The day of the hull flip is getting closer. There was no time to be nervous or have a ceremony because I was short in time. Don`t wonder about the uneven surfaces on the hull and the dark blue stripes. It’s just an epoxy layer with blue color pigments to temporarily seal the filler during the winter stay in the shed. I still have to do the final finish next spring with another layer of filler.

A few days before the hull flip i made contact to the road construction workers in front of my workshop. I asked them for helping me with the excavator when putting my boat on the trailer. They agreed and we made an appointment for the day after tomorrow. So I had 2 days to prepare for the hull flip. I still had to install a pull point on the steel beams of the ceiling, build a wooden rack to place the hull on top and some trailer adjustments. I bought the trailer from a clubmate six months ago and parked it in a shed. With 2.5 tons maximun weight it’s a bit oversized but it will give me driving stability at all times.

I thought a lot in the past year what method is the best to flip the hull. I studied many ClassGlobe builder`s blogs and check the facebook group to see what techniques are recommended. Many ClassGlobe colleagues have already developed good concepts and each one works very well under the given conditions.

In two days I couldn’t gather people together. As a solo sailor I am always forced to find a solution on my own. I had to think about a save and simple method to flip the hull. First I planned to lay mattresses on the floor and roll over the hull to the side (Like the method other builders has used with tyres laying out at the floor). I built an edge guard and a protector for the skeg. Then I got respect because i had no chance of slowing the hull when it fell over to the side since i was alone. The night before the big day I came up with a construction of pivot points. At the stern I attached the wooden slats for the pivot point to the bolt holes of the daggerboards that were already there and to the jig. On the bow I attached the wooden slats to the holes for the towing eye or where the bobstay is attached and again to the jig. The stern pivot point is 28cm above the top edge of the transom. The pivot point at the bow is 50cm from the top edge of the stem cap.

Pivot point at the bow.

Wooden slats and skeg protector for the stern pivot point.

The skeg protector from the side.

Stern pivot point, red marked are the bolts to the daggerboard support fixing points.

Everything was prepared for the hull flip. Early in the morning I began to raise the hull with a chain hoist at the stern and ratchet straps at the bow. I had to keep adjusting the ratchet strap at the bow. To do this I supported the hull in the bow area with pallets and lifted it with a car jack.

I kept lifting from bow to stern and stern to bow. When the hull was hanging in the air, I pulled on one side of the transom using the chain hoist to rotate.

Stern pivot point and chain hoist fixed to the skeg after uprighting the hull.

After 20 minutes the hull was easily and safely turned. Sadly I don’t have a scale. I would be very interested to know how much the boat weighs with the jig.

I then lowered the hull onto his rack.

I attached 4 heavy-duty trolleys to push the hull with the rack out of the workshop. Now it was 11 a.m. and the excavator i have ordered arrived. We built a platform with pallets in front of the ramp. With two towing straps around the rack, the hull was pulled further out of the workshop onto the platform with the excavator.

Once the hull was hanging in the air we removed the platform and pulled the trailer underneath.

They did a great job and after 20 minutes the hull was hanging in the air and then was placed to the trailer.

My boat hits water for the first time. Unfortunately not swimming because the water comes from above. It was raining non-stop.

Knowing the weather forecast, I bought a heavy duty waterproof tarp. I placed it immediately over and started drying the boat inside.

Luckily it stopped raining in the afternoon so I was able to drive the trailer back to the winter storage in the shed 40 km away from my ex-workshop-

After this I had to clear out and clean the workshop in no time.

Some very productive and exciting month in which I made good progress with the build are gone. Unfortunately i have to deal now with interruptions. I have to find a new workshop and must earn money so that I`m able to proceed.

Now things had to happen quickly. Before I flip the hull and take it out of the workshop, I wanted to try on the keel and drill the holes for the keel bolts. I thought it would be easier to do this as long as the boat is upside down and here in the workshop I have sturdy iron supports on the ceiling for the manual chain host.

I built a small cart to transport the keel. With a laser and a string I marked the center of the hull. I fitted the jig with 4 heavy-duty rollers so that I could move it around in the workshop. With the chain hoist i lifted and aligned the keel fin to the laser and string line.

Then I first drilled with an 8mm drill and after this from the inside of the hull and from the outside with the 12mm drill.

