On to the main hull!

 We are on to the main hull at last.  Once again I enlisted my neighbor to help put the port float on the storage shelf.  I still need to write a punch list of things I need to do on the floats when I install the beams, otherwise I'll likely forget half of the tasks.  After moving the float, I started tweaking the strong back.  The last couple of cross pieces have to be moved for the main hull since it is longer than the floats.  I also made fine adjustments to several other cross pieces (+/- 1-2 mm) to try to get everything just right.

And here is a nice view of the twins Portia and Starry!  Next steps are lot's of woodworking to get the main hull frame built.  The main hull is about twice as wide as the floats, so it might get tight in here.  And I have no idea where I am going to store the first half while building the second half.  Well, I guess I still have plenty of time to figure it out!

Finishing up CMMs

 We are just about done with the central mounting modules.  We glued on the beam pads and glassed the various joints and exposed foam in the channel.  Applying glass and fillets in the channel is tricky.  Definitely a good opportunity to improve my patience.  You might note that I outlined the remaining peel-ply to help me remember to remove it when we install these in the main hull (someday).  It is pretty easy to forget about the peel ply, which would lead to a real bad day sailing.

Here's another view of the nearly complete CMMs.  Once they fully cure, I will do some clean up and I need to seal the edge of the center flange (on the bottom in the photo) with glass and epoxy.  But that is it for these parts for awhile.  Again, I thought it would only take a couple hours to install the pads and finish the glass and epoxy work, but it took about six!

Taping CMMs and the essence of time

 After a wonderful Christmas day, nothing beats a day mixing epoxy and taping joints on the Central Mounting Modules.  I formed fillets in all of the corners on Christmas in preparation for taping.  Temperatures are very cold at night, so the epoxy doesn't cure, which is good in this case.  It allowed me to fillet one day and tape the next while the epoxy is still curing, resulting in a stronger bond.  I also cut the glass tape ahead of time.  Today, before mixing the first batch of epoxy, I did some final trimming to fit the glass tape around the circular bolt plate shown in the photo.  Cutting complex curves in glass fabric is a little tricky, so here is my trick ...

 The first step was to make a template out of card stock to locate the cut-out on the glass tape relative to the edges of the CMM.  I then aligned the edge of the template with the edge of the tape and traced the partial circle with a Sharpie marker.  This makes measuring quick and easy.

 Next, I used a rotary cutter to cut the curve in the glass tape, being careful to stay on the outside of the marks.  The rotary cutter does a great job of cutting without distorting the fibers in the tape.  I used a piece of plastic louver from an old window blind as a cutting surface to protect the table.  The cutter is sharp enough to leave a nasty cut in the laminate on my vacuum table.

 And, there it is, a perfectly cut opening to fit around the bolt plate.  Sorry for the poor contrast of white fabric on white louvre on white table.

 Now all of the tape is cut to size and the fillets are firm but still curing.  I estimated it would take a couple hours to tape both CMMs, after which I would relax and enjoy some time playing with my daughter's Christmas presents.  The boat house gets into the mid-60s during the day, and then rapidly cools off after about 3:00.  Starting at about noon, I figured I would have plenty of time ...

Seven hours and 1.5 liters of epoxy later, I finally finished!  And, no, I did not have any difficulties, aside from the plummeting temperatures.  It was just a lot of detailed work placing and wetting out each piece of material.  I did move from the boat house to the sun room when temperatures fell into  the 40's.  It is hard to tell if the epoxy is gelling or just getting thick from being too cold in these conditions. The CMMs are now in the heated storage room to cure overnight.  Funny how things always seem to take longer than anticipated.

Port ports

 The port float is now done, or at least as done as it will get until the beams are installed.  I am putting together short punch lists of details I need to remember to take care of when I install the beams and chainplates.  I have delayed installation of the chainplates until I know more specifics of the rigging I will use.  And there are a few minor touch ups needed.

Here is a view of the forward access port and main hatch on the port float being dry fitted.  I will need to add prep of the holes for bolting the hatches to the hull to my punch list.  The fit is good, and the mounting surfaces are fair, so the hatches should keep the water out.

Of course, the hatches also open properly without binding.  Just replace the wood floor with blue water and the shop wall with a clear horizon and we are ready to set sail!  In the meantime, we are on to building the form frame for the main hull (hooray!)

