Building an 18ft Flat Panel F.G. Sailboat

[bill31416]

This is an article written in 1972 for the Experimental Yacht Society. They went out of business before it was published. It may still be of some interest. It is a description of the steps and techniques used rather than plans. The design was somewhat experimental. Hull steering during heeling was minimized. Fixed horizontal bilge boards were used so the draft was only one foot. Other than that it was a conventional, cookbook design day sailor with considerable freeboard and good stability. It was unballasted so it was easy to trailer. It weighed about 500 pounds (estimated).

I no longer have the detailed design and the boat is a hundred miles away being used by my nephew. I do have dimensioned sketches and photos. If anyone is interested, I will put them on the internet. The article is at http://forums.delphiforums.com/haminfo in the boat building folder.

[rwatson]

couldnt get the liink to work :-(

[bill31416]

I failed to tag the URL as a URL in the post. Try entering the URL in your browser. Let me know if it doesn't work.

Bill31416

[bill31416]

I failed to tag the URL as a URL in the post. Try entering the URL in your browser. Let me know if it doesn't work.

Bill31416

[rwatson]

Yes, that worked.

The "flat panel" technique has been round for quite a while now. I remember seeing an article about it in an English boatbuilding magazine over 10 years ago.

The methodolgy is a bit outmoded these days , because, as the notes point out, fibreglass build like this results in panels that are a lot more flexible than wood.

The improved technique these days, is to make the panels with a foam core, which gives a great deal more rigidity for very little extra cost.
The current major exponent of this technique would be Derek Kelsall who builds and designs a wide range of catamarans using this technique.
He also can get these 'flat' panels to curve a bit before finally glassing them together, with a bit of deft deforming..
The major benefit of doing 'flat' panels and joining them together, is that all the laying up can be done on a polished, big horizontal surface, gelcoat then matt then cloth. This means that the outside finish is 'perfect' and overcomes the time consuming fairing and finishing for more traditional 'one off' projects.

I have a 28ft boat being designed for plywood build at the moment, and I have considered this technique as well as aluminium. I have yet to cost out the method using fibreglass. Plywood is not necessarily more economical these days when one considers the finishing cost and future maintenance, and resale value.

With foam core, it does have a lot of potential as a usefull building method.