First Build/Flat Bottom Hull Question
 

I’m building a 1/48 scale City Class Civil War gunboat, the Carondelet, and my hull is flat bottomed just as the prototype. The hull is mostly solid foam sheathed in styrene. Then I covered it in bondo followed by a couple of layers of fiberglass cloth and marine grade resin. Anyhoos, the bottom is completely flat but should I add a couple of long ridges along the bottom to assist in keeping her going straight or should the twin rudders make that unnecessary? I don’t want to add them if they aren’t needed.
It will be a fairly slow moving vessel and used in calm ponds.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...71ef5c7dc.jpeg




https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...dc64d7899.jpeg

Never mind. I added a few. I’m sure it can’t hurt.

As long as they are shallow, it should be fine. If you go too deep, however, it could make turning the boat very difficult. The only way to know is to finish the boat and test it or, conversely, install the drive train, steering gear and power/control systems and test it with the estimated weight of the topworks added to the boat. If it doesn't want to turn, sand off a bit and try again until it handles the way you want.

Thanks for the reply. I’ll pull them off since I haven’t applied fiberglass over them yet. I’ll let the “sea trials” make my decision. Good idea.

Try them first and see what happens. They might be fine as you installed them, but then again......
Without testing, you'll never know if they work or not.