FoilWRX Moth Concept

My tapes are finally turning out nice.

2011-05-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

I know I should be sticking crap in boxes, but instead I stayed up late/woke up early to tape off the foredeck and bond a couple of deck mount stringers into the hull. I'm not going to find the time today to bag off and bond in the rackmounts, but oh well.

4 more stringers and the crewdeck can go on. Then I will technically have a boat...

I would also like to thank Gui for coming on as my boatbuilding lifecoach, lord knows I need one.

But for now I'm off to the new digs to clean the carpets.

squeezin' it in.

2011-05-18T21:47:00.000-07:00

Found a second to bog in the bow lid. Maybe Friday I can do a little more. Hope to stringer out the rest of the hull and bag off some Coosa Core plates for my rack supports.

on hold again......

2011-05-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

But I'm going to try getting some boat building in while we move. Yup, thats right, do to some health problems my wife has been having we are being forced to move again. 3rd house in 3 years, the saga of the mobile moth shop strikes again. Its a wonder I get any building done at all. But its not all bad, we found a nice house out in the country with a big insulated shop perfect for boat building, its got 220v and everything. The neighbor has a spray booth, and the dinghy park at Union is now just 5 minutes away instead of 35. I was pretty upset we were going to move again, but now I'm pretty stoked with the new digs. I have been working on stuff, so here's the pics.

foredeck strut is bonded and taped, there is a Coosa core compression pad on the bulkhead end, there are also some little stringers to bond the deck extension to.

Mast step, bonded and taped, thats a carbon wrapped Coosa pad on top.

The foilcase is ready to go. Used a couple three layers of 200g uni to stiffen the top a bit. after the deck goes on I'll finish it off with a couple more layers of biax tape.

Uni-ed over the gantry points. and taped up the lister lever thingy.

Turned out good. Nice and stiff and tied to both inner and outer skins.

I also bonded and taped the transom with 200g uni.

I hope to find a little time to make and bond my rack attachment points, bond my deck stringers, and get the lid on this thing before I have to put it away for a couple weekends.

** If anyone wants my tooling I'm giving it away. It was a great learning experience, and was a great way to grab a bunch of skills for future use, but I'm not moving them again and I would hate to see them go in the trash.** (need to start making room for something else)

Getting there

2011-04-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

Cooked off some more parts today. From left to right: Foil case frames, mast base strut and pad, and lower gantry attachment/transom support.

Fits all snug, next weekend bond and tape.

(hope I did the lister lever thing right)

Hope to bond and tape up the stern area as well.

Stay tuned......

Rocky Mountain Homebuilders summit.......

2011-04-17T18:58:00.004-07:00

No boat building this past weekend because I've been in Salt Lake visiting family, But I was able to fit some moth related side notes to the trip. While I was in the area I found a little time to go check out Geoff Hurwitch's Chinchilla Build in Park City. It was really nice to see someone else's boat and hang out talking about high altitude boat building. Unfortunately I had to make it back to town for a birthday party or I could have talked until horse. hope to return the favour someday soon.

I haven't been blogging, but I have been spending some time in the shop, so prepare for a "boatload" of pics.

Made and installed my version of a"Beaver Box" foil case. Not the simplest thing, but it gives limitless foil options without having to rip form fitting case's out every time.

For structural reasons I have decided to take the deck all the way to the bow. Here is the deck extension under bag. I layed it up on the crewdeck mould so I could match the existing curve.

foam cut for the case support. hope to bag it this week.

My foredeck strut under bag and cooking off.

Installed. This strut is seriously strong, but lighter than a carbon tube.

I ended up cutting off the bow foam again and replacing it after a freak accident involving the previous bow foam and my knee..

I used the redo as a chance to squeeze the bow together at the top to increase my wavepiercing shape. I have also bonded in a nice chunk of carbon plate and a bit of uni tube for the forestay attachment.

a little quickfair (needs more)

here you can see the full piercing effect. (pre-carbon and compound)

Bonding 1/4'' carbon plate for the Gantry attachment.

More to come.

Bondage

2011-03-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

I have now worked on the boat for two weekends in a row, that must be a record ...

Something about boat building reminds me of elementary school art class, at least no one is trying to eat my paste. A little fillet job.

2'' biax tape, and into the oven it goes.

A little rough on the tape job, looks a little ugly. (I miss prepregs.....)

Also taped up the back of the bow. I would love to get back to it today, but I think the wife would have something to say about it. And on that note, thanks baby for cooking dinner on my night so I could stay in the shop and finish up......

Objects in motion......

2011-02-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

Woke up, had coffee and out to the shop. Bagged the foredeck 3k, +/- 45. Tried a pinhole work around that turned out pretty good.

Before I put on my peel ply I squeegeed a layer of fairing compound onto it and let it set up to a tack. Then I rollered it onto the wet laminate. It did a decent job of filling pinholes.

One step closer, waiting for some structure. I'm suprised, besides the peelply finish the foredeck looks like it could have come from a female mould.

Laid up, and cooked off the structure pieces I worked on yesterday. Rounded the edges and then envelope bagged them. (0/90 one side, +/- 45 the other.) cut off all the rifraff with an angle grider and file.

i remember........

2011-02-26T17:05:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up and remembered that I have half a boat in my garage. So I made some coffee and went to have a look. It was one of those 60deg f days Colorado gets sometimes in the winter. Started making and fitting my internel structure. If its nice again tomorrow maybe I'll get some stuff bagged.

back in the mac-hine...

2010-12-06T00:24:00.000-08:00

So I'm back in Rhino, finalizing my design. I made this picture deal in photoshop. I think it does a pretty good job of showing how much "sculpting" I've done. The top is my new moth hull, (280mm freeboard) and the bottom is the original Sr-71 hullshape. I guess a lot can change in 2 years..........

Set it and forget it....

2010-11-28T23:41:00.000-08:00

In some parts of the world it gets cold during the winter. Well its started here, been in the 20's f at night. Needless to say epoxy isn't a fan of cold, so before I can really go any further a heater box is in order. My old one fell apart in the move, so I built a new one and stuck some light-bulbs in it (it got me through the summer), but at these temps and with the slow and medium epoxy I use, more heat is necessary. I started out by sticking my jet heater into the box, but even on low it was way to hot (350 melt foam hot) and it eats propane, so wouldn't be something I would want to use very often. Needed to try something else. I thought 185f would be a decent temp to hone in on, and I really want some good convection for when I start messing with LTM prepregs. I figured space heaters would be a good way of getting there.

Cheap Gonzo Convection Oven:

Step 1: Steal the guts out of a couple 1500w heaters.

step 2: bypass the low temp thermostat and install in a capped 8'' to 7'' reducer, cut some vents in the cap and rig a little switch box.

*note. don't bypass the high/low switch, because in the summer you'll want to use the low setting since the fresh air intake temp will be higher.

Step 3: Install the heaters in the cure box, then install a "T" in the middle of the box and stretch some flex duct over to the heaters. Don't cover the intake more than 1/2 way or you'll run too hot (keep it below 200f) hotter and you'll blow up the fan motor, which will spike the heater coil, which will melt all the wiring. (don't ask me how I know....... I ran it at 230f for about 1/2 an hour, then the fan went and bad, smelly things started to happen. Lucky they are cheap little heaters)

I'll be cookin this weekend.

It ran great and stayed between 185 and 190 (measured at the exhaust T) for 6 hours. Seems to be working. So that's how I made a 14ft convection oven for less than $200.

****yes, I know exhaust is spelled wrong on the drawing. My spelling is terrible.

boatwork for reals yall.......

