As mention in the first article, the boat hull I'll be using is the Orco Millennium first designed by Swede Johnson and has shown promise of being a good hull to sail with. To show what the bare hull looks like, below are photos showing what this hull looks like.
The Millennium's hull is made of fiberglass and weights in at six and a half ounces. The black color is because the resin was colored black at the time the hull was laid up in the mold. At the widest point, the hull is seven and a half inches, which can be seen in photo below with a stick holding the hull open. The bow's profile is a called a destroyer bow (near vertical) which adds more buoyancy above the waterline. The reverse-angle transom is a common design for weight savings of racing yachts.
36/600 class model yachts are not required to have bumpers on the bow. This can be a problem depending on the bow shape of the yacht. The worst bow shape that causes damage to another yacht is the knuckle bow. The knuckle bow has a very sharp point, and in the event of a collision the knuckle bow can easily damage the other boat. The next bow shape that is tough on other boats in a collision is the spoon bow. The Millennium's destroyer bow has a bonus of being rounded from the waterline up to the deck. This near vertical angle and rounded bow edge, causes no damage in the event of a collision, you can't beat that.
Many times I have watched skippers poring water out of their boats during a regatta. I can understand this if there is a lot of wind, and water is splashing on the hull. Most of the time I see water being pored out during light winds, this means pinholes. To check for pinholes, I use the bathtub. Fill the tub up with water to the depth of eight inches, and you are ready. To check is easy, just put the boat hull in the water, and press down on the hull and rock the hull over. Be careful not to rock the hull over too far, and let water spill in. Move up and down the hull in the water and push down and look as you go.
If you find a pinhole, you will see water tearing down the inside of the hull from the pinhole (see photo above). You can't see pinholes, if you find one you need to mark the position. To mark the mark the point of the pinhole, I use scotch tape that has had the end cut to the shape of a pointer (see photo below). Using scotch tape leaves no residue and is easy to remove.
At this point, to plug a pinhole I use waterproof slow-cure epoxy. After I find the pinhole/s, I use a paper towel and wipe up the water in the hull. I then allow the hull to sit for a couple hours to dry out the hole/s. After I mix up the epoxy, I use my finger, and apply the mixed epoxy to the hole from the inside of the hull. It is just a simple act of pressing the epoxy from the inside the hull to force the epoxy into the pinhole. I don't use too much epoxy, and I don't leave a drop or a run of epoxy, once I press the epoxy to the area of the pinhole, I wipe the area clean. After the epoxy has cured, you can use a sharp knife to cut off the epoxy bumps that are extruding on the outer hull's surface. Be careful when cutting off the cured epoxy bumps off the hull, you can easily gouge the hull's outer surface.
As I have said before, there will be several times you will check for holes in the hull. Check for leaks after applying the keel trunk and rudder tube. Check after light sanding the hull during painting. Pinholes allow water to get in the hull and hurt electronics and adds weight, neither one is wanted. I will cover the filling of pinholes during painting, later in an upcoming article.