Central Mounting Modules glued

 We finished the initial assembly of both the forward and aft Central Mounting Modules.  In this photo you can see the last end of the last module being clamped together while the glue sets.  The filler putty that the plates are bed in tends to slowly ooze down and out of the vertical joints.  The putty is a mix of epoxy, cabosil, and microballoons.  More cabosil or microballoons would reduce the flow, but I found it easy enough to just babysit the assembly until the epoxy kicks.  I will add more putty to form fillets in all of the corners after the initial glue cures.  The CMMs are rather fragile with just thin lines of glue, but the fillets and glass tape will make them strong and capable of distributing the large forces applied by the beams.

Here is the first CMM I assembled in the correct orientation.  The wood beam pads will be mounted on either side of the slot at the top corners.  The "upper folding strut"will be bolted into the slot as part of the mechanism that supports the beams.  You may notice the scribbles all over the CMM.  These are marks to remind me that these areas still have peel-ply so I don't try to install the CMMs with the peel-ply still on.  I have been removing strips of peel-ply as I assemble the various components of the CMMs.  I am trying to keep the peel-ply on as long as possible so the surfaces are clean when installed into the main hull.

Assembling the central mounting modules

Last weekend we started assembling the central mounting modules.  The assembly requires the use of a jig described in the plans that I built last winter.  As you can see in the photo, a few clamps come in handy as well.  The assembly at the far end was done last week, and is now set.  Today I glued up the other end, currently clamped and curing.  The glue is epoxy thickened with cabosil.  I also use a putty to fill in the gaps.  Typically I wet all of the mating surfaces with the thickened epoxy glue to ensure good adhesion of the putty.  Then I apply a bead of putty and mate the pieces.  Following a little cleanup I leave it to cure.  I don't try to fillet and tape it until the initial glue is cured.  It is just too much hassle to work around the clamps and jig.  Over the weekend I plan to assemble the other CMM.  Hopefully I'll be able to fillet and tape both CMMs next weekend.  That should put us on track to be done with the CMMs before Christmas.

A couple posts ago I showed the woodworking I was doing to fabricate the beam pads that will go on the CMMs.  Well, here is another picture of the pads after all the cuts were complete.  It was a lot of work milling these to the precise dimensions, but I just love the look and feel of a well machined part, be it wood or metal (or fiber-reinforced boat hull).

After some sanding and prep, the wood beam pads were glassed on three sides.  The other sides are glassed once the CMMs are installed in the main hull.  I masked the unglassed sides with clear packing tape prior to applying the glass to keep the surfaces clean.  I just need to do some final sanding and these will be ready to be attached to the CMMs.  (And no, this is not suppose to be an advertisement for a trampoline company!)

Finishing touches on access holes

I know it has been a while since I last posted an update.  There hasn't been too much done on the port float that wasn't already discussed when we were finishing the starboard float.  We finished trimming out the four access ports.  I applied the fairing putty around the ports to blend in the glass reinforcing.  Then winter showed up and dumped snow on us.  So I've been a little slow to get out and sand the fairing putty.  But I did start on it today.  Here is a view of the forward access port on the port hull after fairing. It looks pretty good, though I can still feel the transition from the hull to the reinforcing patch, so I will add a second pass with putty to the punch list.

Here is another view of the forward access port with the screw-in port cover dry fitted.  I think it looks great.  The slightly recessed support plate makes the port flow into the rest of the hull, almost professional looking!  You can see the other three openings in the background awaiting the same attention.  The next round of winter storms is expected next week, so finishing these ports is high on my to-do list for this weekend.  It actually only takes less then an hour per port, so no problem.

Beam pads

 As promised, here are a couple photos from today's woodworking adventure milling the pads that will eventually support the beams.  These pads will be subjected to large compressive forces, so a high density hardwood is a must.  This is lovely white oak, used for centuries to build ships thanks to its natural rot resistance and strength.  So my F-82R will have a direct link to all of the great ocean explorers of past ages (okay, not exactly a direct link, but close enough!)  These are the blanks after being milled to thickness.  Each blank is about 3-feet long and will produce four pads.  The burn marks are due to a combination of dulling cutters and tough wood.

