Head room in the play room

Here I am testing out the head room in the kids room.  Seems just right and that's not a black eye, I just got magic marker all over my face.

Next thing I have to do is take all these panels apart and laminate them.

Rather than perform endless vacuum bagging, I chose to simply use the peel ply method.  Then I'll do the other sides tomorrow.

foam mistakes made good

One great thing about using structural foam is that if you make a mistake while roughing out a panel, you can always make things right.  Here, you can see that I made two goof ups while shaping this panel.  1. I cut the panel too short.  2. the panel slipped out of my hand while I was cutting it on the table saw and it made a big curved gash in it. Although this was unfortunate, it is much better than making a big curved gash in your hand.

 In this example, since this is an interior panel, I'm using divinicell foam ( hence the grey color) rather than core cell foam because it does not need to be as strong.

To fix screw ups like this, all I do is cut additional foam patch pieces,. spray one side of the edge to be joined with a light mist of water from a garden sprayer, apply polyurethane glue on the mating edge, screw the patch in place and give it about 15 minutes to cure. Then lay the panel down on a flat surface and run a sanding block with 36 grit paper over the seams to knock off the excess glue that foams up between the joint. give it another 30 minutes while you work on something else and your back where you began......all ready to make another mistake.     

The kids room.

Here's a photo taken from inside the kids room which is located in the forward, port side cabin.  I have not finished the triangular floor section which will serve as a landing from which to enter and exit the  cabin.The beds will run cross ways with a walk way in between the two births  (Ok, it's not so much a walkway unless you're three) The plan is to create two "pipe" births using four carbon fiber poles and making it so that when not in use, they can be rolled up and fastened to the bulkheads.  This will open up the entire space to serve as one big romper room suitable for monstrous pillow fights.

When building out the interior, it is often necessary to fit flat panels to curved hull structures.  To do this, I have found it helpful to take measurements, write them down on scraps of foam and then head back down to the table saw to shape the panels as close as possible.  Once I get the pieces close, I use a power planer and hand sander to bevel the edges so that they all fit nicely. Then of course, I'll have to number all the pieces, take them apart laminate them with glass and epoxy and bond and reassemble them permanently in place.

dimensional notes.