Monday 1 November

Removed the temporary fastenings which held sole onto floors (with doublers) and king plank (supported by gusset and doubler). Fish sanded the sole surface and coved sole edge which will prevent any flexing and movement as we finish the remaining forward cockpit sole area. I dry fitted some spare doublers to the longitudinal floor. This floor divides the cockpit sole with the galley sole it runs at a 15 degree angle from the centre line of the gas tank bay floor to starboard on the first bulkhead. The height of the galley's sole is flush to the internal bulkhead area.

Jobs to finish cockpit sole include:
1. Glue in the doubler and gussets to remaining floors.
2. Refit king planks.
3. Glue and cove longitudinal floor (with doublers) dividing cockpit and galley.
4. Fit remaining cockpit sole.

These are my goals, but our classes priority is to laminate the cabin top mold. Because it will be difficult to laminate the entire cabin top at the same time, due to technical and resin cure time constraints. It will be laminated in 4 segments.

Tasks involved with the cabin top mold:
6 Layers of wax and 2 coats of PVA Foam (green) were applied recently.
EC200 cloth and EDB415 glass dry fitted and weighed.
Dry fit 15 mm Airex Foam Core Around shape of mold and around window plugs.
Bake foam so that it conforms to the curved areas
Using 60 Resin / 40 Glass Ratio
Glass wighed in at 8.2 KG X 1.5 = 12.3 kg Resing + 700 grams of peel ply

Tools for Laminating:
Rollers, paint brush 25mm, compression rollers, acetone, squigees, packaging tape, masking tape, vacuum tape.

First segment is the cabin top roof area.
1. Vacuum tape
2. Wet out and locate inner peel ply
3. Boat cloth = butted together
4. Double bias overlapped 50 mm
5. Peel ply roll down with compression rollers

Laminate foam:
Remove peel ply
Wet out foam with resin
Paint foam with slurry
Place on mold
Lay out peel ply and smooth on with a brush
Lay perferated plastic
Lay green mesh
Lay vaccuum bag
Remove vaccuum tape making sure there is no resin over flow
Make pleats or darts regularly to make maximum amount of bag on the job
Check for any air leaks use ear to find them and plug gap with vacuum tape

Fill foam:
Remove bag carefully so it can be reused.
Remove green mesh, perforated plastic, and vacuum tape.
Remove peel ply carefully to avoid pre-release
Fill foam with bog



Laminate second layers of DB and EC:
Sand inset area where double bias will join and overlap
Cove window frames
Vacuum and or blow away excess particles
Coat of resin on foam
Coat of resin with coloidal silica on foam
Lay Double Bias with overlap - Pour resin over and work it with squigee
Lay boat cloth - Pour resin over and work it with squigee
Peel ply - work it
Perforated cloth
Bleeder cloth
Vacuum bag
Check for leaks and therefore loss of suction

Tuesday 26 October to Wednesday 27 October

Glued the sole to the floors from transom to gas tank bay. We used a very thick Epoxy mixed with glue powder to glue around the edges using a plastic bag dispenser. And smeared the glue with knives and a paint brush on all of the partners and floors. The floor partners and engine box partners provided extra faying surface as well as holding the plywood down with temporary fasteners.

It was good to take two days to fasten the sole. As we used clamps to hold the king plank and port side sole together. The next day I was able to fasten the starboard side with screws through to the king plank. This would have not been essential had we previously fastened in the king plank.

Below shows the fastening techniques. Galvanised nails with pads along the floors. Then clanped along the king plank and plywood lap.

Tuesday:

From 2010-10

Below shows fastening with nails, screws, and weights.

Wednesday:

From 2010-10

Wednesday 20 October (20-10-2010)

First part of the day was our theory class. We were supposed to be working on calculations. Instead we worked on our blogs, researched methods of using epoxy, and had the BITO Trade liason advocate come and speak to us about the job market and our futures in it. He seemed very enthusiastic about the BITO Apprenticeship program. I think blogging is a great medium. And I enjoy reviewing my writing and re-editing it. It is the perfect medium to share with my family, colleagues, tutors, and future employees.

