Blazer Marine Slingshot Build!

[Mario Johnston]

Been looking forward to this step for a while now!! Made my nose blocks for the sponsons out of Cherry wood (special thanks to Mark Scott), set them with thickened epoxy last night.

Very happy with how solid these were this morning! Gave myself plenty of excess material as I've never attempted this next step before
Time to start shaping!


One down, one to go!
Love how the first turned out

 

[Mario Johnston]

Knocked out the second tip this morning.
Very happy with these!

 

[Julio Almazan]

Hi:
I´m a follower of this work... nice job!!

 

[Mario Johnston]

Thanks so much!
Having a lot of fun building it so far.

 

[Mario Johnston]

Been toying with this concept for some time; maintaining rigidity and limit flex on the forward portion of the hull while making access to my fuel bag a bit easier. Also keeps weight comparable to stock kit part.
This piece of 2mm carbon should work nicely...

 

[Mario Johnston]

Well, its 1am and I had extra carbon fiber plate laying around!

 

[Mario Johnston]

Started trimming another piece of carbon for the stuffing tube support. To be honest, this rear section was more of an aesthetic choice as I like how both of the braces will match the booms now. Tomorrow I will begin cutting the X into the center.

 

[Mario Johnston]

That took a while! But overall, very happy with the result. Onto the next step, setting these in place.

 

[brad nichols]

Remember to round your edges and seal with epoxy on the carbon where it comes in contact with the fuel bag or you may put a hole in it.

Brad

 

[Mario Johnston]

Good lookin out, Brad.
Will sand the bottom edges a bit more before sealing.

 

[Mario Johnston]

Carbon parts are ready to be set into tub!

 

[Mario Johnston]

Set the forward brace in place last night. After curing, I started the mock up for the top skin and stuffing tube brace.


Took Brad's advice and smoothed out the entire underside of the carbon brace so as not to puncture fuel bladder.

 

[Mario Johnston]

Pulled clamps and clips off the top skin.
Beyond thrilled with how this is turning out for my first boat build!!


More sanding this week, cleaning up top edges and possibly setting nose block in place

 

[user 21992]

Hi Mario, Just picked up a Sling Shot kit today from a friend to build over the winter and told me about you thread on I W. Boy !! I'm glad I looked at your build, awesome work and a lot of thought behind it. Great Ideas, I can use ! I would like to ask, that at the start of the build, you showed the hull with a Tiger King motor (what size was that) and than with the 30 Plus Zenoah from Gizzmo which I assume you will be using. We both currently are running the Tiger King 27 EVO on both of our Zipp Kits Envy Gas Riggers on SS 7017/2 with a 19* Rake. Hope to see more of your finished build and some video of your Sling Shot running. GOOD LUCK, "Stitch"

 

[Mario Johnston]

Thanks, John! Hugely appreciated, tell your buddy thank you as well!
The boat with the Tiger King engine was posted by Rene, another member, separate build.
My engine of choice for this build was always the Zenoah/Gizmo 30+ as we have numerous Slingshots in our local club all running Zenoah motors. I thought itd be a good engine to get help from my fellow club members on while at the lake.

 

[user 21992]

Thanks Mario, I did not catch that on the Tiger King photo, keep up the good work !!

 

[Mario Johnston]

Couple of small steps today: sanded excess wood from top skin's edges and set the forward nose skin in place. May get the cherry nose block on tomorrow.

 

[Mario Johnston]

Forward most skin turned out great

With that knocked out, onto a step I've been excited about for a long time!
Setting the nose block, the last of the wood parts left to be epoxied in place!

 

[Mario Johnston]

Well that hasn't gone as planned
Managed to get my nose block very wrong and very uneven, had no choice but to sand it off and start over. Lesson learned, back to the drawing board.
Disappointed to say the least.

 

[Mario Johnston]

New day, New attempt.
I thought about what i did wrong last night and figured out what necessary steps ill take to not allow a repeat error. So today I set a new block in place for a do-over.

Of course, the constant reminder of my inexperience will always haunt me in the form of a not quite 90° block edge that I didnt notice until after the clamps were in place