Cutting the deck off

Cutting the deck off is no easy task.  You need a grinder with a fine cutting blade and a steady hand and you need to make sure that you cut higher than you think you need as the flange is very close to the top.  If the hull is still original and hasn't been resprayed you should be able to see the glue line.  You need to cut above this line.  The first hull I cut I didn't cut high enough as the picture left shows.

I cut about 220mm from the bow and back about 1000mm.  You could probably get away with not cutting so much of the deck off but this will restrict how much spread you get back towards to bridle fitting.

I cut a lot higher on the second hull and got it close so most of the flange remains.  I am keeping the deck pieces as I want to re-glue it back on later.

Remove Foam Spacers

Remove the foam spacers that were originally used to keep the hull from collapsing.

You also need to remove the foam and glass at the front of the bow.  I used a chizel to break the glass and then a plasters knife to cut the remainder of the glass away.  You also need to remove all the remaining glass with some sandpaper. You might want to use glove for this task as I took the skin of two knuckles before I worked it out.

Prepare New Foam Blocks

I used 30mm solid foam as the blocks to spread the bow out to the new specifications. I took measurements as I worked to make sure the hull was spreading in the right places. The top of the hull will need to be drawn back so that the deck does not become overly wide. I also marked the inside of the hull where each block would fit so it was easier to put blocks back in about the same place and achieve approximately the same spread from initial measurements.

Below are two pictures of the same bow. The left picture is the original hull shape and the right picture after foam blocks are inserted. You may not see it but there is up to 20mm more width in several places.

Hull Measurements to aim for

Below is a table which shows the original measurements and the new measurements I am aiming for. The new measurements were taken from a Windrush Yachts made Tornado hull which is close to the Marstrom hull in the bow shape.

Note! The measurements 100mm below deck are slightly larger without a deck on as the deck will be pulled in slightly. The image left shows how much the deck has sprayed without any bracing. You will notice that the front 200mm has been cut to allow the front piece of the deck to open up as well.  So after pulling the deck in I should have similar measurements 100mm down as the Windrush hull. I believe the Marstrom is only slight bigger in a few spots than the Windrush hull.

Note!  These modifications do not change the boat's specifications for meeting class measurement requirements as the first template is measured at or near the first bulkhead which is directly in line with the front jib hound fitting.  There is no template that measures forward of this fitting.  The modified hull will be tested against this template to confirm this.

Glue and Glass blocks

Glue and glass the blocks in place. The pictures do not show one more block at the top inside the bow tip.

Rebuild The Deck Flanges

Since I didn't quite get the deck cut process perfect I needed to rebuild the deck flange on the port hull and also strengthen the starboard hull deck flange. After splitting the deck at the bow it was obvious that the deck needed to be pulled in a little so I used some maranti to make a deck brace and some melamine to make a straight edge for the flange.  I used a hot glue gun and I was amazed how quickly you can build the frame.  Easy to change if you don't quite get the frame right the first time.

The new flange was made using two layers of chopped strand glass, each piece approx 100mm wide and 250mm long and polyester resin.

Add Additional Brace

One last thing before putting the deck back on is adding an adiitional brace in the bow. I wasn't happy with the softness of the front bow section.  One other thing you may have noticed is the older hulls have a tendency to get a little bow flex when sailing with the kite in 15 knots or more.  This changes the luff curve of the kite and can't be good for downwind drive.  So I decided that I would add additional bracing in the bow that should stiffen the bow and reduce any bow flex that occurs from the front bridle forward. At least this way the only place the bow will be flexing is aft of the bridle. I used some 8mm foam sheet with a layer of 200 glass cloth for both sides.  I glassed the bottom side before glueing in and layed the glass on the top with a 50mm overlay. Below are pictures of the brace before glassing. Don't forget to drill a hole in the lowest point of the brace after this has cured to allow for any water to drain should water get into this part of the boat when the boat is capsized.

Glueing the deck back on

Glueing the deck on is about getting profile of the top of the deck on both hulls the same. It doesn't show it but I used the maranti frame again when doing this task and the final deck profile looks like the pictures below.

Because of the stresses that are loaded in the bow when sailing with the kite I decided it was a good idea to add some additional glass to the deck where the join was at the bridle and on one of the bows.

Now it's just a matter of some filling with Q-cell to take the woofs out of the hull and getting an even shape from bow to the bridle.

Repainting is complete.  The Job Done!

The boat is now resprayed and here is what it looks like. Much more fullness up high were it counts when nose diving, but still fine down on the waterline for upwind.

The Litmus Test

Now that I've done all the hard work, filling, high build, priming and painting the boat has finally made it back into the water.  Last weekend was the litmus test for the mods and we had the perfect weather to test whether all this hard work was going to pay off.  18 knots was forecast and the Freo Doctor didn't let us down.   The results ....

SIMPLY AMAZING!

I cannot describe the difference this modification has made to the boat's handling.  OK there were a few other things that I changed, namely a new front beam so that made the boat was a little stiffer, reset the front and rear beam, but what amazed me the most was how well the boat sailed downwind.  We did not nose dive once, nor did the boat feel like it wanted to nose dive when we hit pressure.  From what we had before to now was like sailing a different boat.  You could actually see the effect of the extra bouyancy in the bow  with the bow spray when driving downwind.  For those sceptics out there here is how the racing went.  At neddies (nyc.org.au) we now have a two race club day.  A three lap race to start with and then a two lap race to finish off.

The first race my crew and I hadn't sailed together since the Nationals in Darwin back in July so we were a little rusty but finished a credible third only about one minute behind the first boat, Paul Petersen on a Mastrom and 20-30 seconds behind Gavin Davies on another Mastrom. Two other Tornadoes finished behind both Mastroms.

The second race was a club start and we got off to a good start beating the others over the line and we didn't look back finishing first by at least a minute if not more.  Downwind we were driving hard and the boat felt just awesome.  I've recently sailed on two other Tornadoes both Windrush built Tornadoes with fuller noses than the older Reg White hull as a skipper and a crew as well as sailing on several Mastroms and I can honestly say the new mods made the boat feel and sail as good as any of those newer boats.

So the final answer.   JUST DO IT!

You will not regret the time and effort this mod will provide.

RECENT UPDATE.  28 March 2010 - My crew and I recently came third on this boat (AUS287) in the 2010 FGI Australian Tornado Nationals winning two of the ten races and I could have come 2nd, if not for some bad decisions in the last race.  View the results here. There were fifteen boats in total. AUS287 has a repaired carbon mast, 2 yr old Landenberger Main & Jib, 6 month old Landenberger spinnaker.  There were 5 Marstrom Tornadoes behind us.  So for those that think an old Reg White isn't competitive you've only got yourself to blame.  The Reg White boat is competitive with a little bit of work.

If you want any more info please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or mobile 0422 618 605.
Regards
Paul Raymond

This boat is now for sale as I've bought a newer boat to see if it's the boat or me making the difference.  See the advert here.