Malcolm,
It is looking great. You have a lot more performance built into this than I have on mine. I have a very shallow V hull and wider deck but the intent is for recreational use. I am interested to see how much less stability the shallow V has compared to the flat bottom and what the tracking difference is. I have had a couple weeks with no travel so Heidi and I have managed to get about 5 more hours in on it. The deck is looking fun I will probably post pictures in the nest few days. I have no idea how it will float but it will look fun.
Scott

: Hello all,

: Things are coming along on the "Bullet" displacement hull
: SUP that I am building the prototype of. Here is a link to the
: whole photo album.

:
: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Schweizer-Surfboards/128321053895315#!/media/set/?set=a.393089724085112.88467.128321053895315&type=1

: You may be interested in seeing how this is built because the
: strongback is mounted directly to the building table. I really
: like this method because it ensures a straight and level
: strongback. You just have to fill in the gap in the forms with
: scrap wood when you flip it over. For this build I did an
: internal frame that will remain since this is a SUP and you need
: support for the deck. I glassed inside and am putting a forward
: hatch for storing lunch, gear, and (hopefully) lobsters. I built
: a "lobster fence" to keep them from crawling to the
: aft deck and getting stuck where I can't get them out! You can
: see it in the photo album. I didn't want a full bulkhead, so I
: just put some thin strips to keep them at bay. It has been
: dubbed the "lobster fence."

: It's a huge step away from the flat-hulled SUP's on the market
: today. Soon we will see just how tippy it is going to be. This
: was designed in Kayak Foundry, then converted into a CNC Cad
: program for routing the forms as well as a little tweaking. If
: all goes well it will be marketed, and if it turns out to be too
: tippy it's going to make a lovely wall hanging. I have always
: wanted to push the limits of the displacement hull design.
: Everyone out there is doing flat-hulled SUP's and putting tall
: rails and a pointy bow and calling it a displacement hull, but
: this is much more a true displacement hull. The question will be
: how tippy it will be with the vee keel. The vee is very shallow
: and also is deisgned to give more secondary stability so even if
: tippy at first it will not be overall as tippy as a flat hull of
: the same width. ... or so I say. Soon we will see. Certainly
: it's going to be fast, and the lines are very appealing. I love
: the looks and am really proud to see this one go from 2D to 3D.
: I am really pleased also with little things that I tweaked on
: paper that came out exactly like I was envisioning them. So far
: so good. I have a lot of travel coming up so it will be a couple
: of weeks before I get it wet for the first time.

: By the way, if you go to the album please note that I had a
: horrible time ripping the strips and being fir, which is very
: finicky, and being that I had limited supply I did not run them
: through the planer. I have ruined mahogany strips before in the
: planer and not having much of this salvaged fir, I decided to
: just use them as is without running them through the planer. Now
: I wish I had planed them. The thickness of the strips was not
: uniform, so if you see the hull before planing you will see it
: looks pretty horrible, but after planing it all came out just
: fine. Stripping with fir was a challenge to say the least. I
: feel like I can build anything after working with this stuff. It
: is very splintery, and does not like to bend. That said, it's
: insanely beautiful when wet out, and pretty lightweight. The
: deck is paulownia and walnut. For those of you who have asked if
: you should thickness plane your strips, I used to say no, just
: get them in close tolerance on the table saw. I think after this
: build I will always thickness plane my strips. It would have
: saved a lot of hand planing the hull. Another thing to note, the
: forms are only 1/8" plywood, which will be increased to
: 1/4" for production. The forms are actually designed to
: stay inside the board for deck support (Keep in mind, you stand
: on the deck), but the option is to use deck beams (which is what
: I did) so that you have room below deck for stowage. Also the
: deck beams should save a little bit on weight. Brad at Wood
: Surfboard Supply wanted to use 1/8" to cut down on weight.
: I built the prototype with 1/8" forms. The building table
: method allows you to hot-melt glue temporary braces to the forms
: to keep them stable during the build. With the "surfboard
: method" you leave the building forms inside, so 1/8"
: would give lighter weight, but I have asked Brad to do 1/4"
: because the 1/8" was pretty flexy. So all that said, if I
: can build this thing with fir strips on 1/8" plywood forms,
: it should be a really easy build with cedar or easier wood to
: work with and 1/4" forms. I thought you guys would be
: interested in seeing some slightly different build methods and
: using 1/8" building forms.

: A sudden storm came up, which is why the hull is in the living
: room. Building outside is a pain in the butt. I later found out
: that the darned thing would have made it around the L-shaped
: exit to my tiny kitchen workshop, and I could have built it
: inside. I have since moved it in for now. Originally I did not
: think a 14' hull would make it around the corner to get out of
: the shop. I was wrong. By the way, YES, I have a pool table in
: my living room. NO my wife is not too thrilled about that, but
: it was there when we met, and so far I have won the battle to
: keep it. Also yes, that's a VW cat house in the foreground of
: the picture. One of my crazy creations!