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[Welsh_Druid]

Tiger

re your request on another thread, I will certainly post a build thread when I get it. All the kits had been sold at the show (5) so mine is on order and will be about 6 weeks I think he said.  Attached are some photos ripped off a CD that Dave Metcalf gave me. I dont think he will mind its good publicity.

I should have it finished when you come over next year - you might even be allowed to sail it 

Don

[tigertiger]

Real nice 

What are her dimensions.  Looking at the photo from the show the hull appears to be about 1m without bowsprit.

And thanks for the offer of a sail.

I may actually be home in late Jan early Feb, as well as the Mahyem 'do' in August.

TT

[Welsh_Druid]

Its 52inches overall (hull only 48") beam 11" Draft 8.5" approx 18lbs displacement.

 From the advertisng leaflet  - It is a replica of a 1913 pond yacht, fibreglass hull taken off a yacht that is known to have been sailing on the Round Pond Kensington in early 1913 - probably dates from late 1890's. As well as taking a mould of the hull we also sketched the original rig which we have faithfully reproduced. However the model has been enhanced to have a more scale appearance. The rig can be easily & quickly folded flat for transport and storage.

Kit - GRP hull, together with very comprehensive kit of parts including CNC cut beams, printed deck etc., Sail cloth, rigging cords, full size drawings ,including rigging, setting up of sail winch and cable runs plus building manual and much more.

All for £245 + p&p      www.metcalf-mouldings.co.uk    details of the hull are there but not the kit yet.


Don

[tigertiger]

When she arrives, I would be interested to know what the packing wheight is. I may take one back on the plane with me.  :angel:

[Stavros]

Why not contact Metcalf direct and find out

Stavros

[Welsh_Druid]

My Moonbeam arrived today 48 hours after dispatch.  I was confronted with a large box, 48"x141/2"x11" (122x37x29)  shipping weight shown as 9kg. Inside was ANOTHER box, the contents of which were comprehensibly wrapped in foamed plastic material. Absolute full marks for packaging and delivery . (Photo 1)

After unwrapping everything I found,

an excellent white grp moulded hull. Very smooth finish but (as expected) joint lines which will easily sand out. (Photo 2)

a sheet of CNC cut ply internal  frames and formers  for the servo and sail winch assembly,  a printed sheet of ply for the deck, a printed sheet of ply for the deck cabins etc ,   a bundle  of spar material and metal rods, 3 printed styrene sheets for the rudder assembly. (Photo3)

2 boxes of fittings ( various white metal castings of excellent quality) nuts and bolts, and a quantity of sailcloth. (Photo 4)

4 very large (full size) plans for hull and rig and sails plus a VERY comprehensive building manual including how to make your own sails.( Photo5)

So far VERY well pleased and impressed with the quality of the kit.  Full marks to Metcalf Mouldings for this one.

watch this thread for an account of the building process.

Don B

[Welsh_Druid]

First Step - Stand completed.
Templates included with the kit made this easy.

[Welsh_Druid]

Progress report 2

Side strips and deck beams in place.  The deck side strips which are glued to the upper edge of the hull are in two layers of 6mm x 3mm hardwood. The length required is 42 inches but the strips provided in the kit are only 36 inches long thus requiring butt joints. These joints must be staggered between the two layers but even so the joints can give a hard kink in what should be a smooth curved hull edge unless care is taken to avoid it (I clamped extra layers of wood either side until the glue had set). Full  (42 inch) pieces would avoid this but Dave Metcalf says that his supplier could only supply 36 inch lengths.  However I have (in the past) been able to obtain 48 inch lengths of spruce in these sizes.

The deck beams are CNC laser cut from a sheet of 6mm ply. These remove very easily from the sheet  but of course still require edge shaping to fit the curve of the hull. No problem using my belt sander.

However when I came to fit beams 5 and 6 they just did not fit.  After much study of the plans and measuring the hull, I realised that they were wrongly numbered and switching them round did the trick. Dave Metcalf says that he is aware of the problem and future kits will have the plan suitably amended.

[Welsh_Druid]

Rudder fabricated and fitted.

[Stavros]

Sailing next weekend then Don

Stavros

[Welsh_Druid]

No - I need a sail winch and Howes have run out of them until the New Year they say (and everyone else is much dearer)  ::)

Anyway - I'm not rushing this one 

Don

[tigertiger]

No - I need a sail winch and Howes have run out of them until the New Year they say (and everyone else is much dearer)  ::)

Anyway - I'm not rushing this one 

Don

Have you tried Als Hobbies?
http://alshobbies.com/shop/cat.php?id=566&Desc=

[Welsh_Druid]

Have you tried Als Hobbies?
http://alshobbies.com/shop/cat.php?id=566&Desc=

Thanks Tiger, I needed some other items which are not stocked by Als. ( Al Machinchy is a model flying man so stocks mostly 35 meg stuff ) so I have them all on order from Howes.  Anyway the HS785 servo is 99p more at Als - as my Mother used to say - look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves 

At this rate I guess the Moonbeam won't be finished when you are over here in January I'm sorry.

