sub bulkhead

One of the jobs that I had left for the winter time was to bond the forward sub bulkheads in place.  These bulkheads help distribute the bow beam loads into the forward portions of the hulls.

The bulkhead was bedded in with generous fillets and taped in place with 6 inch and 4 inch wide double bias tape backed with stranded mat. Over this, I used 8 inch wide strips of peel ply to smooth all the corners. This bulkhead will also receive a small stiffener laminated with unidirectional glass which will be bonded to the end of the bow beam and continuing downwards onto the sub bulkhead. 

engine controls

Being a twin engine craft, I needed to be able to  control both engines, at both steering stations.  To do this, I opted to go with two single function controls each side.   With these controls, the boat should be able to be maneuvered like a battle tank or bull dozier .........I'll no doubt have to deal with a bunch of cables but the alternative is to spend thousands on electronic controls.  The trick will be figuring out a way to mount them so that they do not take up too much space down below in the aft cabins....... Maybe I'll need to build pedestals for them?........I'm just making stuff up as I go.

   

forward cabin floor boards

Rather than have one big floor panel in the forward cabins, I chose to create two floor panels for a total of four; starboard / port. I used cardboard to make templates that I could check for fit.  Once I got the shape, traced around the templates onto 1  1/4 inch foam then vac bagged them all in one shot.

forward cabin floors

The two forward cabins offer a good amount of floor space and I have chosen to create floor board edge mounts which will allow me to create removable floor panels. Seen here is the forward, starboard hull cabin area. I've bonded the edge mounts in place with double bias glass tape and epoxy then used strips of peel ply to minimize the need for any sanding. Note: the cross wise floor stiffener is made up of multiple layers of 4 in wide core cell foam bonded in place with a full layer of 24oz triaxial glass. Each forward cabin will have two floor boards with the edges meeting along the hull stiffeners. This will allow me to create a shower pan floor board with a drain  that will allow the bilge area beneath to become a catchment for the shower.  A bilge pump can then be added to empty the used shower water.........as odd as it may be to some, a recirculating shower system can help to conserve fresh water by allowing ample wash water flow which can then be finished off with a final fresh water rinse.

compassion to those affected

sunshine

Boat progress is painfully slow but I found the sun in Kihei, Maui.  Oregon in the winter time is no place for epoxy.........nor is it a place for myself and an unfinished boat.  

Galley sneak preview

Here's a sneak preview of the interior galley fit out.  I've chosen a bottle glass counter top laminate with toasted bamboo veneer covering epoxy/glass composite panels. In the foreground, you can see the Fridge freezer with the evaporator plate in position. The fridge/freezer will have a divider with its own thermostatically controlled spillover fan that will draw cool air from the freezer side to maintain a pre set fridge temperature.  As a finish detail, I've located a source of original 1950's aluminum edge trim for all the counter tops. 

Land Yacht

While in Santa Cruz, I spent some time helping my brother replace a holding tank in his 67 Land Yacht.

Lot's to learn from the design that went into the early airstreams

A visit to the spar builder

Flew to California to meet with Ballenger Spars  who will prepare the mast for this cat.  Follow the link to see their work.

http://www.ballengerspars.com/index.html  

Grandaddys' hand saw

Here's the last set of the multiple panels required to build out the main interior seating.

If I planned to build ten more 44ft. performance cruising catamarans, It would be worth it to produce 3D computer renderings of the interior then have all the panels CNC cut. However, since this is the only Ocean going cruising cat I will ever build in this lifetime, it made more since to grab the foam and go at it in the design-build manner. These days it's easy to create virtual living spaces on a computer, but nothing can beat using your hands to arrive at a configuration that just feels right. Sometimes technology is a bit over rated and it's good to know when and when not to use it.......I guess I could have used an etch-a- sketch to draw the panels, used a digital camera to capture the image, convert the image to a .dxf file that could be converted to machine tool language that could control a $500,000.00 water jet cutter but I just used my Grandaddys' hand saw instead.

yellow sealer tape

To make good headway on completing the galley booth, I had to break out the 8 x 12 ft vac bag table and perform another marathon session.  This time, I decided to maximize the entire surface area by nesting the panels together so that they pretty much consumed the entire surface area of my table. For this mega vacuum bag, I used vac bag membrane on top and bottom because I was not sure that my table was completely air tight.  This took two rolls of yellow sealer tape.......say that ten times:   "Yellow sealer tape" "Yellow sealer tape""Yellow sealer tape""Yellow sealer tape""Yellow sealer tape""Yellow sealer tape"..........too much time in the shop makes Jack a dull boy.

booth panels

Again......another impromptu post cure oven

no place to sit...

