I laminated the anchor well hatch the other day. Sanded it undersize about a mm to allow for the carbon.  Then I laminated using "B" equivalent carbon covering the top and sides and then covered the top using the hybrid.  I made a passage for the anchor rope to be able to close the hatch and leave the dead end in the well when anchored.  I haven't yet found a satisfying piece of hardware to lock the hatch. Any advise is welcome.

I filled all the foam joins and trimmed the corners and transitions between deck an sides on the pop top

Then the pop top was covered with "A" equivalent carbon

And then the finishing hybrid layer, peel ply, release film and bleeder before I pulled it all well together with that good old vacuum pump.  I placed the top in the heat to decrease viscosity of the epoxy for optimal wet out before it kicks in.

 

Pop top continued

I made up the mold for the front end of the pop top using a piece of a flexible cabinet backing plate covered in packaging tape and four pieces of MDF attached to the table.  Rounded the corners using pieces of tape.

 Here is a close up of the front end inside laminate

Here the HD inserts for tracks being glued in

Test fitting the untrimmed and unlaminated pop top:

I also trimmed the anchor well hatch to make it ready for external lamination

Fairing the pop top and laminating these pieces will be next on the list.  Meanwhile, I have started to prepare a workshop at home, as the progress is suffering tremendously as I rarely can leave home for extended periods with a new baby (and tired wife) at home. I will hopefully be able to work on the rest of the smaller parts in this workshop.  I don't think I will get the molds for the foils however, as it has taken about a year now, and I have to start building soon...

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Sailing a schooner and visit from a good sailing friend

Last weekend I went to Haugesund to celebrate my friend Erik's 40th birthday.  Lots of old friends showed up from all over Europe, and Erik's girlfriend, who arranged the party without Erik's knowledge, had rented the 70 ft schooner Valentine for us to stay in.  We also got to take her out for a sail.





We had great day with sunny weather and 20 - 25 knots of breeze and this picture is from the end of the day, packing the headsails.  I'm on the "Klyver", the equivalent of which will be the screacher on the F-22.  It was great sailing a schooner again for the first time in more than 21 years!


This weekend Erik came to visit me and to take part in the building.  We almost finished the main hull exterior laminations, leaving only the front beam bulkhead reinforcements.  Here I'm working on the bag for the starboard underwing area.


Erik posing in front of the pulling bag.  We laminated the port side the day before, but didn't take any pictures of that.


After some hours high temp curing we rolled the hull and supported it temporarily.  Then spent a few hours discussing interior solutions, and we found out that the RM69 head will probably fit, but the holding tank will not.  I'll probably make a custom tank to fit just in front of the head.


Then we started making the pop top.  Erik prepared the the cabin deck cut out and fitted the required foam extensions to achieve the correct size while I put together a mould for the sides, and then I had to bring Erik to the airport for his return flight.  A very nice weekend indeed!


I sneak back in the workshop this evening to finish the inside lamination of the aft end and the sides.  The front end have complex curves and I chose to leave the adaptation of that mould part to a separate session when the rest of the hatch is rigid.

Laminating main hull part 416

The aft part of the port under wing area is laminated. It's just the middle part and the bag left on this side, postponed due to a bad bag experience lately....


Recess for the external safety compartment hatch, has to be incorporated in the last laminate on this side somehow.


Starboard under wing area is almost fair enough for lamination


I laminated the bow area last night building it up with several layers of carbon under the hybrid cover. It will be very beefy. I hope I will never know how big floating lumber it takes to break it.


At last today a teaser for the true sailing nerds: I've decided to make my own carbon wing mast in the moulds used years ago for the Formula 28 trimaran Mirage. It is kind of funny to see how all the boats on Derek's Trimaran cool blog have this kind of mast. I received some cut off's of Mirage's mast today from the designer and builder Per Ferskaug. Quite impressing to actually see the dimensions of this air foil, chord 57 cm (22") with 19 cm (7½"). The picture shows the middle part of the spreaderless mast, as seen in the video it tapers towards the ends. The challenge is to build this mast without a weight penalty, as the aerodynamic properties are superior, and the absence of spreaders a very tempting property. Carbon comes in all kinds of qualities, and ditto pricing. I'm currently investigating trough Silas Spence how we're going to do it using Toray's M46JB fibres which are kind of middle of the pack in High Modulus fibres, being ~90% stiffer and ~20% stronger than the regular commercial fibres that I use in the hull which in turn approximately doubles the properties of regular E-glass.


I'll be "out of office" for a week now, due to a work related out of town intermission. I'll probably be able to go sailing a schooner as well....

Sailing. And some more building

Staale and I sailed Frimann from Levanger to Trondheim last Sunday. Reasonably nice weather, not freezing temperatures and we managed the whole trip on one port tack, starting with a double slotting reach in light air, ending double reefed and close hauled in 20+ knots on the nose and rough chop. Best possible medicine!!! No pictures due to technical problems with the bluetooth interface, I am sorry. This was the first time we rigged a sprit (klyverbom) on Frimann, and we flew the symmetrical spinnaker from the pole. Not optimal, but still very effective in the light conditions, sailing 8 - 10 knots in Beaufort 3-4.

Yesterday I managed to laminate parts of the deck-hull transition in the bow area, and today I flipped the hull to start preparing the underwing area of the hull. It is just these areas and the bow cap left now before the hull is laminated.


Quite a bit of fairing was needed to make this area fair. Rigid sanding board with 40 grit paper shown. I am not sure how big radius I want on the edge here, maybe a bit bigger than this.


An upside down 'portrait' of the main hull

Busy month not building a boat

It has been really difficult to find time for boat building lately, a total of 8 hours I guess in October so far. This does not allow for much progress. But last week end my friend Dag (happy birthday, Dag!) and his daughter came up from Oslo to visit, and we were able to get a couple of nights in the workshop as well. The first night we laminated the starboard side and bagged it. 3 hours work, and a perfect result.


The next day we rolled the hull, Dag took a picture of the proud boat builder, and we started the cabin sides.


Routing for flush mounted Lexan windows.


Then the side was faired and we wet laminated an 'A' equivalent carbon fabric from the gunwale to cabin top. As I started struggling with the vacuum bag Dag finished the port window routing:


Still problems with the bag. A leak trough the hull, we were able to locate it quite exactly, but not able to stop it. It was outside the laminated area so we just took the vacuum we had (10% or so) and drank a few beers in stead.


The bag pulling just enough to avoid bubble trouble.


This last week have been another 60 hour working feast despite my current 20% leave, and now they want to close down our hospital as well. I need to go sailing, and will do so tomorrow. Tonight I managed to drop by in the workshop and laminate the other cabin side. I didn't even bother to try get a vacuum for this side. Thorough wet out of the foam and steady temp will make it, I hope.

Evaluation and preparations

When the bag was removed, this laminate was revealed. Seems like a very good result. And the hull feels very stiff. I'm happy.


I turned the hull over. This was done single handed with little effort. The hull is still very light.


A couple of hours with the longboard later. Note the rebate for fabric overlap. I have tried to feather the hybrid along the keel line with moderate success. No wonder they use aramid (Kevlar®) for helmets and bullet proof wests as fairing this stuff is harder than fighting wind mills. In the background, by the broom, a nice pile of Divinycell debris.


Aft ship


Under water hull shape