Five hours later (said with a french accent, a' la Sponge Bob!):
The eight milled pads awaiting glass laminate and installation on the central mounting modules.  It is amazing how seemingly simple jobs like cutting blocks of wood into these parts can take so long.  But I prefer to take my time and double check my measurements so I only screw up a quarter of the cuts!  Actually this all went pretty well.  I know it is hard to gauge the scale of these blocks, but the caliper to the left is about 9-inches long.  The blocks in the foreground are about 6"x7" and the blocks in the back are 10"x6".  So these are not too small, and there are few right angles.  The crazy bevels made each cut a challenge in set up.  Just a couple more small tasks (drill a few holes, laminate pads) and we are off to assembly of the central mounting modules (patented by Ian Farrier).

Oh yeah, and I also made a little more progress on the ports in the port float.  The weather was kinda damp and cool (a rarity in this part of the world), so not the best epoxy weather.  We should be able to glass the ports next weekend and be done with the port float for a while.

Parts cut for mounting modules

 In addition to the progress on the port float, we are preparing to fabricate the first parts of the main hull. If you recall I was vacuum laminating various panels a couple weeks ago for the "central mounting modules" (patented by Ian Farrier).  These modules provide the load bearing structure supporting the beams on the main hull.  There are some big loads on these components when the wind is trying to heel the boat over and the leeward float resists by push into the water.  Ian includes lots of warnings with skulls and crossbones to make the point that these modules must be built carefully and to his design.  I spent the past few days carefully laying out the components and cutting them to size (note the tools in the photo were mostly supporting actors, the table saw and band saw played the lead roles).  Many of the cuts are at odd angles, so I had to carefully think about how I was going to make the cuts to ensure accuracy.  Here you can see most of the parts just about ready for assembly.

The highest load components are cut from 4.5 mm-thick solid glass reinforced laminated sheet.  This was one of the panels I made on the vacuum table.  Ian's instructions estimate the solid sheet will require about 9 layers of 12-oz bi-directional glass.  In actuality, mine required 12 layers, with alternating layers of bi-directional (0-90 deg fibers) and double-bias (45-45 deg fibers) fabric.  I am not sure if the extra layers were needed due to the vacuum press, or due to the fibers being more uniformly spread out in my double-bias glass, and hence thinner than the bi-directional glass.  In any case, the panels is solid and heavy.  Feeling the weight of the solid panel compared to a foam-cored panel really shows the difference in weight of a solid laminate boat compared to a cored laminate boat.

In addition to the numerous small parts, there were also four large sections that form the backbone of the modules.  These sections are about six feet long, and will eventually span the main hull.  Next time I'll show you the high-load bearing pads I am currently fabricating out of lovely white oak (very old-school, indeed!)

The fairest of them all ... with ports

 I know it has been a while since I last updated our progress.  It's mostly been sanding and fairing, so not too much more to say that I haven't already.  The good news is I finished fairing the port float last weekend, and it looks great.  There is some minor touch up remaining on the deck, but mostly in the vicinity of the ports, so I decided to address these issues when I blend the ports in to the hull.  Fairing went somewhat quicker (or at least less painful) on the port hull.  I didn't do as many iterations of applying filler followed by sanding.  To summarize, I did the following:

1 - Fill holes and seams in foam,

2 - Initial fairing of foam with extra-long fairing board

3 - Fill significant low areas in foam and fair,

4 - Laminate outer surface and install bow,

5 - Skim coat entire surface,

6 - Sand with fairing board,

7 - Fill any remaining low spots,

8 - Final fairing pass.

 Here is another view of the port ports!  I followed the same basic steps I used for cutting the openings in the starboard float.  I am still working on blending the ports into the hull form like I did on the other float.  Once I get the epoxy putty shaped, I will apply glass tape on the inside and glass fabric on the outside to reinforce the openings.  Then this float goes on the shelf while we move on to the beams and main hull.

Skimming and vacuuming

 This was a pretty good weekend for making progress on the port float and the beam support modules.  Here is a view of the bow after the outer side of the float was skim coated with a somewhat thin epoxy filler (1.125 cups microballoons + 150 mL epoxy).  The intent with the skim coat is to fill all the texture and provide enough thickness to blend in the edges of the reinforcements without excessive thickness that will just be sanded off.  I did the deck surface first (3 batches of 300 mL epoxy each) and then rolled the float over and skimmed the side (4 batches).  I will probably need to do a second light pass on low spots, but it should be minimal.

