9.07.2007

port side hull cradles

Rather than wait until I finished the last hull half so that I could use mold forms 4,7,10 and 13 for cradles, I decided to cut a set of plywood cradles so that I could position the port side outer hull in preperation for mating it to the inside section. This will allow me to free up more shop space once the two halves are joined to become the port side hull.

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9.06.2007

fish eye view

Here's a picture of the outer port side hull taken from under neath looking towards the bow. ( I think that's the mast bulk head with the door opening that is visible) The lamination was accomplished with a continuous length of 60 inch wide 34 oz stitched Triaxial glass 42 feet long. I ran the zero degree strands lengthwise against the foam with the two 45 degrees towards the outside. I layed the glass from bow to stern , laying down resin sufficient to allow me to cover one sectional width of peel ply at a time. ( about 1500cc per batch ) Once I was happy with the saturation, applied the peel ply and had worked any excess resin forward, I mixed my next batch and continued the methodical process. I find it nice to listen to some soulful music or a good public radio station while I work.......or, maybe I will try to find an MP3 file of screaming cicadas to remind me of the sounds of an Alabama southern night.

This simple hand layup technique has resulted in a surface that will not require much final faring at all.

(for scale, that's a 16ft. sea kayak hanging up behind the hull)

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9.05.2007

motivation to finish


It may be a little late but I think someone should go searching for them.

lower, outer, port side hull lamination

I was able to glass the entire 42 ft lower section of the port side hull; all after the day job. It did however, keep me up till 3:00 because I was commited to laying down the full run of glass. I used 34 oz stiched triaxial glass and was able to work the fabric section by section along the full length of the hull..... Again, as described in my previous post.

The shape of the outer hull also allows for an even edge seem overlap and results in very little fabric waste. ....Nice lines Ian .

Odd tip: when laying down dry glass over wet foam, if you have small air bubbles or wrinkles, trace the fabric strands back to the edge of the fabric and tug on the individual fiber strands that pass over the bump. The glass will lay down flat with very little effort. In my case, the length wise strands were easy to roll out streight and when ever I had an uneven lay, I found it possible to do this "oriented strand edge pull "trick to persuade the glass to really hug the slightly convex hull form.

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9.03.2007

outer port side hull layup

I have settled in on a consistent method of laying up the 34 oz. triaxial glass all by myself.
It goes someting like this:

1. prepare hull for glass.
a) sand foam w/ 36 grit w/ a 36 inch sanding board @ 45 degrees off plank seams
b) skim coat foam w/ mix of resin and micro/ aerosil using a sheet rock mud blade.
c) sand smooth
2. cut and dry fit glass.
3. mark edge.
4. roll glass back up.
5. plane recess for edge seam overlap ( when appropriate ).
6. mix a total of 1500 cc resin ( 1000 A + 500 B if using 2:1 epoxy )
7. roll out about half of your batch onto the surface of the boat along a length equal to the width of peel ply.
8. start unrolling the glass over the wet hull. ( I just use cheap 1/4 in nap paint rollers that I cut in half)
9. roll another coat of resin on the top side and allow the glass to fully saturate.
10. spread area cross ways w/ peel ply.
11. work any excess resin out by pulling a plastic body spreader towards the roll of glass.( if you run the roller back over the peel ply it makes it nice and easy to work any excess resin forward. A plastic spreader glides nicely over peel ply if it has a touch of resin on the upper surface) This also rids your roller of most of the resin and gives you a little extra time to insure the resin doesn't kick on your roller. This conserves resin and rollers
12. go back up to step # 6 and repeat section by section until you fall off the end of the boat.

Believe it or not, this method is very controllable and I am able to approximate the resin glass ratios obtained from resin infusion.
If you work neat, wear a Tyvec suit, gloves and you are particular NOT to get ANY resin on you, this process results in a nice lean layup.

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overlap

I wanted to lay the 32 oz. triaxial glass lengthwise fore and aft and overlap the edges so that final fairing would go a litle easier. I cut a full length of glass to length, rolled it up on a 4 inch dia piece of pvc and checked to make sure that I could acomplish a uniorm dry lay. I then marked the edge, and rolled the glass back up. To create a lengthwise recess , I just placed a straight edge along my line and ran a power plane full length from stem to stern.

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