Construction Log [ 200 - 300 hours ]

Hours so far: 200

2003/07/28 [ 2 hrs ]: Put together and tested the vacuum bagging system. Looks like it'll work well. I'm planning on creating my first vacuum bagged component on Thursday. Put 2 more strips in the bridgedeck section.

2003/07/29 [ 3 hrs ]: Did 7 strips this morning. Cutout and trial fitted the high density insert just under the bow deck. This will be where the forward crossbeam attachs. For the insert, I had wanted to use A1200 CoreCell but it's delivery has been delayed by about a month ( problems with ATC Chem - see earlier comment ), so I'm having to use 3/4" marine ply instead until it arrives.

2003/07/30 [ 4 hrs ]: Trimmed and sanded the remaining foam along the keel. Removed most of the ply strips from the front. Sanded the aft quarter. Installed my first high density insert. Heat foamed the last of the foam in the bow and one of the final strips in the forward bridgedeck area.

Fig 25: The 3/4" marine ply high density insert located in the bend of the bow deck. It will require a bit of sanding...

2003/07/31 [ 4 hrs ]: About 4 strips done this morning. Started filling in the small screw holes from the ply strips with a thickened epoxy filled syringe - did about a quarter of the hull. Did some more sanding at lunch. I've started to use a 3"x24" Mikita belt sander for alot of the work. As long as you keep it moving and level, it does a great job - but angle it a little to much or move it to slow and you'll quickly gouge into the foam! I usually then go over it with the random orbital. Heat formed the last of the foam needed for this inner hull half. Cutout the HD insert for the pole brace.

Fig 26: The current status of the starboard inner hull half. Left is from the aft, right is from the bow.

2003/08/01 [ 2 hrs ]: Epoxied together the last of the foam - a happy day :) Installed the HD insert for the pole brace. Filled in some more screw holes. Some cleanup.

2003/08/02 [ 10 hrs ]: Filled in the last of the screw holes. Sanding. Lots of sanding. Moved the fiberglass rack from one side to the other side of the shed so it's right next to the vacuum table and affords me a large flat space to cut the cloth with.

Fig 27: The fiberglass/poly/release fabric/peel ply rack.

Fig 28: Are view of the bow. The two dark spots are the high density ( marine ply ) inserts.

Trimmed the last of the foam along the bow deck join line. Measured and cut 8 50" strips of 24oz biaxial cloth for the inner hull ( each ~8 foot long ). Also cut out 3 strips for the bulkhead reinforcements. Parents came up for the weekend and my Dad helped out with measuring and cutting the cloth.

Fig 29: The bridgedeck area before and after. Next time I'll run the foam all the way down to the edge of the bend instead of having to cut two small triangle shapes to fit into the gaps by the clamps.

2003/08/03 [ 7½ hrs ]: Lamination time! Again, something I've never done before - in fact, I'd never touched fiberglass until last night, so I wasn't entirely sure how much epoxy is suppose to be used to wet out the fiberglass, or what it's suppose to look like after completion. I've read all the books about it and Ian Farrier's Building Manual so I know how it's suppose to work but there's nothing like actual experience. We ( my dad and I ) started at 6:30am with the first strip using the 'wet method'. By 1pm we had all eight strips done and three of the bulkhead strips - from about form 5 right to the end. In general, it looks like we did a good job. Here's what I learned:

• The first 20 feet or so of the fiberglass on the roll wasn't that smooth
• Discovered that the cloth worked better if laid down on a particular side
• I probably used a little to much epoxy in places
• The "dry method" works better especially when working alone
• Need to use larger mixing containers
• Make sure you trim the fiberglass edges with a sharp knife about 2-3 hrs after it's laid down
• I won't spend as much time sanding the join lines next time
• I was glad I had the new pump on the drum as I was able to quickly dispense alot of resin. I now understand how I'll need about 5 drums of resin to complete the construction...
• If you've never done it before, try and find another builder you can help so you can gain the experience and confidence needed.
• Take a 10 minute break every couple of hours :)

Fig 30: The fiberglass covering about 2/3 of the hull.

Fig 31: Some of the epoxy mixing containers I used - ended using about 40 of them. I need to use larger containers next time.

