Chris Anderson is here squeeging the Rovelock laminate into the CM female mold. 1988 probably. I recall that this photo was also in the first or second issue of ProBoat magazine. Laminates were done one side at a time, but the bag did the whole mold. The rounded sheers were molded from sonotubes.
I am doing more scans from the old photos. This is Smoholla the Shaman racing, probably in summer 1981. It would have had the board instead of the keel, but with the old amas still.
Its interesting that we are behind Seafire, a Brown 40, as we won every race that year. Except a second against Limelight at Hoggshead. The mug is the diabolically brilliant Bob Dean. I’m not sure who the speedy cat on the left is. Maybe it is Limelight. This was a scan of an ancient Xerox. You use what you got; goes for photos and sail wardrobes.
A shot scanned from an old photo. The Gecko dry assembled under the Fremont Bridge where Google is now. Thinking that might be in ’92?
Balsa core, Rovlock uni glass and System 3, 2 Phase epoxy.
Since I just installed this scanner, I might as well use it. My 31′ x 24′ home for a while in the early 80s. The 4 hp outboard would push it at 6 knots.
Back in the 80’s I noticed that sometimes when bagging a CM panel on the mold, the part only touched at and near the front of the mold. Especially with stiffer plywood. We would put pipe or 2x4s on the top to press it down.
Eventually a lightbulb went off in my head. Why have parts of the cylinder mold there that are not always being used? I did one hull that way but about then Charles at Multihulls published my first design and I have been scrambling to keep up ever since. It never got puttered-with nor published.
Its not that big a thing, it just saves plywood. The hold-down gutter is the same. A lumber runner along the bottom of each tiny station keeps the mold from tipping over. And by ajusting the angle of the stations, more possible hull sections are possible.
With this mold system, the exact same type of plywood must be used on all of the panels in a particular hull.
First, a comparison with both types of CM.
Next, zooming into the Airmold. Showing with both a panel on and off of it.
It seems that I wasn’t paying attention to where the flow was going and the in-flow bumped me up to another bracket. I just noticed.
How does a 20% discount on all stock plans this week sound? And 10% this month?
The shopping cart does not allow discounts so I would have to refund you after. Or get card number to me directly, paypal directly, or I can send wire information.
I have put the newly created CM Female Molding graphics into a construction manual of sorts. I will make it available at the website soon. /pdf to get to all of them.
It only has computer graphics at this time.
I just installed a great scanner in the office and I will be scanning the photos of the applicable multi builds to also be added to the manual.
I have also come across an armload of back when pictures that I will post.
For a few decades now I have considered rapid composite hull building construction to be the holy grail of boatbuilding. I published and presented a technical paper on this topic at the 1992 Marine Applications of Composites conference. I built the hulls for my Formula 40 trimaran using the same techniques. A few other catamarans have been built using these techniques. I never have had time to properly write this up as a manual.
I’m still not sure that there is any need for rapid construction any more. I just saw a picture of a race starting line with a row of $3 million to $5 million cats racing. Maybe I really miscalculated the business. Oh well, too late now.
The only other multi designer that I know of working the problem is Kelsall with his flat bagging table KSS process. I see an armload of problems with it. Besides, with that process, one still has to torture the laminate into shape, cut darts into it, then add the 0 degree laminate over the darts, still. And fair it.
What if you could instead build a rapid female mold, and bag the exact and final hull in it in one step? Here we go.
Back in the late 80s when I build my trimaran, a couple of the steps were very successful, and two of them, exhausting. Those two I have improved on.
Those are; I coated the inside of the hull with epoxy. Then sanded it smooth. Way too much work. I now recommend using 545 or some other epoxy primer paint instead. The second was that I coved the hull “gutter” with bog, and then sanded it smooth. Even as a 30 something then, it was insanely hard.to do. Now I prefer to fit a piece of cardboard sonotube first. Then once it is fit properly, bog under it. It creates a rebate on the part that extra protective biaxial roving can be added to.
The first step is to create two cylinder molded reflected hull panels. These can be done with non waterproof glue to save cost. This mold will never go to windward. The insides of the panels are best filled and sanded smooth at the scarphs while the panel is flat like a table.
The two panels are wired together just like the usual CM hull, and a deck flange is added.
The difference between this and the usual CM is that the bulkheads are added to the outside of the hull instead of the inside. Once the final hull shape is achieved.
Red is the flange, purple, the bulkheads, and green the cardboard sono gutter.
What it says. This turbo version has ama boards and rudders. CM developed plywood with carbon mast sections for beams.
One of my customers and friend was in the Keys and got this picture. He wondered if it was a KHSD design. I thought so but wasn’t sure. Pat cleared it all up. Yes, it was the late Chris Schofield’s daycharter cat. It was actually the bridge design between the original Kamanu 36 and the present BIB charter boat in a box 36 design. Probably built in ’90, by Olympic Boat.
