Saturday, December 04, 2010

New plans. Finishing floats, bow pole, rudder case, rudder. Back to the mast

November is over, leaving the memories of the coldest November recorded in more than 270 years, with the highest energy prices recorded ever.  And December starts out just a bit colder. BRRRR!!! And $$$ keeping the workshop heated.

The main hull is still left out in the cold. I decided it was better to not remove parts from the workshop before they were finished now.  I've been building for four and a half years now, and not finished one single part yet! That is soon to be changed. 

 Port float deck first round of hibuild primer

 Starboard float outside, first round of hibuild primer sanded.

 Starboard float deck massive inserts and ventilation hole made.

 Port float inside: The June 2008 epoxy coating is now sanded, ready for hibuild primer

Starboard float starting to apply hibuild primer to deck area.

I made the holes for the rudder rope handle.  Holes lined with pieces of PVC tube.  Then one side was smoothed and faired.

Holes with lining, aramid reinforcement and some filler applied at the transition from reinforcement fabric.  The downside of using aramid (Kevlar(R)) clearly visible at the upper right corner, one touch with the sanding board and the hair rises.

 Filled (super thin), faired and covered with hibuild primer.

Detail of board head

I finished off the filling and fairing of the carbon fibre bow pole.  It was a bit uneven outer surface due to the malfunctioning heat shrinking tube I was using, and hence not perfect but hey, it's not a piano, it's a bow pole!

 Now covered with hibuild primer

Detail of my custom carbon anchors for screacher tack and bob stay.

And also working on the rudder case.

 Glueing up the blank for the tiller stub from rudder foam cut outs.

 Shaping the tiller stub foam

 Final shaping with trial fitting.

The laminated tiller stub trial fit.  Still to be glued and laminated to the case.  Cut outs in case for hinges still not finished. Then mods for accepting the tiller has to be made to the stub.

I've had some slack these days, hence some progress.  I will work a lot again, starting this morning at 0700.  It will be a challenge to find time for the boat in between things the next few weeks, and then it's Christmas.

2 comments:

Andrew said...

Tor --

Enjoying following your great progress!

Could you comment on your paint and technique?

Andrew

Tor Rabe said...

Thank you Andrew!

I will be using the Jotun Yachting system. I'm currently using the SP-system hibuild 302, but this is discontinued, so I will switch to the Jotun Epoxy Yacht HB when I run out of it. I'm using roller for the HB, I tried to use a brush for smoothing (roll and tip) but had little success so I just roll. Then I will fair with 240 grit and apply another coat of HB. This is how I will deliver the parts to the painter. He is supposed to sand down, spray with Jotun Speed Undercoat, a two pack polyurethane primer, sand and then spray two layers of Jotun Topgloss. I will use Jotun Antipest under the waterline on the main hull, and probably VC17m Extra.