PDRacer Hungary; Egyszerű vitorláshajó építése Magyarországon

Boatmik · #1 30th Oct 2008, 10:40 PM

Howdy,

You might remember Csaba from when he built his Eureka Canoe in Budapest.

Csaba's thread on building the Eureka Plywood Canoe in Hungary is here.

Now he is building a PDRacer and it putting the info up in a blog .. he is doing a very nice job too. Foils are shaped ... he used fingerjointed kitchen benchtops by the look.

And transformed it into (gasp .. pretty!)

There is quite a lot of timber where fingerjointed is fine. And a few places where you should NEVER use it because it is not very strong.

He has a blog (in hungarian) that details more of the building of the OZ PDRacer, but the pics are pretty interesting!

Építek egy PD Racert

Best wishes
Michael

Boatmik · #2 30th Oct 2008, 11:19 PM

This puts the Central European Championships into a good situation for next season!

Csaba has started building a PDRacer in Hungary. He will be able to fight out the Central European champs with Koala and Theodor with a boat each in Slovenia and Gyula in Romania (who will have a whole sailing season's advantage on the others!!! He looks very fast in this video and this video)

Gyula is an interesting character. He has sailed model boats a lot but has rarely sailed full sized ones until now. The thing that is interesting to me is how the skills are immediately transferable. Sail trim and boat handling look pretty good for someone who has only sailed a couple of times.

However ... Koala and Theodor have gone in the opposite direction ... they have started with full size boats but Koala has started building models!

However they are building all the bits for the full size boats; masts, rudders, centreboards because they are moving house soon and don't want to cart part complete hulls around.

Gyula · #3 31st Oct 2008, 12:31 AM

Quote:

He has sailed model boats a lot but has rarely sailed full sized

Rarely? Never.....
The PD was the first sailboat I ever put my feet on

animatedsnail · #4 31st Oct 2008, 12:45 AM

Central European!!! I'll be up and running by then!! This could be in the 2012 games in London!!!

Mezix · #5 31st Oct 2008, 02:57 AM

Thanks for the thread Michael,

Just to avoid misunderstandings I am sitting behind my wife Edit on the first photo - when we launched our Eureka.

Now I am building my PDR - but as it gets colder in our hemisphere the epoxy loses its fluidity (and I am getting cold as well

) - so I have to look for an indoor place to go on.

I will update you about how I go on with the building.

Bests
Csaba - Mezix

Mezix · #6 2nd Nov 2008, 02:16 AM

Dear Boat-builders,
Let me sum up what I did so far on the way of having the first Hungarian PD Racer.
As you could see I started with the foils. Yes, I bought a piece of finger-jointed kitchen board – it was a leftover in the woodshop but quite good quality. It cost a few dollars only (I paid with Hungarian Forints but I will always tell the prices in Australian dollars).
I used a simple electric planer to do the rough job and then an orbit sander – then my hands and fine sandpaper. It was about 2 hours when I got the final shape.
Then I glassed the tip, then the body – see photos.

Now I have to do a final coat and ready for varnishing.
As I told you the epoxy is not that fluent in cold weather – now I found an intermediate solution until I find an indoor place – I put epoxy on the top of radiator before use so it warms up a bit – then it is easier to work with. The epoxy I bought in Hungary is called SR8100; 5 liters with hardener cost 112 AUD.

Okume plywood is very hard to find in Hungary – I can find similar plywoods but I wanted to follow the plan as much as I can. One sheet (6 mm) for the bottom cost 85 AUD – is it expensive comparing Australian prices?
Bests regards
Csaba – Mezix

Gyula · #7 2nd Nov 2008, 07:06 AM

I found the Okume ply for my boat in Hungary

at Finnforest http://www.finnfa.hu/termekek/index....thod=show_item
The 4mm ply were somwhere around 40 AUD and the 6mm around 55 AUD a year ago

Boatmik · #8 2nd Nov 2008, 10:01 AM

Okoume, occume, gaboon, gabon ... is nice for the bottom of the boat. Because the rest of the boat is so thin .. a cheaper ply is OK for the two 4mm sheets.

