Mini Sailboat Project

[Joe]

Yes, I've tried to incorporate some of the actual rigging. I decided not to go with the shrouds and spreader as it will complicate the hank loops attaching to the mast. I only have a week to get these done! :dance:

Stan

If you're building the models to sail or race...... keep them simple.. no halyards are needed, but a self tending jib with adjustable jib and mainsheet and the proper ratios of ballast to sail plan are mandatory.

If you're building them to help the kids learn all the parts of a sailing vessel, then you can incorporate as much as you think they can handle..... something you can point at and have them describe its function.

To me, I thing there would be a great sense of accomplishment to build a simpler model that could actually sail. This would teach them the importance of hull design and how it interacts with the sails.......

Whatever direction you go... the kids will decide what's important to them... and it will be a lot of fun for you to see it evolve.... keep us posted.

 

[StanFM]

Had a few minutes this morning to run out and test the boat. I tied a kite string onto the screw eye at the base of the mast in case I needed to retrieve it. Very light and variable wind. Without any counter weight at the bottom of the keel, this is obviously a fair weather, light air boat!

A short video of it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwajOHMYyRc

Stan

 

[FourPoints]

Looks good, but you know you cannot post a video of a sailboat here without a sail trim critique...:naughty:

from about 0:38-0:42 it looks good, but from about 0:43-0:59 I would say the jib is a little under trimmed while the main is slightly over trimmed, and after 1:00 the jib starts to luff.

ease the main slightly, and trim the jib and touch and you should be able to get better boat speed.

All joking aside, really nice job!

 

[StanFM]

Yeah the sail trim left something to be desired! I just plunked it in the water and was mostly worried about dropping the camera and losing the tether string!

Stan

 

[Bilbo]

it works!!
that's important.

 

[Chris Patterson]

it works!!
that's important.

Yeah, dig it. You're not teaching aero/hydrodynamic theories at M.I.T.
I floats. It sails.

I'm in awe of your dedication.

(Although you DO need to go have it tank-tested in Australia before conception)

 

[ShotgunSlim]

This thread is so cool!! I'd almost forgotten about the kind Uncle of mine who glue laminated (the above referenced lifting method) 3 pieces of poplar together to make a hull form, shaping it, adding a piece of sheet aluminum for a fin keel with a massive fishing egg sinker on the bottom for ballast. The "cabin" was simply another piece of poplar glued on top the hull with 3 holes drilled in the sides for port holes/windows and nails and copper wire around the perimeter for lifelines and stanchions We used wooden dowels for the mast and boom and my kind mother make some "real" sails out of some old bedsheets for me. I can't remember how many hours I played with that thing in the shallows of the bay but it remains fondly in my memory to this day. Let's hear it for Uncles, dreams and shop teachers, Way to go Stan!!!

 

[StanFM]

Had to make it simple, as I have about only 10 - 12 hours to complete the task for each group of 16 to 18 students, and with 36 boats I have to make them VERY inexpensive! Normally I teach junior high science classes. But this is a special one-week course/activity. We don't have a shop or anything in our small school, so I bring a couple tools from home to set up outside the door on the sidewalk. A sailing activity here in the desert! Would make more sense in Seattle, right?!

On the short test in very light air I got a lot of lee helm, so the keel was moved forward right under the mast and straight down- no angle.

 

[cjb300]

Well, I have been racing model yachts for a few years now. I love it! you get a butt load of races in during a day and only your thumbs hurt! If i tear up sails, I go home and build some new ones.

Here is a link to my flickr showing some photos from our local clubs Crawfish Cup that we hold every year in Slidell, LA. This is the Victoria Class, more laid back, beer drinking style of racing. But there are many classes of RC sailboats.

DO a search for the American Model Yacht Association, or AMYA and see what out there, to build or to race. The Victoria kit is about $100 and then you need 2 servos and a transmitter/receiver. You can be race ready for less than $250.00 with custom sails and rigging.

The IOM (International One Meter) Class, is much more sophisticated - But some serious competition too!

I know of one teacher who had her class build STAR 45's -and they eventually finished them and raced them.

Cheers!

CJ
Covington, LA
1974 s/k #3198

 

[cjb300]

Forgot the link:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/24817024@N06/sets/72157629927420752/

 

[StanFM]

Great looking boats! What fun!

