Thursday, December 04, 2008

Small parts

So I've got some more carbon home, and some foam for the next float half, and even some thin foam with which I will experiment on making some non-structural interior parts. I have unfortunately not been much at home myself lately but I have had amongst other things a week of good skiing in the Swiss Alps. I am still not home, but I might be able to build a little bit later this week. Maybe.

Anyway, I did work on a few of the small parts some time ago, haven't found time to publish anything though. I made the rudder mount web of two thinner foam pieces glued together with a 200g carbon in the center in order to provide stiffness to prevent "propelling" when bagging on a later stage. The bow web was made with thin carbon each side when glueing in the HD parts for the same reason. Also work on the rudder gudgeon core seen here.

Here the sheets being glued together on flat table under pressure.

The tube being mounted on the bow web.

Filled up around the tube with HD filler and kept in place with poor mans vacuum bag technique.

The finished "foam blanks" shaped and ready for further laminations:

Making the UD carbon reinforcements on the rudder gudgeons.

The gudgeons being glued to the web using an alignment tube, a spacing tube and a spacing piece of foam in order to achieve correct placement and alignement.

I also "shot" the bow bunk, but again trouble with my table (leaks) and I ordered a new sheet of melamine that supposedly arrived yesterday (dec 22) but as I am not at home I have obviously not been able to pick it up and fix the table. The bunk need repair or redoing. I'll be back as soon as possible.






Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Miscellaneous

I have been one week out of town, and I am out of carbon fabric, so the progress have been rather slow lately. I made the flange for the aft bunk though, Pretty tight corners parts of it.

I clamped the bunk mould in place after covering the exposed part with packaging tape and a wet lay up layer of peel ply
Then I squeezed/manipulated bog and tape down in the junction between hull and mould.

Removed mould after curing. Pretty good result in several areas;-)


This is the aft deck being fitted and glued in with bog.

Finished taping in the aft deck / swimstep.


This picture shows work on the bow web and rudder gudgeon cores

Monday, November 17, 2008

Overview pictures

Readers have contacted me telling me it is hard to understand what and where the different panels are in the actual boat, that it is hard to get an overview and understand what the boat will look like. I have tried to make a few pictures to help in that aspect. The pictures are rotated to make it easier to understand the finished boat layout and might not correspond to earlier pictures showing steps of the building process.

First, here is a picture of the port half seen from the aft. The roomy aft cabin is clearly visible, and the MDF piece illustrates the bunk. There will be access from the cockpit through a hatch in the aft cabin front bulkhead. Then the cockpit area is seen and the companionway cut out leading forward to the main cabin. The front bunk will rest on the two front bulkheads not divided in the mid line


Here the half boat seen from the bow:


This picture shows the boat "from above", the cabin roof ends and the cockpit starts just at the edge of the pillar at the right in this picture:



And this is the aft end of the boat, showing aft cabin roof and cockpit area. A swim step will be incorporated far right in the picture:



Here the cockpit area "from above and starboard". I dropped in a couple of panels to explain the cockpit. The extending bulkhead part is for alignment and will be removed after hull join. The decks will be cut back to be flush with the bulkheads.


Bulkheads part IX

Starts looking like a never ending story. What's left now in this hull half is making and installing the front bunk (need to get more carbon first), installing the main cabin bunks and making glue flanges for the aft bunk. Today I made an MDF aft bunk mould plate, I used it when glueing in the aft bunk bulkhead and it will later serve as a mould for the glueing flange and a cutting pattern for the actual panel (when more carbon is brought to Levanger).


Then I rounded down the corners at the attachments between cabin floor and aft cabin fwd bulkhead and cockpit floor and main bulkhead. Maybe not very illustrating pictures. Anyway, I finished the taping of all aft cabin and cockpit panels.


Saturday, November 15, 2008

Main hull bulkheads part VII (almost done)

I have had a few short visits in the workshop since the last posting, mainly forgot to bring the camera. First I infused another panel uneventfully. I was able to get the pictured panels out of it, note the recess in the aft cabin front bulkheads' outside allowing space for the UD reinforcements without the need to build up the rest of the panel with fairing compound.


