Hi All
I've been lurking around the proa sites (and HarryProa in particular) for a while now, but a couple of months back actually bit the bullet and got a set of E25 plans off Rob, and am now trying to get to grips with the intelligent fusion thing.. will worry about shunting later!

First a bit of background - I'm not actually a sailor, but love spending time on the ocean. Normally in a surfski or va´a (tahitian one-man canoe), but here in Spain they are not so easy for carrying around on the roof racks (ski is 6.6m, the va´a 7.2m), quite a bit of overhang on the car (how i miss my Falcon ute from NZ!!).

Anyhow, transport issues, combined with limited paddling time (to maintain balance skills in the ski) and wanting to spend time with my kids on the water, meant I was interested in a car-topable sailer. Something that i could get out with the kids in, and take advantage of all the sailing locations we have available here in Murcia (southern Spain). My paddling background meant it would have to be a sailing canoe (or similar), and a proa ticked all the boxes! My initial idea was a Harriette, but after talking with Rob it became clear that a scaled down E25 was the way to go. (I was interested in intelligent fusion, having mucked around repairing skis, canoes and making carbon canoe paddles).

Issues with keeping a schooner rig on such a short boat (the harriette is originally 4.5m) has seen me stretching it out to the maximum permitted on my car, hence the E19 moniker. Haven't actually decided what the rig will be, but at least i will have more options available.

At the moment i am still going through the practice pieces of the infusion process; landings, beam spacers, molds etc. My goal is to be on the water by the end of the summer, although weekends are running out fast!

I have been trying to follow as much of the other harryproa builds as i can, but there aren't that many (as you know!). One observation i have made is regarding the bulkhead landings - i see few cases where the landings are incorporated into the original lay-up. As this (incorporating as much as possible into the original layup) was one of the attractions of intelligent fusion, i was wondering if you could share reasons why this would not be done. Is the alignment too difficult afterwards? And to the builder in Germany: great photos of your hull infusion, but i don't see any beam spacers either. Do you plan on cutting them out after? I was surprised how difficult they were to remove from the test piece i made, so was thinking of doing that also.

Anyway, enough from me - i need to get back to the last test piece (a proa-inspired hanging planter :-), if i want to be one the water in August..

I look forward to hearing from some of you,

Cheers

Robert.