Twins!

 No, this is not a repeat photo from last winter.  I am finally assembling the second beam (forward starboard side)!  I pulled the first beam out of the mold last weekend (see below), and installed the foam core for the next one.  Today I laminated the first layer of carbon fiber with peel-ply along the bottom of the beam interior.  This is the easy part, and it was nice being able to reach all corners without twisting my wrist like a pretzel.  From here on, it gets progressively more cumbersome with the addition of the corner fillets.  I'll start preparing the corner fillets next week.  And I expect this beam will come together quite a bit faster now that I have done these steps once before.  Maybe I can have all four beams out of the mold by New Years (I know, I'm slow … or maybe just overly optimistic!)

And here is the elder twin free of the mold at last. It popped out of the mold with little effort, just a couple sharp bangs on the mold to break loose any epoxy that squeezed through and it was out.  All interior reinforcements have been laminated, and I installed the bulkheads last weekend.  Now I am laminating the bulkheads, which is tedious, though not too difficult.  In the photo below you might notice the drain holes in the bulkheads to ensure no moisture or pressure builds up in the beam.  Some day in the future, there will be drain holes in the outer end (on right in photo) that drain into the float.  After all of this detail work, I would hate to have a beam rupture once it is closed up.

Here is a view of the inner end of the first beam showing one of the bulkheads and the gussets (at the top of the view).  Laminating multiple layers of glass around the gussets was also tedious and picky work to keep the glass in good contact with the foam core.  You can see the edges of the multitude of peel-ply pieces used to finish the lamination.  Technically I don't need the peel-ply since there is almost nothing left to glue to this area, but I like how the peel-ply holds the edges of the glass together and creates a cleaner finish (that no one will ever see!).  In these complex geometries, I have to be careful that my attempts to apply peel-ply doesn't disturb the glass underneath, producing bubbles in the lamination.  I still have to  finish laminating the bulkheads (2 out of 5 complete), then add a couple longitudinal bulkheads and laminate those, add a hardwood reinforcing block where the beam bolts to the main hull, and add the aluminum backing plates for the wing nets.  Then I can focus on the exterior finish.  Sounds like a lot, but should be done in a few weeks.