This afternoon with Chris's suggestion to save the transom off cut, it is the right shape to be the reinforcement engine pad.

Next week our priorities are:
1. Glue in and cove pipes.
2. Seal topside of sole, and glue and cove into place.
3. Cut partners for engine box, cut front face of engine box, cut pieces to fit around transom engine pad.
4. Build engine pad on outboard with cedar and ply. (find Honda 90 dimensions).

Tuesday 19 October

Today was our most productive yet. By 9am Fish and I had sealed the underside of the sole using 4 parts epoxy resin and 1 part epoxy hardener. Spreading with a roller and rolling tray. And by 11.45 am, we had sealed the bottom inside surface of the hull, floors and floor partners. The inside surface finish was not as clean. Because Fish poured on the epoxy from an ice cream container and rolled it on, rather than gaining an even distribution with the rolling tray. Below is a photo of the result.

From 2010-10

The longitudinal girders were slightly warped, so I attached a baton athwartships and fastened a lofting pin to both gunnels. From there I found the right place for each longitudinal girderi.e. where it was perpendicular to the sole. I fastened the girder in place with a pilot hole and lofting pin.

Below is a photo.

I also had laminated two sheets of 6mm ply for the forward face of the engine box. It was large enough to be the engine box shelf. The shelf begins 200 mm below the lowest point of the transom. It extends outwards and upwards at an 80 degree angle from the transom. I must remember to lower the measurement by 12mm as the shelf currently sits on top of the line.

From 2010-10

Monday 18 Octorber

Today the whole class was back into action. Fish would become indispensible in coving and taping the engine box girders. We found the materials and did a dry run, by cutting the right lengths. After morning tea we were ready to cove and Fish prepared the epoxy glue mix. But we had forgot to give the previous coving a light sand and I made the call to stop the coving, clean up and sand it properly. This may have been the right plan because after lunch we did a really good job.

From 2010-10

I think this went well for my first time glassing and taping on a wet cove. It was important to have everything prefit. We had not prefit the peel ply though. This was not good for time and it made a mess. Wetting out the glass before laying it over the cove was a bit messy. But the peel ply and compression rollers helped make a clean finish.

Wednesday 12 October

This morning I used a plane and spoke shave to smoothly finish the transom outline. Richard suggested that next I fix the longitudinal girders in place. I discovered the girders were initially placed slightly askew to the finalised transom outline. This was a problem because the transom shape was a far more pronounced shape than the engine box and it was paramount that the highpoint of the transom drop just after the edge of the longitudinal girders. SO I shift the portside longitudinal girder about 10 mm away from the centreline. I had already fitted the longitudinal girder slot into the sole I must remedy it with a slightly larger slot.

This process of negotiation finding the perfect spot for the girders to be whilst making them perpendicular to the floor. I used a hot glue gun to place them in position. But becuase I had spent most of the day getting this far, I coved the girders in their place with a very thick epoxy and glue powder mix.

Below is a picture of the coved girder placement.

From 2010-10

That afternoon I used a copy cutter piece on the router to cut the topsides down to the gunnel. So I could sight what height and at what angle the girders should be cut to.

Tuesday 12 October

This morning I made sure that the lines I had drawn for the final transom outline were correct. After several measurements from various datum lines (i.e. the centreline, the bottom of the hull, the top of the transom and various angles I had appropriated from the previous transom design).

The transom line I had drawn a month before was off-centre by 10 mm on the starboard side. I remedied this problem. And cut with the jigsaw right to the line so there would be the least amount of finishing work. Here is a before and after shot.

BEFORE:

From 2010-10

AFTER:

From 2010-10

You can see such a large difference, and being my first time how I was a little scared to do the cutting. I was fairly careful but now I have some confidence with the jigsaw.

In the afternoon I laminate two sheets of 6 mm ply together for the forward face of the engine box. The dimensions were 910 by 810. Below is a photo of my method for pressure onto the two laminates. My backyard boatbuilder technique resulted in minor airpockets at either end.

From 2010-10