down now side of each frame by about a mm until the width is correct. I only found out about this after I had glued all the frames together and ended up with a 1m boat before the bow bumper was fitted. Starting at frame 5 in the middle, glue the frames to the board and themselves, 1 at a time using 5 min epoxy. Remove excess styrofoam with the hot wire and sand coarsely into shape as you go along. Only stick the styrofoam with the epoxy. Only sand with a sanding board and always down the length of the hull to start the fairing process. Once all the frames are in place, bring the surface down with coarse paper until you start to see evidence of the red card. At this point move to the lighter sandpaper and carefully sand until all the red card is just exposed. If you have been patient the hull should be perfectly fair and true. I was amazed at the end result. Use a saw and remove the hull from the build board. Start at the stern and keep the cut well clear of the rising deck. Be careful with the plug as the foam will damage easily. Once removed I supported the hull with bubble wrap. Sand down the deck in the same way as the hull. Sand the radius edges on the corner of the deck as per the plan. The Foredeck Prepare the foredeck frames as before. 15 Glue the frames together on the deck and chamfer the edges slightly to get a tight fit. Protect the hull with cling film so as not to glue the foredeck to the hull at this stage. Glue onto the hull and sand to final finish. Fill any gaps with 5 min epoxy and micro balloon filler. Sand very carefully to finish. Add a post for handling the plug and keep it a max of 50mm from the foredeck. Epoxy and glass the hull Rough cut 3 layers of 4-5oz glass e cloth to wrap completely around the plug. Draw a line along along the keel line on the foam plug and the cloth so you can align the cloth exactly. Support hull post in work bench and apply 3 layers of to 4 -5 oz glass and epoxy resin to hull and decks. Use peel ply as a final layer. Take care with corners and ends to make sure there are no air bubbles. For each layer I apply the glass and epoxy to the hull and then turned the plug over and did the deck. I applied 1 layer after the other until all three are complete. On my second build I left each layer 45 minutes to cure which made it easier putting the next layer on. Paint the plug in epoxy and add the first layer. Use a roller to remove air bubbles and saturate the cloth. Once the first layer is on, carefully paint on more epoxy and add the second layer. Repeat for the third layer. Once you are happy with the result, wrap the hull tightly in peel ply, which will absorb any excess epoxy and prevent an amine finish. Images 19-21. When working with epoxy, make sure you are in a well ventilated area, you are wearing nitril glove and preferably glasses or safety glasses in the event of flicking epoxy in your eyes. Epoxy will start to go stringy after half an hour or so. When it does, throw away what's left, clean tools and gloves with acetone, reload with fresh epoxy and continue the layup. The temperature during layup must be 10 degrees or higher and ideally cure at room temperature or higher. Remove the peel ply and immediately add 2 coats of high build epoxy primer. This will look really ugly but once sanded with wet and dry and polished with t-cut, you will have a beautiful plug on which to mould your hull. Finally apply at least 6 coats of release wax in preparation for laying up the hull. Next Section First Alternative Build