I've spent the past week slowly tinkering on the foredeck for my version of Ian Vickers' V8. I wanted to try to make a plywood one with compound curves. It's made from two layers of .5mm (1/64") ply cut to fit in the foredeck mold frame that I made. The original V8 plans called for a foredeck with compound curves. The fore-aft curve deflects just over 2mm and I wanted to see if I could get it to go that far with a compound curve. It worked! The final deck has a deflection of approx. 2.5mm. Not bad. Here's how the process went... It took some pretty high pressure to get the deck to deflect, but not so much that it will eventually warp the hull. Well... I can't avoid it too much longer... It's almost time for finishing. Gotta get some warmer weather and then dig out the spray gun! Cheers!

Ok, fine... I've given up on my artsy deck idea as I just couldn't get it to work exactly as I wanted. I've moved to a much more conventional idea, but still wanted a touch of bling, so I incorporated the design name into the deck. It's two layers of 1/64" (.4mm) plywood laminated together. The top layer has Corbie 5 cut into it to reveal the bottom layer which is painted red. The top layer also has some degree markings, mostly just for looks, and the jib swivel holes cut out. They were laminated over the form that I made. It held its shape well and will be easy to epoxy to the hull. Here's how it looks just sitting on the hull. After laminating, I added a small amount of epoxy to the cutouts. When that was dry I sanded it flush and then put on a layer of .73 oz cloth. It was later sanded down and is now ready for epoxying to the hull. Lots more small detaily things to do still but I'll shortly be epoxying all three decks to the hul...

Lots of various projects going on the Corbie 5 IOM RC sailboat this week. Over the past few days I've worked on the hull, the foredeck, and the aft deck. Here's what I've done: On the hull, I've put my second coat of epoxy on the hull, sanded it off, and just now added the third coat. Tomorrow I will lightly sand it off and then mark the waterline with this... After that I will leave it lightly sanded and will eventually add a few light coats of varnish for UV protection. That varnish will be sanded and polished in the end. Won't be as glossy as unsanded epoxy or varnish, but will be very smooth and have a very fair surface. I realize that doing it this way will probably add significant weight, but again... my sailing skills are so poor that it really doesn't matter! Tomorrow I get to also remove the hull from the frames! I have also worked on my aft deck. It's made from 1/32" (.9mm) ply with two reinforcements around the underside of ...

I've been involved in doing some 3D modeling of another boat lately, and haven't been as attentive to the Corbie 5 IOM as I should be. However, I've also been doing some thinking and some designing for the Corbie 5 deck . An idea was given to my by Ian Dundas of Scotland... he suggested that I 3D model a frame for the deck of the Corbie so that I could use it to plank the foredeck. It was a great idea and I did it. See previous post for 3D drawing. It's an exact copy of what the planked hull curves and bulkheads will form, so a deck built on this frame will perfectly fit the actual hull. Here's how the deck frame looks: (I just used a scrap piece of MDF, so please excuse the wonky cutting job!) This picture is looking at the bow... And this one from the back side of the main bulkhead... However, right now, I'm considering not planking the deck and instead using some laminations of either 1/64" (.4mm) and/or 1/32" (.8mm) ply that h...

While I'm starting the frames and planking process on the Corbie 5 hull, I also wanted to experiment with some foredeck ideas that I have spinning around in my head. It was suggested by Ian Dundas that I should do this, and it's a great idea. To get a head start on the foredeck, I've 3D modeled an exact replica of just what the foredeck frames would be. I'll laser cut these parts, put them together, epoxy on two gunwales, and then start working out some of these ideas. Should be fun! Aloha!