Thursday, June 30, 2011

June

Obviously I've precut all my layers of material for each of the vacuum bag projects.  This time I went a step further and pre-sealed one edge of the vacuum film.  My concern was how I was going to need to be climbing in and out with a very narrow walk way and wet glass/epoxy – any epoxy on the vacuum tape is a show stopper.



Pulled to the side and ready to begin.





I'll say that the decision to pre-seal the lower vacuum bag edge was a life saver.  I plan to actually move this edge further down (to the right in picture below) the hull and just use a slightly larger bag.  Its a tight and potentially messy area to be walking back and forth. (There's areas that beg for infusion . . . and this is one.)



Removing the disposables.  A picture that can't really capture the satisfaction of another good looking laminate.



Last step – placing extra laminate called for at forward beam.



A proud dad.  My youngest daughter graduates from High School. (I'll boast: 3.97 GPA, Varsity Letter all four years in both Cross Country and Track [State Champion 400 m relay 3 years in a row].  She's chosen a University in Seattle.)



Fitting the bulkheads is a little like figuring out a puzzle.

I started with essentially trial fitting all the parts, beginning with the beam bulkheads.  They have explicit details for positioning based on the gunwale and forms.  From these you can mark the bunk/settee. This can be used to position the other bulkheads.  This can be confirmed by measurements for the centerboard case and main cabin bulkhead.

Of course extending these points over the curved surface of the hull is the trick.

What I needed was really several more points of reference to turn a multi-point line into a geometric plane.  To do this I used my plum bob to extend the points from the hull directly up to the ceiling of the garage.  This gave me 4 -6 points describing a vertical plane.  I used my rotating level, supported across the hull, to connect the dots across the uneven surface and the ceiling.

Here is the line for the bunk / settee / aft cockpit floor which connects all my known points of reference for these structures.



I planned out what I thought would be the easiest order and started dropping them in place.

Here's the forward bunk bulkhead.  My aluminum angle bar defines the center and supports the part. It also controls its fore-aft alignment at the deck and keel. Check that the bunk edge is vertical (it was because I had made sure it was a right angle to the center) and aligns with the bottom of the bunk marked on the hull . . . and the whole things is vertical.

With all that, the question is how to hold it in place while it gets filleted and cures. What I did was pre-drill two holes in the hull for placing bamboo skewers into the edge of the bulkheads.  After setting it in a bead of material, I held it in position while my wife gently replaced the skewers.  Between those and the clamped aluminum straight edge, it was rock solid.

(For the forward beam I added some foam stops that were attached to the peel ply on the hull with 5 min epoxy.  They allowed the bulkhead to be slipped in and out.)



Here's a bamboo skewer that was placed from the top.  Instead of filleting areas that will be removed for the beam mounts I just tab them, as well as areas that are near the centerline which I'll finish after joining the hull halves and trying to align the port and starboard bulkhead halves.



Next up was getting ready to cut the slot for the centerboard.  I chose to do the cutting before officially placing the main cabin bulkhead.



I've been working on finishing the centerboard case.  This is how I'd left it.  It is held at the right dimensions by several scrap carbon cutoffs.  I sanded these down to their lowest profile and then wrapped the edge per the glassing schedule.



Cutout for the turning block for raising and lowering lines from the cockpit.



Finishing the stiffening and attachment flange for the opening at the top.



1 comment:

chris moller said...

hi andrew, looking really good, nice to see it coming along! Thanks for your comments, yes had a big pause for a while but with luck will be back in action in the coming month or so - cheers chris