This is one of my current projects. The dream is to build a reasonable facsimile of the pilot boat "Chinook" desgined by Camarc Design, built by Kvichak Marine and owned by Columbia River Bar Pilots.

I have posted numerous photographs at www.pilotboathull.blogspot.com

another photograph

top view

here is some of my modeling of the top of the cabin

starboard view

actual front of superstructure

actual horn

another close up

a closeup

here is a starboard view

here is a front view

here is the port side of the actual boat

here is the port side of the superstructure

here is a front view of the main mast

a second view from above

Here is the profile and top view from the naval designer

Here is the deck and the wheelhouse templates back from the naval designer

Here is the future propultion system - 2 800 motors, 2 MHZ ESCs and two MHZ 40mm Jet Drives (only one shown) The motors are pretty BIG. This is going to be a major project.

another view of side

and another

another

another

side view

another shot fo the hull - looks like nice sharp chines

looks great

out of the mold

easing it out

leverage

here they are lifting the hull from the mold

and another

another shot

I think this is some type of air hose

another shot - notice the wooden flaps on the hull - this is to assits in removing it from the mold

Here is a picture of the hull being removed from the mold

5/11/05 update

I checked in with the guys doing the layup of the hull - evidently there was a little trouble. They haven't really used Renshape before and the mold release was absorbed by the Renshape. When the gelcoat was sprayed in, it stuck to the mold. The mold was damaged a bit but it was filled and sanded so I should be fine. We will see what the final result is.

I needed additional reference material in order to build the Chinook - I am in New York and the actual boat is on the west coast. I thought, how could I get reference pictures without hopping on a plane. The solution I came up with was to hire a local wedding photographer in Astoria, Oregon. It cost me $100 and I had the pictures in two days - she did a fabulous job! I have posted many of these pictures at www.pilotboathull.blogspot.com.

Next I needed a set of plans - back to the naval designer to see if he could put together a general arrangement from the photographs and other materials - I should get that in a few weeks.

So far so good.

Here is the wax being applied.

Here is the first step in the layup of the fiberglass hull - putting mold wax on the mold to keep the gelcoat from sticking.

another angle - the completed mold is being shipped to Scale Reproductions in Alabama - they are going to do the fiberglass lay-up. The whole thing weighs 254 pounds!

a shot of the completed hull

a view of the finished corners

and the bottom of the stern section

redoing the center line

here you can see that the edges are much sharper

The problem was solved using a tool extention and a smaller cutting head

the centerline also came out as 1/4 inch round although this is less of a problem.

another shot

A small problem did occur - because of the size of the cutting head and the angle, some corners came out as 1/4 inch round rather than 90 degree angles.

a side shot showing the shear line

another shot

a shot of the stern

the mold cut