MaxCorvette

I made the ducts on my V1 like this, works fine but they are not as strong.
Do put glass and fillets on them below the deck or else they will crack or rip out of the deck when flipped....ask me how I know
After the reinforcements only 1 cracked.
I now have a mold for epoxie/glas ducts.

Marcel

STEVE MARSHALL

Looks good mate, it's getting closer to the water now. Keep the photos coming.

thevirginian

Oh Lord, I got a long way still ahead of me, Steve[]. But I am gettin' there. Next will be the radio box and the hardware. Hey, Marcel. I definitely will glass over those naca ducts, believe me. Even on the inside. Before the deck goes on I am thinking what else I might need to put inside that would be easier to do without the deck. But can't think of anything. Next update coming up hopefully soon.

thevirginian

Brief update: Built the radio box. Ready for glassing.

MaxCorvette

Nice sturdy box! looks great.

Marcel

noisy

hey virginian....whats the latest on yourcat ..do yo have any pics of the latest stage of build....bob

thevirginian

Guys, I have to interrupt my build quite often because of business travel obligations. I am feverishly working on my cat when I am home. Next update is around the corner.

thevirginian

O.K. here is my latest update: I glued the deck on and sanded the edges smooth. Now she looks more like a cat.

thevirginian

Next step: The canopy. I started off like how Harold did it. A sceleton built of plywood ribs. Then the spaces between the ribs are filled with 2" blue board foam. After the wood glue has dried the sanding begins. Not really a hard job, but you must be careful not to sand off the ribs. After the sanding is done, the plug is going to be wraped with ceran wrap. Now the glassing can begin. As you can see I used CF cloth, which will be extrenly strong and light. The clamps pull the CF cloth down over the edges of the plug and apply even tension all the way around. The next step will be the flange around the canopy hump. This will be also done with CF

KD0EM

That looks very good, it looks to me like you are making the canopy as the one that will be used on the deck and not making a mold, keep up the good craftsmanship work and the posts and pictures coming, it looks very good nice lines.
Harold

thevirginian

Thanks, Harold. Yes, you are correct. I am not using a mold. Here are two new pictures after I popped the plug out of the canopy. Man, I can tell you, that CF is stiff as a board and light as a feather. Great stuff. Tonight I glassed the flange. Tomorrow I will join the canopy hump and the flange. Then, after another day of curing, I can trim and fit it to match the deck cut out. More pictures to follow. How is your mold coming, Harold?

noisy

hey virginian...she is lookin great...when can we get a copi of the plans...when you remade the drawings did you keep the 5" stringers....bob

thevirginian

noisy, can you read AutoCad drawings? I can e-mail them to you if you PM me.

thevirginian

O.K., here is the flange trimmed to fit the deck cut out. Came out alright. I like it. The epoxy still has to post cure to mantain the curvature of of the deck.

KD0EM

Looks very good, nice job I am learning a few things from your thread and I thought I new every think, just joking I have got a lot to learn! Keep up the good work.

noisy

virginian.....did you get my email adress....bob

thevirginian

Yes, noisy. I am cleaning up a few things on my drawings before I want to e-mail them to you. Should be today, I guess. Hang in there. mate

nicekong86

virginian: hey there, i have sent u my email address. i'm waiting eagerly for your autocad file to start on my very own cat
at present the world is having a resession; thus i have lots of free time to work on the cat.

jefro83

anyway i can get my hands on that plan? You are doing a great job with the build. My next boat is going to be a cat and you're doing such a great job with this one, id like to give it a try.

thevirginian

Hey, nicekong
I e-mailed you the plans the same day I got your address. Obviously you didn't get it, I assume. Let me try again tomorrow (Monday) from my office computer.
Here are some new pictures of the hardware I machined in the meantime. Finished the rudder and the strut. Everything is custom built to a transom with a 14° tild.

STEVE MARSHALL

Very nice mate, keep us posted on progress.
Steve

nicekong86

virginian: i'll check my email and let u know once i recieve it.

its really amazing, u can even make ur own rudder. sweet job.

nicekong86

virginian: Thank you very much! I have recived the CADdrawings for the cat and i am delighted by the amount of attention to detail that has been put in to the drawing. Again Thank you+

thevirginian

All right, guys. Here is myreport from today's first test run: First, I haven't paintedthe boat, yet. Wanted to make sureshe is running well enough, soI don't have to mess withthe hull and ruining a costly paint job.Right from the get-go she took off like a mad bull. She was friggin' fast. But in the turns I noticed hth motor wasboggin downa bit. SoI brought her in after a few laps and changed the height of the strut. Man, that did it. Now I put my trusty Garmin Forerunner in it and ran a few more laps. 60 mph was that run. Not bad.There was nothing I had to do. Everything worked just like planned.Perfect cooling, perfect rudder, not a click of trim required. Just simply perfect. Needless to say I was a happy camper. And that speed was without canopy. I am sure with the canopy she'll gain probaby another couple of miles. I hope Marcel will read this report. He'll be thrilled to hear how well she runs. That is onegreat cat. Now I have to come up witha great looking paint scheme.Thenext set of pictures will be with the paint jobfinished.

MaxCorvette

Hi Alex,

that is a great result!! Cat looks very nice also.
Any pic of the canopy? or is that in development?
Why did you put the rudder on the left? Normal it's on the right because of the right turns we make..
60mph is great! I only get it up to 58mph
My V2 is almost finished, I'm in the progress of sanding, then paint,.
So another month I guess then it's finished

Show us a vid if possible.

Marcel