Wee Nip

Hi all, hope everyone is safe and well. I have just ordered a Wee Nip kit plan and dvd from Sarik. It looks to be a straight forward build. I am going to get a sail rig from Housemartin Sails but am stumped when it comes to a keel bulb. Is there anywhere that can supply one? Alternately I am thinking along the lines of a 3D printed shell filled with shot. How have other folks done it?
Cheers all...

I would not bother with a 3D printed bulb you just cant get the weight required using shot. Better to laminate layers of flashing epoxied together and files to profile.

PS. Plenty of info here http://www.weenip.org.uk/

Here’s my build lot on my wee nip!

https://www.thercmodelboatforum.com/t887-wee-nip-build

Sail was built from scrap ( its really easy) so save some penny’s, the masts and boom are carbon fibre rods...

But the kicker the keel bulb is actually home cast by my old man he simply made a plug cast it into some plaster to give him the negative, heated lead with a blow torch poured and cooled, popped the half out, repeat...

Sand the backs almost flat and file the keel slot.

The two half’s were then bolted together through the keels, p38  and painted...

I ordered the plans yesterday, but by the time they get here I will be probably tasked with a honey do, so I started building from scratch.
I couldn't find the offsets anywhere, so I scaled up the plan shown in http://www.weenip.org.uk/design-overview.html to match exactly 700 mm LOL and used my old dolphins and a spline to create a second degree curve for the deck profile.  If anybody wants the offsets I obtained, just let me know.
Made the deck out of 3 mm plywood and will do the bottom and sides out of 1/8" hard balsa (that's what I have in my bin of scraps).
Here is a picture of the deck construction:

This is my wee nip build, 1 of 3 I did.. my show version I guess, it might help with a few technicals down the road


https://www.thercmodelboatforum.com/t887-wee-nip-build

Thank you.

Welcome to the forum you have a ridiculously tidy desk! I'm envious.

Anybody does or knows who makes lead ballasts for the Wee Nip?

Sorry I have no clue who makes them.

Ours were scratch cast for the plans to make a plug, we just melted a roll of roof lead flashing and cast two half’s which we epoxied and bolted to the keel.

It wasn’t that hard to do a bit of light casting, forming the plug was done with layers of ply which then were p38 and sanded to final shape and smooth. The plug made the negative half’s in some plaster, making them singular use for each cast. A roll of roof flashing made 3 sets in the end.

Actully the worst part of that was filing the slot in both half’s for the keel, cost damn... lead

Thank you Roadrunner.
I used to cast my own bullets and still have a lot of lead somewhere in the garage.
I was considering doing the half mold/plaster as you did, but then considering also doing a plain squarerish cast with the aluminum keel embedded during the cast.
The other alternative is doing a lost wax mold.  I've done it before but only with some small jewelery pieces but I gave away the centrifuge and the muffle furnace.

As I write this post, I continue pondering what to do and I think I'm going to go with the half mold/plaster technique. 

I pulled out the dimensions from the plans and it is a huge piece, 28 mm diameter and 281 mm long.  I wonder how much it is going to weigh.

Four days ago I received the plans and the DVD from Sarik (Hurray for the Royal Mail).
I discarded the hull I was making and started again by using the plans. I have cut all the plywood parts already, so I'm ready to start assembling it.
Before starting the assembly, I will cover the inside surfaces with epoxy.
Pictures to follow.

1.4kg I think top of my head