2010-11-23T02:01:00.001-08:00

If i would have known switching this project to a moth was going to make it actually start going together I would have cut it up a lot sooner. Its Soooooo nice to be out in the shop (with a heater) instead of screwing off in the vertual world of rhino 3d.....

Bonded in and shaped the foam for the bow, and chopped the foredeck. Sexy no?

The bow......still needs a little shaping, then carbon and fairing. (I've always been a sucker for Dreadnought bows.)

Another one from the back. That little heater pumps out 80,000 btu's, Next time I do lay up I'm going to cut a hole in the side of the heater box and blast that little fella, should make my pump times a lot shorter.

lookin like a boat.

2010-11-21T21:18:00.000-08:00

I chopped off some more freeboard, The stem is now 30mm and the stern is about 18cm. The hull is just so wide back there that I almost felt I needed to.

I also chopped the deck down so that it fits the hull. The white strips are the bits I took off the sides today. I'm now down to about 1/2 the boat I had before, and couldn't be happier.

The pimp stern. I will need to carve the foam out of the gantry anchor points and replace it with quarter inch carbon plate.

Moving along now.

A little off the top

2010-11-14T15:11:00.001-08:00

There is nothing you can't do if you have a laser level and a tile cutter.... I'm fully in the pool.

I went a little conservative on the freeboard. 300mm at the stem and 220mm at the stern. I now have about 1/3rd less boat than before, I was originally going to cut the stern height down to minimum volume, but then ran into issues with gantry tube lengths and attachment points.

The Boat has been renamed "The Gonzo Sled"

Whole new world

2010-10-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

So obviously my hull shell and decks need a full chop all around to measure as a moth, So I've started that process. I think it looks pretty cool. Here's some new dims.

Length: 3350mm (of course)
Beam: 380mm (Pretty wide, so I'm going to try to make up for it in freeboard......)
Stem Height: 260mm (see, short, I almost think I could go with even less)
Stern Height: 182mm (Is this an IC?)
Stern Width: 282mm (nope, its a skiff)

All my appendage placement should be pretty standard. Rig is standard pocket luff for now. (if anyone is trying to off a mast or boom I'm interested.)

Still have to settle on a shape for the bow and stern, wingmounts should be straight forward Ninja style tubes.

If anyone has any thoughts or idea's let me know.

really....

2010-10-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

Enough with the emails. I'm killing the trapfoiler concept. Until I can get down to working one full time job (instead of 2) I just don't have the time to give to something so involved right now. I hope to get back to it sometime down the line if the need arises. Time spent developing moths and moth bits will only add to it down the line. Knowing how to sail a foiler might be a better place to jump from as opposed to ground zero with nothing but brain teaser concepts to work with. On the plus side, I might be able to get to sailing some time this century. After seeing a moth in the flesh(damn you Eric) it seems to me that learning to sail one of those will be hard enough without all the added complexity of developing a new foil system, rig and sail. After watching the local wind patterns for the last 2 years I have concluded that a trapeze in Colorado is super duper overkill, I'll be lucky to get up and foiling most days. I originally planned to relocate to a more wind friendly place (read Portland OR) where I could take advantage of the trapeze, but that's no longer in the cards for now.There are some development opportunities I have for the moth that are just more interesting to me than bumping around in the dark with this thing for the foreseeable future.

Rail on, or don't.

-The Reluctant Mothie

going rogue.....but not really at all.

2010-10-27T02:02:00.000-07:00

This is going to be the silliest shit I ever write on here.........This guy (Eric Nelson) moved to town and brought his moth. I went to Union Reservoir on Sunday to check it out (just lookin, ya know). I shouldn't have done that. Hydrofoil Sailing is even cooler than I had imagined. I sat there for a couple hours just watching. Then I came home and started figuring out how to chop my boat to fit moth rules.( something I've been fighting internally since the beginning). Now it's inevitable. Something I never thought would happen is happening. Moths are coming to Colorado. There is some talk, and defiantly some interest. Now its one thing when your a lone wingnut on a mountaintop who's going to develop this wacky idea out of pure isolation. nothing to do but get quotes and things for custom one off parts and masts and sails. (Making a one off boat is a pain in the ass). Its something all together different to have to watch other people race some pretty cool boats against each other with standard parts and kit all available and such, while your still getting quotes. Combine that with the supertech arms race that's going on in the class.... I need in. I'm sorry to anyone who thought this thing had legs, maybe someday. Right now I just want to get sailing. All you crazy SA moth legends "you told me so" I should have listened. More to come, I'm working on it. the cut down hull shape is super wacky. Anyone who read my thread on SA about wider low freeboard hullshapes won't be surprised, that thread was the beginning of this move. Have at it. Onward and upward.........

Damn coke badger

2010-10-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

Today while fairing I was unceremoniously attacked by the Coke Badger. Will someone please tell him that Quickfair is different than Peruvian flake.......

I spent the morning pleading with the gods of fluid dynamics to look away just this once, but in the end went out to the shop, put on the tyvec and mask, papered the longboard and went after it. Things are "shaping" up (pun intended) and the outside is starting to look all smooth and pretty like the inside. Still have a ways to go though.

a few more....

2010-09-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

Just a few more pics of what I did this after noon. Wow 2 bloog posts in one day, must be sick or something.

A rough trim to see what I've got. I have room to trim a bunch more off the gunwales. Since I'm using a tramp now (lots of thought in that one, just stopped fighting the reality that I will be doing a ton of light air "non trap mode" sailing here), I'm probably going to take another 5" off the overall beam.

All my bulkhead and frame templates fit, so that's cool. have to work on the new transom and foil case templates.

Not sure of my shell weight. My scale only goes to 11lbs and I'm pretty sure I'm over that, but my nine year old says its pretty light. Have a scuff and bog session planned for tomorrow, might even get some fairing in depending on the temps.

I got a 29er for training.

2010-09-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Oh..wait..wrong picture. I meant this one.

For those who haven't tried singletracking on one of these 29inch wheeled bigfoots I highly recommend giving it a go. Rolls over everything, climbs like a mountaingoat, and corners like a shifterkart.

Here is the pile of carbon I pulled off the boat after the first attempt at bagging on the hulls outer skin. I tried a new really aggressive peel ply without doing a sample. (***note. don't ever just believe the materials data sheet***) anyway, to make a long story short. The resin uptake on the new stuff was just enough to suck most of my bonding layer out from between the foam and the skin. Nice foam coat, nice cloth wet out, nothing left to bond the two together. But a really nice peelply finish.......

Time for attempt #2. This is Conner, a local "science kid" who wanted to fill his brain and get his hands sticky so he can finish the glass/ply johnboat in his garage and start making carbon bits for his high school robot competition. He came over to help and get his "carbon monkey" started. I think he had fun, it was nice having another set of hands.

Popping went fairly easy, just came right off with the help of a couple big wedges. (I love Freecoat, best release system out there) I had flashbreaker taped my trimline. When I pulled the tape off the tool it also brought up some of the duratech with it in spots. Oh well, it can be patched if I ever use these tools again for some reason. The inside looks awesome, the ouside needs some work. I'll never use male tools again, but they were good learning system for a first go.

Needs to be trimmed and scuffed so I can slap on a couple layers of quickfair.

just need to bag the foredeck and some flatplate, make and bond a bow piece, and then the real fun begins.....

yup

2010-09-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

So this is high density core replacement I've been using. Good stuff. All the same compression characteristics of ply but at half the weight and no rotting.

