Man of the Cloth

Well, it was 70 degrees today in Madison. A little indian summer is nice!

I picked up the main and jib this week from Ryan at MadSails, and they look pretty darn good! The luff on the jib is a tad long, so we'll have to work on that, but all in all, I think they look fantastic! See for yourself:





I'm putting a few finishing touches on the boom tonight and then a few coats of paint on the keel and rudder and I will be all set to put her to bed for the winter. :(


Ah, we'll see what the weather gods say over the next few weeks...


Jeff

Bit and Pieces

Lots of activity in the boatworks since the last post:

I put roughly million layers of fairing filler on the keel, and it's finally ready for primer. I also glassed up the sleeve for the rudder cassette. The same as with the keel I used the faired rudder with a layer of 1/16" foam wrapped around it as a plug. Once I had the sleeve I used that to trace out the shape onto pink insulating foam so that i could create two stiffening members for the cassette.



A layer of carbon uni and the cassette was wicked stiff. Now on to more fairing...

Yesterday, Traci and got the deck hardware fastened down. Guess who got to crawl inside the belly of the little beast to turn the wrench!

Lastly, today I got the rudder cassette partially faired and and dry-fit the tiller and fork to join the two. The tiller and fork pieces and down in the basement now marinatng in thickned epoxy (along with the cassette, which needed another coat of filler!).

Bring on the heavies

So this week and weekend I did some gross tuning on the keel bulb.

I started out by drilling the holes for the cross bolts. I first drilled the recess for the bolt head using a 7/8" standard spade bit. Slow and steady is the name of the game when drilling lead. I know that other builders used loads of cutting oil, but I opted for water as I wanted to avoid extensive cleaning before trying to apply fairing filler. I also set the clutch on the drill to about half to avoid shearing off a drill bit. This worked great. After the countersink was done, I drilled a 7/32" pilot hole through the first bulb half. I then pulled out a 12" long 5/16" diameter brad point bit. With the drill on the low setting, small "bites" into the lead worked awesome. Pulling the bit out to clear it after 50 or so revolutions seemed to be the key. Once I made it through the first half, I laid the bulb over the keel foil to drill that hole, and then laid both on the second bulb half and drilled through. Finally, I drilled the counter sink on the other side.

If I had to do it again, I would have bought a long bit to drill a 1/4" pilot hole all the way through. With a 5/16" hole on the second half, it was difficult to drill the counter sink without the bit wobbling and I had to lug the 80-lb bulb half to my office to use the drill press. Incidentally, I tried a 1" Forstner bit on the second set of countersinks, and when using low RPM, it worked a treat.

OK, so the bolts are drilled and I am good to go, right? But, it turned out that the cast bulb halves contracted quite a bit as they cooled in the mold. This left the a 1/2" - 5/8" gap between the halves when I put then together. A preliminary weighing told me than I was also about 10 lbs below max weight. So I came up with a decent solution to fill the gap and add as much weight as possible. I started by folding a piece of aluminum foil into ~1" strips (probably 8-10 layers thick) and layed the Al strips onto the tacky side of regular old duct tape. I then used my homemade foil tape to create a dam to seal up the gap so that I could do a second lead pour.



My scheme worked great and the duct tape only melted a little. Best of all: no leaks! The second pour probably added about 8 lbs to the bulb weight and I am darn close to max class weight (185lbs for the bulb and keel strut).

I now have a coat of fairing filler on the bulb and fairing continues on the rudder, but it is quite close.

Stay tuned!
Jeff

Melt With You

This weekend I had a go on the rudder and keel bulb.

On saturday I planed the shape of rudder from the laminated blank I made many moons ago. The keel was good practice. :) An electric planer is great when used with care. As with the keel I traced the profile on the ends of the blank and used the planer to "step" down the blank until I hit the line of the profile. I then planed those steps down until I had the foil nearly smooth. From there, I used the planer to cut a nice channel to recieve the carbon fiber lay up of stiffness. I saturated the carbon, layed it in the channel, and then smeared Microlight filled over the whole foil. Sanding to come...

I also poured the keel bulb yesterday. I have to note that Kevin and his wife gave Traci and I the best (my opinion!) wedding gift: an aluminum pot, an iron skillet, a ladel, and a bottle of champagne---all lovingly lead-tainted (maybe not the champagne). I must say, it was the only wedding gift which required hand-washing after opening.



