Wednesday, March 23, 2011

OK, short update

It turned out it was too tight in the workshop to do the final UD laminations along the side of the mast, and I didn't have appropriate 45/45 fabric to "wrap" the UD in, so the mast went on to the barn, waiting for better weather and more carbon.  The carbon arrived today, very nice stitched light carbon from Formax, but the weather is horrible.

As the workshop was cleared, I got the main hull back in.  So I trimmed and back filled the aft edge of the hull.  I put in a string of UD carbon in the fill, to make the overhang stiff.


I made an MDF daggerboard top dummy and got the final placement of the jib traveller, drilled for the four 6mm bolts and filled 25mm diameter holes with high density epoxy filler and circular carbon fibre.

I decided the position to take out the continuous furling line for the jib, and made a hole in the hull side.  Back filled edges.


Backfilled the edges of the coaming access holes.

Then I started applying fairing compound. The main issue now is the weather.  The wind has been so heavy lately that it is not possible to heat the workshop.  The heater bacfires and fill the workshop with smoke in the gusts, also tearing pieces of buildings off and overturning large trees.  Guess it has to stop some time.  And on Saturday my hired help will join in and hopefully get some progress on the fairing.


Friday, March 11, 2011

I have a mast!

Still not finished of course, but at least now it's in one piece.  Here's a summary of what happened the last few days.

The picture of the tube for electrical wiring (anchor light, VHF antenna, maybe wired instruments; I was thinking Tacktick, but inquiries to the factory, the importer and the dealer in Norway, British and American dealers as well as people fitting out carbon sports boats with the system have left me with none answers to the question: Does it work in a carbon boat?)


Mast socket plate with cheek block for main halyard fitted in aft mast half.  Centre web fitted to the cup containment area. A pilot halyard was threaded before glue join.


The probable profile of the lower part of the mast


The shroud attachment tube seen inside forward mast half


The lower centre web being glued to the aft mast half, using the front half as a pressure distributor when compressing with straps.  At the same time I dry fitted the upper part and glued the two front half parts together with microfibre saturated epoxy in the gap and a couple of patches on the outside.


The inside lamination on the front half join heat curing while upper centre web is prepared for glueing


The upper centre web glued in place, compressed as the lower one.


For those interested in the details: The cut off from lower part of the front half, showing the profile, the pre formed flange and the recess for unidirectional fibres as well as foam in low curvature areas in order to improve panel stiffness and avoid buckling under compression.


Centre web prepared with microfibre saturated epoxy for joining, and the forward half with pilot halyards threaded.  Ready for joining.


Joined.  Compression.  One problem arose; the two halves are not totally rigid, and being unable to get inside to expand the profile at the join, the front half ended a few mm narrower over parts of the mast.  This means the bed for the UD will not have a totally even surface, and the exterior will need some fairing to leave a smooth shape.


The shroud tube openings beveled.  I laminated with a light carbon/kevlar hybrid to maximize chafe resistance, then inflated two balloons inside to keep it tight while curing.


I will spend a considerable amount of time working this week end, but hopefully I'll be able to remove the mast and get on with the hull during the week end. I have to pray for a couple of days with weather good enough to finish the mast without the heater running, as it is just too tight to get the rest done in the workshop.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

A few steps forward

The mast socket plate is very soon ready for mounting.  Shown with pre made flanges for centre web connection and main halyard hardware.


I glued in a tube for electrical wiring in the aft mast half.  Forgot to take a picture.

The trough tube for shroud fitting has been fitted and laminated on the inside.  I need to back fill foam, bevel edges and laminate the outside.


The flanges for aft half to centre web join have been trimmed and sanded.  This allowed me to test fit the centre web pieces and then the front half pieces.  The front pieces have been trimmed to fit each other in the joining area at spreader position.  The workshop is smaller than the mast and does not allow for good photo positions, here one shot trough the door and one along the mast.


Friday, March 04, 2011

Slow progress, unfortunately

As I still have obligations to my employer, I could not proceed any longer at the same pace, I have had to work some as well this last week.  Several short visits in the workshop have however brought the mast a bit closer to completion.  I had hoped that I could start the fairing this week end, but it has to wait another week it seems.  I have, however, put some decent pressure on my self as I have made agreement to meet the sailmaker for rigging and testsailing on June 6th.

The rest of the tangs trimmed.


Mounted.  Kept in place by gravity.  From right (down) to left (top) the tangs are for jib, optional backup forestay, genoa, screecher and spinnaker.


The mast base plate have been built up by wet lay up and vacuum bagging to a total of 10mm thickness of massive carbon.