I used my drilled stick to mock up the sail arm in order to determine the length and distance to the required holes (2). I will be able to design and build the arm once my carbon fiber plate arrives in a few days.

Glassing the rudder and keel fin, doing it all day trying to get each additional step done while the resin is still green. I purchased the pumps that are available for the West System epoxy resin. This makes it very easy to get the resin / hardener proportions correct. Just one pump from each at a time.

I have located my servos and positioned anchors for all of my deck aattachments. Next I will finalize my deck design, mainly the hatch sizes and locations. I will build the deck using 1/16" plywood, the same material that the boat sides were made out of.

Anxious to get the deck on but always a bit hesitant... more to come.
Joe 😎

Time to glue the 1 /16" thick plywood deck in place. My plan is to glue the sheet in place without any hatch opening made. I took detailed dimensions of all openings and anchor locations as I want to do any deck cutting after it is glued in place. My hope is that this will result in a nice curved deck without any dips.

I cut the sheet to be 1/2" larger around the perimeter, then placed glue on the hull perimeter and all bulkheads and put the deck in place. I had set up my building board again, this time with the cradle set on top of it.

Back with the rubber bands and time to quit for the day. Will let cure overnight.

One of the fiberglass shops down by the harbor opened up again so I was able to get some supplies. They had 1.4oz glass cloth that I am looking forward to using - will do the deck with this.

More tomorrow,
Joe 😴😴😴

First photo shows the stick that helped me determine the correct dimensions of the required servo arm. This is placed next to an older arm I made for a smaller boat. The goal here is to make a larger arm for this build out of carbon fiber sheet, much the same as the older arm design.

Next step was to sketch out the design for the longer arm using the large servo hub and hole spacing required. Drawing shows outline of arm which I will cut from 3mm Carbon Fiber Plate which I ordered on ebay. The shipping by the vendor has been slower than promised so it looks like I won't see it until next week, so there will be a delay getting to the actual build.

I will use ceramic rings at the holes where the line will pass through the arm ends. This is to provide a very smooth passage of the lines thus avoiding snags and unnecessary wear to the sheets. The next photo shows fishing rod tips that I buy for about $5. I carefully cut the metal holding the ceramic ring by just barely touching it with my dremel cutting disc. Ceramic ring is now separated and shown on sketch. That's about it for the design, when I receive the plate I will photograph how I drill mounting bolt locations, etc.
Joe😎

Right now I have a number of items under different stages of construction. I like to have things to work on while glues are drying, resins curing and waiting for deliveries. You have seen bits of these, but they include keel fin, rudder, mast, booms, hardware bits, sail arms and so on. Back to progress today:

Rubber band clamps removed and I am happy with the deck, nice curvature and thumps like a drum. First trimmed the excess material around the edges to about 1/8" using a razor saw. Then, again the small plane worked well to quickly remove the rest of the material to the hull edge.

Found my opening locations using my saved sketches and started first with the mast opening, rigging points and finally the two hatches. Trimmed each opening and now ready for glass.

Used my newly received 1.4 oz glass cloth. I like it. First coat of resin placed. I will trim all edges and openings in about 3 hours while it is still in the green cure stage. Break time!😉
Joe

The deck's 2nd coat of resin will be allowed to cure for several days so I'll get a start on laying out the sail design & dimensions.

Set the mast roughly in place along with the main and jib boom. Tied some temp lines (white ) in place to allow for sail dimensions to be taken. Once I had these dimensions I cut a sail rough shape out of some scrap brown paper. This is to verify my dimensions and the boom angle. The main sail is big with a height of about 65" and a foot of about 23". Roach at Leech and at the Foot will be added.

Next, I'll layout the Jib.

Then on to actual building of "paneled" sails using my sail block - that comes next. I will show detail of the sail block and how it is used to build the sails.

The sail material, a .75oz fabric arrived in red and in white. More to come.

Joe😎

Back to my Sail Arm post 11 days ago.....that's how long it took to get the carbon fiber sheet delivered. Shipping services here are backed up a bit. Its 2mm thick material which will be very strong and resistant to twisting. There will be a lot of force on this arm when it is hauling 1000 square inches of sail at the pond.

I put some painter's tape down so I could draw the layout image per my sketch. Forgot to take a photo but it is partially seen in my test hole shot. I wanted to see how well Forstner bits worked on carbon fiber and found they work very well. I cut the arm out on my band saw and within an hour I was just about there.

Next to mount to servo hub. Because of tight clearance in the boat, I attaching this arm to the underside of the hub. Eight holes drill for SS screws used to attach the hub to the arm.

Photo show the arm set on the servo. This shows where it will be necessary to trim bolts flush with nut at the arm underside, part of the plan. Will trim and clean up the arm next. Last photo is of the ceramic rings that I pull out of the fishing rod eyelets. They are very prone to shattering if manhandled so I carefully cut the metal ring with a file.

Will show the Arm setup once in the boat along with rigging.

In addition, I am watching paint dry on the mast, boom and deck.

Joe 😎

Haven't posted in a while. I have been working on the deck which was glassed, primed and painted. Framing out the hatch openings and will be building some hatch covers shortly.

Rudder and keel find were glassed and sanded smoothed. Followed with primer and a coat of navy blue paint. Also in the photos are the booms that were masked, primed and painted as well.

Joe

Been busy on other things but it's letting my paints and varnish get a better cure. I like to let the hull cure at least 4-5 days before handling. It avoids marring and chipping the paint.

Did the third or fourth full paint coat on the deck and hull sides. Then I masked and did clear Marine Spar varnish over the hull bottom. Originally, I planned to paint the entire boat but the planked cedar bottom turned out good, so I left clear. It was fiberglassed so I varnished it to provide UV protection.

Secured the 6lbs lead bulb to the keel, then filled, primed and finished painting. I put the rudder and keel in place for the photos.

Hatch covers built and painted, nothing fancy, just utilitarian to keep the water out. Visible focus will be on the sails and rigging.

Getting close to do a complete assembly of all servos, mast, booms, keel, rudder, etc. Should be fun! Then on to fabricating the sails. Also, I have been making some rigging fittings.....

Joe 😎

My Star 45 build continues, however, I have reached a point where I would normally have done several float tests to check the Center of Lateral Resistance of the hull. I would rather not design and make my sails without this, it's a big gamble. For this reason I have started my new build the US1Meter to occupy my lock down time.

Photos show close to completion on rigging. Will complete the electronics soon and stow the boat waiting for safe access to the pond.

Joe 😎

I decided to go ahead with fabricating the sails despite not having been able to check the Center of Lateral Resistance. Just hope all of my calculations are good.

Using a very light spinnaker fabric that I purchased from a sail supply company, panels were cut and joined over a curved sail block. I use the sailmakers 1/4" wide double adhesive tape.

For reinforcement at the corners, I use 5mil Duralar, a clear self adhesive clear film. Small 5/16" grommets installed.

Will be mocking up on boat soon.
Joe😎