New Ellway 7 Build

[PaulJ]

As it seems to be the week to announce new builds, I thought I would let everyone know about our new boat (Ellway 7) that will be starting construction at Composite Craft on the the Isle of Wight in the next week or two. Initially the aim was to take a standard E6 and produce a crew deck that was wider and lower than the current E6s to make the boat a bit more user friendly. Once we got going though and decided that a new hull mould was going to be needed we ended up tweaking it a bit.

Quote from Kevin Ellway :-

"The E7 is a subtle development of the E6. The changes should  produce a hull which has an even smoother transition between displacement and semi planing sailing that occurs at around 6 knots. It should also be a little quicker offwind. The sheer and decklines have been modified to give more room in the boat for both the crew, kite and deck gear."

The boat will be built in a centreline split female mould from prepreg carbon and 8mm Nomex, the bulkheads will be of same construction and will be cut using their in-house cnc machine. The crew deck and half foredeck will come off an International 14 mould that they currently own. We haven't fully decided how the mast step and wings will be built but they likely to be a one piece bridge deck moulding that bolts down. We are trying to cut down the number of parts to keep build time and therefore cost down to a minimum.

We will be taking the current tried and tested rig off Ronin for the new boat. Both Clive and I are having the same foils, T-foil as per Ronin and Riot Van, the daggerboards are the same profile as Ronin's but with a new lower drag Hollom section.

Composite craft are keen to get involved in the class and are looking to offer an E7 kit that can be finished at home, this would be in wet layup carbon on foam and would include the hull moulding, crew deck and foredeck moulding ready to trim, rectangular daggerboard case, CNC cut bulkheads, one piece bridge deck, aft wing bars, simple CNC cut build jig, designers royalty fee, hull mould hire fee, build manual and photos, this is anticipated to be approximately £4500 + VAT.

Various hull renders below from Kevin.

[Torchy]

Fantastic Paul...the class is really growing

[Will_Lee]

Likewise - thanks for keeping us all updated.
W

[Tim Noyce]

Looking forward to seeing this take shape Paul!

[PaulJ]

The new female moulds for the Composite Craft daggerboard are now finished. First board should be out by early next week

[BenR]

Peter might have to grow a few inches taller to pull that one up when coming into land

[andy_peters]

Is that a wing sail in disguise?

[PaulJ]

Latest CAD image showing the rudder gantry and inward rolled gunwales that are incorporated into the female mould. The mould parts have been CNC cut, assembly is underway

[Neil C.]

How do you get the hull out of a female mould with inward rolled gunwales? I must be missing something (as usual).

[PaulJ]

How do you get the hull out of a female mould with inward rolled gunwales? I must be missing something (as usual).

The mould is built in two halves with a bolted joint down the centreline of the boat. the mould is then split to release the boat. 

Apparently the first half is built and faired, awaiting pictures,  the moulding surface is made up of 2 layers of 3mm modelling ply. I believe this is made up of individual plys orientated at 45deg which allows it to bend easily, the tight curves are made from strips of ply.  The next step is to laminate the moulding surface with 500g biaxial carbon cloth, it's all then cooked in the oven for a few hours so that everything remains stable when the hull is cooked.

[PaulJ]

Latest progress photos from Composite Craft, both the mould halves are finished, just the final fairing to be done. The port side half was still cooking at 40deg when we visited but Peter managed to get a quick photo.

The pole is also coming out of a split female mould but will be about 600mm shorter. Note there is no reason for the red and green gelcoat, it's just what they had left at the time.

Hull lamination will start sometime in the week after the inlands

[PaulJ]

Female mould has been bolted together and the centreline joint faired. The Rudder gantry mould is complete and is ready to bolt onto back of the mould.

The next stage is to apply the release film, this is a lightweight glass cloth with a teflon coating on one side and a sticky back on the other, using this saves both time and money, as the mould doesn't need polishing or use any release agent. Apparently the release film is good for 10 boats

[PaulJ]

Good progress is being made at Composite Craft, hull shell and gantry laid up and cooked last week.

Hull laminate 600g/m2 outside laminate, made up of 2x 200g uni, 1x 200g bi-axial, 8mm 25kg/m2 Nomex, 400g/m2 inside laminate 200g uni, 200g biaxial, plus some local reinforcement around the main bulkhead.

Bulkheads 8mm Nomex with 500g biaxial each side.

Centreboard crash box and minor bulkheads bonded in, main shroud bulkhead will go in this week. Moulds for the wing bars, mast post and deck will start this week.

[Tim Noyce]

Nice to see it coming along smoothly. She's certainly gonna be pretty stiff.

Have you decided on a paint scheme yet?

[PaulJ]

Deck mould nearly completed, just a bit of HD foam required for the bow, then a 500g carbon skin. Should have a deck by the end of next week.

Colour scheme not decided on yet, not going to be that radical now