What exactly is all this KSS method?

[Squidly-Diddly]

I have been to the Harry P site and it talks about how well the 'work shop' went but doesn't give any real info.

It seems to be something about bending foam sheets and then glassing them.

I read some vague stuff about how the topsides and hull are all done at once.

Is it basically like 'stitch and glue' but using much more flexible and easy-to-cut foam sheets?

Are the sheets part-resined to give some stiffness, then bent into 'boat shape'.

Any good sites that explain the process, as opposed to a list of various people chiming in as 'pro VS con'?

[Pericles]

http://www.kelsall.com/methods.html

Pericles

[Matt.D]

KSS stands for Kelsall Swiftbuild Sandwich a tecnique mastered by Derek Kelsall. check out www.kelsall.com

[rwatson]

The methods on the Kelsall site are not the same as the ones used on Harry Proa, just to confooze the investigator.
The KSS website shows glassed foam being 'coaxed' into a U section.
In the Harry P job, a refinement of that is to leave some of the core unglassed , then pressure it (with heavy things on an air filled plastic ballon)down into a female set of moulds to make it curved. Then resinis then is applied to make the shape permanent. Water filled plastic is being considered in the next iteration.
From comments, some of the shapes the original method created were not considered 'commerically fair'. The second refinement, because it is 'coaxing' the core material, means that is is a more reliable way to get a good fairer shape rather than trying to compound curve flat sheets of glass.
The whole benefit is to avoid complex mould creation, and make the hull material its own mould.
I personally would rate speed of construction over total fairness, but this is a matter of taste. I dont think performance is noticeably affected.