2003/08/04 [3½ hrs]: Did a small amount of fairing around the bridgedeck area before work. Made up a schedule of items I need to get done before Saturday since I've got a bunch of friends coming over to help lift off the hull half. It's already got 24 items on it - and that's only until Wednesday morning ( 2 days from now ). I'm going to be busy. Marked out the bow floor stringer lines on the foam. I did this by drilling a couple of holes through the hull from behind were I had marked the proper positions onto the form frames from the patterns. I then stuck a small plastic tie through each hole and used these to line up a strip of foam to draw the line. Cutout and shaped the two stringers. Cutout two more strips of fiberglass for the hull and the cloth for the transon boarding deck. Several other bits and pieces.

Fig 32: This is how I'm accessing the centre bow area. The ladder itself is 16 feet long.

2003/08/05 [ 4 hrs ]: Put on two more 4' strips of fiberglass and the 16" bulkhead reenforcement strip. These strips went around the bridgedeck area and caused me major grief - they can't go in a straight line due to the curve, so I had to cut them in half to get them to fit. Of course, one of them ended up being 2 inches to short so I had to cutout another strip of fiberglass. I ended up with epoxy pretty much over everything ( clothes, floor, ladders, etc ). I'm just glad they're done. I didn't open the shed vents or turn on the fans during the day to allow the epoxy to cure faster. The temperature hit ~45C during the afternoon. In the evening I cutout all the remaining fiberglass needed for the hull laminating ( 8 different sized pieces ).

2003/08/06 [ ½ hr ]: Had planned to put the final fiberglass on this morning ( and the bow stringers tomorrow ), but it rained all night and this mornings humidity and temperature were too high to work. This means I won't be lifting the hull off this weekend as planned. In a way, it's a good thing, since now I can put all the fiberglass, HD fiberglass reenforcements and the bow stringers all on at once on Saturday giving a better quality bond. Also, I'll now have time to build most of the bulkheads next week and trial fit them into the hull and trim them to size which should make joining the hull halves in a month or so easier.

I was about to vacuum bag the transom boarding deck - I had everthing setup and was about to mix the epoxy when I had doubts about the fiberglass lamination schedule ( I had assumed it was the same as the bulkheads but now think it should be the same as the hull schedule ). So, I sent off an email to Ian Farrier ( I think he's in New Zealand at the moment - I was born in Masterton, NZ 33 years ago for any Kiwi's out there :) to confirm which it was and a few hours later got back an answer saying it was the same as the hull. However, I haven't ordered the outer fiberglass cloth yet. So - I called Noahs and ordered a roll of 18oz bidirectional 0-90 stiched non woven fabric and some other bits. Should be here in two days. Till then, I think I'll experiment with vacuum bagging with some scraps of foam and fiberglass to get the hang of it.

I'd also like to thank Karel Michielse ( an aussie F41 builder ) for regularily reading this site and sending me tips and hints based on his experience at the stage I'm working on. Thanks!

2003/08/07 [ 2 hrs ]: Did my first vacuum bagged piece this evening! It was just a piece of scrap PH (Pin Hole) CoreCell that I used to test my setup. Unlike most vacuum bag setups, I used a piece of poly underneath the piece. I'm trying to avoid having to put down several layers of mold release wax each time I need to vacuum bag. The poly is cheap and quicker. Here's some pics:

Fig 33: About 5 mins after applying the vacuum. I reached a vacuum of about 27" Hg. You can see the perforated release film doing its job by the small dots of epoxy coming through the breather fabric.

Fig 34: A look at most of the vacuum bagging components. In the lower right is the epoxy trap. Just above it is the vacuum guage and just above that is the ball valve. The white pipe leaving the ball valve is going off to the vacuum pump on the ground.

2003/08/08 [ 1 hr ]: I'd left the vacuum bagged piece to cure overnight, so I went out first thing in the morning to see how it looked.

Fig 35: How it looked after I released the vacuum.

