Most of the parts are made from 3mm plywood, including the keel/fin. Not only is this a little thin but lacked any aero profile, so I decided to glue additional 3mm ply on either side. This will increase the strength and also enable a simple profile to be created, which should enable to boat to perform better, especially when sailing to windward.
The ballast weight is provided in the form of two castings, these are made from some form of steel, so will need to be well finished to stop any corrosion. On closer inspection these were not identical and also the fixing holes were not equally positioned, so this meant that there needed to be some adjustment.
By opening up the holes it was possible to use a piece of 4mm dia brass to line up the two halves. The plan is to fix these pieces to the keel using some West Epoxy and threading the bass rod to clamp them in place. Some shallow holes were drilled on the inside face and also through the keel for the epoxy to flow, to ensure the weights are secure. There will be a need to fill/smooth the final shape, as well as clearing some of the white coating, so the epoxy will bond directly to the steel.
The rear frames are glued together in a sub-assembly, before an initial dry fitting for the rest of the frames.
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