I sanded out some 1/16'' x 1'' grooves where my seams overlap, easier to fair a depression than a high spot. (technique stolen directly from Chris Mass.....thanks)

If you look close you can see where I put in the through plate for the foil case. Took some 1/8'' Coosa foam and bonded it into the channel I routed out. I backed it with 2 layers of 3k per side, should be nice and strong down there now.

Pumps running and I'm going to bed. Can't wait to pop it tomorrow and see what I got. Its like Xmas. Now if my quickfair would show up.

roto what?

2010-09-03T22:12:00.001-07:00

Stuck far from the boat until Monday so figured I'd catch up on my bloogin. Earlier in week while waiting for a batch of bog to hit, I figured I would trim some of the parts I've been putting off. Got out the Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel and started going to town......and blew it up. It was off to the hardware store to pick up another one. I blow up a Dremel every couple years, so I pretty much expect it. I was thinking about just getting a new angle grinder and a trim router to replace it so that I wouldn't be going to get another one next year.....anyway, I ran into the Rotozip which came in a router/cutting disk combo pack. Its always the motor that goes, and this one has a big, speed controled motor with replaceable brushs so I figured what the hell. Bought the combo kit and one of the diamond edged tile disks and went back to the shop to try it out.

The cutter worked great, went through everything like butter. It even left a nice clean cut on the hybrid, which usually ends up all hairy like kevlar. I did find the disk housing/guard a little cumbersome. It tended to get in the way a lot. Luckily it comes off.

The Roto also comes with a router base/jigsaw handle. I used it to route a spot in the bottom of the hull where the foil case comes through. I plan to bond in a piece of carbon plate as core replacement. The Rotozip worked like a champ, the base isn't that precise, but I'm thinking of milling a nice aluminum one up for precision work. I also tried the spiral cutter on some foam cored test plates I had around. Grease lightning. Should come in real handy when I'm cutting out bulkheads and the internal structure.

And on the actual build front....the foam is fared and ready for carbon. Monday when I get back home....I promise. I've also been reworking the design, so I'll be posting some of that here soon as well.

coming along

2010-08-24T10:05:00.001-07:00

Still fairing, but I think its looking pretty good. I'm enjoying the artsy aspect of foam shaping. You can really get into the soul of the form.

smack my bottom

2010-08-21T22:47:00.001-07:00

Ran home from work Thursday night and bagged the bottom core. Not nearly as much of a chore as doing the sides. Cut to shape, vacuum the dust off, roller some epoxy onto the foam and the surface, squeeze some bog into the corners frosting bag style, put in the panels, cover with peel ply, and slam it.

I woke up early this morning ready to go. Trimmed the sides to match the bottom and started fairing. I love foam dust, I like how it stays put and doesn't get everywhere.........(or not)

After Dinner I went out and filled the gaps and seams, tomorrow I can fair the sides. If I'm feeling ambitious (and blow off mowing the yard) I might throw the outer skin on.

More to come.......

Pumped

2010-08-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

I finally had a chance to get my old pump running, it holds full vac, but leaks oil like a no ones business. Anyway, was able to do a run, I just had to add oil every hour so that the pump didn't run dry. That meant staying up all night instead of going to bed. Whatever, sleep is over rated anyway.

0/45 Biax 3k carbon layer with some reinforcements in key load area's.

Then the M80 foam core, finally figured out an easy way to thermoform it, though next time I'll be doing it a little different so that my darts don't open up so much. I was happy to use the 4x2 sheets of foam this time because they were a sample (free) but next time I will defiantly use the big sheets so that I don't have to try to keep so many parts in place while I suck the bag down.

It went pretty well, I found it almost imposable to thermoform the 2x4 sheets in one piece, so I cut 12 inch long slits every 12 inches and formed them one flap at a time.

Overall I'm happy with how it turned out. I learned a lot and found some things I will do different next time. I'll worry about weight savings and under engineering on the next one, as a starter boat this ones going to take a beating.

Carnage

2010-07-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Was doing a dry run on the big mould last night with my foam to check to make sure my contours were right, and to see what problems I might run into. Well, everything went well and I'm confident that my process is good. (I only have enough foam for one hull, so I can't be too careful.) Anyway, about 10 minutes in. (I was just starting to do some overbag heat gunning to get the Final bits of foam to seat right.) My pump makes a loud bang, then goes quiet. F@@Ked. I try to fire it back up. No go. the motor just goes wer wer wer. so I take off the motor, run it . its fine. Try to spin the rotary spindle. Seized. I spent until the wee hours this morning taking it apart. I did get the spindle to spin again and the pump put back together, but it clicks really loud now, and doesn't pull very much vac. I'm not sending it in for a rebuild ($$$$) and I cant trust it so....
Instead of laying up the hull today, I'm fixing up my backup pump ("The Dinosaur", an Edwards Supervac 250, built in the late 60's) maybe I can get something going again tomorrow.

2 down

2010-06-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

Busy weekend in the shop, core bonding time. I went with a hybrid core deal. I used M80 in the stern and mast base areas because that's where the torsional and compressive loads are the greatest. I also bonded in some fg woven roving blocks under where the wingbars will mount. Same properties as plywood at half the weight and no rot.

I didn't thermoform the foam before I bagged it, ended up using the heatgun over the bag to get it to seat right.

Here's what it looked like before outer skin. Not bad, that hybrid material looks trippy. You can see some of my hull foam thermoforming in the background. Not sure exactly how I'm going to do that one yet.

3k Carbon +/-45

3oz hybrid, and peal-ply.

Under vac for the night, I'll see how it turns out after work tomorrow.

More sticky icky

2010-06-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

102f in the garage, so it seemed like a good day to lay up a part. The first layer for the deck is a lightweight ballistic hybrid. That should help with impacts from knees and keep the errant trap hook at bay.

Then a skin of 3k carbon and 3k reinforcements.

And the bag. Hope to get the nomex and M80 closeouts bonded on sometime this week.

what up?

2010-06-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the mould drawings for the rudder foil, going to spend the rest of today banging out the main foil drawings.

Here is the foredeck. Finally nailed the core layup. I'm going to wait to add the outer skin until I can test fit it to the hull and sand the edge of the foam to match. And my hush hush deck hybrid came through, so I'm hoping to lay up at least one skin of the crewdeck this weekend.

sorry

2010-05-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

I have some new stuff going on with the build, but have been so busy with other things that I have let the blog slide a little. The original foredeck I pulled had some issues with the nomex, so I set it aside and started a new one that I plan to finish this weekend, and I have tried 2 different crew decks that I layed up with the aluminized glass, but I'm not that happy with the weight the glass adds, so I might pull one more all carbon one this weekend. I guess its the curse of doing class A prepreg parts, wet layup just leaves me a bit empty.....every time I lay something up I find something in my process I would rather do to make things better, I hate that about myself. I might hold off on the new crew deck layup for one more week because I'm trying to get my hands on this new hybrid material that will be better than anything comercially available right now as far as weight/stuffness/impact goes. The parts I have would work or could be fixed, but everyone knows my problems with OCD. If anyone wants to throw a hull together (Sarge?) I'll keep these extras laying around for a while. I'll get some new pics up soon, but I'm wooped right now and going to bed.

Parts

2010-04-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

Building has finally started in Earnest, this is the inner skin on the foredeck. +/- 45 3k with some reinforcement strips.

And the outer skin on the crew deck. One layer 4oz aluminized glass and one layer 3k carbon. The glass helps make the deck more durable/impact resistant for the riggers of smashing and jumping associated with trapeze use. I was hoping the glass would come out all pretty for a clear coat finish, but the weave is a bit wompy and streaked where the carbon shows through in spots. No big deal, I'll just paint it. Hope to get the nomex and inner skin on this weekend.