After careful attention to human factors and proportion, what took about two days to put together came apart in about 5 minutes. Reason being is that the interior booth seating shapes have to be sheathed with bi axial glass and epoxy to give them strength.  Once the entire seating area is finished it will only weigh about 25 lbs.  If it were built in conventional plywood, I imagine it would weigh in at over 75 lbs. ...simplify and add lightness is still the mantra. The booth is constructed of structural foam sheathed with epoxy and glass and will be upholstered in a doe leather marine-tex.

An experiment in the reduction of production time

Faced with the prospect of having to laminate over 25 separate panels for the interior bridge deck galley area, I decided to run an experiment in vacuum bagging multiple layers and panels all under one vacuum bag. Did it work? I think it did but given the marathon layup session and a bit of a hassle peeling all the layers of peel ply perf and breather off,  I'm not sure if I'll be so bold in the future.

Here's the result:

That's a total of 11 separate panels laminated front and back and stacked all under one vacuum bag.

It went like this: 

lower part of the bag ( vinyl flooring on a temp floor panel)

plastic membrane to keep the lot from sticking to the vinyl flooring

peel ply

glass

foam

glass

peel ply

perf

peel ply

glass

foam

glass

peel ply

perf

peel ply

glass

foam

glass

peel ply

perf

breather

top vac bag.

beer

I think it was worth it because it would have taken me at least a week to use the peel ply bondo spreader method to bond both sides of the 11 panels that I made in one night. 

Here's a few tricks that I learned.

pull the individual groups of panels up and lean them against something

I used a few wooden wedges to separate the groups of panels

( this wasn't that difficult)

score the individual panel edges with an angle grinder on both sides along the panel seams then pop them apart like sheet rock.

After pulling off all the peel ply, I did have a few flaws where excess resin gathered but nothing a little sanding won't fix.

would I try this again?  Maybe not.  I may just turn on some good music and lay some panels up one at a time for a while.  If I were in a race to produce the most panels in a day I may give it another go but I can think of a few more enjoyable ways to spend an evening.

More icebox excitement

True.....how exciting can an Icebox be?
For effect, imagine you were a hundred years back in time and you told someone that you could make ice from sunshine and wind. ( solar panels and wind generators).....now that would be more exciting.

Here's the box with the last round of glassing which makes her 100 percent part of the integrity of the boat. The location of the unit actually provides structure to the cabin bulkhead itself and if I ever get blue water smashing against the outer cabin bulkhead, I'm confident that this unit will act as a dresser drawer against a door knob.

All the box components are now bonded together and peel ply was used to minimize the sanding required to prep the sides for a caramelized bamboo veneer that I have chosen as a final finish.  The top work surface will be covered with "Wilson Art" bottle glass Formica and once the insides are glossed over with white epoxy, I'll load it with the works: condenser, compressor, keel cooler, and a spill-over thermostat for the refrigerator portion.  

I've chosen a 40 inch condenser plate and followed the instructions to bend 3 in. dia corners so that it can be mounted inside the ice box so that it will allow one half of the box to be a freezer and the other half the fridge.. Note the keel cooler on the left.

Fridge / freezer box: a plan from top to bottom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cbX4DUACYU

From all manner of sources, an important aspect of any top loading fridge / freezer is a double sealed top. In my case I created the profile by using three different thicknesses of foam which I will glass and vacuum bag to create a wrap around top that I will bond to the flush top of the cabinet. The next few steps will be to build the butterfly opening top with double seals, bond a Formica laminate to the top surface of the cabinet box and top, apply a two ply bamboo veneer to the outside of the box for cosmetics then finish the box with an aluminum strip of edging to give it a nice professional look. 

