And we start by cutting out the formers. These are 1/8" balsa - you will find it tricky later holding a hull which has 1/8" AND 1/16" together - the 1/16" tends to get crushed. Luckily, it's easy to stick back with balsa cement...
The rear floor clips behind the lug on the bottom of the stern. Don't worry about the shape - this was an early experimental idea. The final design isn't so curvy...
If you got it right, the deck slots should all line up. The deck gets bent down and held with pins in the little central lug to get the proper curve of the hull. If your deck is soft balsa the sides may droop - this can be fixed by a hard balsa stick fixed in the little niche provided, as below...
Then bend it back and pin it all around. A bit of steaming might help here if your balsa is hard...
Here you can see the bows, with a balsa deck support and thin strips for locating the bow skins. Another strip could be put on F2 to support the rear of the front deck if your balsa is really bendy...
Trin and sand the edges of the lower skin to accept the upper skin. Then follow the same technique - gluing the upper skin to the bow first...
Here is the sub-frame - check that it is all true before letting it dry!
It's starting to look like a tug, now...
You can build this hull with either a high, or a low motor. Here I'm going to put the motor low - later shots may show the high-mounted variant. See the fittings page for more on motor mounting...
Now we add the skins. First glue the front skin to the bow, and leave it to fix solidly. Do check that you have it aligned properly at the rear first, though!
Today's small 50+ is a tug, loosely based on a TID hull, but with an increased draught. This will let it carry a really heavy battery/motor combination if you want. And it's a very fast build. So you can have a little fleet of them, with different superstructures - I enclose a few with the plans...
The gunwale is worth pre-steaming to get the right curve. This shows you the way it bends,. Remember not to do two of the same side!
For the gunwale, it's worth gluing in the middle first, and then bending both front and back into position. Again, check that they are aligned properly before pinning down. And don't forget the scuppers! They serve a real purpose in this boat...
