Seaspray Yacht – By David Butler
The Seaspray is a 350mm 14” long Free Sailing Centreboard Yacht Model
Follows full size building techniques
 Click on any image to enlarge

Kit contains:
Pre-shaped Balsawood and Plywood Parts, Printed Balsawood Panels, Pre-shaped Brass Rudder Assembly, Pre-cut Spinnaker Sails and Self-adhesive Decals.

Construction:
Start by cutting out all of the printed parts and laying out the plan on a suitable building bench. Cut to the outside of the lines of all of the printed parts.

Layout the two keel parts, centreboard and 2 x centreboard cases over the plan, glue and pin one side together and leave glue to dry. Then put some packing underneath to allow the other side of the casing to be glued in place.

 Cut out the shaded parts on the parts of the keel.

Assemble the hull upside-down over the plan, fit the formers and glue in place, keeping them as straight as possible.

Strip the 2.5mm balsa from it’s pack.

Glue the rail in place around the edge of the formers, glue and pin in place. Repeat for the top of the formers.

Trim off the top edge of the formers (it was left straight to allow the hull to be built upside-down on the bench). Glue the two halves of the mast together at the scaff joint, epoxy glue is best, and bind together with cotton for extra strength.

Cut the marked slot for the mast to fit onto the keel. Fit the mast and epoxy in place.

Cut out the marked cockpit from the keel. Fit the Cockpit Floor and sides.)

Fit the Hull Sides they may be easier to bend if they are wet on the outside with hot water, use water sparingly as it will be harder to glue if the wood is too wet. Pin in place while the glue dries.

 Fit the Bottom Hull, wet as the hull sides, and glue and pin in place.

Cut a hole for the mast through the top deck.

It is advisable to paint all of the internal structure with a Sealer or clear cote paint before the top deck is fitted. This will prevent any water soaking into the wood.

Add the Bow & Stern Fillets. Fit the top deck, glue and pin in place. Repeat for other half of top deck.

Fit Skeg to underside of hull. Fit a scrap of wood to the top of the Centreboard to stop it from sliding out the bottom of the model. Fit Coaming to Cockpit and Gunwale Rail to the outside of the top edge of the hull.

Finishing:
After all wooden parts are assembled, give the structure a light sand with around 100 grit sandpaper, and then paint it with Sanding Sealer. When that has dried, give it all a light sand with 120 or finer grit sand paper.

Sealed and ready to paint. Paint with any suitable spray or brush on paint.

Apply the Self-adhesive Decals, either the white ones if you have painted the hull a dark colour or the Blue Decals if you have painted the hull a light colour.

Rigging:
Note: Earlier versions of the Seaspray require the sails to be sewn for the boom on the main sail and the front edge of the front sail.

Bend up the Horse and 3 x Deck fittings from the brass rod and fit them through the top deck. Fit the rudder assembly using the split pins.

Fit the horse, with the split ring on it.

Screw in the brass eyes into the bottom of the mast and into the end of the boom. Open up one of the eyes to allow them to be hooked together. Fit the boom into the Mainsail and slide down over the mast and hook boom into position. Tie the boom to the split ring on the Horse Fitting.

Trim the top of the mast to length and cut a slot side to side for the rigging cord. Fit the rigging cord from the side of the deck to the top of the mail sail to the other side of the deck.

Drill a hole through the top of the mast from front to back, thread the rigging cord through the hole and through the front sail down to the deck fitting. Tie in place. Apply decals to sides of hull.

Add some blutac, plasticine, coins, metal washers or lead weight to the centreboard to balance the model back upright when tipped to the side, this will take some experimenting to find out how much weight is required.