 Here's the skim coated float looking from the stern with the starboard float in the background (like a before and after shot).  I had planned to skim coat all three sides, but the day job interfered on Friday.  So I will try to coat the inner side one evening this coming week.  That will give the epoxy plenty of time to cure before the weekend when the real fun starts - more fairing!  But this is the last big fairing task on the floats, so I'll take my time and get it done.

Here is the vacuum press hard at work on the last side of the last set of foam boards being laminated for the support modules.  As I mentioned earlier, I chose to laminate each side individually rather than drill a million holes.  I did the first side in the morning and the other side in the afternoon.  This worked very well and was somewhat easier than trying to wet out the glass on both sides while trying to beat the cure-time clock.  Most of these boards are 72 inches long by 14 inches wide, so it takes some time to wet out two layers of glass on each side.  At the back of the table you can see the finished boards waiting to be cut to final shape.  The next step is to make a sheet of solid fiber-reinforced epoxy board for some very high load components.  This solid fiberglass board will also be made on the vacuum table to ensure it is flat and has the optimum ratio of glass to epoxy.

Send in the reinforcements ...

 This weekend we had to split our attention between the new boat and the old.  The first snow arrived slightly up the mountain just in time for the end of the sailing season.  So we pulled the monohull out of the water and brought her home. Back at Ye Olde Boat House, we finished shaping the bow on the starboard float.  With the hull rotated in the proper, upright orientation, I glassed the bow with two layers of 12-oz. bi-directional glass.  While waiting or the the first layer to kick, I laminated the various reinforcements in high load areas, and where hardware will be installed.  We are now ready for skim coating and final fairing (which is no trip to the fair!).

 I also spent lots'o time cutting fabric in preparation for laminating the foam sheets that I prepped last week.  Here is a shot of the vacuum laminating table all set up for vacuum work.  These will be the largest pieces I have vacuum laminated, and the sheets will take up most of the table (note vacuum pump relegated to the floor).  Rather than spending the next two weeks punching holes in the foam for two sided vacuum laminating, I decided to just glass one side at a time.  Although it will take twice as long under vacuum, I think I can finish in a long weekend.  I'll wet out the glass on the top surface, place under vacuum until initial cure, flip it over and repeat.

Here is a photo of all of the glass, foam, and vacuum layers pre-cut and neatly stacked, awaiting the start of the vacuum work.  This represents about four hours of measuring and cutting.  I could take up tailoring, but I doubt the fashion industry would go for glass-reinforced plastic suits (okay, maybe some fashion sub-cultures would go for it).

Shaping the port bow

 This past weekend I attached the foam bow and finished shaping it to match the hull.  I also sanded the entire hull in preparation for skim coating and final fairing.  I wanted to get the bow glassed and the reinforcements laminated, but we just didn't have the time.  The white stuff on the bow in the photo is a skim coat to fair the bow to the hull.  I already did this on the other side.  All in all, it is pretty easy to cut the bow to shape with a hand saw by using the hull as the guide for the slope.  I cut about 2 inches at a time going from keel to deck.  Making small cuts allowed me to correct frequently before going too far off course.  After trimming with the saw, I spent some time sanding the foam closer to the final shape with the long board.  It is important to minimize the sanding on the adjoining glass surfaces, especially around the high curvature areas at the deck and keel.  The filler putty then cleans up the details and fills any gouges and unwanted cuts.

Here is another view of the bow with the skim coat. In the zoomed view you will note it is still rough because I have yet to sand this side fair.  You will also notice the red and blue stripes along the leading edge.  No, this is not the new Captain America paint scheme!  I used the lines to help monitor the symmetry while trimming the foam.  The red is approximately the centerline, and the blue lines are the next layer of foam.  It isn't perfect but it is helpful.  After sanding and any follow up filling, I will stand the float up so we can laminate the bow with two layers of glass and apply the other reinforcements on the deck.  Sounds like I have plans for the weekend, yet again ...