Don

[tigertiger]

Have you tried Als Hobbies?
http://alshobbies.com/shop/cat.php?id=566&Desc=

Thanks Tiger, I needed some other items which are not stocked by Als. ( Al Machinchy is a model flying man so stocks mostly 35 meg stuff ) so I have them all on order from Howes.  Anyway the HS785 servo is 99p more at Als - as my Mother used to say - look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves 

At this rate I guess the Moonbeam won't be finished when you are over here in January I'm sorry.

Don

No problem. I will be back in August as well hopefully so I can join the Mayhem shindig

[Welsh_Druid]

Nothing done over Christmas but a little today. Rudder heel fitting and rudder tube glued in, servo mount assembled from laser cut plywood pieces (piece numbers again differed from plan but easily spotted), servo fitted and whole assembly glued into place with 30minute expoxy reinforced with kevlar pulp. Servo operation tested - OK.  Pulley wheel attached to front of servo mount is for the sail winch closed loop system.

[Welsh_Druid]

Further progress. Ballast installed, lead shot poured into the keel and fixed with resin.
Winch servo plate and sheet guide beams installed. ( Once again the laser cut beams were wrongly numbered !)
Winch and radio gear installed. The instructions suggest that all the radio gear should be fixed to the winch plate but the room is limited so I made a box for the battery as can be seen.  (The switch seen lying at the bottom of the hull will be fixed through the deck.)
The closed loop and sheeting system was installed and the servo movement adjusted. All this is easiest done before the deck is fixed. Thats the next step.

Don B.

[Welsh_Druid]

Shroud plates fitted and deck put in place.

Then I encountered a snag. The shroud plates supplied are white metal castings and are fixed to the hull by glue and bolts through the hull sides. I do not like white metal for fittings which will take a strain but went along with these as they should not be subjected to any sideways bending. They are drilled for the bolts and countersunk which leaves very little metal around the bolt holes. They have to be fitted before the deck is put in place as the nuts are inaccesible afterwards.

Once the deck was on there was ,inevitably, some minor filling to be done and whilst moving the hull around to do this I knocked the protruding part of a shroud plate which snapped off at the weak point at the bolt hole. Not just one but on three of them  >:(

As I could not get at the nuts to remove the remaining parts, all I could do was to reglue the loose bits and then put a further screw (not countersunk this time)through the plate and hull and into the deck beam inside. If I was starting again I would make some much stronger brass plates.

[bbdave]

What will your shrouds attach to the chain plates with? is there a risk of the white metal failing?

[tigertiger]

I know nothing about white metal, but if it has low tensile strength I assume they will snap in the first strong blowof wind, or soon after.

[Welsh_Druid]

Thanks for the comments chaps.  If you look carefully at the photo you can see where the break happened. I think that possibly the plates were not completely in contact with the curvature of the hull and thus not sufficiently glued to the hull above the top bolt hole. An outwards force thus allowed them to snap at the bolt hole. Now properly glued and the extra screw should help. The shrouds are attached with cord to the upper hole in the plate and I believe that white metal should be strong enough in tension to be OK for the pull exerted by the shrouds.

There is however another hole  in the plate just above the deck line which does not appear to have any purpose on the plans. The kit has toe rails provided which are short white metal castings which must be joined together and fixed round the hull edge. I dont like this idea at all and propose to fix a mahogany toe rail instead. I should be able to use the "spare" hole to screw the plate to this toe rail for extra strengthening.

Once the mast is on and connected I will give it all a VERY good pull testing before going on the water :-\

Don B

[JayDee]

Hello Don,
White Metal for use as Chainplates has got to be the very worst choice of metals ever !!.
Having served an Apprenticeship in Engineering, a "feeling" is developed over the years as to what will work and what will not.
Chainplates are subjected to quite considerable shocks and strains, least of all being bashed into the quayside when docking.

I would scrap the ones supplied with the kit and make some new, stronger ones.
Buy some Brass Strip, 1.5 mm thick, 6 mm wide, or as near as possible to the original ones.
Copy the original Plates, then file a Radius on the outside edges of the new Plates to prevent then being pulled off the hull when rubbing against the Dockside.

Fit the new Plates to the Hull, with another Plate inside, so that the screws are clamping onto the Hull, no need for glue !!.
Rig the boat up fully, place into the water,  hold the top of the Mast and shake from side to side  "with vigour",  did it break?, if  the answer is NO, go sailing !!!!.
Have fun !!.

John.     

[Welsh_Druid]

Thanks John - you are so right.  Before logging on and seeing your posting I had been having second thoughts about this and realised I was just bodging up the job because I was aprehensive about what seemed to be probably a major job to change the plates.

Access to the nuts on the bolts on the inside of the hull now that the deck is fitted is very difficult and I had also superglued the nuts to ensure they would not come loose

Anyway I grasped the nettle so to speak and drilled out the bolt heads and then punched the bolts through the hull - of course it turned out to be an easier job than I feared (don't they all when you try ?) and now all I have to do is make some new shroud plates.  Off to look in my "bits" box for suitable material such as I used on all my other yachts.

Don B.   

 

[JayDee]

Hello Don,

Do it right and you should only do it once !!.
A little bit of  "over engineering" does not come amiss!.

John.       

[Stavros]

Glad to see you not bodging it Don

Stavros

[Welsh_Druid]

Deck Saloons and cockpit assembled and varnished.