Fig 36: Removed from all the peel ply, breather fabric, etc. Has a really nice smooth silky surface - much nicer than the non vacuumed bagged hull. If I had the time, money and man power, I'd vacuum bag the hulls as well - but I don't. The black marks around the edges is due to the marker I used to trace out the piece onto the fiberglass. The picture on the right is a close up of the surface.

There's two things I'll do differently next time. 1) use more peel ply and breather fabric, and 2) make sure there's lots of breather fabric around the end of the hose and the laminate. I found that after removing the hose from the bag that it was entirely blocked with epoxy. See the two pictures below.

Fig 37: I didn't have enough breather fabric around the end of the hose and it ended up getting blocked with the poly and epoxy.

Overall, I'm very happy with the results of my first vacuum bagging experience. Over the winter, I'll writeup a web page going over my setup and any hints and tips I've learnt while doing the bulkheads.

2003/08/09 [4½ hrs]: Out at 6am to finish the lamination of the hull in the bow area. Also installed the two stringers and all the extra fiberglass reenforcements. This time I used larger 2.5qt graduated mixing containers which worked much better. I also hooked up a mixer to the drill to stir the larger amount of resin which made life alot easier. The stringers were bedded on a layer of putty - though I think I used a bit too much putty. Hot and humid with severe thunderstorms all afternoon.

2003/08/10 [ 2 hrs ]: A pretty lazy day today - didn't feel like doing to much due to the heat and humidity again. I did cutout both aft bulkheads and spent some time marking all the alignment and waterlines on the forward bulkheads I'd cutout a couple of months ago. I'm not sure why I didn't do that at the time they were cutout. Cutout the required peel ply, cloth and stuff needed for vacuum bagging the transom boarding deck tomorrow morning.

Fig 38: A closeup of the area I laminated this morning and the bow stringers. The right shows the entire laminated hull.

2003/08/11 [ 3 hrs ]: Vacuumed bagged the transom boarding deck. Even though the humidity was close to 100% this morning, I figured since all the air was going to be sucked out anyways, it didn't matter :) I did a couple of things different this time. I used a long section of pipe drilled with breather holes along it for the exit port. I also added an extra valve that I can open slightly to control the actual vacuum pressue ( a Vacuum Throttle Valve ).

Fig 39: The Transom Boarding Deck showing the breather pipe sitting on a ply strip to distribute the pressure.

It didn't turn out as well as I had expected. There were a couple of problems with the part: it was 'warped' ( see fig 39 ) along the major axis and the surface had a couple of large 'mounds' on it. The warp was caused by the foam's natural curve and was probably enhanced by not having enough poly on top which pulled the foam even more. It's not a major warp and if it had been in the opposite direction, I would probably have still used it. The large epoxy bumps were caused by the piece of ply I had laid down to support the breather pipe. From now on I'll keep the exit port on the side as I did with the first piece but with alot more breater fabric around it's end so it doesn't get blocked. I'll redo this piece tomorrow. At least I'll now be able to do some 'destructive testing' on it :). Since it has the same lamination schedule as the hull, I'm curious to see how much abuse it can take before cracking or getting a hole.

Fig 40: The warp in the piece after vacuum bagging. Not good.

Cutout 2 transom boarding decks from the PH Core-Cell foam ( might as well cutout the piece for the other hull now ). Prepared everything for vacuum bagging in the morning.

2003/08/12 [3½ hrs]: Vacuumed bagged the transom boarding deck - again. This time, I made sure there would be no warp by placing two deck blocks on the foam. I also increased the vacuum pressure from about 23" Hg to 25" Hg. After about 4 hours, I removed it from the peel ply and it came out almost perfect. No warp, no 'dents' in the surface - very nice.

Fig 41: It's not going to warp this time.

Traced out the cabin bulkhead and prepared the transom boarding deck and hull for fitting on the hull tomorrow morning.

2003/08/13 [4 hrs]: Taped the boarding deck to the hull on a bed of putty. Cutout the cabin bulkhead and did the same for the mast bulkhead. All major bulkheads are now cutout. I also used my last full piece of 4'x8' PH Core-Cell. I'll have to glue together the PH foam scraps now to make the secondary bulkheads ( bow, bow floor, aft cabin bunk, stem, bow beam, starboard head ).

