| Building High-Tech 18 foot Skiffs. |
Introduction by Frank
Quealey of the Australian 18 Footers League
Story by Brett Van Munster of Van Munster
Boats Morisset |
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Photos by Van Munster
Boats for the Australian 18 Footers League
Page edited By Peter Andrews. |
| November 24, 2010. |
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| Construction of the modern 18 foot Skiff hull is obviously critical to its performance and longevity as a highly competitive racing machine, so the building of these high-tech hulls can only be assigned to the talents of a top class boat builder. Van Munster Boats at Morisset (north of Sydney) has been the registered builder of all 18 foot Skiff hulls in Australia for the past five years. To give us some idea of how the task is undertaken, Brett Van Munster gives a simple explanation of what is a highly technical and very precise building process. |
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| Our challenge is to build boats which are very light yet strong enough to meet the high demands of 18ft Skiff Racing. We only have a small team but we’ve got the expertise to work with the same materials as those used in Formula One Racing and the aircraft industry. |
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Nomex honeycomb paper.
Photo © Van Munster Boats for the Australian
18 Footers League.
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| SP-High Modulus source and supply us with the pre-impregnated carbon fibres from the United Kingdom and have it shipped to Australia under refrigerated conditions. They also source and supply the specialised Kevlar Nomex honeycomb paper, which is used as a core material. |
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Close up of the honeycomb paper and carbon fibre in the mould.
Photo © Van Munster Boats for the Australian 18 Footers League.
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| The hull and deck are then constructed from the Kevlar Nomex honeycomb paper, which is sandwiched between two layers of the pre-preg carbon fibre. This construction technique is a little more sophisticated, but essentially the same as
pioneered by Iain Murray and John Mc Conaghy back in the late 1970’s. Laminating is now done in an air conditioned, climate controlled environment and as you would expect, the processing of the boats and the pre-pregs is a little more refined these days. |
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Honeycomb core being laid over two skins of carbon fibre.
Photo © Van Munster Boats for the Australian 18 Footers League.
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| Once the hull and deck have been laminated in their moulds, they are individually baked in a custom built oven at minimum cure cycle of 80 degrees celcius. When this process is complete, the hull and Deck components are then placed in a holding jig where the complex internal structures including center board case, supporting wing structures, mast step, bow sprit and framing are precisely assembled and installed into the hull. |
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Vacuum bagged after laminating in the mould.
Photo © Van Munster Boats for the Australian 18 Footers League.
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| The deck is then glued onto the hull in a very precise operation, where maximum force is applied to ensure a minimum use of glue. This is a complex and critical procedure which requires extreme care, as it basically holds the entire boat together. |
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The bare hull carried by two people.
Photo © Van Munster Boats for the Australian 18 Footers League.
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| It is important that the finished product is not only light, but also important that every single piece of carbon is in the right spot. Carbon is an extremely strong material and doesn’t take much to hold the boat together. But if you get it in the wrong spot, it also doesn’t take much for it to blow up. |
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Hull with basic frames.
Photo © Van Munster Boats for the Australian 18 Footers League.
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| The final step is to prepare and spray paint the hull and deck of the boat to the smoothest possible race quality finish. This is a lot harder and time consuming than it sounds as during this process, we are continually conscious of keeping
weight to a bare minimum as the boat receives an undercoat, primer and then the bare minimum high gloss coat. |
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The internal frames.
Photo © Van Munster Boats for the Australian 18 Footers League.
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Weight is critical in 18 foot Skiff Racing. We produce the bare hull shell at about 20kg and the overall weight of the boat before fittings are added is approximately 65.5kg. By the time it’s ready to race, the weight is around 170kg, which gives some idea of what goes onto an 18 in racing condition.
Van Munster Boats also build the centerboard and rudder from carbon composites. |
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Aerial view hull and deck in the holding jig.
Photo © Van Munster Boats for the Australian 18 Footers League.
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Flying 18s Video has
been filming some of the processes and will broadcast the program
soon at:http://www.flying18s.com/index.php?p=1_24 and
on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/flying18s.
Race 4 of the NSW Championship will be sailed Sunday, 28 November and Race 5 on Sunday 5 December. More information and photographs can be found at www.flying18s.com and www.18footers.com.au.
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
www.flying18s.com. |
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| Outimage and the
Australian 18 Footers League © 2010 |
