Hey everyone,

 I’m a university student in a model design program and I’m building a scale model of my parents’ 34′ sailboat for one of my projects this year.  I’m thrilled to have found a resource such as this!  I’m not new to modeling in general, but I haven’t built a boat model since I was a kid.

 My project is a 34′ O’day.  I have a couple of measured drawings but they don’t provide much info, so I will be ‘eye-balling’ a number of things.  I did take some measurements of the actual boat before I came back to uni but there will still be plenty of guess-timating.  Right now, my biggest problem is how to build the hull.  I’ve done lots of research and purchased a couple of books, but I’m not sure which method is best for me.  I was planning on doing a plank-on-bulkhead contruction with cutouts on some of the bulkheads near the stern so I can block in the cockpit.  However, in intial discussions my tutor thinks I should do a solid-hull model out of yellow foam (a dense styrofoam, if you are unfamiliar with the material).  If I did this I would think I would have to cut the length of the hull in three pieces, cut out the cockpit in the middle piece, glue them back together, and then cut out the final hull shape–does that even make sense?  It does in my head.   I would love to hear thoughts on the various methods from all you experts.

 Also, I’m having some trouble in finding modern yacht hardware, particularly winches.  Any advice on where to find this kind of stuff would be great.

 Thanks!

-Brittany

Thanks, Bob.  You do beautiful work, your models are fantastic!  Your step-by-step photos are very useful and informative, a great help.