Bagged on the nomex, the center seam opened up a little, but I'll bond a new piece in when I bag on the outer skin, or maybe cut out a center strip and put in a piece of foam core (which is how I'm doing the fore and aft closeouts on this part). I'm not using over-expanded nomex, the reason for this is because standard cell is just stronger (smaller cells=more cells=better compression/tensile strength) and if you don't have too crazy a shape it forms pretty well.

shiney

2010-04-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

After doing some test panels, I decieded to build a real oven. This new one has variable cook temps from 110-220f, so I can do anything from wet layup test panels to prepreg parts. Just waiting for a high temp convection fan and it'll be done. Has some panels in it right now, seems to work pretty nice. I'm close to being satisfied with my processes, so I should be laying up parts any time now.

Can you smell what the rock is cookin?

2010-04-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

Finished up the pump manifold this week, it works. Still waiting for my new gauge to come in, the one mounted is from a scrap bin and is off a little (reads low).

Made a little cook box to do test panels in. its just a crappy cardboard box with some lights in it, But its good to 150f.

I got a sheet of nomex from Hexcell which I plan to use as the core on the crewdeck, foredeck, and internal structures. Here's a test panel (that's an aluminized glass face sheet), thinking of using some on the crewdeck with some clearcoat. Still messing with the layup, but its looking good.

Here's some 3k, I used a glass veil under the carbon as a bond layer with the nomex, it's a great bond and helped a lot with pinholes.

Wade and I spent the day infusing a carbon jeep hood. I havent messed with infusion much, it's definitely a cool process. Have to go pop the part in a little bit here, and we'll see how it turned out.

Pumped up.

2010-04-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to start laying parts this weekend, but forgot about Easter so that was shot. I did find some time to get out in the shop and build a pump manifold. Its not quite done yet, but it is vac tight. Still need to take it into work and drill/tap some holes on the plug ends for vacuum line fittings and a negative pressure gauge.

I wanted to use my shop vac to quickly get the air out of my bags, so I mounted a ball valve and a vacuum cleaner port. Suck out the air, adjust the bag, then, just close the valve and turn on the pump. Takes a lot less time to pull out the air, and the high vac pump stays happy work wise.

The white box is a step up transformer, My Edwards is a 220v single phase, so this box does the wall voltage into 220 trick.

2010-03-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

My foam showed up today, so thats pretty exciting, just waiting on carbon and resin.

Also been working on the mandrels for my rack tubes. in this pic they're all polished and buffed, but I've rethought just pulling parts off the big tube, because I don't thing they would ever come off. I'm taking it in on Friday to my buddy Robert's machine shop to machine an 1/8" taper.

Sanded/polished vs raw untouched, it takes a lot of work, but they shine up nice.

Back home

2010-03-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Brought the moulds home today, its nice to be able to walk out in the shop and see all the tools ready to go. My buddy and fellow carbon monkey Wade Cameron drove them over, we also brought his jeep hood tool (that's the other mould in the picture). His tool is a high temp prepreg/infusion tool made from moulding material, I'm so jealous. I'm going to help him pull hoods and he's going to help with the boat. It'll be nice to have someone to help with the build. We've fabricated a lot of sweet tools together down at EBS so I really trust his skill. He's one of the best composite guys I know, and a real stand up guy.
My Aluminum mandrels got shipped out yesterday, so hopefully I can start cooking some prepreg rack tube's next week. Still waiting for things to settle down and for other things to "materialize" before I start the hull lay up. I've been kicking around some idea's for the rack, but the more I think about it, the more I like the rack with tramps idea from a couple months ago, its by far the simplest and cheapest option. Part of me would still really like a tramp-less dual rail wing, we'll see how much tube I get laid up.
There's a lot of uncertainty for me work-wise right now which needs to be resolved before I can make the next big push, so doing a lot of little things till then. It feels like I'm back in the build groove now, so that's a really good thing.

funny

2010-03-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

Down at the shop we constantly threaten the interns with a full body vacuum bagging. (we've never done it). I found this today on youtube, it was tucked in with all the resin infusion video's......crazy kids.

Vacuum is fun

Pics

2010-03-10T20:23:00.001-08:00

I finally got the pictures out of the camera, its done, ready, released. Just waiting for materials and a good chunk of time to start layup. There are a couple green sandthroughs but I can live with that, its just the undercoat.

Nose job

2010-03-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

Well its official, all the tools are done. Spent last night into this-morning sanding and polishing the hull tool, its finally done. No pics because of technical difficulties, but I'll have some tomorrow. Waiting on my supplies to get shipped, so not much I can do as far as layup right now.

I've been messing with the design some more.

Originally I was going to try to shape the reverse bow while the hull was still on the mould, but that would be a real pain so I'm going to lay the hull up about 15cm short and mount a seperate bow on after. It should make it easier to pop the part and also makes it possible for me to implement the rounder bow I've been thinking about.

Next is a new gantry to fit the new rudder strut, I'm thinking of shortening it by about 15cm as well. I also need to add the new L3 inspired trap rack (wider beam, with a mid step tube like the R-class).

"Core" issues resolved

2010-03-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

I've got a new materials sponsor. SP High Modulus has agreed to supply the project with core materials. I'm really psyched that we get to use their M80 foam. After testing a ton of different samples from many different companies I found that it has the best overall qualities for hull construction.

I'd like to thank Jean Pierre Mouligne (a hydrofoil sailor himself) for taking interest in this project and making these materials available.

NICE.......

2010-03-01T13:37:00.001-08:00

The Emonson/Flutter foil set design. Jon designed the Rudder, Nick designed the main foil, and I told them what I wanted/liked/didn't and here they are. Pretty slick I think. Just a few things to work out as far as strut cases. Nick is drawing up the moulds, then off to the CNC shop. More to come on this. The next set of foil's I'll design myself, but concerning how much free time I have (none), and how many hydrofoils I've built (none) I figured I'd leave it to some guys that have some experiance. Thanks so much fella's.

Long Days Night

2010-02-28T12:37:00.001-08:00

At 11pm I went back to the shop to sand. you can see the green guide coat, I still sanded through is some spots, but high spots have to go.

After a ton of sanding, fairing, and two coats of Grey Duratec here's the final topcoat. I would like to thank the two huge cans of Monster Energy Drink that made it possible for me to stay up till 5am to get it done. Now just need to go in this afternoon to sand it up to 1000 and buff/polish/seal/release. (Of course its "The Strauss's" birthday so there's a good chance I'll go in and get nothing done.......except drink a lot of whisky and enjoy.)

Happy Birthday Bro

On the road again.....

2010-02-27T18:36:00.001-08:00

The Brotherhood of the Traveling Mould was at it again today. These tools have more miles under them than a lot of real boats have sailed. My fellow carbon monkey Craig Smith brought his rig over and we moved the hull tool to EBS.

I forgot how heavy that thing is. (sorry bout your forearms Craig)

Fared up and ready for the Duratec base coat.

Now the fun part, watching paint dry. I also sprayed a puke green base before the grey as a guide coat. I'm sure we'll be seeing it a little later. Time for some dinner and some time with the Family then its back to the shop for a late night sanding session.

Slick as Sh!t

2010-02-16T00:03:00.000-08:00

Heres the pics, turned out way better than I ever thought it would.

Its screaming for water...........

If I do all my work at a composites shop do I still qualify as a home builder?...............What if it almost feels like I'm living there?

