Carbon Chainplates

prepping the carbon fiber chain plates for resin infusion process. In the foreground, the precut foam chainplate is being covered with a specified schedule of fiberglass and carbon fiber.  

A stainless steel thimble is captured by 10 layers of 9 oz. unidirectional carbon fiber.  Spray adhesive is being used to position all reinforcing fabric. As bad  luck would have it, I ran short on carbon uni so the process is on hold until material arrives.  I'll pick up the next steps when it arrives.

simple

Simple ...you've got to be kidding.

bottom paint

Here I am taking a break and studying up on bottom paint.

Starting to look like a boat.

I stepped back and amongst the mess, I realized that shes starting to look like a boat.

lowering a little drag.

this shot is a bit disorienting but your looking at the port side, aft end of the centerboard casing.  To minimize potential hydrodynamic drag created by water flow past the centerboard case openings,  I've opted for the tapered exit which will be glassed over creating a  smooth trailing edge slot.

Cleat reinforcement patches

Not an incredibly exciting picture but here are the saturated glass reinforcements that will go in the interior of the ship where the cleats will be mounted on deck. The larger patches are reinforcements for winch locations.

Again, the trick to doing overhead glassing is to lay things out on sheets of plastic.  in this case, I  start with 1)  sheet of plastic 2) peel ply 3) glass 4) roll on a coat of epoxy 5) more glass  6) another roll of epoxy then let sit for a little while so that it's fully saturated and a little tacky.

Then slap those things in place and squeegee them in place with a bondo spreader.