Laminated port float

 This was a very productive weekend as we glassed the port float.  Here are a couple of views of the fully glassed hull with reinforcing along the side.  Dawna had to help a friend on Saturday, so I laminated the outboard half by myself.  I found that I could laminate approximately a meter of hull in 30 minutes with 600 mL of epoxy.  Final score: 4 hours of epoxy work and three bubbles.  Dawna and I did the inboard half together at a rate of about 20 minutes per meter with 600 mL epoxy.  Final score: 3 hours and no bubbles!  It is very difficult to see air bubbles under the saturated glass fabric, and my crappy eyesight doesn't help.  The bubbles are easy to repair, so no big deal, but I much prefer a perfect lamination.  The stern end is another tricky spot due to the point.  I think I laminated it three times on the starboard float before I got it right.  It is easy to sand through the glass, and the fibers tend to not stay where I put them resulting in air gaps in the lamination.

The laminated hull is very fair, so I don't think I will need to do too much tweaking.  We will skim coat the entire hull once the bow is installed and the various reinforcing patches are laminated.  But I am hoping for minimal sanding aside from the initial skim coat.  I hope to attach the bow cap and add the reinforcements next weekend.  Of course we only have a couple of weekends left in the sailing season, so we might head to the lake for a daysail.  Sounds like another busy weekend coming up ...

Keel'd over

 We finished fairing and sanding the outer side of the float with a single pass of putty.  I must be getting better at applying the fairing putty because it only took about an hour to fully sand the float, and very little putty was sanded off.  Next we flipped the float over to work on the keel.  Here you can see how we supported the float with a couple braces on each side.  Bracing the hull like this made it much easier and quicker to grind down the keel.  Once braced, it took about an hour to form the keel with the belt sander and the 30" fairing board.  The black "handles" sticking out are actually pieces of insulating foam so I don't impale myself on the protruding braces.

 After fairing the keel, I carefully inspected the entire hull (except the deck) and filled any remaining imperfections, open seams between foam planks, screw holes, etc.  I only used a single batch of putty (150 mL epoxy + 1.25 cups microballoons) for the entire hull.  It should take a very light sanding with the fairing board to fair these patches.  Once the putty cures, I'll sand the keel and lower hull.  Then we will turn the hull back on to its side and finish sanding.  After that, we will be ready to laminate the outer surface with 18-oz. glass.

After I finished the last patches, I prepped all of the glass fabric.  The big rolls are the 18-oz. glass that will cover the entire hull.  There are also several smaller pieces used for reinforcing the hull in key areas.  I am excited to get the hull laminated for the sense of progress it provides.   Of course after laminating, we skim coat it with fairing putty and I am back to fairing.  At least the cooler temperatures make the work more pleasant.  And we are close to moving on to the main hull!

Fair play

We finished initial fairing of the deck with two passes of filling and sanding.  I suddenly recalled why I don't enjoy sanding with the long board around 25% through the second pass when I blew out a lung (okay not really, but it felt like it).  Luckily Dawna came to my rescue and helped finish fairing the deck (she's such a stud!). Then we rotated the hull to work on the outer side of the hull.  Although this half wasn't exactly the best half at the deck level, it is nearly perfect below deck.  So rather than making a lot of extra work, we filled a few areas that needed some help and left most of the side untouched.  I figure I will take care of the very subtle waves between foam planks when I skim coat the glassed hull in a few weeks.  Hopefully I will only need one pass for the few areas needing attention.  Then we will flip and repeat on the inner hull side.

'Fair thee well ...'

 We finished closing up the port float hull by permanently installing the forward access port.  I had to redo the glass backing flange because the first one wouldn't allow the insert to sit flush with the outside of the hull.  So I cut it off and tried again.  As you can see in the photo, the second time was the charm and the insert is very flush.  The extra filler on the insert is part of the first steps in fairing this hull.

If you recall the last time I faired a float hull, I started by striping the hull with putty using a notched squeegee.  Sanding down the stripes revealed high and low areas.  I decided to try a different approach this time in an attempt to minimize my pain and suffering.  Note that we already filled all of the holes and seams in the foam.  I started by sanding the foam with my 60" long fairing board.  The high spots tended to get sanded down while the low spots were left untouched.  I didn't go too far with the sanding, just enough to show a distinction between high and low areas.  We don't want to remove too much foam since the thickness of the foam core is important for maintaining the stiffness of the structure.  Once I finished sanding the deck, I started building up the low areas with a light filler putty (150 mL epoxy + 1.25 cup microballoons).  After the filler is cured, I will go over it again with the fairing board and repeat.  I hope to need only two passes with the filler and fairing board to achieve a reasonably fair hull.  I am also going to finish fairing the deck before we roll the hull to one side, and then finish that side before rolling to the other side.  This should reduce the time spent sanding, filling, and rolling.

