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Fran Sneesby lives in S.E. Queensland building multihulls for Yendys Boats Queensland. |
New Boat8 November 2011the Kingfisher 12 is almost finished although the beams have been a bit of a challenge. Ray wants to build a protype of his new 32 foot trimaran and needs some help. So everything will be on hold while we build this boat. The construction will be foam and polyester. We have this type of construction down pat so it should be a quick build. I will be keeping track of the build on our other web site Yendys Boats Queensland. | |
Kingfisher 1227 September 2011The Kingfisher 12 is progressing well. The moulds for the main hull, floats and all the other bits are finished. The beams
are also moulded. It has been difficult to work out how to build the beams so they are strong enough, fold so the boat can fit
on a box trailer, and keep the weight down. As soon as I have some parts finished I will post some pictures. | |
New web sitewww.yendys.com.au24 September 2011 It's been a long time since I wrote a blog but things have been pretty hectic around here and I didn't realise how long it has
been. The Kingfisher 12 is about 90% finished and I should have some pictures soon. We started a new web site as a companion site
to this one. Team Scarab site is about multihull boat plans and we wanted a site to be about building boats and boats for sale. We
currently have 2 boats for sale, the Scarab 22 and the Scarab 18. These boats are on new site,
www.yendys.com.au hopefully there will be more interesting stuff on the site as we
build more. | |
Scarab beams25 June 2011The beams are all finished except the trimming. This project will have to be on hold for a while. This was always meant to be a part time job and now it's back to work.
The kingfisher 12 is the same length as the Scarab 350 but with rounded hull and folding beams. The kingfisher 10 is the same boat as the old Aussie 3m. This boat was designed to meet the International 3m rules. More on this project soon and hopefully some pictures. | |
Scarab 21 Beams28 May 2011Because this boat has Scarab 22 floats and modified Scarab 650 main hull, I decided to use Scarab 22 beams shortened slightly to allow the boat to remain within legal towing limits when folded. I used a beam mould that has produced many Scarab 22 beams. It is still in pretty good shape. After cleaning and waxing the mould, gelcoat was applied. The boat will be painted but the gelcoat prevents the bubbles that form in the resin to make pin holes that are a chore to fill later. I use unwaxed polyester laminating resin so the beam does not have to be made in one go. If the first layer of CSM and one other layer are applied and left until the next day then shrinkage is reduced. All the rest of the layers can be added in one go (although I prefer to take 3 days) and it doesn't seem to noticeably increase the shrinkage.
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Scarab 2117 May 2011The floats were sanded and filled. Then they were painted with hi-build epoxy primer.
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New BoatAfter building boats for Team Scarab for the last 10 years I’ve decided I want to build a boat for myself. The Scarab 650 has always been my favourite size and shape of a trimaran.There were a couple of Scarab 22 floats of gathering dust in the back of the shed that were left when a customer changed his mind about having a boat built. So my plan was to attach them to a 650 hull. This was not a straight forward job as the boat wouldn’t fold with the higher volume floats. I cut the floats down to 21 feet and moved the beam attachment positions. Then I talked Ray into modifying the 650 design to accommodate the new floats. The beams will be built using the mould we use for 22 beams. The main hull will be slightly narrower while keeping the general 650 shape. I prefer the shape of the 650 over the 22 because it is more feminine. The windows are larger and the shape is generally more round on the cabin top.
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Scarab exterior paint finished27 April 2011My part of the painting is done the finishing touches, interior and fitting will be done by Ray. See his blog. |
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More Scarab 22 bits19 April 2011The pop-top is the last of the bits to be painted.
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Scarab 22 bits5 April 2011The main hull and floats have been painted now all the bits are finished. Rudder and centreboard, rudder head and cockpit locker doors.
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Scarab 22 non-skid19 March 2011I chose to spray the non-skid rather than use a commercial non-skid that can be applied with a brush or roller. A couple of coats of paint was applied and while still wet the glass beads are sprinkled liberally over the area. The next day the excess beads are brushed off and several layers of paint are applied over the beads. It's easier to use commercial non-skid but I always do things the hard way.
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Scarab 221 March 2011The boat was turned and the bottom of the hull masked. Then the deck, cockpit and cabin sides were painted. It was not necessary to paint where the non-skid will be applied.
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More Scarab 2215 February 2011If you want to spray paint a boat and leave no masking lines then there are a couple of different ways to tackle the job. We wanted to paint the whole boat the same colour even the non-skid. It is difficult to paint the bottom, deck and cockpit in one go. We chose to paint a stripe to hide the masking line. The boat was primed and turned on its side. After the side was painted it was covered with plastic to prevent overspray.
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Painting Scarab 22 main hull12 February 2011The 2 floats are painted and moved out to make room to paint the main hull. The boat was primed and turned over in preparation to paint the bottom of the hull.
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Painting again24 January 2011Have been busy finishing a Scarab 22 for paint. Finished one float and the other is ready to paint tomorrow. Boat should be ready to sell soon.
