Star 45 RC Sailboat Build Blog

Well it's time for me to take a bit of a winter break. Am doing loads of thinking about my next steps on the boat, but for the next few weeks will have precious little time to actually get anything done on it. So... I'll hopefully return to this blog in January 2015 (or shortly after) with my next moves. Right now it looks like it will be the cockpit deck, but we'll see what happens when it happens. For now, have a fun and peaceful holiday season!!! Peace!  _/)

In my open transom modification of the Star 45 into the new, experimental Star 47.5 RC sailboat, I needed to create a bulkhead that will separate the open cockpit from the interior "cabin" part of the sailboat. No, the bulkhead doesn't need to go all the way down to the bilge. The cockpit decking will come up at least halfway and perhaps more so that water will drain out.  Perhaps you might be able to see where I'm going with this, but if you can't then it should make sense later on when I start to add the cockpit decking. By the way, I'm pretty convinced now that this finished boat will weight a TON! I'm guessing well over 14 lbs. Perhaps over 15. The Star 45 class minimum is 12 lbs. all up with rigging, battery, etc... Ugh. But really, who cares. It's a one-of-a-kind one-off version of a Star 45. The only other Star 45 within 700 miles is my original boat so it's not like there's a local fleet which will stop me from sailing. I...

Today I test installed the electronics. It was a challenge getting the RMG SmartWinch installed but it eventually went in. I had to enlarge the holes first though. Should have test fit the winch much earlier before I installed the "Radio Tray" in the hull. Oh well, it fits now. Then I hooked up all the other electronics including the cool exterior RMG On/Off button and then binded it with my Spektrum DX6i radio. And voila! It all worked! Now I should uninstall it all but what a pain that is. Think I can build the rest of the boat around it all? Also worked on shaping the support pieces that will go underneath the mainsheet block. It won't be installed for a while but you'll eventually see what I mean. Shalom!  _/)

Trimmed the rudder to fit the bottom. Normally you wouldn't have to do that but because the Star 47.5 RC sailboat hull is flatter than the regular Star 45 RC sailboat, I needed to do it. Then covered it in fiberglass and squeegeed it off. Then cut out a piece of 1/16" plywood to make the bulkhead that will later be glued to the aft side of frame 6. After several test fits I then clear coated the aft side of it. Will glue it in later this week I think. I'm not really sure yet where I'm going with the cockpit area and will just have to figure it out as I go. It'll be fine! Aloha!  _/)

This morning I drilled through the bottom of the hull. Remember that the wooden support piece already had a hole through it so all I had to do was stick the drill into the hole and gently drill through the bottom. Easy peasy. Then I added a clear coat of epoxy to the outside and used a stick with string wrapped around it to coat the inside of the hole. I scuffed up the tube with sandpaper and coated it with epoxy and slid it into place. Then I epoxied in some lateral supports made from scrap plywood. They are all clear coated as well. This should all be sufficient to withstand the forces from the rudder post. My guess is that the post will bend before the rudder support piece lets go. When I ever get the cockpit deck installed it will surround the top of the post and will give it further support. Peace!   _/)

Today I started on the rudder post of my Star 47.5x RC sailboat. The post is made out of 5/32" brass tubing drilled into a wood support piece. The shaft is 1/8" stainless steel and fits perfectly inside the tube. The top of the tube is above the waterline so it doesn't need to be sealed. However in my case that really doesn't matter anyway as it is exposed to the outside deck and not the interior. I started by drilling a 5/32" hole through a wide piece of flat plywood using my drill press to ensure that the hole was as perfectly vertical as possible. Then I inserted the 5/32" tube through it. When the board sits on top of the sheer/deck it will perfectly line up the tube with the fin. The wood support is made out of 5/8" dowel cut to 2 1/4". I used my drill press again by cutting a 5/8" hole into a board to hold the piece of wood, and then swapped out the bit with a 5/32" bit and drilled through the center of the dowel. Then I ...

Yesterday I was only able to put a tiny amount of epoxy on the bottom around the keel tubes and let that work its way into the hole. I made a mistake when I installed the tubes by forgetting to first epoxy coat the insides of the holes in the bottom of the hull. Ugh... But I think the epoxy worked its way in pretty well last night. At least it did for the forward tube. Not so sure about the back one but tonight I added a second coat on the inside to both tubes so it should be totally watertight now. I'll also be putting a few coats of clear epoxy paint on the outside later on which will then seal it from the outside too. I should be fine... right? I also added two support struts under the king plank where the mast will go. They should be plenty to distribute the downward force of the mast to the keel so that the deck doesn't collapse. I'll need to think about my next steps at this point. The keel bulb needs to be attached to fin. That's easy. But I need to con...