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[GoldenRivet]

Hi All,
Looking to get back into the hobby after some time away. I've been given a large fibreglass hull of a motor cruiser to get me going and was wondering where is the best place to start, I've not worked with a hull from this point before as I've always made kits. Do I cut the portholes? do I get a bit of marine ply and roughly cut a deck shape out or do I need to put things to hold the deck in?

Do I go for the running gear first? It'll probably be a build over a few years so I'd rather not get all the electrics in right now if I can avoid it as they'll just be sat there doing nothing for that time when I could use the money for more building supplies.
Struggling to work out where to tackle it to build a good solid model that'll last.

[Perkasaman2]

Its best to first build a stand profiled to your hull shape to keep the moulding square and straight aligned while you work on it. Trim cardboard to make templates for your stand uprights and get the accurate shape cross section of the hull. The top edges of the hull should sit more or less level and horizontal. A careful stand build is essential for all future measuring marking and trimming of the hull.

[radiojoe]

As Perkasaman said the stand defo first after that is running gear, bulkheads, deck bearers. deck, after that you have a base to build whatever superstructure you want, that's the sequence I do anyway if the running gear is there for a long time it won't come to any harm, obviously you don't need to fit a battery yet just earmark a place for it, it's easier to fit bulkheads over things like prop shafts rather than fitting the shafts though them, as I said this is just my opinion others may well do it differently.


Joe

[GoldenRivet]

Thanks guys i'll look at making the stand first then get the electrics bought.