C-Forum

Greetings...

Today was a VERY exciting day ...I, along with Pete H. (experienced boat builder who has been VERY generous with his time and knowledge (not to mention space and materials..) popped the VERY FIRST Maven Halves from the mold.



Look at that SHINY HULL! Thanks to all of you for your encouragement...it helped tremendously during the many, many, many, many hours of sanding and polishing. I think the finish was worth it though!



The halves look pretty good together for a start...they did need a little tweaking, of course....


Pete H. and the Maven halves....

We then "hung" the boat and did the inside seams...



More picutures (be sure to scroll down)- http://cboats.net/maven.shtml


Hopefully this first boat will see pool water before February


Adam and...the Maven

HOT DOG!!! Adam, that's one hot looking boat even if it doesn't have metal-flake
Thanks for the update. I sure am glad that it popped I can't wait to get my fat self into one & throw some ends
What are the final length/width measurements?

The first boat had to have a gel coat (for mold breaking-in purposes), and for better or worse all they had was light grey. Actually looks pretty good in light grey...and I'm planning on black seams and cockpit rim .

The layup is pretty light, but will be a good test boat.

It is a "full cut" boat...they can get MUCH smaller but not really any bigger....

Length seems to be exactly 10' in the full cut version.
Width is around 23-24" , widest point just behind the cockpit. While this most likey seems shockingly narrow to most folks, I found it worked rather nicely in the prototype. The hull design, low volume, and high volume "turret" contribute to the stabity you feel. Prototype stabity was MUCH superior to the Oxygen (hull is too flat) and Wildwater boats. It will have less stability than you're "normal" cut down slalom boat...however it should have increased cartwheel-ability...not to mention downtime possibilities

I'll post again when the outside seams / cockpit rim are laid up .

Then, it's just a "simple" job of outfitting, and off to the pool on a Thursday night .

I KNOW I'm a bit biased in saying this, but the boat actually looks better in person than on-line

DROOL.........!!!!!!!!!

Way cool Adam - looking very nice! Paul C.

Adam,
It looks like a good excuse to come up for the spring Hudson river race. Can't wait to see it in person. I wonder what a tandem version would be like?

A C2 squirt boat...interesting idea...

Limited market to say the least .

I suppose you COULD seam to maven's together just behind the cockpit (widest part of the boat). But, unless the paddlers were really, really light there's no way it would float!

Now, seaming the "unused" Maven tail on to the back of a Wildwater boat...THAT could get interesting fast .


I hope to C you at the Derby...and perhaps at the Spring Armada as well! Right now, assuming all goes well, I'm planning on an end of June or end of July Hudson Armada-one day running the gorge, the other playing with thin pointy objects on the Sacandonga...I wonder how many Acrobats we could get there....MikeW? PAC? Huge? not to mention Aerobats (Will) and Edge's....

I just ordered the outfitting materials from Sweet Composites (talked to Davey himself!), and I'm hoping two weeks from this Thursday to pool test it, assuming all goes well with my weekend outside seaming / cockpit rim and outfitting....

Your boat looks good Adam!
Welcome to my nightmare......
I think you're going to like it.....
JK

Kaz don't need no low-volume boat to do squirts...

[img]http://www.gis.net/~johnkaz/saigawa.JPG[/img]

Sir Adam,

That Maven looks awesome !! Definitely a reason to try to make it to the Spring Armada this year! Would it work for a 190 lbs paddler? I never tried squirt boating, but I think I have to give it a go ...

martin a.k.a. The Great Gonzo!

Will it work for your weight? There's only one way to find out .

I've designed a full cut boat to be "low" cut for 180-190lbs or so...we'll see how the real boat turned out soon. I'm about 160lbs +-, so if the "full cut" boat is a medium cut for me it's about right. If it's lower, well, you've got yourself one sinker!

i am excited, and doubt that it would ever work for me, even if i lost alot of weight, but my question is this.

low cut refers to leaving most of the material and volume right? and then therefore a medium cut would refer to taking out some of the volume to lower the amount of the boat that is above water(raise water line) when youre in it right? so why did you refer to full or 'low' cut to being high volume.

Excellent question!

A squirt boats "cut" is weight dependent, when done right. I have a Master Cut Acrobat that is "low cut" for 180-185lbs. It's a nice squirtable exciting cruiser for me at 160lbs... With the right feature (and some skill!) I could probably mystery it...but it would be A LOT easier for someone with a bit more "substance". So, a boat with a certain cut may work for more than one person, but depending on their weight it will perform VERY differently. Ask MikeW. about his experience in my Master Cut Acro .

You may see some boats advertised as "full cut", "3/4" cut, and "1/2" cut. (A lot of the Vipers are an excellent example off this)-they were designed as squirting cruisers, not full out mysteryable squirt boats (I think it would take someone well over 250lbs to attempt to mystery my 1/2 cut viper...and I'm not sure they could...). Full cut is all the volume, 3/4 is a little smaller (predetermined by the builder-all 3/4 cuts by one builder *should* be the same...), and 1/2 cut is most of the extra volume that can be take out, out. I've never come across a 1/4 cut, and have often thought that the 3/4 should be called 1/4, as I suspect (looking at the boats) that a 3/4 boat has 1/4" taken out of the hull, and a 1/2 boat has a 1/2" taken out of the hull, but without two boats side by side I can't really tell, it's just a theory I have.

To the best of my knowledge that's how it works...if anyone else has better info, please enlighten us!

thanks alot!
now i can understand a little more when you guys all talk about the squirt boats, in your squirt boat jargon.
cheers
-isaac

First, congratulations Adam. The boat looks really good! Black seams on the grey should actually come out pretty cool. It sure doesn't look like a typical "Hornbeck". I bet he is having as much fun with this project as you are. I can't wait for the "Maven" to hit the pool.

I am somewhat confused about the matter of "cut" myself.
The label inside my Oxygen reads:
Sized For: 135 lbs. 7.5 / 30"
Boat Cut: 3/4"
Since I bought the boat from it's original owner, the 7.5 shoe size and 30" inseam sounds about right, although I'd say he weighs more like at least 160.
I can't imagine my boat being cut any smaller, so I thought the 3/4" represents how much was removed. If I am wrong, then there may be an Oxygen out there that is 3 times scarrier than mine?

Larry

I'd agree on that Oxygen-3/4 is most likely how much they cut out!

I have always that the sizing was a bit odd in a sense-a 1/2 cut is LARGE (in volume) than a 3/4 cut...if it's talking inches. Yet every Viper I've run across works the other way around-a 3/4 cut larger than a 1/2 cut in volume.

I think the best measurement is saying it is "low cut" for x weight, "medium cut" for x weight, etc.... Of course, then we get into defining what is low cut...Snyder's book gives a good example (depth of far stern underwater when properly trimmed out), but it's still difficult to say.

I'll let you know when I'll be down that way LEW