The outer half of the float (right side in the photo) was the second half we made, oh so long ago, and the first made with the heat gun.  Apparently I had some learning to do because the bow end needs some work to equal the fairness of the inner half.  In any case, I am building some areas up with multiple layers of putty, otherwise the putty tends to sag.  This makes it even more important that we keep the putty mixture light.  Luckily, only the curve from the hull side to the deck in a section about 18" long (shiny area in photo) is significantly out of fair.  The rest of the hull is typical (at least typical by my standards), requiring only skim coats of filler in scattered areas, mostly along the seams.  I'll let you know how this approach to fairing works in my next post.

Sealing up the port float

 We finished all of the interior tasks and just about finished closing up the float.  Here is a shot of the bow after it was closed up and trimmed.  This means we are close to warming up the long boards again.

 Here is a view of the bow from the inside.  If you compare this to the similar photo of the starboard bow you will note that this one is much neater with less excessive putty.  Not sure it matters to anyone but me since no one really ever sees the inside of the bow.  But it makes me feel like I am doing a better job when it looks neat and professional.  In the upper right next to the bow plate you will also note a lump, which is the threaded backing plate for the bow eye strap laminated to the hull.

We also trimmed the stern plate in preparation for fairing.  A sailor walks into a boat house and says to the shipwright "You've got a nice aft!"  Sorry, I had to say it!  It is hard to see, but we also finished filling all of the holes left over from forming the foam core and the seams between foam planks.  To aid in fairing, I also closed up all of the ports with the cutouts.  Nothing new, same process as with the starboard float.  I like to think it went a little quicker and turned out a little better.

The last port to close up is the forward temporary access port used to install the bow compression beam.  We are done with it, so we are closing it permanently.  This is a little tricky because we can't get to the interior to tape the inside of the port.  In the photo the cutout is epoxied to a piece of bi-directional glass.  This is cured on the float deck to take on the form of the deck so it fits the contours of the opening better.  Once it is cured and trimmed, I'll apply some thin epoxy filler to the glass flange and pull it up against the inside of the opening to cure.  This worked on the starboard hull but wasn't pretty.  Hopefully this one works as well and maybe looks a little better.  Of course, from the outside, it gets faired along with the rest of the hull and disappears.

More progress on port float

 It was a productive weekend on the port float.  When working on the starboard float we had to make each of the bits to finish up the float, which took some extra time.  Smartly (okay, it was mostly Dawna's idea), we made two of everything so we would be ready to go on the port float without delay.  Here is a view looking forward of the bow compression member that we made months ago taped in place.  As with so many tasks on the float interiors, the compression member had to be taped in place working through a small access port.  Thankfully, Justus von Liebig invented the silver-backed mirror in 1835 so I could see what I was doing!  Now I can seal up the access port and be that much closer to a date with a fairing board.

 We are getting close to sealing up the bow of the float.  I trimmed the bow and prepped the edge for the bow end plate.  I just need to install the backing plate for the bow pad eye and we'll be ready to close her up.

 I also trimmed the stern and sealed it up.  Taping the inside stern seam is also an adventure in frustration.  Patience is a virtue, but cursing and throwing things makes me feel better ... okay it wasn't quite that bad.  But it does take some patience to reach in, make an adjustment, then move my arm out of the way to see if I did what I thought I did.  In the (stern) end, the tape was smooth and nicely laminated.  I still need to trim the plate to match the hull, but I'll wait until the tape is fully cured.  And we are ready to temporarily close up this access port as we prepare for fairing.

While waiting for tape to cure, I finished installing the high-density inserts that will later support rigging hardware.  As with the starboard float, I carved out the standard-density foam core to match the inserts, bent the inserts to match the hull form, applied a thin epoxy filler to fill any gaps and adhere the inserts in place, and applied pressure to force out any excess filler.  For the larger inserts on the deck I applied continuous pressure by balancing some weights on the inserts until they cured.  One more weekend and we should be all closed up and ready for "The Board!"