Flat panels for Flashheart.

Got another half day at the workshop on Saturday and unpacked my bag of flat panels. I vacuum bagged all the flat panels I needed in one hit laminating carbon on both sides.

I used the cut and fold technique to make the fordeck. The cut bit involves cutting a strip of the inside carbon out with a knife and cutting a V shape in the foam.



Then you fold.



Some bog in the V shape and later a bit of tape and Bod is your Auntie's live in lover. You get a nice radius on the outside, and the join is only on the inside so it does not need finishing.

I weighted the flat panel and calculated a weight per square meter at about 1.2 kg. (aprox. 400g carbon + 350g foam + 450g resin) This is not as good as the pre-preg autoclaved Prowlers which are about that with paint. I will save weight by making the boat smaller and not putting much paint on, but I will need some filler because do not have a female mold. Some may say that this is disappointing and to have a competitive boat you need the latest technology. However: Can wet layup home builds be competitive? Yes.

I my case the extra cost of pre-preg and an oven is better spent on a new sail. The time building a female mold is better spent learning to foil gibe. At the last worlds I was lapped by the leaders but beat new boats in my 14 year old one. Therefore sailing skill and set up is more important than the latest boat building technology. So from a pragmatic view I am delighted with the fact that I am in the right ball park.

The rest of the flat panel was used to make the bulkheads and transom.



She is starting to look more and more and more like a Moth, and my ass is getting sexier...

The next job is tape over the fillets, put the main foil box in, and wing bar sleeve stubs. I hope to get some time in over Christmas but I have just bought a flat so I also have to build a kitchen, fit a shower, build 2 high beds, get some more snowboarding in and move in the next 2 months. I still plan to launch the Flashheart in spring but it is going to involve some heroic boat building to pull it off. However Flahheart by name and Flashheart by nature so smoke me a clipper I'll be back in time for breakfast.