I used Kevin's excellent blog post as a guide. The unseasonably cool weather this weekend (50-55F) and the wind made the job tough and Traci wanted NO part of the Great Lead Melting. Can’t blame her. :) So I was working solo. I think the temp and the wind made the lead slow to melt, so ultimately I ended up placing Kevin's aluminum pot directly over the turkey fryer burner, rather than on top of the iron skillet as he did. This worked fine, but by the time I was done the bottom of the aluminum pot had deformed slightly to match the grates on the burner. Careful if your pot is thin walled!

The pour on the first half was only OK. I don’t think I had enough lead in the pot when I started pouring, so layers started solidifying before I got the next layer poured. I have a couple of layers of lead that don’t seem well adhered so I think I will wrap the bulb with a layer of glass tape to keep everything together. It will also be bolted crosswise to the strut, so I am not all that concerned about the integrity of the bulb.

The second half went much better. I consistently kept more lead in the pot which meant much less time to melt additional pieces and therefore less time between ladlefuls of molten sweetness.

Interestingly (but not surprisingly) the second half, which I poured in a much shorter period of time, contracted significantly when it cooled. It ended up being a ¼” lower than the top of the mold and 6lbs. lighter than the other half (80 lbs.). I think I will get the halves bolted together and then try to seal the gap with heat-resistant mica tape and fill the gap with a small scale pour. Should get me up to weight, I think.

One more bit of carbon

Light = fast, right? Definitely my favorite piece of hardware on the boat!

Traci and I had an awesome honeymoon in Barbados following an incredible wedding.

Now it's time to get the Boatworks cranking again!

Angle of the dangle

Since my last post, I've fabricated the tiller. I started with a sheet of pink insulation foam and cut it to rough shape with the jig saw. I then (very gingerly) sanded it with a small electric sander and by hand. When I got the overall shape close to where I wanted I wrapped it with a layer of 9oz cloth to give it some strength so I didn't break it while trying to fair it with Microlight filler. After the tiller was fair I wet out slid on one fiberglass sleeve, one carbon sleeve, and one carbon/basalt hybrid sleeve (all from Soller Composites). I like the results!

I also got the non-skid applied to the cockpit and deck last weekend. I had read good things about Kiwi Grip, so i gave it a shot. The stuff is really easy to apply. Working in 2ft sections I troweled the yogurt-like stuff on with a 1/8" V-notch trowel. The roller they include is great and based on the pressure that you use you can dial in just the right amount of "tooth" to the finish.

The Boatworks will be quiet for a couple of weeks, as Traci and I are off to Lake Geneva tomorrow for our wedding this weekend. Then off to Barbados for a week!

The finishing touches will be put on the boat when we return and we WILL get out sailing before the snow flies!

Jeff

Swag

Hey, if I can't sail it yet, at least I can wear the hat!

Mean Machine

Since the last post, my sailmaker (Ryan Malmgren; MadSails) came over to take measurements. He and a colleague on the East Coast are currently building the sails. Should be ready in a week or so.

I've put a couple coats of clear urethane on the stick and have one more to go. I decided to try out an automotive clear coat due to price (~$40/qt.) and availability (local auto parts store). It is supposedly professional grade stuff used in body shops.

I also got all of the holes for deck hardware drilled, filled with thickened epoxy and redrilled. That was the last step before getting a coat of finish paint on the cabin top gunwales and cockpit sides.



Looks pretty bad-ass, if I do say so myself! One more coat tonight and she might be ready for the non-skid paint.

Then on to the things I have been putting off, like melting lead for the keel bulb. :)

Jeff

Erection

Last night after work, I made a few minor preparations and Traci and I stepped the mast. We steadied the rig using the jib halyard and two lines from the mast (just above the spreaders) down to the chainplates. I tied a third line above the speaders which I used as a "measuring tape" to ensure that the rig was centered in the middle of the boat.

Once I had the mast positioned where I wanted it, I cut the shrouds to length and attached the Hi-Mod studs. I started with the lowers, then the headstay, then the uppers.



Looks pretty sweet, I think. Hopefully my sailmaker can come by soon to take down some numbers.

Flippty-Doo-Dah

I owe (another!) huge thanks to a bunch of my co-workers who came over after work on Friday to help flip the boat and get her on the trailer---although I think they would help me move a body for free beer. :)

All went extremely well. Only took about five minutes to roll the boat off the cradle and lift it onto the trailer.





Over the weekend I glued up the mast sections using West System G-Flex 655K, trimmed the mast length to fit within the confines of class rules, and ran the main and jib halyards to assist in the stepping of the rig. I nearly stepped the mast this evening, but ran out of gas. Traci and I will get it stepped tomorrow after work, so our sailmaker can get over here and take measurements.

Stay tuned!

Jeff