Balance wise that looks like it will work fine but be sure that your sail servo arm clears the port side of the hull. My sail servo is in the middle and the ends just clear the hull sides. That said, my sail servo is made by Airtronics and the swing arm may be different from yours. Tom

Wow, that servo weighs about as much as the batteries? I would've never guess that.

Looks great, Randy. I like how yours is laid out. I am able to put my battery pack where I wish as well. I'm pretty well balanced on the beam, it's the fore and aft that I'll be interested to see. What's next?

I turned the boat upside down this afternoon and painted. Ended up using Rustoleum simply because I found the seafoam green I wanted at Walmart. The shoebox joint that I faired in came out really well, but there are a bunch of other blemishes that I "thought" I had taken care of! But I think it'll be presentable after a wet sand and polish. Takes forever to dry, I'll be at it all dang weekend and my shed is now overspray city.

I guess you're getting ready to get that deck on this weekend?

Yes Sir,

Howard, thanks.The deck is next. I have to make a sail-winch arm and make the jib arm a little shorter than the mainsail arm. I'm also going to put a lot of holes in the arms to allow for adjustments. I still have to add the sheet blocks on the bulkheads and tie the sheets to the arms. Then the sheets will run through the screw eyes on the bulkhead blocks so I won't have to worry about line chafing.

Tom,

I might just end up using the supplied 1 sided arm that came with the sail-winch servo. I'd have to rig the sheets differently and not have them interfere with the rudder servo arm.

Randy

I agree that you have a couple of options for your sail servo that will work well. I made an arm out of wood that is 2.5" for the jib side and 3.5" for the main. I have 3 holes in one and 4 in the other. I think I'll find a combination that works well.

I told you I messed up my mast. I had over-sanded it and, much to my embarassment, had it backwards! I found a guy that sells them on the internet. One piece poplar, all pre-drilled and sanded for $25. I was really left with no other option than to make one myself. Didn't need to spend another chunk of cash on the boat, but in the spirit of getting it completed, I ordered one from the guy.

Randy, how do you plan to fasten your deck? I was going to use CA glue, thinking it would be easier. I started to do that, but it didn't seem to go that great. I ended up using MEK.

I used 7 rubber bands and 6 narrow strips of wood. I put the deck in place and held it in place with the 7 rubber bands. I soon discovered that the rubber bands weren't compressing the joint together, so I placed 1/4" wide stripes of wood between the rubber bands and the side of the deck to clamp the lip tight against the hull. I started at the stem and used a plastic bondo spatula to separate the joint enough to wick in the mek with a tiny paintbrush. I just worked my way down the hull with that spatula and continued to wick in MEK behind it before the joint would close up. It really worked slick. By the time I got to the transom, you could see plastic coming out of the joint.

After I completed the outside joint, I realized that I had forgotten the bulkhead to deck joint. If I were to do it over, I would've run a strip of something slower curing over the bulkhead before putting the deck on. I was able to separate it with a spatula and wick in some MEK along the joint. I then took a small capful of MEK and dumped it in the bow area and picked up the boat and worked it around the edges.......can't let it stay in one place or it'll melt or buckle the plastic. Did the same for the rest of the inside of the joint.

That was my experience and I really like the MEK in that it really welds it all together. Another way is to pinch the hull as you go along. I tried that first, but that's when I realized the hull wasn't pushing out hard enough to seal tightly. Having it forced together with the rubber bands and wood made it go easier in the long run for me.

I'm sure there are better methods out there, but I do know that I have no gaps and the whole thing is essentially one piece now.

Howard,

Sounds like you did a good job! I hope to do the same as you but with a couple of different options. I think I will try to use masking tape at several stations along the hull sides to hold the deck on while it dries. Perhaps if I have a visual separation at some point I will put
some more tape on pulling the deck to the hull. In this major event, I am going to try the old Testors cement in a tube. You know just like we used to use in the old days making plastic model cars. This will also be used on the bulkhead tops before the deck is added hoping that the glue will be sticky enough to stay and fill some gaps on those imperfect joints. On another note, the best option would be to build a wood sail-winch servo arm like you did. I read somewhere that
the jib side should be 3 inches and the mainsail side 4 inches for a total of 7 inches in length. I'll see if that'll fit with the output shaft being off-center against the side of the hull. The plywood arm will mount onto the original BIG plastic round servo arm mounted on the servo from the factory. It will be screwed onto the plastic disc by 2 screws to hold it secure. Then I can use the brass screw eyes that I bought that are bigger than the ones included in the kit for dead-eyes for the main and jib sheets. Read stronger! The new sailwinch arm will sit higher above the rudder push rod so it shouldn't foul the lines.

Randy

One of the directions I had read was to just tack the deck on every few inches on the outside, then use the MEK method of adding a thimble full while holding the boat inverted and run it along the edges by tilting the boat. Your way or my way, you're assured that you've sealed all around. The tape and the Testors should work great.

I read the same thing about the 7 in. arm, that's where I got the idea that one should be longer than the other. So I made mine 7 inches, 3 + 4. I held it up to my centered servo and the 4 inch side was hitting the hull. Might work with yours offset though.