(FMG, if your out there get a hold of me)

2 down 1 to go

2010-02-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

Unbelievably, I've been really hallin' on the build front. Stayed up till 3:00am wet-sanding and polishing the deck tool. She's all done, sealed, released and ready to lay up. Turned out really nice, some of my best work yet. Didn't bring my camera with me so no pics right now, but I hope to swing by EBS and take some later today so there are pics coming.
Now I just need to find a trailer to borrow so I can get the hull tool to the shop so I can knock that one out as well. So excited to be back in the swing of things.
As far as other developments, I've been doing some experiments with the Nidacore and have found that it isn't the core for this project. I'm not happy with the weight or bond compared to the foam and nomex cores that we use at the shop. I'm leaning towards nomex, you just can't beat it for strength, stiffness, and weight (but I am going to need a pinhole strategy). Eric has a ton of it laying around, but wouldn't you know it - no 1/4'' so I'm SOL for now, but have some leads and industry contact guys that might be able to help me out.

Back from the dead........

2010-02-06T16:07:00.000-08:00

After what seems like an eternity I'm back to being a boat builder again. I finally found a hole in my schedule to get some work in. I think about the boat constantly. I work on drawings and things when I get a chance, but that hasn't converted into much progress over the last couple months. I have put in enough "carbon monkey" time at EBS to have unlimited access to the facilities so that should make it possible to get some things done. I have found its a lot easier to make progress in a fully decked out composites shop than it is in my freezing garage.

Here I am in the sanding booth, air tools make a week long job take a couple hours.

Much better than it was, I'm on my way out to fair this layer down to hopefully perfect then spray the final top coat. I really want to make this nice because the tool surface will be showing on my clear carbon deck.

Stayed late one night this week and wetsanded/polished/released this little fella. Very shinny and ready for lay up.

Spent the morning at the CU Engineering Auction and picked up this fine piece of kit. Thanks to the collage always buying new tools and getting rid of what they don't use very much, I was able to "steal" this Edwards M8 for $100. It looks to have been used maybe twice, I don't think they knew that it's a $2400 pump......ha ha.

Progress

2009-11-29T16:53:00.000-08:00

Actually went out and cleaned the shop and worked on the boat today. I've been in a state of perplexity concerning this project and how I was going to fit it into my life, it just ended up being me needing some decompression time, and I'm back on it now.

Finally filled and sanded all the low spots, perfect fairness and ready for more duratec. (this will be the final coat, I swear.)

After spending so much time making the hull perfect it seemed like a shame to leave the deck mould surface wavy, so I started fairing that as well, tomorrow I'm going to fill all the depressions with some duratec bondo (duratec/acetone/duratec dust). Its a good filler, easily sandable, and the next coat of duratech will stick to it really well.

And just for fun heres a little foil CFD porn for ya. (thanks FMG)

Be back soon. (I hope)

not much

2009-11-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

I've really been slacking off on the build front. I have been working 40 hrs a week at my real job, and 20-25 hrs a week At EBS (doing my best to soak in as much about the dark arts as possible). In some ways its a really good thing because all this knowledge and skill that I'm gaining will lead to much better boats, and I'm saving some money to buy supplies, but its drawing away any energy and time I would have for the build. I did get out and sand for a couple hours tonight, and I'm really going to try to get back on track a little. It seems its taking forever to build this thing, but its happening, slowly, but it is happening.

Pretty pictures

2009-10-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Been sick as a dog this week so haven't got any work done, but Jon has sent me some new renderings of the boat he made from my designs, so here they are. The new rudder is in place, we're still working on the main foil. I would show the horizontals, but "someone" might steal the design : ).

Here's one with a "small tramp" idea we've been kickin around, not sure if they will be needed, but may also be really nice to have especially in light air.

Next chapter please.......

2009-10-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

So, I have once again been laggin a little on the build and the blog, but as usual a lot has been going on behind the scenes. I have started to resand the hull tool so that I am happy with the finish and the fairness. Its funny how life will sometime give you just what you need just when you need it. I just spent the last couple weeks working on a huge windsurfer mould at work and learned a ton about sanding for fairness and also the way the pro's use duratech. Its used for everything, you can mix it into a fairing compound, a mould sealer, a guide coat, a sealant, a bonding coat. I love this stuff. Anyway, I've found that sanding through isn't that uncommon when your sanding moulds for fairness, and that its pretty standard to shoot and sand 3-4 times before it looks really good, so that made me feel better. (Like Eric says "Do you want to fix your tool or fix your parts?) On a personal note, I have been offered a job running the cleanroom full time at EBS, and I'm leaning towards taking it, so I may be a real professional carbon monkey here soon. Looks like taking time off the build to get in there to hone my skills is paying off for the project. This whole sailboat build is having a huge life changing effect, if you would have told me 1 1/2 years ago when I started that I might be leaving electronics R&D to get into composites I wouldn't have believed it, but I very well may be..........Awesome.

Here we go: All the places where I originally sanded through were high spots. It wasn't as bad as it looks, before being resanded those bright spots were just the slightest of ripples, but they'll be gone now. (are you happy now doug?)

Please note the high tech cardboard flooring, it saves the floor and will make claenup easy.

I'm really proud of how this one turned out, she's ready for release. For once I'm going to start small and work my way up, going to bag this foredeck first, then the crew deck, then the hull.

argh............

2009-10-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

Finished polishing the deck and foredeck tools and started patching the hull tool. My patch's look like sh!t I still have a ways to go on my feathering technique, so I'm seriously thinking about just shooting it again and starting over on that one. On the materials front: My core is in and I have orders for bagging supplies. I'm in negotiations with a carbon sponsor, so still waiting to see how that's going to work out before I spend the $$$ on a roll. Anyone want to send me 15yrds of Biax cloth? Lol

Still "pluging" away

2009-09-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

Did a bit of wetsanding this morning, had some help from my little one Sierra. She does a really good job, she wants to be a carbon monkey when she grows up, but I need to get her a better fitting mask and smaller gloves. She really wanted to help and I couldn't say no. Didn't let her work to long because that duratec residue can be a little much. But I let her get a little taste. Its in the DNA. Grandpa, dad, now her. The tools are coming along, been doing other project related things but I'll get back in the build groove 100% soon.
On the foil front, new "super high tech" foils are in the works for this machine. That part of the project is shrouded in secrecy, but eventually will come to light. All the cutting edge tweaks you've come to expect from this black art are being included, so hold tight. I have given the designer (not me) total creative control of the design, lets just say things are looking super fast so far and that I'm really excited. Can't wait to get started on the High-temp/autoclave/prepreg moulds for them.
I also had a long Skype session with Alex Vallings from C-tech about carbon tubing, a custom 2 piece HM 42mm carbon stick and boom for the beast, so I'm really excited about that as well. A 2 piece High Modulus mast for less than $1000USD, that might be the best deal in all of sailing.

Sore arms

2009-09-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

I've been plugin away on the tools, with work and other work and the kids and the wife and the boat, I have kinda let my blogging slip a little. Well the hull tool is getting shiny.......up to 800, still need to sand some, and use the touch up gun in a couple (to many) spots, I have found that I don't like power tools (stupid DA), every time I try to use them to speed things up a little, I always have to go back and fix some things. Glad I've already learned how to patch and feather Duratec down at the shop.

All the tools in different stages of sanding.

The little guy has all the guide coat off (220 wet by hand) and is waiting for some 400 wet.

