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.

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.

Bird clamp

Here's "Tang" being a clamp.

bird shadow

The sun casts a strange shadow on the starboard side hull. That's "Tang" on my shoulder.

test drive

I took the inner starboard side hull section out for a test drive today.

shell game

Realizing that I had gotten ahead of myself, and that I need to consolidate all these hull sections, I decided that I should finish the exterior lamination of the port side hull. Hidden from view on the left, the inner port side hull section is complete and awating removal from the mold.

So......here is a recap of my shell game:

1) built port side outer hull ( seen here)
2) re moved deck/cabin portion of port side mold and reconfigured it to produce starboard inner hull section
3) flipped stations around on strongback to build inner port side

my next step will be:


4) re-attach deck/cabin portion to inner port side mold thereby reconfiguring it to produce starboard outer section
5) fit starboard inner section to starboard outer section while it is resting in it's mold.
6)disassemble mold form and use four station molds to cradle the port side outer hull so that I can then fit and bond the inner port side hull section to the outer port side section.
7) reposition the strongback to the center of the shop and set up to build the bridgdeck.

port side boarding deck

The port side boarding deck is bonded in place with a mixture of epoxy and aero ( fumed silica) . To do this, I lay in a triangular fillet stringer of core cell foam along the inside corner and then glass the joint with 6 inch wide strip of triaxial GSM tape. Then I work the fillet smooth with a plastic spreader and peel ply.

curved shadows

Sunlight casts curved shadows across the port side inner hull half as it rests in the mold. A few final details such as the forward water line and lower deck hull stiffeners are shown here.

keeping the right frame of mind....

I've found it calming to place a few signs around the shop just to keep me focused.

spreading a bead of glue

I've been using a ltttle strip of wood to spread the glue evenly along the plank edge. When a nice even film of glue meets the water misted edge of the other plank on the mold, the joint firms up within an hour. I was able to lay all seven planks down in about the same time.

toast for breakfast.

After forming and fitting the planks, I slide a plastic strip between the mold stringers and last plank, spray the edge down with a little water from a garden spray bottle then lay a string of glue down out of a plastic honey "jar".......make sure you don't bring the glue inside and set it on the kitchen counter. Toast, butter and polyurethane glue for breakfast may slow you down a bit.

port side stern foam

Here's the last seven pre formed planks waiting for me to glue them in place.

Pre-thermoformed planks

Pre-thermoformed plank sections are seen here ready to be glued against the lower edge of a full sheet of foam that can be used to form the large flat section of the inner hull bows. You are looking at what will become the inside of the port side inner hull half.

Quality inspector

Progress on the inner port side hull foam is being inspected for quality by "Tang". Tang is fully acredited and certified as an AS 9100 auditor and tends to make loud scuawks if too little glue is applied to a section of hull foam planking.

Smooth operators...

Nice to have a little help. Here's a Georgetown chemist /PHD science educator and a professional photographer / graphic artist / fireman / chef / do gooder ( both surfers and shapers ) shaping the port side inner hull foam like a 44ft. surf board.

Starboard Inner hull section

Here is the basic shell of the starboard inner hull section. The exterior side of this section was laminated w/ 34 oz. Tri-axial glass using System Three Silver tip resin. The peel-ply/ bondo spreader method was used which resulted in a very lean part with a fiber to resin ration on par with any vac bag or infusion technique. As usual, for visual test purposes, I couldn't help peeling back a small section of the peel ply ( upper left hand corner of hull section )

In the back ground, you can see the mold which has already been flipped to produce the port side section. On the right, you can see two of the bulkheads of the starboard outer hull section as it sits on the floor waiting patiently for its inner hull section.

Note: this posting is out of sequence and should be located before the one below.

Port inner hull foam

Here's one days work with my brother laying down some foam. We ripped the 3/4 in thick Core Cell foam into ten inch wide planks and thermoformed each plank by using the ten bulb easy bake oven seen on the left. With the oven settling out around 175 degrees F, I found that seven minutes ( no more no le ss )resulted in a nice soft plank that followed the stringers very well.

edge seam detail

Here's a shot of the edge seam detail

Laminating the outside of the inner starboard hull section

Here's the inner starboard hull section dry fitted with a full length run of 34 oz. / yd ^2 triaxial glass. I measured and placed the glass cloth over the foam and held it in place with a few spring clamps along the upper edge. If you look closely, you can see the recessed strip that I cut in the foam with a power planer to allow the next run of glass cloth to lay flush along the seam and reduce the amount of exterior hull finish work. I chose NOT to cut the foam down on the inside.

What good friends are for....

In that last embarrasing post, you may recal that I had a little "set back" but thanks to the encouragement and assistance of a good buddy, we were able to re-stack the dominos so that I can fire up the lazer level to make sure the forms are square and level to the strongback again. Once this is done, I can refasten all my 3/4in x 1 3/4in stringers and start forming and laying and edge gluing the 3/4 in thick vertical core cell foam.......

This time, I'm extra motivated because the piece that pops out of this mold is the inner port section that I really need to button up the port side hull.

Again,.....aside from laughable mistakes and the occational goof ups on my part, this ship is a blast to build.

dominos...

Some times it's probably just best to go inside and read rather than work on the boat.
While attempting to "flip flop" the inner starboard mold profiles 180 deg on the strong back, I somehow managed to bump mold form 2 into mold form 3 and watched in horror as 3 hit 4, 4 hit 5, 5 hit 6 and on and on until my entire mold went flat.

It's sort of like accidentally bumping your elbow on a priceless ming Vase and watching the scene play out in slo mo.......I
didn't know whether to try a sprint to mold form 7 to head the whole thing off or just kick back and enjoy the show.

about all I could do was laugh at myself .

I'm posting this mainly to show folks that stupid things happen so don't give up.

If I can build the super cruiser I'm sure you can too......and I'm darn well gonna build her.

two down.......

Two down...two to go......

The starboard inner hull half is now resting on the shop floor in a stable position. I managed this in about an hour by myself using a couple of chain lifts, some straps and a little bit of head scratching.

lifting the sarboard inner hull half

After installing a few temporary supports and braces, the starboard inner hull half is ready to be rolled off the mold. Compared to the outer sections that include bulkheads and deck portions, the inner section is a lot easier to handle. It is however, a bit flexible in torsion at this stage.

Pride of wokmanship

If anyone questions the benefit of peel-ply, here is yet another example .........

A bird seemes to have found her way into my shop and apparently she does not share the pride in my workmanship that I do. To the left of her deposits you can see the vertical strip of peel ply that I have removed in preparation of laminating the 16in. wide reinforcement bands. These extra glass layers provide reinforcement between the hull form and the bulkheads.

The photo shows the middle section of the inner starboard hull half. ( Upper left hand portion of the photo will eventually find itself below the waterline and will become the inner half of the bow of the right hand hull )

a twenty thousand dollar work table

So this is what a $20,000.00 dollar work table looks like..........Inside those nice crates are two brand new Yanmar diesel engines that are patiently waiting for me to build them a home.