Trailerable daysailor underway...

[Wynand N]

Over the last few weeks I periodically mentioned the 6 meter day sailor I am busy designing, marketing of it etc etc. At last she is now a reality and the plug underway.
I would have started it earlier, but is reality tied up with the big boat that requires one's full time attention at the final stages of construction, therefor whenever I had a few moments to spare, got a line in on the drawing board and eventually had the lines plan finished and the project handed over to my apprentice to complete.

Here follow a few photos - the hand drawn linesplan, part loft of the forward frames, the strongback under construction, some frames and with the frames in place. Next up will be the battens along the frames and then the skin, fibreglass and then the fairing/polishing before mold get pulled.

She will be marketed as the "Lightning 6" and as the name implies, she is 6 meters long. The keel is a proper foil with ballast bulb on the tip and the keel retracts vertically. The rig will be a 3/4 fractional with asymmetrical spinnaker. Stability should be excellent with very high initial form stability and the buttocks very flat at the wide stern and she will fly downwind. The entry is not to fine with a lot of reserve buoyancy when pushed down. All in all, she will be fun to sail and I cannot wait to get the first hull in the water.

Sometime next week the deck, rudder, keel box plugs would be underway and I hope to have the boat in production by the first week in December.

The numbers:
LOA - 6.000m
LWL - 5.300m
Beam - 2.170m
Draft - 0.370 to 1.500m
Disp - 757kg to DWL with 4 crew members (300kg)
Ballast - 230 kg
Prismatic Coeff: 0.53
Sail area to disp ratio - 28.3
Vanishing stability - 112 deg (static)

[Fanie]

Damn I'm jealous. Between you and Manie it feels like I'm getting nowhere

[StrandedMariner]

Looking good mate! Congratulations!

[Manie B]

Bloody Marvelous

and boy o boy - i would give a left ball for all that working space - i see you are as fanatical as i am about keeping the floor CLEAN

Best of luck mate with your new venture

will she have 2 bunks and a porta potti ???

[NordicFolkboat]

I second that. I have to climb over piles of junk (moved recently) when working on my project. Not good for morale.

[Fanie]

Have you started the 2nd hull yet Wynand

[Manie B]

By the way Wynand

what do you think the selling price could be

these type of boats usually become quite dear as the buyer would like a ready to sail boat on a trailer

to my mind if you could come in at under ZAR 100 k with a couple of small extras thrown in you should be ok

just wondering ???

[Wynand N]

Manie, provisional costing points to a selling price of about R79995.95 in basic sail-a-way trim inclusive of trailer but excluding the spinnaker...and the mast/boom and spinnaker post are aluminum.
At this price they will go like koeksisters at a vlooimark and that is the aim of this boat; to get people sailing with a proper ballasted keel boat that is fun, safe a affordable.

BTW, excluding all the little class designs like Lasers, Hunter 19's, Oppies, Mirrors etc, and all the aforementioned boats are very old designs, there is no small boat builder in this country, and no modern design as well. Yes, a couple of Harken Melges were imported awhile ago at around R700000 and some well known small boat racer sailor in the CPT (acquaintance) does not like the Melges as it is a difficult boat to sail...

Most builders in CPT and DBN build for export only and the majority of these boats are big cats and no one is interested in the small fry, and this is the void I aim to fill.

[Fanie]

He he... which was your last boat again Wynand ?

[Manie B]

Wynand i dont really like to joke around toooo much

but this was kinda classic

He he... which was your last boat again Wynand ?

well posted Fanie

however my next question is accommodation

i have seen too many youngsters at the vaaldam and at the around the island race that have serious camping / accommodation problems

i really like your boat
(and your drawing board = old school - i had one for years)

but see if you could get two very simple bunks in with some kind of a "tent" over the cockpit
all of this could be sold as extras
your price of ZAR 80k seems very reasonable

problem at the dam is
the youngsters come down
have a great day on the water
sunset = fire = barbeque = beer = girlfriend

now what?
it starts to rain - and nowhere to hide
the hobycat boys sleep in the mud!!!