And I'm still working on getting the guide coat off the deck tool. Just going to keep on it, and I should be ready to start laying up soonish. (I hope)

Deja Voodoo

2009-08-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Well, Cliff and I shot Duratec late into the night, and thank God (or whatever) it went off this time. Hard as a rock and ready to fill. So that's the next phase. Fill, dust with guide coat, sand with 220, and start wetsanding. The make shift spray booth we made also worked a charm, no paint where it shouldn't be, and no toxic smells made it out if the yard, at least no one complained. Time to go and sand.

Hangin in there

2009-08-22T20:34:00.002-07:00

So, I've finally set a date to re-shoot the tooling (this Thursday night), been a while, so I'm really itchin to get back into build mode. I have a new gallon of Duratec and some "new" Mekp that I'm sure works, so it better go off this time. Over the last week I've hung some 8x10 foot tarps from the rafters in the shop so I don't get overspray everywhere. $3 dollars each at Biglots, quite the score, so I bought 6 of em. They should also come in handy when I start sanding the tools to keep the dust manageable. I also found some time to line the whole floor of the shop in double walled cardboard so that the garage floor doesn't turn gray and get full of goop when that whole mess gets started.
I spent the day making templates for the carbon and foam. I Took some huge pieces of paper and dusted one side of it with Super 77, then smoothed them onto the moulds. Traced the shapes I'm going to need on them, then pulled the whole mess off and cut out the shapes. Worked out really well. I could have pulled templates out of CAD but felt like doing it old school so I could feel like I was actually doing something (that and I'm sick of dealing with the techs at Kinko's). I haven't been sitting around or anything, since I couldn't really do much on the boat lately I've been spending a lot of time working at EBS getting my hands dirty. Its all prepreg work, but is teaching me a lot about mould building, mould prep, bagging and autoclaves, so that should come in handy down the road.

2009-08-22T20:34:00.001-07:00

2009-08-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

More changes

2009-08-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

Since I'm at a stand still in the physical sense, I figured I could go back to drawing. I've had a couple changes I've wanted to mess around with, so today was the day for that. After some experiments with PVC tubes, I've decided that 2m was just to wide for the rack, it was to big of a step from the deck to the tube, so I've brought that back down to 180cm. I just think that's a better distance and will be more comfortable. I also brought the rear wing struts forward on an angle, because if I'm that far back on this thing its not set up right. I also found the time to pull all my bulkhead and rib layout specs from the 3d drawings, so now that's done. Tomorrow I want to work on a new Gantry. I'm thinking with the transom being 15cm shorter at the upper connection point with the new reverse trany, I might want to go with a 40cm gantry instead of a 50cm, just to lower the stress's a little. After that, maybe draw the jigs for building the sweet new rack. So much to do.

I have also added the new pic of the boat on the blog header, looks sexy eh?

Holding Pattern

2009-08-06T06:39:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting to spray the tools again. It might be awhile, waiting for my schedule to open up a little bit, and trying to find a good time for Cliff as well. There is no way I'm moving all this stuff 1/2 way around the world again, so we are just going to shoot it in my new shop. Just need to find a "big" compressor to borrow. So while I'm waiting for all that to materialize, I've moved on to other things. I found some downtime at work to cut out the trimming templates for the deck and hull, and I've been staying up late making a big mess with foam core. I got some offcuts from EBS that I've been messing around with. I found out that it bends into most of my curves without the need for scoring, so that's good. I was also able to get it to mould into the tight "trouble area's" with a little thermo-forming help from my trusty heat gun. Another thing I've done is rethink how I"m going to foam my bow, I blunted the bow by 1/2'' so I have a nice flat bonding surface instead of a pointy tip. So, all in all, even with the recent problems I'm still making progress. Pictures of progress coming, just a little lazy right now.

Step away from the ledge

2009-08-02T22:24:00.000-07:00

I've settled in to my new space, its twice as big as my old one, its great to have so much room. Spent the whole day in the 90deg shop with the respirator on scrubbing all the Duratec off the tools. Got pretty far, just a little more to go and I can re shoot.

Devastated

2009-08-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

It finally stopped raining, so I went to pick up the tooling from the paint shop. Haven't been up there in a week, figured everything would be ready to go. Nope. The Duratec never catalyzed, the finish is still sticky. I mixed everything perfectly on a very accurate scale (2% MEKP), I must have got a bad batch of either Duratec or MEKP. I'm so bummed. Instead of buffing and polishing, I'm going to spend the next couple weeks stripping and cleaning. You live, you learn. All I can say is I'm pretty upset right now. Nothing I can do but move on. I'll get everything ready and try it again in a couple weeks (if I don't go nuts and throw everything in the trash or smash it with a sledge.) At least I know what everything is going to look like when its done, so that's kinda cool. I also know now to do a test shoot to make sure everything is working. I already have most of the big mould stripped (heavy acetone wash and a puddy knife). Its not as hard as I thought it was going to be. The Duratec basically sheets off, then you wash off whats left with an acetone soaked rag. While searching the Internet for a cure, I found hundreds of pages of painting horror stories, it seems like getting the paint right is as common as flying pigs. I would post pictures but I really don't want to look at it right now.

Make it stop.......

2009-07-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Still raining, first sunny day on the forecast is Saturday, so keeping my fingers crossed. I have found some time to cut the trace templates for my bulkhead and internal supports, so at least that's done.

The Waiting Game

2009-07-29T07:03:00.001-07:00

I am really ready to get going on finishing the moulds but mother nature won't cooperate with me...... I need to drive them in an open trailer 35 miles out to my new digs, but its rained every day since shooting, so they just sit in the shop.........waiting.

Touch of Grey

2009-07-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

Drove 45mins to the paint shop early this morning to meet Cliff because its shoot day. We put all the forms up on whatever could be found (yes those are tires under the deck tool). Then one final hit with some 80grit to make sure there wasn't any dirt left from the ride through the mountains. Washed everything really well with Acetone, and it was time.

My painting skills are not up to standard for something this important, so I just stayed in the corner playing mad scientist, mixing batch after batch of Duratech/MEKP/Acetone, while Cliff shot everything.

The foredeck, I know a strut is lighter/less windage, but I don't think it looks right.

Crew deck (not perfect fairness, but better than I thought.)

The Master admiring his work.......It's almost impossible to get a real feel for the hull shape when the tool is splotched with 5 different colors of fairing compound and wood, so its an awesome feeling to see everything primed. Took about 4 hours to shoot everything with 3 coats (25min between coats for gas-off). It took exactly 1 gallon of Duratech, I have to go to EBS and bug Eric to sell me a pint for Monday, because I don't have any left over to do the fill. All three pieces are curing and should be ready to move to my new shop for fill/sand/buff/polish, hope to get around to it within the next couple days.

Moving the tools.........again.

2009-07-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

As I've posted before, I'm moving, and today was the day to move boat related things. My Buddy (and finish guy) Cliff Wege was nice enough to drag the hull tool the 30 miles through the mountains to his paint/body shop where we'll be spraying everything later next week with Duratech. I loaded the other two plugs into My Ford "Pimpstar" and followed him out. I don't want to spray that stuff around my family and animals, and I also don't want all my new neighbors first impression of me being "that's the guy who makes the whole neighborhood smell like toxic stuff". I guess if you have a Friend with a huge shop with pro spray gear who lives in the middle of nowhere, you should take advantage of it.

This is Cliff, he's shot more paint than anyone I know. Speed boats, cars, motorcycles, rock crawlers.......they always look fantastic. I wouldn't trust anyone else to do the job. ( And he likes to get paid in whisky, so that's easy)

Here she is, just waiting for me to find the time to get back in build mode.

Hold please......

2009-07-11T06:09:00.000-07:00

So I'm in a pretty good spot with everything, all the tools are sanded and faired and ready to be shot with tool surface. I'm on hold for now, because my family and I are moving down the mountain (thank God). I currently live at 8500ft, where vacuum bagging isn't possible, but I will now be taking up residence at 5100ft (with a huge 2 car garage) so its all coming together for the next phase. Best part is there is a nice sized reservoir about 2 miles away out in the flats, so pretty nice winds that arn't crazy shifty. I'll keep y-all posted.

everybodys favorite itchy stuff

2009-06-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

Faired in the blunt tip. Hope it holds up.

Cut out a little glass.

Gooed it on up. Into the oven it went. Should be ready to sand tomorrow night. (If I feel like it, have to fix a windsurfer sail, so might do that.)

15% Tip

2009-06-29T21:59:00.001-07:00

Brought home the little tip for the foredeck and bogged it in. I had a little piece of Maple for it, but I messed it up on the sander, so I just used a MDF scrap I had laying around. Should work fine, its really nice and bogged in there. Tomorrow night I can shape it down and, who knows, maybe fiberglass the little monster.

2009-06-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

faired up last nights filler

And added some more. Big thanks goes out to Phil Stevenson for answering my endless rig questions today.

2009-06-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

My seven year old has caught the bug, and has made a boat of her own, looks like a very aggressive bow down stance is what she likes.........

Mounted the decking and started filling the bigger gaps last night, I see sanding in my future. I have decided to make the foredeck a little stubby so that I can fair in the cedar bow block where the forestay gets attached. Of course I forgot the chuck of hardwood that I'm going to use to finish off the tip at work, so it looks like that will have to wait till Monday.

by a nose.

2009-06-26T09:42:00.001-07:00

Stayed up late last night and stripped the foredeck tool. I wish they where all this quick and easy. Want to true it up a little more today, add a little extension to the tip, and mount the decking. Then onto filling and fairing. Who knows, I might actually get to start building a boat this summer.

Skin box......

2009-06-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

Went out and bought a sheet of ply today, so I can finish this little plug. I have had the decking ply cut out since the first mould, I'm finally going to put it on tomorrow. Not sure what I'm going to do with the very bow tip yet. Part of me wants to cut a piece of maple to fit, the other part wants to make it a little short and blunt so I can just fair in the top of the cedar forstay block I'm going to mount in the bow, we'll just have to see how it works out.

New Project Member, and a foredeck frame

2009-06-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to announce that there is a new Sr-71 Team member: Eric Strauss, owner of EBS Carbon in Boulder has agreed to come on as "Tooling and Carbon Advisor" (I'm also going to be working for him part time, so that should add to my knowledge bank considerably). Eric is a great guy and all around carbon guru, one of the most knowledgeable people in the field when it comes to tooling, prepreg, and all things high tech. The list of projects that he has been a part of is mind boggling, from carbon fiber jet packs and deep sea submarines, to jet boats and Indy cars. I'm so grateful to have his input, it should really improve build quality and raise the probability of success for this machine.

Along the build front, I was able to throw together the mould structure for the Foredeck today. I built the box frame yesterday and mounted the frames today, its just waiting to be faired for skin. Need to get some plywood. Hope to get that going this weekend or the beginning of next week.

Hard Drive Failure

2009-06-17T06:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, but I've been without my Mac for a week, The hard drive crashed, so she's been in for service. A lot of things have been happening, not on the building front, but in other area's of the project. I'll flesh it out later after I get home, but cool stuff is happening........stay tuned.

stage 3

2009-06-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

I found some time to go to Kinko's and cut out the Foredeck frames, just need to build a little frame and mount them.

Ready to move on

2009-05-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

I have done the finish sanding on the fiberglass of the deck tool. (doesn't look much different so no pics.) So its ready for a trip to the paint booth along with the hull plug form. Just need to format the foredeck drawings and take them to Kinkos and I should be set to start on that thing.

Pain in the Glass.....

2009-05-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

After another short hiatus because of work obligations, I'm finally back in the shop. I have sanded and faired out my last bog session and wala....... A freshly glassed deck tool. I need to go fill the weave with a brushed on coat of epoxy (six hours from now) then sand that down and its ready for primer. (to be sprayed at some later date when all the tooling is ready). I guess its time to start building the Foredeck (last piece of the puzzle.)

3rd times a charm

2009-05-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Went out early this morning to get some sanding done. Still a couple low areas, so its time for another layer of compound.

This one looks to be pretty smooth, hope this is it, the last filler layer. Maybe next weekend I can get this monster glassed. Now, time to sneak back in the house for Mothers Day Brunch. (Shhhhhhh...........I would never work on the boat on Mothers Day.)

Something new

2009-05-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

Its been getting warmer in these parts, so after my last epoxy party I decided to see how long it would take to cure without using the cure box, answer, to long. I went out to sand a little today, but the compound just balled up under the sand paper. It's cured, just not enough to sand. So I put the cure oven on the mould and went back in the house.........to draw.

Since it was raining out, I decided it would be a great day to work on that reverse transom that I've been thinking about. So here it is. I think it looks pimp.

Makes the hull look even more like a crazy space ship, but I like it, and it should save about 1/4 to 1/3 of a pound on weight. Now I just need some time to re-design my Gantry to fit, and I'll be golden. I'm also kicking around the idea of moving the rear wingbars back a bit and angling them forward a little so they don't look so stiff and "square".

Round 2

2009-05-02T07:46:00.001-07:00

Faired up the last batch of compound, looking good.

Still some low spots, so another layer needs to go on.

Slapped on a new layer, now just have to wait for it to cure, then back to fairing.

Its nice to be dusty again

2009-04-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

After ignoring the deck moulds muffled screams for the last 2 weeks, I was finally able to get out to the shop and get my dust on. Started sanding with the fairing board and after a couple hours things where starting to look pretty good. Its got a nice overall shape going, but still lots of little flat and sunken spots ( the shiny patches in the picture above).

Another quick goo application before bed. My bendy card skills are getting better and better, I'm starting to be able to apply a nice even layer of goo, which really helps when its time to sand it all smooth. Should be ready for more sanding in a couple days.

I'm back

2009-04-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks away from the boat taking care of business and family related "stuff", I'm back and so ready to get to it..............updates should be coming this weekend.

Let the gooey games begin

2009-04-13T21:05:00.001-07:00

I did a little more sanding and truing of the rough edges in preparation for everybody's favorite game.......

Application of plasticy balloon goo.

Its getting warmer in the garage, so I actually had to go pretty quick compared to the dead of winter. Tomorrow I start filling the shop with epoxy dust again.

Back to wood.

2009-04-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

I spent last night and the first part of today sanding the rest of the fiberglass on the hull plug, so now the whole thing is sanded and ready for a coat of Duratec.

A close up shot of the plug. I sanded a lot but left a little texture in the glass, a little something extra for the Duratec to stick to. (Its a sandable filling primer, I could have not sanded at all and it would have filled in the weave, but I didn't feel like using that much, its kinda pricey.)

My daughter and I put the deck mould up on the horses so I can start work on it, sanded some of the rough edges off the strips .

And cleaned up the bow area a little, more sanding tomorrow. I can tell this one is going to go much faster than the last.

Car topping is for losers.

2009-04-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

no staples, time for sanding and my arch Nemesis: STICKY ICKY hands.

Ready for loading

I wanted to take the deck plug home to The Mountain Top Shop last night, but it snowed to much for me to drive up my driveway, luckily it was 60deg today and most of the snow melted, so I took the plug home today. I've done some car topping in my Laser days, but this is my first experience with car inning. Luckily it fit or I would have to wait till the mountain roads stop being mud pits, which is a couple weeks out still.

Update......

2009-04-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

I pulled the remaining staples today, and reinforced all the seams and seam gaps with Epoxy to strengthen/fill the seams, not every strip but the 90deg seams and the heavily bent bow and stern side decks. Epoxy cartridge guns are a great invention

Another Day

2009-03-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

Spent my free time today pulling the staples out of the deck mould. I used a pair of 45deg wiring pliers, they worked great because I could use a rocking motion to pop them instead of a brute force jerking motion. I would recommend them to anyone who ever needs to pull a couple thousand of those little bastards.

I also got a chance to nest the foredeck stanchions, so after I PDF them it's another trip to Kinko's. (then more fun with saws)

Done........(with wood)

2009-03-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

I finished off the stripping on the stern VAC area. I tried to bend a piece of ply in there, but no go.

Did the same on the bow. Still have to trim the stripping and sand down the front plate.

Here's the whole plug, ready to get all the staples pulled and all the ends trimmed. Then hauled up the mountain to be sanded and filled and glassed and faired. More to come soon.

Upside down (or right side up) depending

2009-03-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

The deck plug from the underside (Bow). I glued on the side vac decks, and I'm working on decks for the bow sides.

Here's one from the stern, the structure turned out well I think, not super heavy like the hull plug, but nice and strong for its weight.

A closer view of the stripped bow vac decks, its harder than it looks to get those strips to bend into there without cracking. I originally tried to bend a one piece side onto this area, but it snapped. More of the same (the other side) tomorrow.

just some pics......

2009-03-24T20:09:00.001-07:00

Finished off the stern strips, now its time to move on to mounting the side vac decks, and of course, every one's favorite part, pulling the staples.

Wait, there's more.....

2009-03-21T18:52:00.001-07:00

Now that I'm back up to speed with Rhino and in a drawing mood, I've decided to start spitting out the changes/improvements that have been kicking around in my head. Change number one, the original rack (above), the plan was to have this adjust from 180cm out to 2.5m, But I think it was a hair brained pet idea that really wouldn't prove to be worth the trouble.

Here is the NON-adjustable rack that will be going on the boat. Much simpler and lighter than the original adjustable design. It's fixed at 2m wide, that's 62cm (about 2 feet ) to the gunnel, (slightly more than a Musto skiff), not to close but definitely a doable step distance. I beefed up the tubing a little bit as well (63.6mmod foot tubes, 45mmod stump, 57.6mmod side struts, and35.6mmod stump compression struts, all 1.8mm wall). There is less of it so it should save some on weight. I think its a better design. Feel free to tell me what you think of the changes. (Not to be a spoiler, but coming soon: a reverse transom and a new cooler gantry).

Foredeck.....

2009-03-21T14:36:00.001-07:00

No "physical" work today, but I did finally draw my foredeck plug. Its been so long since I used Rhino OSX that I had to mess around for a while and figure it out again. Its been updated like 15 times so some of the tools had moved and some of them did different things than they used to. Oh well, the joys of software development, anyway, I got the drawing done. Now I have to do the nesting for Kinko's and convert it to windows PDF files. Its almost time for yet another build.

2/3rds Done......

2009-03-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

I cut some strips this morning, I only ended up needing 4 1/2 more 1'' strips. It went together pretty quickly after that. Just have to mount the side and stern strips and it will be time to start pulling staples, sanding, and bogging again.

Today

2009-03-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

I stapled another couple of strips on the deck mould, then ran out of strips, I knew I hadn't cut enough. So tomorrow I need to cut some more. I got home and my arm was feeling a little better, so I went out and sanded fiberglass for a couple hours. Its looking so good, I'm not sure if I shouldn't skip the last fairing/filler coat and just move on to Duratec ( I'm pretty sure I wont skip it though, but it does seem a shame to take a smooth surface and put another coat of goo on it, just so I can sand it off again)

Deck hand

2009-03-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

Made some progress on the deck portion of the project. I need to take a break from the hull plug, I somehow pulled a muscle sanding so need to take some time off to let it heal. But its not like I don't have a million other things to work on in the mean time.

The end is near

2009-03-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

So after waiting most of the day for the slow cure epoxy to finish hardening, I was able to get out and do a little sanding. I was impressed with my glasswork, no bubbles, no puddles, so I guess I did OK. Sanded the flat decking area's and the glass seams with 80 grit on the orbital, then used the fairing board on the bottom of the hull to smooth that out, I still need to sand the sides, but its looking good. I'm not sanding all the way to smooth, but just taking the roughness off and leaving a slightly textured surface. When I'm done with that I plan to brush on one final coat of filler compound (4:1 epoxy/qcells) and than do the final sanding before the primer coat. (I'm planning to wait till all the moulds are ready for primer so I can do them all in one messy paint session). More sanding tomorrow. I know I'm taking a long time, and that I could probably skip some of these steps, but I'm basically doing this on my own, learning as I go. I'm one who thinks the process is just as, if not more important than the result, and I'm enjoying every little step along the way. If my moulds are perfect, the boat will be to. I see the development of this boat as the development of myself.

Kickin Glass and Takin Names......

2009-03-13T23:47:00.000-07:00

What a day. Sanded the taped seams and decided it was a good day to lay glass, so I got everything ready and went for it. Its 12am and I just finished, I'm going to pay for it tomorrow. (This evening session sponsored by Monster Energy Drink, now if it would just wear off so I could go to sleep)

Layed out the 6oz glass, I'm glad I took so much time pre-fairing, look how OCD perfect the shape is. Watched a couple of youtube video's about fiber glassing boats then went to town. (I've done a ton of glass work, but never something this big)

I'm glad I bought Slow-cure epoxy, because it took me forever to wet the whole thing out. Now its sitting in the oven and should be cured by tomorrow afternoon. I "borrowed" this mould process from Bill Beaver of "Hungry Beaver" Moth fame, now I need to get in touch with him to see what the best way to prep the glass is before I apply the sandable primer (Duratec) finish.

More staples......

2009-03-12T18:32:00.001-07:00

Ready for strips. This is as far as I got on the deck mould because I didn't have any building materials, but I did get a chance to go pick up a sheet of plywood. I hope to cut it up on Monday and get to glueing and stapling again ASAP.

Glass Tape

2009-03-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

I epoxied on some 6oz glass tape over the bottom/side seams last night (I sanded a lot on that area, so I felt I should add some extra reinforcement). I'm going to sand and fair the tape in preparation for 6oz glass over the whole mould. I also started skinning the deck mould today, I should have pictures of that tomorrow.

update.....

2009-03-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

I've been out of town so not a lot of boat stuff has gotten done, but I've been studying wing shapes and things of that nature, so making mental progress at least. There is something about sitting on an airplane at 20,000 ft, reading a book on fluid dynamics and looking out the window at the wing to see exactly how it works. I would recommend this to anyone looking into this sort of thing, it makes all the concepts very easy to understand.

And I have settled on a boat name............

Futurist Manifesto

Background Link [HERE]

Fair Enough.

2009-03-03T21:09:00.001-08:00

Here is where the hull plug is at, I'm not sanding it anymore, the seams are getting taped and the glass is going on. I'm glad I'm making moulds, because it's giving me the skills I'm going to use on the boat itself, so instead of messing up the hull, I'll be all practiced up.

The deck mould is coming along, I should be skinning it in no time. I like its smooth organic shape.