As I mentioned earlier, the flanges around the foredeck openings were very time-consuming to laminate around, and very hard to release from the mould. Here I’ve ground them down with a pneumatic dremel-type grinder, and then sandpapered a bit. Next I need to fix a few dents in the gelcoat, wet-sand, and polish. Then we [...]

Jari machined these steel fin moulds for the PIKANTO over the weekend. The fin will be moulded with a clear glecoat, one 200g carbon layer as a surface layer, and one 250g/m2 UHM UD carbon layer. We are going to use either cnc-machined balsa cores, or a 2-component epoxy foam core. The bulb attaches with [...]

We’ve done the CAD design, CAM-toolpaths, and CNC-machining for a set of RG65 model yacht (looks roughly like this) fin and rudder moulds. They will be shipped to the customer on Monday. From time to time I get enquiries about making moulds like this, for fins, rudders, bulbs, etc., from people around the world. Usually [...]

The PIKANTO moulds were polished first with “Oskar’s buffing and polishing compund M-50″ and then with “Norpol Rubbing R-10″, both from Terpol (www.terpol.fi) in Turku.

After sanding with 1200-grit and a 10-15um particle-size fine paper it is time for polishing. We have two grades of polishing-compound. These pics show the coarse type which is polished with a spinning soft disk on a power-drill. After polishing follows release agents: first Frekote and then wax. It’s still possible we will mould a [...]

Jari cnc-milled rudder moulds for the Pikanto IOM this weekend. The design is similar to the Sails ETC rudder, but slightly larger and with a NACA 0006 airfoil profile, and a slot for a 4mm rudder stock.

Our three-piece hull/deck-moulds for the Pikanto IOM (designed by Graham Bantock) are now ready. The next step is to sand the surface smooth and polish the moulds. We hope to mould a prototype hull before the new year.