Practical Boat Owner - July 2018

(^2)
The transom is fitted and the hull is then sheathed with a
layer of 165gsm woven glass cloth and epoxy.
(^1)
The design
utilises a
keel from the
successful
Norlin MK III and
this picture
shows a
professionally
laminated keel
which is made in
two halves and
then carefully
joined with glass
cloth and epoxy.
Temporary keel/rudder moulds can be made from hot wire-cut
foam which is then laminated and the temporary core removed
afterwards. It is also possible to take a mould from an existing
boat – or you can simply buy a GRP keel assembly which is
commercially available.
3
The frames to give the
shape for the skeg/bustle
are made and fitted to the hull.
Gaps between the frames are
then filled with blocks of foam
which are shaped to the
appropriate profile.
PRACTICAL
Tips on forming the bustle
It is possible to build the skeg/bustle from 4mm plywood
which is then glass skinned. It would, however, require a
separate build jig and when completed you would have to
join it to the hull: most probably a more time-consuming
method. The bustle also then has to be filled with foam to
give the boat the correct amount of reserve buoyancy to
meet the class
floatation rule. So
you can kill two
birds with one stone
by building directly
on the plywood hull
in foam then
laminating over it
with glass cloth/
epoxy and filling and
fairing as required.
Forming the keel and bustle