On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 11:45:10 -0400, Matt Colie wrote:

snip
Cutting guide reference slots is not a bad idea, you will have a lot of
wood to hack off before you get close to the sand-to-shape phase. You
might consider doing that before you even "cut the corners off" because
it will be easier to handle the blank then.

Well put. This was what I intended to describe but your command of
the English language is clearly superior.

I recommend Western Red Cedar (or similar light wood) for two reasons:
1) Easier to handle both while building and on the boat.
2) Easier to work on than oak.

I have shaped plugs out of MDF-blanks this way. A plug for a rudder
1.8 m long and with a 30 cm cord took only one evening to shape.
Painting, wet sanding, rubbing and polishing took much longer.

Thinking is the Cheap thing to do.

Indeed :-)

Here are some more ideas on shaping foils if you don't want to
make molds.

* Strip planking using 6-8 mm thick WRC strips. Use external frames.
Glass+epoxy inside, join halves and don't forget that you need
a good structural member running down the middle of the foil.
The exterior will need some final shaping, then add carbon as
needed and wrap in glass and epoxy. Potentially lighter than
the massive board for big boards but more work and less robust.

* Central structural member made from WRC+carbon laminate. Foil
shaped from foam cut by hot wire. Cover in glass+epoxy laminate.
Note, this time the laminate is structural.
My current boards were build like this some ten years ago.
They are 2.5+ m long and has a 44 cm cord. New they weighed
12 kg each.

/Martin

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 10:53:39 +0200, Martin Schöön wrote:

[snip]

* Central structural member made from WRC+carbon laminate. Foil
shaped from foam cut by hot wire.

If you go this route, consider having the core cut by the folks at
flyingfoam.com. They are in business to cut wings for RC gliders and
airplanes, but a core is a core.

Cover in glass+epoxy laminate.
Note, this time the laminate is structural.
My current boards were build like this some ten years ago.
They are 2.5+ m long and has a 44 cm cord. New they weighed
12 kg each.

/Martin


--Mac

"Mac" wrote in message news [snip]
If you go this route, consider having the core cut by the folks at
flyingfoam.com. They are in business to cut wings for RC gliders and
airplanes, but a core is a core.

--Mac


http://philsfoils.com/ is reported to do this sort of thing for dinghies and multihulls.
Probably cost-justified only if you're serious about racing.

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 09:42:15 -0400, Jim Conlin wrote:


"Mac" wrote in message
news
If you go this route, consider having the core cut by the folks at
flyingfoam.com. They are in business to cut wings for RC gliders and
airplanes, but a core is a core.

--Mac


http://philsfoils.com/ is reported to do this sort of thing for dinghies
and multihulls. Probably cost-justified only if you're serious about
racing.
[snipped HTML]

Cool, I didn't know about philsfoils. But I don't think that flyingfoam is
very expensive.

I got a quote from them once, but I don't remember the details. Then
again, I don't have a lot of free time, so what seems reasonable to me
might seem expensive to others.

--Mac