Fig 42: Tracing out the cabin bulkhead. The foam covering the vacuum table is about 8'x12'.

2003/08/14 [ 3 hrs ]: Marked all the bulkhead positions on the hull. Sanded the fiberglass along the keel and bow deck. Played with the wood braces I need to get on by tomorrow morning to move the hull in two days. Lost all power at 4:15pm - you might have seen it on the news :)

Fig 43: I thought I'd try out the 10s timer on the camera... hmm.. I think I should have turned the flash on and maybe I should have shaved this morning :)

2003/08/15 [ 3 hrs ]: Still no power. I was considering cancelling the move which I had planned on doing tomorrow but I'm running out of summer. So instead of sitting around waiting for the power to come back on, I built and tabbed all the support braces onto the hull - it got upto 40 degrees in the shed without the fans. I had less than 5 minutes in which to use the epoxy on the tabs before it kicked due to the heat. Power came back on around 6:30pm. Ontario is now under a state of emergency.

Fig 44: All the support braces are in place.

2003/08/16 [ 9 hrs ]: Inner hull half move day. Started around 7am getting everything ready for the move at noon. Spent the first 3 hours cleaning and clearing the space where the hull half will be stored.

Fig 45: Left shows the space I have to clear since the inner hull half will be going there. As shown on the right, I had to put some stuff outside temporarily to make room. I ended up with about 4 large bags of garbage after the cleanup.

Fig 46: The first three forms are removed. Note - I forgot to take a picture before removing the hull.

Fig 47: The separated tab. I screwed a wood block on top of the fiberglass to keep it in place.

Fig 48: At the half way point - hull side. Tom and Frank in the back.

Fig 49: At the half way point - inner side. You can see the extra leg I added to both the middle braces. At this point the hull was able to stand straight without anyone holding onto it. Tom, Phil, John and Dan.

Fig 50: Rotation completed. From the aft end. The braces are a little over engineered - but wood is cheap - fiberglass and epoxy isn't :)

Fig 51: Rotation completed. From the bow.

Fig 52: All but the keel battens removed.

2003/08/17 [4½ hrs]: Reversed and reinstalled all 15 forms. For the outer hull half, I don't need the leg supports, so I'm going to disassemble them and store them in the basement till next spring. I'm a bit worried about form 12 as the addon piece got a bit warped while stored. I'm going to add a support to each side of it to see if I can straighten it back into alignment. Ontario still in a state of emergency due the blackout. I'm curious to see if we'll have rolling blackouts tomorrow once everyone goes back to work.

Fig 53: Switching round the forms to support the outer hull half.

2003/08/18 [ 1 hr ]: Disassembled some more form support legs.

2003/08/19 [ ½ hr ]: Disassembled some more form support legs. Hot.

2003/08/20 [ 1 hr ]: Rearrange and organized materials. I now seem to have more space than I did before moving the hull half. Picked up 3 sheets of 3/4" 4'x8' MDF for the cabin side forms. Humidex hit 36 outside - even hotter in the shed. Suppose to cool down again by the weekend.

2003/08/23 [ 9 hrs ]: Absolutley perfect day outside - 22 C, sunny, 24% humidity and a nice constant breeze - if only the weather could stay like this for the next 8 weeks :) Made and installed the 7 cabin side forms. This time, instead of notching the forms, I cutout the forms allowing for the width of the battens. I also went back and using a jig saw, cut along the outerhull forms 4-8 so that notching would also not be required.

Fig 53: First seven cabin side forms in place

2003/08/24 [ 5 hrs ]: Made and installed last 3 cabin side forms for forms 11-13. Cutout and installed longitudinal cabin side supports between forms 12 and 13. Started installing the cabin side battens. I'll be planking and laminating the cabin side deck and top before putting down battens for the rest of the outer hull due to access problems. Got fed up with tripping over bits of MDF scraps so ended up doing a big cleanup and organizing spree.

Fig 54: Last 3 cabin side forms installed. First set of battens installed.

2003/08/25 [ 2½ hr ]: Finished cutting out the batten width ( instead of notching the forms ) along forms 11-15. Gave all the newly installed forms a good sanding. Installed more battens.