• Name: Thunderbird 4
• Designs: Slug
• Owner: Rob Streeter
• Builder: Tris Kemp and Rich Bower
• Construction: Glass + foam.
• Location: Southampton

Formerly Hardly Sluggish

This boat is the 4th of the Slug to be built. Ben Brown began to build a flairless Slug. This project was passed on to Tris Kemp and Rich Bower, and the completed shell came off the mould in Summer 2005 to be christened 'Hardly Sluggish. The project has now been passed to Rob Streeter who will be getting serious with building over the Summer of 2010 and the boat might finally hit the water in time for the 2011 Nationals.

It seems that building in carbon is not much more expensive than building in glass. When you take into account the fact that you need twice the quantity of glass and thus twice the quantity of resin, you might be surprised at the actual difference in cost. Ther is also the advantage of ending up with a stiffer, lighter boat. For this reason it was decided to use carbon for much of the build. As with the other racked Slug design boats the topsides needed extending due to the design pre dating racks coming into fashion. Here is a photo of the topsides being extended:

Not a lot to report so far. The shell made it home safely on the home built trailer, see: Building a Trailer. And has been re-named Thunderbird 4. So far there is a transom, the best part of a spine, and enough foam for a mid bulkhead. Not a lot will be done over the next couple of months due to time constraints but watch this space over the summer!

Transom laminated and cut: