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2009-2010

30th August

 

Another two months on, and spring is already on our doorstep!

 

So here is an updated on how the boats have been developing:

 

On Number Three the frames have all been put in and glued in. The next step was to reinforce the connection of the bulkhead and centrecase to the frames and hull with Unis. After a round of peel ply and heat, the hole was drilled for draining the front buoyancy tank, and the bung was installed. However, we are not planning on cutting the inspection hatch to open that bung unless the front ever takes on any water.

Next, the foam for the false floor was cut based on the template, and carboned on one side. Then we started fitting and re-shaping and fitting and re-shaping it, until it sat quite nicely on the floor line that was drawn on the side of the hull with a cedar batten.

One of the trickier bits was to make the two parts forward and aft of the bulkhead match. Furthermore, strips of foam were glued on the hull and main bulkhead and centrecase to hold the false floor up. Final step was cutting a hole in the transom and re-filling it with glue. This will hold the bung to drain the aft buoyancy tank - but again, only after it has taken on water for the first time.

 

So it took quite a bit of preparation before the false floor could go down. A bog-glue mix was applied to the underside (the one with carbon on it) of the false floor where the frames are, and the two pieces were fitted into the hull and weighted down with bricks and whatever else we could find. The final touch was the wide cove around the outside glueing the floor to the hull.

 

Final preparation for putting carbon and glass on the false floor was to router/dig out some spaces where the fibreglass reinforcements for the mast step, the main sheet block and the mast support are going to go on the floor. At one stage, the rounter changed its setting without asking, which resulted into - some more glue needed that was not originally planned for...

 

In another major session, we carboned the inner side of the boat. To prepare, the foam had to be sanded down and then bogged. After that, the sheets of carbon were laid down one after the other and wetted out, then the glass, which will be the sacrificial outer layer. After putting down the peel ply, this step was vacuumed down to ensure an nice finish and to squeeze out any excess resin.

 

Since then, some work has been done getting some foam pieced together for the side decks. :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 30th June

 

The month has gone, and all three of us kept working on their respective boats.

In the Winterless North, Number three has had the forward frames fitted:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An intermission to take care of bubbles on the frames:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the centrecase needed to be put together; hopefully square! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coving the inside of the case:

Then the centrecase is in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, this was the only batch of glue did not go off, so we had to take it out again and glue it down once more.

Here's the next try:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second hull now has all the frames neatly glued in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The connection between the main bulkhead and the hull and frames is reinforced with carbon unis:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the first hull was feeling the cold in Palmerston North and could not be worked on until it is warm enough for the resin to react:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5th to 7th June

Prime objective of this session was to get the first hull to transportable stage, so the false floor had to go in.

For that, the mould had to be free, so the third hull had to come out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
This time, popping the shell out of the mould was a little harder again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It turned out there two somewhat palm-sized spots towards the port aft end of the hull where the shell had stuck to the mould...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In order to weigh down the floor uniformly, it was decided to put the vacuum bag on it again as soon as the layers of carbon, glass and peel ply were on it.

Therefore, the mould was cleaned up and the first hull put into it again.

 

The false floor was fitted, and reinforcements put into the floor for where the mast post and the main sheet block were going to be placed.

 

False floor in the boat (underside carboned):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

The next day, we tried to get the hull out of the mould again. It was sucked down rather nicely.

 

Someone wondered what if it does not pop out this time:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David, Antje and Grant highly satisfied with their project this far:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the current status was weighed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outer skin only: 23kg

With frames (not glued in): 30.5kg

With false floor: 45kg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

What the decks will probably look like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first hull ready for transport to Palmerston North:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

29th May to 1st June

Wanting to take advantage of the long weekend to do the long drive, David and Tony Brown came up to the Bay of Islands

with the trailer and new cradle to take the first hull back to Palmerston North.

 

Even though quite a lot was achieved during those days, the first hull was not yet ready at the end of the weekend, 

and the Browns had to leave the hull and trailer behind.

 

It must have all happened quite quickly too, as there is no photographic evidence of what went on during those four days.

 

The second shell popped so easily out of the mould that Grant did that all by himself on Friday afternoon.

 

To prepare the mould for the third shell, it was again scraped, repaired, cut and waxed.

Antje insisted on the first film of glue to be left to go tacky before putting the glass down.

This made that first layer much harder to handle (maybe we should have rolled some fresh resin in before laying the glass in).

There was a little improvement of the final finish of the hull surface though, with less of the glue left in the mould.

A real improvement for the vacuuming was pre-bending the foam pieces for the bow before starting the layup.

 

So on the third hull the outer glass-carbon-foam layers went in within four hours - at that rate we should keep on building those boats!

 

The inner carbon layer also went down during that weekend, and David kept putting in the under-floor reinforcements and false floor supports

whenever he could be spared.

 

At this stage we found out that we had under-estimated some of our material use.

When David was laying up the underside carbon layer for the first false floor, there was no peel ply left.

Also, when putting on the new vacuum bag, it was notices that instead of having enough for six as planned,

the film was only just enough to build a second one out of two pieces.

 

The great satisfaction of the weekend was seeing the three hulls sitting neatly in a row: So far so good!

 

1st and 2nd May

The big event: trying to release the first shell from the mould! But first, to make sure the shell was rigid when out, all frames were glued and coved in.

 Coving the frames in while in the mould:

And then: carefully removing the shell from the mould:

Finally, she is out:

But no rest for the wicked, in goes the next one.  Mould cleaned and repaired:

The next outer skin was laid up (cove, glue rolled in, glass, carbon, foam) and vacuumed down the next day.

25th April

Spontaneous visit by Graham and David who happened to be 'around the corner' in Auckland. Winds were too strong for racing the 18ft Skiffs, so what to do with half a Saturday?

Frames cut out and ready for glueing

17th to 19th April

A busy weekend in the Bay of Islands. A few photos below. Punching holes in the foam

Marking out the foam for cutting

Cutting the fibreglass for the outside skin

Preparing the mould for the outside layer of fibreglass

Carbon laminated in the mould

Putting the bog on the foam to glue it to the carbon

Fitting the vacuum bag to the mould

Checking for holes in the vacuum bag

Making sure the vacuum pump doesn't run out of oil

The foam after the vacuum bag was removed

Making templates for the underfloor frames

Putting the finishing touches to the peelply on the inside skin of carbon

The clean-up crew hard at work

Here's our first progress report on the boat building project in the Far North: Both moulds have been repaired (and sanded and repaired and sanded and repaired...) and cut with coarse and fine cutting compound. Now comes the bit where we need some help: waxing the moulds. The foam should be delivered today, and then we can also start laying up flat panels with carbon for the frames. Grant and I will usually be at Craig's workshop (Opua Industrial Estate) just after 5pm.

Come along to have a look!

See you...