Another Flint Launching

I've just received an email from Flint builder, Ken Newey advising me of another launching of what is turning out to be a very popular design. Most of the boats built to the Flint design have been constructed by amateurs, and I'm very happy to say that as long as decent quality ply is used, the boats go together fine. This is very gratifying, considering the extreme amount of twist in the developable panels used for the hull construction. The resulting shape shows lots of curce and concavity, which makes for a smooth ride in choppy conditions.

Photo of the first Flint, launched about five years ago

Here is the text of Ken's email: -
Hi Ross,

I notice you have other completed Flint builds on your website and thought it appropriate to send you a shot of mine. It took a bit longer than hoped to complete, but that's only because I didn't really do anything during winter and only got back into finishing it in October/November. As it is, it's not quite complete - I am in the process of painting it - I'll follow up with another shot when its all done.

First time out (and each time since) I have had the whole family on board (~200kg) and used a 2hp Honda to push it along - can't really saw how fast I went but it seemed to be quite reasonable. I look forward to taking it out on my own. Final weight is estimated to be about 60kg, but you can see I have added to the gunwales.

I am also thinking about setting up the sailing rig and have built (not yet glued up) a mast using the birds mouth technique. The staves are roughly 20mm x 10mm so the finished mast should be around 50mm in diameter. The timber for the mast came from a 1.2m length of oregon verandah post ripped into 28 strips which were then scarfed to produce 8 x 3.5m staves. Not sure how this will turn out - but it was pretty simple to make. I will be using a timber plug in each end (protruding at the tip to take loops for the forestay and shrouds). Does it need any other internal plugs for hardware? I don't think so but I am working it out as I go along.

Regards,

Ken Newey

Ken's New Flint, showing her nicely made inwales. Boat yet to be painted