so my 3cents
i know your boat is good and will sail well
give then a little hideaway cabin with the option of a cockpit tent

and i am very confident that the young ladies will be more receptive to the idea of the young lads buying a boat to go and sail

just my observations

here are a couple of pics
this year i was at the "Around the Island" with my "Chigger"
next year i will be there with my "Jarcat"

you MUST be there with your "Lightning 6"
moerse paartie (=big party)

very very valuable marketing tool for you

http://www.ldyc.co.za/NKA%20Calendar.htm

[Fanie]

Wow Manie, I see that little boat of your's is pushing the big 'un eh !!

Once you start building boats you don't stop. And let Wynand and the rest of us boat builders be a warning to you all

[Manie B]

flippen hell

you old farts should be in bed

Butch is also awake

gawd just now Wynand is going to get on line and the "HOLE" of the sefriken boating com is on line

**** i am going to wickedweasel bikinis

cant imagine you old farts sitting and typing

[Wynand N]

He he... which was your last boat again Wynand ?

Jeez Fanie, now that you ask, I cannot recall

Good points Manie...

The first thing I was asked at the Vaal when I showed the initial linesplan and basic rendering sketch around some moons ago , "does she have bunks for basic overnighting?"

In some previous thread I did mentioned that she will have 2 berths as "emergency" overnighting for the brave. One has to remember that she is only six meter in length and the open cockpit nearly take up half the length, and another meter or so lost in the bow area. Effectively it only leaves me with about 2.4m usable cabin space and the keelbox still have to go in there on the centreline for the lifting keel. A berth on each side is in order, a portable porta-potti can hide in the bow and a two plate gas burner stove can be slide in and out under the cockpit sole....
In basic sail-a-way trim the berths are standard and will moulded as a single unit with the keelbox for extra strength in that area.

The beauty with the Lightning 6 is that it can be launched anywhere at a dam where you have about 400mm water and she can be beached safely with the keel up.
This opens up a whole new ball game in keel boat sailing in SA for the familyman/youngsters; you can go camping with your boat at any dam, do not need a launching ramp to launch (nice if there is one) and do not need to belong to a boatclub to launch and of course safe the fees. And this feature will play a big part in the marketing campaign to come. There are some nice dams out there waiting to be explored that do not have boat clubs or ramps available....

Having said that, the Lightning 6 will just be as much fun in the big blue dam and she is designed with scantlings used to cover all types of sailing conditions safely.

[Manie B]

Well

A berth on each side is in order, a portable porta-potti can hide in the bow and a two plate gas burner stove can be slide in and out under the cockpit sole....

you might just rewrite the history books in this country

after growing up in the "Vaal triangle" rowing (paddleling 1970) and ski-ing (some barefoot 1980)

after living at "Harties" for 5 years 1995 - sailing my "Flipper" and a hoby 16

and now spending time at the Vaal dam

i really think that your product is spot on - i for one will absolutely enjoy crewing for you if you need an old fart from time to time

[Wynand N]

and an update on progress....

The photos shows the battens fitted to the frames, sheer flanges fitted, skin planking going on and one of a very proud youngster, my apprentice with his project.

After all the planking is on - each plank glued and stapled to every stringer - the whole plug will be covered with a CSM layer followed by a 600g/m2 woven roving layer. This will then be faired off smooth until polished stage when the mold will be pulled.
The reason for such a stiff and solid plug is that at a later stage I might have to pull another mold to step up production if all goes well...

The reason for the sheer flange; when the mold is laid, this flange will be the base for the sheer deck mould and the mold locating pin seats will be fitted on it. When turned upright, the sheer perimeter mold (120mm wide) will be bolted on top of this flange to form he inward radius of the hull sheer to deck transition and the 60mm recess where into the deck molding will be bonded to form a flush smooth surface.
This method will save the hustle of building a split hull mold (I prefer a single mold for many reasons) to accommodate the inward deck flange on the sheer.