sharpshooter... Sports Hydro.

[785boats]

Well, Petes' ('Shooter' on these forums) kit arrived down here in Aussie land, & with the clear & concise instructions on a pdf file, I was able to stick a few bits of ply together & end up with a very nice frame for a sports hydro. No worries at all.
The whole thing went together extremely well. So fast in fact that I forgot to take any pics of the initial stages.
But the instructions are so much more informative than anything I could have shown anyway.

As with most of these kits the whole frame is dry assembled & everything is tacked into place with medium CA glue, keeping everything straight & true with weights & clamps.

The first pic shows the basic frame built, & I was just gluing in the 1/8" x 1/8" stringers.

The next one shows the air break panel added & an extra 3/16" x 3/16" stringer that I always add through the centre of the ride pad on all the hydros I build. just for a bit of extra strength.

The next two show some extra wood that I always add to the tips of the sponsons to add a bit of extra 'gluage' area for the skins. It may not be required, but it is in all my wooden hydros. And it helps make the tips nice & strong.

[785boats]

Then it was time to add the side skins on the sponsons.
I like to prebend the ply around a 4" pole in my garage to allow for easy installation while gluing. The clamps don't have to deal with too much pressure while holding them in place.
The first pic shows the pole & the skin being bent.
The next pic shows the skins bent & ready for installation. Again just dry fitted with clamps & CA wicked along all the joins. As shown in the third pic.
Note that in these pictures the framing jig (supplied) is always clamped between the sponsons to keep everything nice & square.

[785boats]

The next evening I trimmed & sanded the edges of the side skins & added the ride plates. But here I like to use epoxy to hold them on. Just feels stronger to me at these points. I feel that it seals all the edges a bit better.
Again, it is just something that I've always done with all the other wooden hydros I've built.

The first pic shows the ride pad being held in place with a few weights & clamps.

The next pic shows the front sponson pads with the usual weights & clamps. Again, they needed a bit of pre-bending on the pole to make them fit nicely.

The last pic shows the sponson bottoms all ready for final trimming & sanding.
That where she sits at the moment.

[ray schrauwen]

Subbed. You are almost done! Nice so far. It's nice to follow someone else before I start mine.

[785boats]

Thanks Ray.
When are you going to start yours?
The instructions make the build very easy.
In hindsight, the only thing I would change, would be to spot tack the framing jig between the sponsons with some medium CA glue instead of clamping it.
The clamps kept getting in the way.

[Shooter]

Wow. Nice job. I like the extra wood in the sponson tips, and tacking the jig in is a great idea.

[785boats]

Thanks Pete.
I just use hard balsa in the tips. It is really very strong once it has soaked up a bit of CA. And it's easy to shape. It just gives me a bit more confidence that the skins won't separate at the tips when I plough into a buoy, or something, at full noise.

[785boats]

Well I've had a nice easy, but productive Sunday morning here.
Epoxied on the floor pan.
The floor pan is one piece, but because the floor changes angle at the main bulkhead that forms the rear of the sponsons, I glued the rear part of the pan first & weighted it down on the bench. (see pic). When that had set, I smeared epoxy onto the frames in the front part, turned the boat over & weighted the front part of the pan down.

Next I made the turn fin backing block from some 6mm Aluminium plate. Also a 3mm Aluminium plate doubler for the transom. And then the 3mm motor mount. See the second pic.

The whole of the insides were then given an epoxy sealer. When that dries I'll add the foam blocks.

The last thing I've done was to join the two top deck pieces. They have a sawtooth join that needs to be epoxied together. As did the sides of the hull too.
Following the instructions I just layered them on top of each other with some grease proof cooking paper above, below, & between them. Then clamped them to the bench. Too easy.
This hull is a dream to build.

[785boats]

While I was watching the last round of the V8 Supercars this afternoon, I added the foam blocks down the hull & poured the 2 part Urethane foam in the sponsons. That's another thing I do with all my wooden hydros.
Then the excess was cut away & the top all sanded smooth ready for the top skins.

[Shooter]

You are absolutely flying on this build! The foam looks great. I have to learn how to do that!

[785boats]

The foam really makes the sponsons nice & rigid.
Another thing I like to do is add a piece of 0.5mm ply on the transom & the heels of the sponsons to cover & seal all the ends of the stringers & chine pieces. A good smear of epoxy here to seal all the edges too.
Here's a before & after shot.

[ray schrauwen]

I'm waiting on some epoxy to arrive. When it comes I will start this fine toy boat.

[longballlumber]

I am curious...

When you use the foam to fill the sponson sections with foam, do you recess the foam just below the framework? Or do you sand flush with the structural components? Let me explain the reason for my question. I want to understand if when gluing the deck on the boat your relying on the foam for structural integrity or if your using the actual bulkhead frame work as the structure?

Later,
Ball

[Heath M]

Looking good Paul, EA or EB?

[ray schrauwen]

When I did my Whip 40, foam and bulheads were sanded even so I could glue the skin to both of them. I use cut foam not poured. I'll do same with this.