It is good if you can find something good price and good quality for the 4mm. So long as it is not an unusually heavy species. The required hull weight to fit the rules does assume a cheaper species will be used for the 4mm ply.

Best wishes
Michael

Boatmik · #9 2nd Nov 2008, 10:02 AM

By the way ... I would LOVE to have a list of material suppliers for each country!!!

They can just be documented in this forum.

Michael

Mezix · #10 7th Nov 2008, 11:18 PM

Hereby I list up a few suppliers which I use in Hungary:

Plywood and other wooden parts:
http://www.finnfa.hu/ - Okume plywood is available here
http://www.zatik.hu/ - good quality wood supplier

Epoxy:
http://www.alvin-plast.hu/
http://www.novia.hu/

Boat parts (rope, sail, inspection port, etc.)
http://www.maritime.hu/

All the shops are located around or in Budapest (capital of Hungary)

That's it for the moment.
Have a nice shopping.
Bests
Mezix

Boatmik · #11 7th Nov 2008, 11:21 PM

Cheers Csaba!

No doubt this will be useful.

Michael

Mezix · #12 4th Dec 2008, 10:45 PM

Howdy all,
Centerboard and rudder finished - next challenge is spars.
I decided to buy timber of full length to skip joining procedure. I found good quality rough Finnish spruce - 520 cm long, 22 mm thick - which cost almost nothing. I doubt if it would be strong enough but Michael assured me that it would be okay.
Wide staves seemed a bit too big challenge to work on with hand-tools - so I asked my brother to help me out with his industrial machine.
Which looked like this:

Then I started to work on narrow staves - which was a long and fun job.

As I made a dry run at the end it felt already how flexible but strong this mast will be.

Mezix · #13 14th Dec 2008, 10:44 PM

As I found a nice indoor place for working on my PDR (thanks to Greenpeace Hungary - Budapest office) - I went on quickly. I glued the "ladder shape" together.
Cutting the internal blocks was a great fun with hand tools

I did my best to make the ladder as perfect as possible then I just used it as a sample after it was assembled and the glue dried. I drawed its shape onto the wide staves then I just cut them - the cut was not perfect but it will be corrected with a plane afterwards.

It is funny that Greenpeace activists who see me working on this boat in the evenings are getting enthusiastic about it. We even visualize a Hungarian Greenpeace wooden boat fleet - so the boat-building-community builds itself on.

BobWes · #14 17th Dec 2008, 03:24 PM

Wow, Mezix - I am impressed with your work and your resourcefulness.

How did you find that great space to work on your boat? And how do you deal with the dusty mess of boat building in that space? Or securing your tools and supplies? Did you or do you have any question about insurance or liability(This may be a typically American question - particularly coming from a former lawyer...

)?

My prospects of purchasing a place of my own are dwindling every day. Not that I'm giving up, but I am running out of time. An apartment may be my best immediate housing option but it won't be suitable for building a boat! If I could find space in someone else's place - be it a garage, shop, warehouse, office, or whatever - I could be happy.

So, continue the fine work you are doing.

Bob

Mezix · #15 17th Dec 2008, 09:21 PM

Thanks Bob,
I am very lucky because I work for Greenpeace - so I know when its warehouse is free to use - because normally there are dozens of activists running around preparing actions, painting banners or just hanging around. We often exchange tools - sometimes I use GP hand machines - and I offer mine to them if needed. So far we have never thought about insurance.

Having lots of people here is also great because Hungarian wooden boat building community grows quickly and many environmentalist join to the group because they like wooden things especially if they build them on their own, for small money.Nevertheless I had to check where the plywood comes from (not from ancient forests) and how toxic the epoxy is (the type we use seems to be OK - skin irritating but low danger on environment, protection equipment needed)

I nearly finished spars. Centerboard and rudder finished. I will start building hull in the Xmas holidays.
In the summertime when the weather is OK I build my boat in a dusty yard of my home. Many people owns boats here in Budapest - and it is normal that they do the renovation work and varnishing just at the riverside - next to boathouses.
Cheers
Mezix - Csaba