GLD 05

Here I will talk about my first 3D printable IOM sailboat development.

It is an evolution with extreme ideas in the shape of the GLD-04 hull, my last boat built in balsa wood (generally very narrow hull with wider bow and very narrow stern).

This first development has the disadvantage that all the parts (approximately thirty) are printed separately and are assembled after printing all of them, taking a long time and being more difficult to assemble correctly.

This project allowed me to test the idea that I had of welding the sections, instead of sticking them with glue that would end up coming unstuck over time or with a blow. This turned out to be a great idea since it allows to have a homogeneous continuity in the material making the union as resistant as the rest of the skin of the boat without the need to add internal reinforcement and support rings, saving me the weight and assembly of these.

With these techniques I managed to build several very solid boats in vase or spiral mode and 0.8 noozle, with a competitive weight of about 600gr, allowing me to add corrective weights once the boat has been finished to reach 4kg.

This design proved to be very fast and competitive in all kinds of winds and with the advantage of being very little prone to sinking the bow in strong winds.