Scow 65

My first completed RC sailboat was heavily inspired by the E scow class. I believed the radical and high-performance nature of the E scow would translate well to a scale model. This project was intended to have no excuses for stopping or restarting, as many RC sailboat projects have had so far. I quickly built molds, vacuum-bagged the components, ordered spars and electronics, and finally completed my first RC sailboat. Although the project reached completion relatively quickly, it did have some major flaws.

During the lamination of the deck and hull, the air pressure acting on the vacuum-bagged molds warped and cracked the mold. This was an unforeseen failure mode that has since been remedied by modifying mold production. This flaw led to a non-flush mating surface between the deck and hull, requiring more epoxy in the joint and increasing the overall weight of the boat.

This increased weight exacerbated another issue. A boat with low freeboard is likely a poor candidate for scale representation. As a result, the boat was barely buoyant, largely due to its pancake-like nature and weight.

Despite these significant flaws, the project accomplished exactly what it was meant to.