I bought some brass screw eyes at West Marine last week. I think they are a size up (maybe 2 sizes) from the type provided in the kit. I actually didn't buy enough and bought another half dozen today. I am not using any of those little suckers from the kit.

Have you plugged in the battery and tried that servo? That thing has some serious torque!

OH yeah!

I held on to it and almost broke the boat hull! Holy Cow! It definitely should do the job. It's receiving power from a 5 cell, 6 volt battery also. If the hull has gaps I will pour some of the Testors liquid model cement I purchased also so I could finish it just like yours.
The cool thing is if there are some gaps between the deck and the hull, the filler material should close it up for watertightness after the paint goes on of course. Sea Foam Green, huh? Well, that is a color you will be able to readily recognize as your boat! The wife wants my boat painted Cobalt Blue. Home Depot has a couple of cans left. So, we'll see how that looks.
Howard are you going to leave your deck and transom painted white?
I wondered if it makes the boat look better?

Randy

I am not being very original, I am copying this guy's boat right down to the blue stripe. The green will come up over the gunwale and on to the deck about a quarter inch. The inside of the deck will be white and the hatch cover will be green. I want the transom to be green but I'm not sure how I'm going to make the transition from the white on the deck to the green on the transom. Since I am painting the whole boat white to begin with, I may just mask off the transom when I do the green and see how it looks in white. I also thought it'd look pretty cool to have the blue stripe down the middle of the deck too. I bought quarter inch blue vinyl striping tape at West Marine. I've been playing with it, seems like really nice stuff.

Thats actually a very nice color scheme. Unusual, but still is a color scheme that a real boat would have. I'm a stickler for painting my models like real yachts. I would definately paint the transom hull color. It does not look right painted white. It will look nicer if you transition the transom at the decks edge rather than roll it over like you are doing with the sides. Just my opinion and To each his own.

Good to hear that they passed the no-bulkhead class rule. I may be building a Soling this winter, and I'd like my options open. I think I may go with shear clamps, no bulkheads, and sanding the shoe box lip right off. That will save the weight and hassle of fairing afterwards. I'd rather have corrector weights in the form of additional battery capacity or corrector weights in the bilge than way up high.

Seefest, I have had more than one person tell as you did with the transom and that's the way I was leaning. So that settles that!

I don't know how much putty I used up fairing in that lip. A good deal, I'd imagine, you have to take it a pretty fair way down the hull side to fair it in properly. Yes, that would add some weight. Of course, you're adding a perimeter of wood strip to the inside when going "bulkheadless". Having said all that, I don't doubt that the factory build with the lip and plastic bulkheads is really the lightest of all of them and allow most ballasting in the keel.

But if you're after smooth sides, no doubt going without bulkheads would sure make that easier.

Here in NC, many of the big sportfisher boats are painted in "pastel like" colors. Fairlady Yellow, Carolina Blue and this Seafoam Green. I've always liked the look, makes them look very classic. The green really catches my eye for some reason. Dark green really is my favorite color but I wanted to go with something lighter and brighter.

Thanks for your opinion on the transom......I am going to do it as you say with the transition just a line across the top!

Here is the homemade sail-winch arm. I had to scratch my head to figure out where to put the sheet dead-eyes. It should work. I am waiting for the Pekabe fairleads and now I can mount the deck! Woo-hoo!

Randy

I like the way you "stepped" up to that eye on the ends. Custom deluxe! Looks like it will work out well and I like the screw eyes on the end of the arm. I might just steal that idea. Why can't I think of things like that?

I'm still waiting on my fairleads as well. Hopefully they'll arrive with my new mast!

Painted the hull white yesterday and spent most of the morning wetsanding that out. The Rustoleum enamel can be tricky because it dries so slow and when painting on a vertical surface, it doesn't level out that great, got some orange peel. Was able to wetsand it out in three stages. At least the enamel is soft and takes to wetsand and buffing very well. But if I were to do it over, I'd probably lay the hull on it's side and do a side at a time. The paint levels out much better when laying flat. I'll do it that way when I spray the green above the waterline tomorrow. I sprayed the deck this evening and it came out acceptable. Don't know that I'll color sand that or not. Painted the hatch green and that came out just beautiful. I will only add some wax on that thing! Of course, it was nice and smooth to begin with.

I took a tiny chip out of the bow when moving it tonight. Arrggghhh, need to repair that before the green goes on tomorrow!

Alright Randy, get that deck on there!!! Hope all goes well!

Howard,

Thanks for the compliments! I guess necessity is the mother of invention. Read, too cheap to buy a nice sail-winch arm! I figured it would be easier to get all the mechanicals out of the way while the deck was off.
I am waiting for the Pekabe fairleads to arrive also so I can put them on the deck before I install it. I think I will paint one side of the hull at a time. Did you paint the rudder separately or installed on the hull? The rustoleum is great when it's new but terrible if it's an old can. The nozzles get clogged and have a terrible spray pattern. Good luck with your green paint.

Randy

I did paint the rudder separately. When I am finished spraying, I have been getting into the habit of turning the spray can upside down and spraying until it's coming out clear. Sometimes I'll even clean the nozzle with some alcohol if I remember. Seems to help using the paint later on.

I'll let you know how it all comes out tomorrow.....no pun intended!

My next project will be replacing an injector on my 6.0! I'll be a little more nervous about that project!