 

[StanFM]

Whew! Day one of our mass-build is over! Started with the hull segments pre cut to length and 45's ripped along the bottoms. Plenty of free paint sticks from Ace and Lowe's. Hardware odds n ends, dowels, and supplies. And of course-- printed procedures which the students will not read. :cry:

Some photos of work getting done. I had the help of one of the high school students. Dust everywhere--- especially on me and my laptop! Final photo shows our progress for the day.

The plan is to quiz them on Friday on points of sail, and some key parts of the sloop. I'll throw in how to tie a bowline, and how to secure a line on a cleat. Starboard and port, of course.

Stan

 

[StanFM]

Couple more pics. I bought enough junk for 36 boats, but some students are absent. We'll build more like 30 or so. But the budget figures about $2.47 per boat right now at this quantity.

Stan

 

[Bilbo]

Hooray!!! Those diminutive humans appear to be engaged in something other than texting and video games. I would call this a success.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Stan, you are TOO cool man. That look on that one girls face, wow!

And a two thumbs up on Ace and Lowes as well.

(And ditto on what Bilbo said too).

 

[StanFM]

Funny, I should not have left that small jar of blue paint out on the table today. By the end of the day, there was paint dripped on scissors, papers, END of the picnic table-- which transferred directly to my pants, and everywhere! We did not use paint today, so how it escaped from the sealed jar is still a mystery. One of the girls claims they were "just looking at it," and had "no idea" how it got dribbled all over the place. Doh!

Stan

 

[Bilbo]

Hmmm...back in my day it was only boys who 'had "no idea" how' such things happened.

 

[Jackdaw]

Stan,
I grew up in Detroit and the Detroit New sponsored a model yacht regatta at the end of every school year for many years. They also published plans for a 24" wooden sailboat built using the "lift method". basically 1" planks of wood glued on top of each other. We had a club after school in the shop and we built theses boats all fall, winter, and spring ready to race them. We made the spars, and you could fabricate the hardware out of brass, or purchase a hardware kit, and sails. These were self steering systems that you adjusted for the wind direction and speed, in relationship to the course, which was a straight course to the other side of the model yacht pond. The boats had 2 1/2 #'s of lead ballast, and we gathered tire weights from the local gas stations and we had a mold that held a U-bolt as we poured molten lead,(in school!!!), to make the keels. Tought us a bunch of skills, and sparked an interest in sailing that many of us still enjoy! I still have my model yacht displayed in our living room.

Don

The Detroit News was a GREAT patron of sailing. Their contests also gave the world its most popular iceboat, the amazing DN. Which of course stands for 'Detroit News'.

 

[StanFM]

Stan, you are TOO cool man. That look on that one girls face, wow!

And a two thumbs up on Ace and Lowes as well.

(And ditto on what Bilbo said too).

I went in to both stores asking to buy the paint sticks for a student project at school (along with other supplies). At ACE the guy wouldn't take any money and said, "I have a giant box of these things, how many do you need?" At Lowe's the guy was quite conflicted at first because I wasn't buying any paint. "I can't sell you these because there's no bar code on them." :naughty: But after a minute he sheepishly grabbed a handful and kinda looking around, he said, "I'm not supposed to do this..." and handed me some like passing contraband. Lowe's, by the way, always gives me a 5 or 10% discount at the register if I show them my school I.D., so they've been supportive of our school. I think the dude at the paint counter simply didn't know what to do at first.

Stan

 

[StanFM]

Day two, and I'm still breathing! Today we had the task of wrapping and epoxying the tillers to the rudders. We sort of stitch the two together with kite string, tack the string in place with ca, and then epoxy the whole joint. You can sort of see how it looks to the right of the first pic. Then it was on to drilling all the tiny holes in the tiny dowels with tiny fingers. It sounded at times like sailboat bandits getting together-- "Hey, somebody stole my keel!" "Take the tiller out of your ear, please." "Do not play swords with the masts!" You get the point. Then on to painting... which ended up way more bizarre than I first thought. We found some acrylic paints, and... well... you can see the pics. Tomorrow we have to get two coats of the varnish on the hull and sticks, and start cutting out and fitting the sails! Homework today was to bring in a garbage bag. Geez-- I just remembered I didn't specify UNUSED garbage bags...

Stan