When I was in 6th grade (age 12...1967), I bought a Trailcraft canoe kit for a 17' wood and canvas canoe, along with a fiberglass option, with money saved from my paper route. That was in late summer before the start of school, and when school started, I asked the shop teacher if I could build it in shop class (my first year of shop class). He agreed on the condition that we copy the pieces for anybody else who wanted to build. The result was a virtual "canoe factory". We built 14 canoes that year, and our "canoe factory" was a featured article in the local paper, and even made the TV news.
The point here is that it would make sense to "group build" some of these smaller designs. Form a local club, and get half a dozen builders involved in building their own boats. If you are going to the trouble of making molds for entire hulls or half hulls, why pop just one boat out of it? The savings in cost from buying entire cases of foam and large quantities of epoxy are extremely significant.
1/4 Divinicell: $80.82 per sheet,
$67.52 in lots of 50 sheets
Raka Epoxy: $98 per 6 quart kit ($65.33 per gallon)
$746 per 15 gallon kit ($49.73 per gallon)
I don't consider that the HP fits my application nearly as well as a cat due to the much greater length required to get the internal area I want for a live aboard voyager in all climates of the world. To me it's a tropical boat for outdoor living, which is great in the tropics. The Wharram designs are popular in OZ and other outdoor living environments by the same token, but the more enclosed boats are more popular in the northern latitudes. The smaller HPs are perfect boats for summer fun. Beach proas, weekenders, cruising the Caribbean, Florida, the Bahamas, etc.
It's much easier to get people interested in a smaller more manageable project than a 50 footer.
H.W.
On 06/15/2018 05:00 AM, Doug Haines doha720@yahoo.co.uk [harryproa] wrote:
Perhaps supply ready made box molds or ready organized kit of infusing including all sundry items.
To be a bit honest, i wouldn't mind a more indepth explanation of the steps involved. This will vary with each designer i guess. Reference books can add to uuour info source.
It is expected that a builder will have gotten enough info from sources like tgd internet already.
But on the other hand hp designs have probably less to learn to be abldd to do them.
I would like to be treated as a bit of an idiot by the designer, so tghat at least i would not miss some of the important things in th e build.
It would depend on what your background was.
Although i have done years now of building with epoxy, glass and so kn i have never infused or vacuumed anything. It was a level of extra effort that was not botherddd with.
That the whole new hp line is based on that it means new learning curves.
It means more detail to organizing and preparing and getting bertterf qualitg materials.
More of a labratory setting to build in that a dusty old boat building shed..
You need to go and enjoy getting dirtg somewhere else.
A question for Rob or anyone:
The molds for a hull, say lw hull , is done full length (10, 12 or 15m for lw hull) or done with two molds of half length and joined after ckming out of molds?
Saves a lot of space.
But you would need 2 molds made, mirror jmage, and they woukd need to be close copies as must meet at joins.
Seems like one mold piece if space available would be much simpler.
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Posted by: StoneTool <owly@ttc-cmc.net>
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