From top to bottom, here's my plan:

1. icebox top surface smoothed to accept chamfered opening ( steps 2, 3 and 4)
2. nest layer of 3/4 in dyvinicell foam,  1 1/4 inch beveled layer of foam
3. 1/4 inch spacer which will be covered with 6 ply cabinit grade plywood
4. final surface laminate to top
5. veneer exterior cabinet
6. install edging
7. apply internal glazing ( a simple rolled on mixture of epoxy, titanium dioxide and cabosil to prevent "running" This I have found produces a thick, rock hard glossy surface that is easy to clean and avoids all the labor of having to spray expensive automotive coatings such as deadly polyurethane imron or synthetic enamels. 
8. Install the guts ( a modular Fridgoboat system http://frigoboat.com/)
9. Install evaporator
10. Components: (The guts)

11. 200F Evaporator - 40.25"w x 10.5"h, Flat Plate

    install compressor
12. 
    

    K50-AEO with AEO control  (This unit has an electronic "smart" speed control that automaticly adjusts the compressor RPM to provide the precise amount of refrigeration necessary for the job at hand so that the unit runs at a lower rate for a longer time thereby creating higher efficiencies than if it were to rune wide open for shorter times.)

13. install keel cooled condenser to prevent cabin heat buildup in the tropics

14. Keel Cooler thread-mounted condenser

    Install freezer thermostat

    Thermostat, Coastal Digital Fahrenheit and Celsius 12v

15. Install spill over unit

Spillover fan/thermostat kit, mechanical

This device pulls cold air from the freezer section and dumps the right amount of chilled air into the refridgerator portion while excess air flows back into the freezer portion.  This thermostat can be set above freezing while the freezer unit can be set well below freezing as desired....

I plan on trailing a fishing line off the transom and packing this freezer with fish for my family. Not to mention "ice for the blender that will soon render that tropical concoction that helps one hang on"

pouring the foam

Here's the fridge / freezer cabinet after positioning the ice box in place and pouring a 2 lb /ft ^3 expanding polyurethane foam. I measured out enough to fill the bottom and then started filling the side cavities with smaller batches until the foam expanded up beyond the top. I then ran a hand saw around the top to level the foam. This fridge / freezer will have a butterfly top that will allow individual access to each compartment.  

Roughing in the Fridge / Freezer

I chose to place the fridge right next to the cabin door so that cold drinks can be readily available to the skipper.

The interior panels have been sheathed one side with a 12 oz. biaxial glass and epoxy.  To prevent infra red  heat absorption, the inner side of the outer cabinet will be lined with a thin aluminum foil. The surrounding void between the ice box shell and the cabinet will then be filled with a two part expanding polyurethane foam.  

mocking up the cabin booth seating

Here I am making a layout of the seat profile that I will build inside the cabin. I spent countless hours studying human factor design books in order to insure that when I want to kick back and have some cookies and milk, I'll be nice and comfortable.

Modern art Hatch Openings

 I strengthened the edges of all of the hatch openings by routing out an inch and a half of deck foam then re-filling the void with a thixotropic mixture of aerosil, glass micro spheres and epoxy.

I then used strips of tough synthetic roof material as a mold to create nice smooth edges that will require little finish work.  I used flexible wood strips, springing them together to hold the edges in place.

 this method works really well.  The sharpy marks will be the drill holes and location of the hatch frames.

Shame on Lewmar

flimsy hinge clutch attachment on new Lewmar escape hatches:

I can only hope that this failure was due to a worker using the wrong size rivet, otherwise, Lewmar should know better than to use such a failed design in the attachment method of the hinge clutch to the frame.

It is easy to see that the flimsy aluminum rivets were not long enough to even go through the flange on the hatch frame. 

This two part "spring/clutch" is attached between the two hinges and is supposed to keep the hatch from swinging wildly when opened. In my case, the second time I opened the hatch, the attachment broke off.  

This is very poor design. At close to a thousand dollars a piece, it is not unreasonable to believe that details like this would be so under designed. 

Yet another opportunity to improve upon the work of a manufacturer.......Tomorrow I will bring the escape hatch to the local farm and ranch hardware store and buy two beefy stainless steel fasteners to replace these two flimsy rivets......only down side will be galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metals but I may not have a choice.