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Painting4 january 2011We are lucky to be high enough to avoid most of the floods that are harassing the rest of Queensland. But it has rained solidly for weeks. At last we had a dry day yesterday, enough time to finish painting the Scarab 350. The floats still need a stripe on the side and the cockpit will be painted with a brush and 1 pot polyurethane.
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Merry Christmas22 December 2010I was going to spend the next couple of weeks painting a Scarab 22. I waited too late to order the paint and everyone has gone on Christmas break. So we will sand and prepare the boat for paint. There has been so much rain here that it would not have been a good idea to paint anyway. There are several trees down on the road and the water will be over the roads in a few hours. Might just give up and enjoy the Christmas break. We have plenty of food and drink and we will enjoy our holiday in isolation. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. | |
Tramps15 December 2010At last we have a day without rain. I have been waiting to paint 6 floats and a main hull for various little boats but no luck. This has been the wettest season on record so I’ve had to find other jobs. Finished making 4 tramp nets (2 for the 18 and two for the 350) using seatbelt webbing and they turned out very strong with little stretch.
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Wet fillets.25 November 2010When making boats using flat panels, and for joining bulkheads in all boats, you have to use a fillet. After a couple of hours doing this you can get pretty quick. All the boats we build what seems like miles of fillets and it is a time consuming task. I have found that it is quicker and neater to use a wet fillet on inside panels when using tape to join panels together. Cut the glass tape and peel ply if desired. Apply a quick coat of resin along the joint and before it goes off mix the filleting compound (my favourite is resin mixed with aerosil and cotton fibres). The aerosil will retard the polyester resin and the cotton fibre gives it bulk. If using epoxy resin you should have enough time. Mix enough resin to apply the tape. Apply the filleting compound (a little sloppier than normal) along the joint with a filleting tool (the length of fillet will depend on how quick you are, temperature and type of resin). Lay the glass over the filleting compound, brush on the resin and compact the glass to remove the air bubbles (apply peel ply if you want). Apply more filleting compound and continue until the end of the joint. As you compact you can shape the fillet to give it a smooth shape and you have avoided any sanding that might have been necessary if you have waited until the fillet had hardened.
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Moulding beams21 November 2010Most of the boats we build are made with laminated panels either plywood or foam. Building the moulds for the Scarab 12 has shown many ways we could improve our building technique. We usually make a mould to build the beams for the trimarans but they were hard to finish and have a tendency to shrink when built with polyester resin. When moulding we use gelcoat and a layer of thin CSM to prevent the bubbles that form in the resin to create pin holes in the finished beam. |
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Scarab 35026 October 2010I took advantage of a couple of rain-free days and painted the bottom of the three hulls. Tomorrow will be devoted to finishing of the moulds for the Scarab 12 moulded boat.
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Scarab 35027 September 2010The beams for the Scarab 350 are finished and ready for paint. The floats and all the other bits are ready for paint as well now all I have to do is wait for the rain to go away. Instead of using a dagger rudder on the Scarab 350 we will use a kick up rudder that was developed for the Scarab 12 made using a mould. |
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Scarab 6503 September 2010 Life is a bit hectic now. While building moulds for the Scarab 12 we are also building two 12 footers as the moulds progress. The scarab 350 is being finished between jobs. Once these boats are finished I would love to have a project building one boat at a
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Scarab 35017 August 2010 I started building a Scarab 350 using klegecell and polyester resin a while ago. It was shelved when we started the 2nd Scarab 18. As it was being built many people (usually parents who wanted a boat they could sail with their children) commented that this would be the perfect boat. Buoyed by the comments we started the project of the Scarab 12 (in the previous blog). The Scarab 350 is still here unfinished waiting for some tender loving care. All it needed was beams and a centreboard. Seeing the mould for the Scarab 12 centreboard was finished it was relatively quick to build the moulding of a centreboard. Then beams were the only thing left to do. They will be constructed using klegecell foam and polyester like the rest of the boat. |
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Scarab 1210 August 2010 My family think that I am obsessed with boats and they may be right. Sometimes I think it’s easier to stay in the shed laminating
and grinding than dealing with people and all the problems they seem to carry around with them. To keep my obsession satisfied
there must always be a project in the future (usually the more the better). I have a wish list and at the moment number one is
to finish building the plugs and moulds for a 12 foot folding trimaran that should be for sale sometime at the end of the year.
The problem with moulding trimarans is the number of components that need moulding and the care that they should all fit
easily together.
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| 8 August 2010 This is the first entry in my new blog. I've had a few other blogs but found keeping up with more than one wasn't going to work for me. So I have deleted all the others and apologise to anyone that may be inconvenienced. Whenever I build a one off design in the future I will take pictures and give building times as I did with the Scarab 18. I received good feed back about this technique in the past. All the construction pictures from the Scarab 18 blog are on the Scarab 18 construction pages. The boat is almost ready to launch and I will include more pictures and videos whenever I can. Please join us on the forum http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/teamscarab/ we would love to hear from you. |
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