Then I started to fit the aft cabin front bulkhead, and to my big surprise, as all parts have fitted surprisingly exactly, it took a lot of adjustments to make it fit. I probably had my cardboard pattern made from an early full size pattern, I have plans #11 and there have been a few updates, I might have missed one. Anyway, the part was too big, so no problems except an evening making a part fit, something builders should expect according to what I have learned from builders of anything but Farrier crafts. At last I had a perfect fit:


And from the cockpit side. I also used (and hence had to cut to perfect shape according to plans) the cockpit seat fronts and the cockpit seats in the process of ensuring correct alignment of this part:


Then, tonight I made this jig to ensure correct placement and angle of the transom (made also from the before mentioned panel):


And from the outside:


...before glueing the transom in using the common procedures of putty filling, tape and peel ply:


Transom:


I taped the aft cabin front bulkhead in on one side. These areas on the cockpit side:


...and the rest on the aft cabin side. The aft cabin seems to be quite roomy and comfortable, remember this is a 23 foot boat:


Finally, the aft bunk bulkhead was pre fitted to the hull and then I made flanges for the bunk taping (look my previous post on my thoughts on alternative approach to this step), laying down a layer of peel ply on a package tape prepared surface, then putty filling and tape covered with another layer of peel ply:

Monday, November 10, 2008

Cockpit floor and some more

I removed the peel ply in the cockpit floor attachment zone, leaving a clean textured surface ready for further lamination:


The floor, cut a bit oversized and trimmed back to fit (because of the angled attachment surface). Peel ply removed along the edge.


Rather than attaching with the hot glue gun I clamped it in place, also allowing for a little bit of hull shape adjustment:


Then I re infused the starboard main bulkhead


Before taping in the cockpit floor, leaving the underside for the next session


And the main bulkhead front side:


I need to make the aft cockpit front bulkhead, the aft bulkhead, the front bunk and the aft bunk before any significant further progress. I am not sure that I have enough carbon for all these panels, I am planning a shopping trip to Oslo on December 5th. I'm sure I will find something to do in the mean time anyway.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Even more on bulkheads

I have to apologize as I somehow messed up the white balance before these pictures were taken, and I was not able to "unblue" them totally without other losses.

The taping of the main and aft bulkheads. After correct position is established and double checked I start with tacking the bulkheads in using a hot glue gun:


Then laying down a generous putty filling, squeezing the epoxy in to the joint gap, if any:


Then taping in the bulkhead, using peel ply as a last layer and thus achieving a very smooth transition between the two parts. The main bulkhead:


The aft bulkhead, half the join between the two panels also made:


Then I discovered that after deciding on what model, re deciding and finally deciding on cruising cabin and aft cabin, there was one part I forgot to redo, the aft beam bulkhead. The cockpit floor is a little bit raised on the aft cabin model and my aft beam bulkhead was too big, made for the aft cockpit model. I had to cut back some of it:

Which also gave me the opportunity to check the bond between bulkhead and hull from the inside. Seems pretty comfortably solid:


And then I started to test fit the cockpit floor.




Thursday, November 06, 2008

More bulkheads

Eilert popped in to see the progress, and he tested all areas of the hull.


He was especially pleased to find that he fitted perfectly in the front bunk storage compartment


Then I had to tape the last pieces of the front bunk bulkheads, some of it in not so easy to access areas:


I moved on test fitting the aft cabin aft bulkhead(s)


And the main bulkhead. I was really impressed on how well this large part fitted, here it is just cut from the full size pattern and dropped in:


A detail of the fit, before any trimming. I really think Ian Farriers plans are of excellent quality, I have never seen any other boat plans but from what other builders tell this should not be possible:


And here it is trimmed to fit:


A day dreaming picture:


Then I had to take it out to back fill the drain opening. I also made a drain opening in the aft bunk bulkhead. I think I will make flanges on the top of this bulkhead, and then make a mould corresponding with the aft bunk outline and then make a flange along the hull. Then leave the bunk out and in one piece, leaving better access for hull taping and drop the bunk in place on the pre made flanges after hull join:


In the workshop atrium total chaos reside.....

Mast mould seen under the floats, top/bottom end visible