Has anyone had any experiance with the hulls that are in the new quarterly from IFG in Noth Coralina? Thanks

I'm building one right now. Using the Carr lead. Seems to be fine. Fits the specs. The rudder (while a bit heavy) is nicely faired to the hull. --Jim Linville

JIm, What did the Hull weigh raw. I heard throw the rumor mill they are a bit on the heavy side

It's sitting there with the Carr lead in place, and I don't want to stretch the keel any more that I have to. [;)] If memory serves me, the hull weighed in somewhere between 2 lb, 3 oz and and 2 lb 4 oz. Is that considered heavy? Compared to the other boats I sail it is very stiff (except for my Wheeler). The rudder (with solid stainless shaft and stainless tube) weights in at 4 oz. In my estimation, the shaft is way oversize. Seems to me that a foam or balsa core rudder with a (same size) aluminum shaft should work fine and weigh about half. True? How does my 4 oz rudder stack up against others? --Jim Linville

John the representative for IFG is recooperating from an operation.
Temporarily e-mail any questions about the IFG hulls etc.
to Carl Olbrich, olbr@juno.com <u></u> and I will reply as John is a close neighbor.
As currently configured with the 3/16 s/s shaft the rudder does weigh 4 oz (3.9oz ave.)
Sail numbers 1696, 1896, 2077

Jim

Please be careful changing the rudder shaft to aluminum. There is a whole lot of torque to the shaft when doing a "death roll". I would bet that you would need speciat heat treatment of the alum to get any useful life from it.

You might try to see if Mark Reinhart or Reichard Kahle will make you a hollow rudder. Won't save much weighjt but will give some bouyancy aft.

I don't have the molds for a rudder and I think that Mark Rinehart passed his down the road.

I am not sure if torque would be a problem but the first time that you retrieve your boat bow first and drag the rudder a little on the bottom, you will probably regret the use of aluminum.

I have built rudders using brass or s.s. tubing. Just fill with epoxy and insert the largest carbon rod that will fit. Make sure there are no air bubbles.

A solid stainless shaft in a good hollow rudder floats so I don't think that weight is a problem. This is what I use.

Reichard

I may be wrong on this ... doesn't the class rule require a minimum bare hull weight of 1 Kilo..(2.2 lbs.or 2 lbs and 3.2 ozs )? People who have "favorite builders" are always spreading "BS" about other hulls. I think Rick West would tell you that there isn't much difference... he's built boats with just about "Everybodies" hulls.Reichard has also used a few different providers...he would know! DB[:D]

In my direct experience with different hull manufacturers, they are not the same.

Matt Houghton

Hulls are different between manufacturers and even the same manufacturer has different hulls. They are all hand made. The resin remaining from the wetting of the cloth varies because it is not done by machine. The amount of gel coat in the keel seam varies. The spraying of the get coat can have varying thickness. In general it amounts to very little.

I let builders know that I want a hull at or less than 1060 grams because I have seen some to as high as 1150 grams. If you build with weight a consideration to get more lead in it, you don't want to start in the hole. I have built boats with hulls from five different manfacturers (one was Dumas)and they were all different with varying little things. I have seen no difference in the water using the same building plan.

This winter I will try a 6th with a different building plan. I am looking for a boat that will hold around 18.5 pounds of lead and still be on the short side of 42.5 inches in the tank. Then experiment with more stiffness.

I favor the hollow rudder because they are easily drained when seam cracks occur. I weight the rudder each time I take it off to see if it has leaked.

...94

Well...there you have it! Thanks Rick![8D]

I have a Rinehart rudder and it developed a tiny crack around the shaft and filled up with water over time. It took me a while to notice it until I saw the boat looked a little low in the stern. I drilled a small hole in the top of the rubber to drain the water, fixed the crack and filled the hole and everything is fine again.

But now, every once in a while, I hold the boat up to the sun to see if water is in the rudder. It is thin enough to see with the sun or a bright light behind it.

The hollow rudder is also great if your set screw comes loose. The rudder is forced up into the boat rather than falls to the bottom of the lake.

Joe Walter #24