On frame D` I had to drill from the inside with the angle drill due to the lack of space.

The keel plate adapted quite well to the hull, although not perfectly. That’s why I decided to remove the filler in the area of the keel plate. Later when it`s time to fix the keel i will apply an additional layer of epoxy resin compound to fill the gap and will have this connetion as sturdy as possible.

I had to get to work on the job I really didn’t like: filling and sanding. But after hours of work and when you get closer to your goal, it can be fun.

I applied the first layer of epoxy filler very thinly. I mixed 11 portions of epoxy filler  (each 500g resin + 150g GL-2 R&G hardener) and mixed in total 12 liters of micro balloons for this 1st fairing.

First layer epoxy filler.

After a few days of curing I was able to start sanding with the sanding board.

Then i applied a second, thicker layer of epoxy filler. Again it took a few days for final curing and more than 1 day of hard sanding work to smooth it out.

After these two runs of filling I had to clear the workshop because my time was running out here. So I applied a protective epoxy layer with blue color pigment. Next spring when I apply the 3rd layer of filler i have a good contrast and can better identify the areas where to put more filler.

There is a detailed plan from B&B Yachtdesign of the keel construction. When i purchased the ClassGlobe plans, i also get the CNC-files for the keel fabrication.

The keel is a safety-critical component of any sailboat. Therefore, it is better not to make compromises. Profiling the keel fin is a sweaty job that can hardly be done with amateur tools and anyway the welding must be done by a certified welder. I had the keel fin cut according to the CNC-file a year ago. My boat building colleague Christian (CG #103) rented his workshop from a metal construction company. The staff helped us in questions of keel fabrication and welding. Before welding, we had the keel fin profiled from a professional CNC-cutting company.

Weld 15mm

Signing the ClassGlobe welding certificate.

Keel welding certificate.

To make the drill holes in the bulbs, Christian and I first built a wooden plate as a drilling jig using a keel fin template.

You can find more information how i build and cast the keel bulb here:  (see my blog: https://minisailer.ch/?m=202208)

With this jig we were able to transfer the drilling position and fix the bulbs in the drill machine.

First we drilled the recesses with a 30mm Forstner bit and then drilled through the keel bulbs with a 13mm drill.

Once again, the construction of the ClassGlobe proves to be very compatible with the standard Euro pallet format and loading space of my VW transporter. With a little balancing you can heave the 105 kg keel fin onto the loading area.

I prefabricated the skeg a year ago when I was doing the small parts in my basement workshop.

The skeg plan

First I made a positive mold which was covered with fiberglass. There is even a 3D model of the skeg that you can use to have the shape milled. Since I don’t have access to 3D milling. I glued two 20mm Styrodur plates together. With my orbital sander i reduced them to 38mm thickness. With 2x 1mm glass fiber laminate I get the necessary width of 40mm.

This positive skeg model had to be insulated with adhesive tape. Then i applied some layers of 300g/m² fiberglass fabric.

Removing the Styrodur material from the skeg mold was a bit tiring.

The skeg is bolted to the hull. I bought 6 M10x120mm V4A screws and V4A rods. I clamped the screws into a jig. The welding of the skegbolts was done by a professional welder.

The welding jig

The skeg bolts must be casted in the skeg mold and the mold has to be filled up with epoxy resin. This must be done step by step because of the generated heat when the resin is curing. The M10 skeg bolts must not protrude more than 5.5 cm above the edge of the skeg mold.

5,5 cm is the optimum bolt lengths.

I added microballoons to the last layer so that I can sand it easily and adapt it to the hull.

After the hull was planked and laminated, I marked the centerline of the boat with the laser level and drilled the holes for the 6 skeg bolts. From the inside I attached a 10mm thick plywood panel as per plan. I glued the skeg to the hull with a mixture of epoxy and cotton fibers and fixed it with the bolts to the hull. I also laminated the transition from the skeg to the hull with fiberglass tape.

Skeg glued and laminated to the hull.

You have to be careful that the rear bolt is not too far aft, otherwise you will have problems screwing it on to the transom frame wood.

Rear skeg bolt very narrow to the transom frame. This is maybe the problem because i added a plywood doubler to the bottom of the transom.

The skeg bolts, nuts and washers in stainless steel V4A quality from the inside of the hull with a plywood doubler as per plan.