Skip to main content

Back at it with a new boat! And... it's an IOM... Gasp!

Hi! I'm back for another boat build! This time it's an IOM.

Yes, I know that it's not a Vintage Marblehead. Or vintage anything... it's a design from 2004. But this boat really looks cool and I want one.

The boat is the Laerke IOM designed by Søren Andresen from Denmark. Hopefully he'll contact me and give me some pointers.

And before all you hardcore IOM sailors start to tell me that the Laerke is an outdated design from way back in 2004... I know, but I will maintain that it's probably still very fast! I don't care if it's the fastest or not... I just like the design. Please remember that my entire interest in this hobby is in nice looking boats that A.) look like proper boats, and B.) can be made in wood by reasonably talented home builders.

The Laerke looks great and modern IOM's don't even look like boats. Besides, to be competitive in IOM's you have to spend a fortune to keep up with everyone else. I have no interest in buying my way to sailing victories... I just want a beautiful wooden RC sailboat. If a boat has to be made of plastic or grp, and has to cost thousands just to get to the start line with everyone, and then hundreds more each year just to keep up with the Jones's, then I have no interest. The guy with the most money always wins, but I'll have fun at the back of the pack with my pretty wood boat.

IOM sailing is too competitive and too expensive for my tastes, but I'll make an IOM boat though just for the hell of it. Maybe I'll come around to IOM sailing?! 

Take a look at this version built by someone from Poland. Here are others. And I like this one too.

The picture below is of a Laerke built in Poland. This picture is not mine, so please see the link for the real owner and for copyright information. I make no claim to this photo, but really just wanted to show how beautiful this boat is! 



I will make mine very similarly to the one from Poland. In fact, I'll probably try to simply copy it! It really appeals to me. The hull will be western red cedar and the cockpit will be Alaskan yellow cedar. Not sure what the foredeck will be yet though... maybe western red cedar too? Maybe 1/32" plywood? Would three woods on the boat be too much?

The plans are available for free online. I've downloaded the DXF file and am now busy making a 3D model so that I can make laser-cut frames. Here's what it looks like so far:


I've only just started working up the frames. You can see Frame 0 and Frame 1 in the picture, but the rest are just shadows so far.

And yes, I'm making it with frames built in! I know it will be way too heavy to race competitively, but as I've already pointed out, the Laerke is an outdated design. Even if I had the lightest, most perfect Laerke in the world, it would still get beat by these modern plasticy, molded things that don't even look like boats. The frames will make it one of the strongest IOM's out that, and it should last decades. It's likely that I won't leave all the frames in place, but several will remain in the hull.

However, if someone ever wanted to, they could use my frames to build a very light shell hull without the frames. You would simply put some plastic tape over the edges of the frames and the planks wouldn't stick. And since there are 19 frames, each only ~2" apart, taken straight from the original CAD files (with the outer skin brought in only 1/16" to account for the wood planks and fiberglass), the hull shape should be virtually perfect.

Full disclosure... I know very little about IOM's. The have weird rules regarding the mast step and many other things. IOM's are raced here in Seattle, so I should probably at least make it class legal in case I ever do wish to race it.

Oh, and I modeled a Hales Double Block too because I needed to align it in the model to get the mainsheet placement correct.



Anyway, that's it for now. More as I get closer to a proper 3D model.

Aloha!

Comments

  1. What a beautiful yacht! Just...WOW!😍

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IOM Sailboat Stand

I made an IOM boat stand! The plans are from David Jensen in Bellevue, WA, USA. I found the plans through someone else's blog here , and a model sailboat club from Australia here . It was pretty straightforward to build. My only contribution to the design is that I laser cut the cradle out of 1/8" Lite Ply. I made eight copies, and then epoxy laminated two sets of four each. Turned out really well. If you wish to laser cut your own set, here is my DWG file . You'll have to have your own laser cutter, or send the job to a laser cutting company like National Balsa . Here are the original plans , and here are the original plans for just the cradle . Thanks to David Jensen!! Note that in the picture below, my boat is not finished! Yikes. You can't see it in this image, but there's a small chuck of self-stick foam behind the bulb to protect the bulb. I'll eventually incorporate some Velcro or a strap of some sort to hold the bulb in place so

IOM Alignment and Measuring Jig (UPDATED)

I need to start to consider how I'll mount the fin and bulb, and get it all straight, so I made a 3D modeled alignment jig: Ian Dundas in Scottland sent me pictures of his setup. I just bought a laser level too! He does amazing work and has been a great help in this project so far. There is also another jig featured on page 14 of the winter 2008 Canadian Radio Yacht Association (CRYA) newsletter that features one. It's by Lawire Neish. Read it here . I took both those designs and made my own version that features sliding cradles for the hull, a fixed waterline sight, proper depth to cradles for the bulb, etc... Most of the parts can be laser cut, and the two end pieces and the base can easily be cut on a tablesaw. It has fixed waterline sights that are 420mm above the top edges of the bulb sliders in the base. The fore and aft cradles can be slid up and down to adjust the waterline of the hull. You'll see that the overall interior length is 1003mm t

A Wooden "Alternative" IOM RC Sailboat

Being forced to stay home due to the Coronavirus quarantine has had a positive impact on my boat building. I still haven't been able to sail my newly completed Vickers V8 IOM, yet have just planked and glassed a wooden Alternative IOM . It only took me eight days. It usually takes a couple weeks. I haven't been motivated to blog about it, but I started planking on 5 April and finished planking last night. Today I sanded and have fiberglassed the outside. The Alternative by Brad Gibson was a challenge to plank due to its up-swept bow and flared sheer near the bow. It turned out okay, but as any builder will tell you, there are goofs all over. One that I only discovered after sanding is a lighter colored plank on the starboard side. It really showed up after fiberglassing as the epoxy brought it out... GAAAAH! How did that get there? The other goofs I'll let you find, but that one is pretty obvious. Here's how it looks so far: Here you can see that mu

IOM Rig Box (IOM Sail Box) plans

So all the cool IOM kids seem to have nice wooden boxes to store their rigs in. This might be my next quick project then, so that I can pretend to be cool too. :-P The rig box images that I've seen online are mostly similar, and would work well, but David Jensen from Bellevue, WA, USA (The same guy who designed a fantastic IOM boat stand I posted about earlier) has a really nice design that he shared on RC Groups . Or if that link doesn't work, the go here and search for " IOM sail box " or " IOM rig box ". It holds three sets of rigs for the A, B, and C rigs. He also has a nifty way to attach his IOM boat stand, with a boat on it, to the rig box. His rig box has wheels attached, so once everything is loaded up he just wheels it to the launch spot. Very nice! There are other sources online. They show different variations of the same type of sail box. Here's a nice looking one . Here's a YouTube video of a really nice one . Wil