AXEMAN 6
AXEMAN 7
1st 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 UK Nationals
1st 2000, 2002, 2003 Europeans.
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AXEMAN 6 AXEMAN 7 1st 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 UK Nationals 1st 2000, 2002, 2003 Europeans. |
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Axeman 5
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Photo : Ocean Images |
Photos : Champion |
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The Axeman International Moths have been designed by Andy Paterson for simple construction from thin ply, with skins of glass, kevlar and carbon to give a tough, light and strong hull. This form of construction (low-tech high-tech) is suitable for home building, and results in a stiff and lightweight hull. The advantages of this system compared to foam sandwich construction are the greatly reduced material cost, the simple mould required, and the ability to make fair shapes easily. The disadvantages are the slightly lower panel stiffness and the slightly increased hull weight.
The Axeman design in various slightly different forms was the most popular design at the 1993, 1995, and 1996 World Championships, winning in Australia in 95, and runner-up in 93 and 96.
The Axeman 5 hull shape is hard chine with flat vertical topsides, narrow flares, slightly rounded bottom panels, and a pintail with a 'V' transom.
The mast and shrouds are mounted on the forward wing frame, thus simplifying the hull structure. The mast is stepped on a rotation bearing on top of the wing frame behind a tall rounded foredeck. The boom is fitted just above the bottom of the mast reducing the bending on the lower mast caused by kicker loading. The pitching of the hull is damped out by using a large horizontal foil fitted to the bottom of the rudder blade. This T-foil rudder also helps prevent nosedives, and allows the boat to be driven much harder downwind in breezy conditions and rough water.
Finished and painted hull weight , with all fittings etc, is approx 15kg. Sailing weight (complete with alloy wings, tramps, foam flotation, carbon mast & boom, carbon/foam foils, and sail) is approx 34kg. The hull is built over a simple male mould, with an innovative building method which ensures the panels are fair.
Full instructions, materials needed, photos of stages of construction, advice etc are included, with a licence to build one hull only.
The plans are supplied on CD, with many photos of hulls under construction, also with the hull design software ( Hullform demo version) so that the design can be viewed and offsets for the mould frames etc printed out
The construction method is ply sandwich - ( outer glass skin/ply/inner glass or carbon skin.) which gives a strong, light durable hull with good impact resistance.The hulls weigh approx 15 kg, .
Building Method
The hull is formed over a male mould with 2.5 mm ply panels bonded to cedar chines and gunwales.There is considerable double curvature in the bottom panel, which gives extra stiffness.The shell is very fair due to the the easy curvature of the design and the properties of the ply panels, hence no additional fairing is necessary. The external surface of the hull ( still on the mould ) is then covered in a lightweight glass fabric (approx 100 g/m²).The shell on removal from the mould is remarkably stiff, and maintains the designed shape well.
The internal surface of the shell is cleaned up, and most of the chine is removed so that the internal skin can be laid up across the chines from side to side in one piece. The bottom panel forward of the dagger case is stiffened by the addition of some 3 mm PVC foam. The internal skin is then applied to the shell. The skin can be of glass, carbon, kevlar, spectra either on its own , or as a hybrid cloth, depending on budget. Bulkheads of ply are now fitted at the mast position, daggercase and transom. A support for the rig frame, and cedar blocks to take the daggercase and mainsheet blocks are now added to the structure. The crewdeck is covered on its underside with the same material as on the rest of the inside of the shell, and is then bonded in place.The foredeck is of thin (1.8 mm) ply, and is fitted around the curved edge of the main bulkhead over the kingplank and bonded to the gunwales. The whole of the upper area of the shell ( crew deck and foredeck) is then covered in lightweight glass. The rudder gantry struts of carbon or glass tube are fitted to the hull, and bonded on with small strips of carbon. Finally unidirectional carbon is applied to the gunwales.
The daggercase is moulded around the board, and then fitted to a slots cut into the bottom and deck of the hull. The foil then is always a good fit in the case, with no slop, and damage to the foil is reduced when running aground as impact load is spread over the whole trailing edge.
The philosophy of the design has been to make a simple structure, as minimal in construction as possible ( i.e. hull is really only skin plus two bulkheads), and with fair easy lines. The final result is a boat that is fair, strong , light and durable, with an outstanding performance.
Axeman 6 & 7
Due to their more complex curvature, these later designs are not sutable for ply construction, but are intended for carbon/foam sandwich construction.
The hull shell is built over a solid male mould using vacuum to reduce weight, consolidate laminates, hold the foam in place etc etc.
The hulls are much stiffer than the ply hulls, and are also lighter at 11kg - a saving of 4kg or 27%!!
The designs are developed from the Axeman 5, and the hulls are completed from the shells in very similar fashion to the ply hulls.
The narrower flares forward and straighter lines allow these hulls to sail faster through waves.
These designs are the at the current cutting edge of Moth design, with the Axeman 6 winning current and also recent European and National Championships several times
Full instructions, materials needed, photos of stages of construction, advice etc are included, with a licence to build one hull only.
The plans are supplied on CD, with many photos of hulls under construction, also with the hull design software ( Hullform demo version) so that the design can be viewed and offsets for the mould frames etc printed out
All three designs are now included.
The designs can be sent to you on a CD-ROM, emailed to you, or accessed from online storage ( currently mediafire ) .
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Price £95 exc VAT Current VAT rate is 15% within the EU. Zero rate for exports to outside the EU. |
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