UPDATE - December 18, 2008

It has been quite a long time since I updated this blog and worked on my IOM so here is the scoop on what has been going on.

Some in our local group who built IOM hulls by laying up strips of balsa and covering with Fiberglass and epoxy discovered that these boats can leak water, causing the balsa to swell up. A hull plug was made of one hull design and and a mold was made of the VEKTOR.

Several VEKTOR hulls and decks were made for some of our group in order to increase our local fleet size. At this point 3 VEKTORS are in the water and 3 still remain to be built, mine being one of them.

I hope in the next few months to work and complete my VEKTOR. I ordered my servos (including back-ups) yesterday and they should be be here Friday. From Servo City I bought the following:

Sail Servo = HSR-5990TG Servo = 2 @ $99.99 each
Rudder Servo = HS-225MG Servo = 2 @ $27.99 each

Presently I am putting together my list of parts and pieces to complete the build. I have looked at ISOBAR's website and at MIDWEST's website for purchasing the items i think i need. I hope to make the order his afternoon.

I have some work to do on my hull and deck, mainly adding some fiberglass to stiffen the hull and some thinned out epoxy to the inside of the hull to seal up any pinholes that were noted o be in some of the other hulls made from the mold.

Christmas is fast approaching and do not think too much will get done for the next few weeks, but at least I will have all of my parts and pieces!

Bulb and Keel Blade update

I have not had much time to work on the IOM lately. Have some news to report though. Took the Victoria’s out to the new pond where we will be holding the Victoria Region 5 Regional Championship Regatta on May 17th 7 18th to test out the venue. Anyway, Al brought his IOM out to sail her after his trip to Dallas for the IOM BLOW OUT REGATTA. The waters edge, being shallow for a few feet, Al threw the NOUX into the water and off it sailed, until he tacked, then the boat just tipped over! She floated upside down and eventually made it to the bank where Al retrieved it. To make a long story short, the keel fell out and now he has to make a new keel and bulb. Since my bulb has been poured for months now and needs to sanding and shaping AND my keel is nearly faired, Al is going to use my keel and bulb for molds. In order for the molds to be made, Al has been working on my bulb, sanding and shaping and he is doing the final fairing to my keel blade as well. I hope to get over there soon to take some photos to document this effort in the VEKTOR.

Keel work

Not much to report on lately. Have been sanding keel blade and then adding more epoxy. Infact, sanded it down for the 3rd time this afternoon. After sanding/shaping the keel blade, I cut the top so i can now work on making a keel box. I also epoxied some 3/8 inch balsa strips that i will epoxy to the inside of the gunwhale to help give the deck something to attach to when that point comes.

More Weight details

Today I sanded the inner hull to remove some of the excess epoxy and epoxy wrinkles from the vacuum bagging process. I then mixed up some west epoxy (1 pump each) and squeegeed this inside the hull to cover any pinholes that may be left from the original fiberglass. After squeegeeing the epoxy I then donned some rubber gloves and rubbed the epoxy all over the inside, along the stem and the stern joint to ensure a good coverage. This extra layer of epoxy is to prevent any water ingress to the balsa planks, which was discovered to be a problem on both Hew's Vanquish and Al's Noux. This extra epoxy only increased the weight of the hull by 19 grams; the total weight of the hull is now up to 347 grams.

Weight

The hull, planked with balsa and with 4 ounce S fiberglass on the inside and 4 ounces of S fiberglass on the outside of the hull = 328 grams. no sanding or filling done yet.

Epoxy and Fiberglass

It took four (4) 'pumps' of from the West Epoxy system cans to wet the fiberglass on the outside of the hull and four (4) more 'pumps' to wet the interior fiberglass. It was noted that on Hew's Vanquish it took three (3) 'pumps' to wet the outside and three (3) 'pumps' to wet the inside. Al's Noux also required three (3) and three (3). Both the Vanquish and the Noux have less beam the the Vektor. I am not sure the fiberglass that Al & Hew used on their builds, but i am using 4 ounce S-Fiberglass on both the inside and outside of my hull.