Fifth of four float hull halves

We got a good start on the fifth float half.  Okay, I am starting to get a little tired of building float halves ... but this should be the last one until the next boat (keeping our fingers crossed).  Notice the fourth half sitting on the rack previously occupied by the first half.  I still haven't had the heart to take the remnants of the first half to the landfill.  Maybe I can make a planter out of it!

We reversed the form frame back to the original configuration fairly quickly.  To make it easier we labeled each batten with its location in the form so all we had to do upon reassembly was put the batten back where it came from.  With the form reversed, a couple battens had odd curvature and had to be slightly repositioned, but all in all it worked well.  The whole task only took a few hours.  Then I spent the rest of the day prepping foam for planking the fifth half.  Today I got to work on forming and gluing the planks.  As you can see, I got about half way.  We should have it finished by the end of the week and hope to glass it next weekend.  It's starting to get cold at night, so the sooner we get this half glassed and joined the better.  This may be the last big task we do with epoxy in the boat house until spring.

Recycled bulkheads for a greener boat!

 So after cleaning up the extracted bulkheads, we spent a few hours taping them into the "last" hull half.  Reusing these bulkheads saved us at least a day.  With the temperatures dropping, and a goal to finish the float fabrication by the end of October, every day saved helps.  Unfortunately, I don't think we will meet our goal given the need to build yet another float half, so we will probably shoot for November now.

One plus of scraping the first half was we got to use our new talent of producing perfect filets.  It's amazing how easy it is when you find the right tool.  In this case, the right tool is a 1-1/4" pvc pipe about 3 inches long.  Just pack in the putty along the seam, take a couple passes with the pipe, and clean up the excess putty.  We let it start to cure so it is firm, and then add the tape.

We also used the foam filets on the gussets like we did in the port hull.  In this view you can see how the fillets form a column in the bulkhead.  I also tried vac bagging the gussets ahead of time and reinforcing the edge with a layer of tape.  It came out nice, but it was quite a bit of detail work getting the tape to lay flat.  I may go back to preglassing with the fabric lapped over the edge for reinforcement since we will be installing inside a closed hull.

Of course, the cooler temperatures (40's at night, 60-70 during day) makes the cure take quite a long time.  If you recall, we are using MAS epoxy with slow hardener.  If we finish applying the epoxy in late afternoon, it is generally still slightly soft in the morning.  The boat house is unheated but the sun warms it pretty quickly, so the cure hardens the following day.  We will probably need to relocate our epoxy work when winter sets in, and we are discussing the possibility of getting the medium set hardener as well.

Dude, Is that your boat?!

Behold the remains of a dear, departed friend.  This is what's left of the first hull half that I built.  We were preparing to bond it to the last half when I found some issues with the lamination on the stiffener.  After thinking it over for a night, reexamining the stiffener the next morning, talking to Dawna about the options, and considering the quality of our later versions relative to the first, we concluded the best solution was to scrap it and build yet another float half.  I also inspected the other three halves to confirm we didn't have a similar issue on the other hulls.  The other three are very well bonded.  If your keeping score, Dawna started helping (leading) me on the laminating work on the second half, so once again she proves to have superior talent when it comes to epoxy application.

Once we made the decision, out came the sawz-all and 15 minutes later the bulkheads were removed for reuse and the rest of the hulk was ready for the landfill.  It was not a pleasant experience, given the time and effort that went in to its construction.  But it was a learning experience, and we prefer to maintain a good level of quality in a boat that may take us miles from shore.  So back to the form frame (which now needs to be switched back to the previous orientation).

Fast finish for final float fabrication

I made quick work of the last float half.  Working alone, I found I could comfortably complete the foam on a float half in two days.  I had hoped to do it in one, but two days isn't bad.  Here you can see the final product all cleaned up and trimmed to size.

Here's a shot of the soon to be merged pair of halves.  We are looking forward to being done with the inside taping work.  Then we can get on to the exterior fairing and glass work.

And on the other side of the shop is the port float awaiting detail work.  On the work bench, the foam for the stiffener is being glued together and clamped.  You can never have enough clamps.

Next week we will glass the interior of the last half, then we will finally join the first half to it to complete the structure of the starboard float.