Andrew's F-22 Trivita

June

2011-06-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

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.

May

2011-05-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

This month and next have some momentous events – daughters graduating from college and high school.

I flew with my parents in their plane to Santa Barbara, CA. Clear weather with great flying and views.

A view of Shelter Bay where my parents live.

Olympic Mountains between Seattle and the Pacific.

Being vectored towards Santa Barbara International.

I enjoyed the week in the sun, then the family gathered for a happy day. A proud dad. (I'll boast: an excellent college career – graduating in 3 years Magna cum laude with a degree in english.

Here's the forward deck to cabin join. The battens were cut and epoxied to shape before planking. I placed the cabin first and then marked and cut a curve that fit to the flat deck.

The plan has a template for a suggested shape to the cabin side-to-top angle. I wanted to be able to have the cabin top 3/4 inch foam on top, so I planked it first. That meant that I had to fit the cabin side in between it and the already glassed gunwale. This was a nuscence. Next time I think I'll do the cabin side, then trim it to slip the cabin top in behind it.

What better plan than to put the Graduate to work helping hold foam while I attached it from below.

After taping the structural requirements for the aft beam mount I'm planning on extending the coaming aft to the mainsail track. Not sure I can picture how this is going to all fit in here right now, so I left a little extra foam to trim later.

The next step was determining where to put the high density inserts for all the deck hardware. I mapped out the companionway and forward hatches, the mast step, jib track, mast rotation blocks, and extra glass laminations called for. The rest is left to the builder. I looked at other websites, went down to the marina and looked and some boats, and contacted Jim Mackenzie of 'Raise a Little Hull.' All these were helpful.

In the end I was able to relax a little bit by deciding that I would plan for what I should and might want to do – and deal with reality as it develops. A oversized insert because of indecision now is not that much of a weight penalty. I also placed inserts for several potential winch and rope clutch positions, line organizer, and two potential places for lifting points as I hope to be in a dry mast-up storage with a crane launch. Also the forward cleat, chocks, and pulpit.

The flush cut blade on a multitool makes this easy.

I took pictures and measurements – hoping to find them later.

Vacuum tape (on previous peel ply) and stapling glass in place along sacrificial edge. The blue tape is just a guide for cutting how much glass overlap I want. (Glad I'd learned a couple tricks before this vertical section.)

April

2011-04-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

I pondered long and hard about how I would glass this section. Part of me wanted to 'go for broke' and do it all. Luckily better judgement prevailed – the reality of doing all the steps for vacuum bagging by myself is daunting.

I decided to divide it into two sections. The obvious choice was then to run the glass in vertical sections. (I had done this in the floats.) Since you can't do the section in one piece anyway, it's not as if its overlap vs. no overlap. When adding up the extra by going this method, and then calculating the weight of 3 inches of glass and epoxy -- it seemed like a small difference given the advantages I perceived.

I finished placing the foam along the gunwale.

The edge has a thin skim of fairing material to help the vacuum tape seal. For the vertical seal I epoxied on some peel ply to ensure easy removal of the vacuum tape.

With all the changing angles the edges of the glass don't lay straight. Multiple pieces almost seemed an advantage for keeping the average orientation of the glass in its proper direction.

I put down some plastic under the glass while moving it around to get the proper orientation. This kept it from snagging, then the plastic was easily removed from underneath.

After protecting the vacuum tape with a layer of clear packaging tape I wet out the cloth.

Perforated release film and then breather.

And then the bag. If I hadn't had stretchy bag material I may have been in trouble without enough pleats. More next time.

Also I had trouble with a large leak. Fortunately, I was able to hear it when the vacuum was turned off. It was from a screw that was set too far, but hadn't been found before hand. I turned off the vacuum and removed the screw. I replaced it with a bamboo skewer and 5 min epoxy. Once cured, I was able to achieve my vacuum. Whew.

Looks like the right amount of resin. I've never put on so much resin that I think, "thats too much" (meaning its easy to keep adding too much). So its great to see excess weight removed. Also, I would have been stressed about getting the glass to tightly conform to all the angles, corners, and vertical sections. The beauty of vacuum.

Happy with the result.

For the stern section I discovered a couple of things.

In thinking about the overlap, I remembered that I only needed to overlap in one direction. In this case the vertical tows only need to butt against each other. It's the bow-stern tows that need to overlap. By pulling out the unnecessary tows I decreased the excess by nearly 50%.

There's a reason that there are no more pictures of glassing the stern section – stress!

What I discovered was that the vertical portion was large enough that my materials didn't want to stay in place. The glass was only marginally a problem, though it was a bit of a battle between getting it into the concave areas and pulling it up the vertical face. The vacuum would take care of that. The problem really was the non-sticky layers.

The breather wouldn't stay where it was supposed to. Trying to make the bag around it . . . then the glass would fall too. What a struggle. It was after midnight – and I could tell I was near my wits end. I called my wife who helped calm me down. Then I remembered Henny using staples to hold material in place – and it saved the day.

Luckily I had 1/4 inch staples on hand and with my wife's help was able to hold things in place on the sacrificial foam that was to be cut off later. The bag was made and disaster averted.

I would have liked to incorporate the unidirectional along the keel while doing the original layup, but dividing it into sections precluded that. So that was the next step.

Stapler in action!

Next was the cabin top. I changed batten material and got clear fir. I had used it on the gunwale because I wanted something stronger since I would be walking on it. It seemed to work well on the gentle curve of the cabin. Also, I was planning on putting pieces of 3/4 inch foam that were as large as possible without thermoforming and didn't know how much deformation force to the battens that would be.

You can see the break at the front deck to cabin area. I hadn't appreciated how this break was not straight athwart ships, but slightly curved, sticking forward more in the center.

Around this time I began to experiment with over drilling the battens. Hadn't really though about it before, but by over drilling you can get a compressive force drawing the pieces together. Similar to a screw that is only threaded on the section that goes into the second material. Working with 3/4 inch material was easy because of the great holding power – 3/8 is another story.

In the end it took quite a bit of pressure to curve the panel into place (as in laying on my back and pushing with my feet), so it was nice to have some help tighten the screws from the back side.

March

2011-03-31T16:43:00.000-07:00

As always, when the time came, I was anxious to get back at it.

I had planked everything except the bow area.

I trimmed the foam along the gunwale and installed battens. You can see the strip of high density foam along the keel that is required to strengthen the hull for trailering, and the sacrificial strip above for vacuum bagging.

As noted by others, the gunwale needs a 'break' because forward of this frame it is straight. This transition will actually disappear as this is the area that will be cut out and replaced by the forward beam mount.

I transitioned to full foam strips where the gunwale line begins to disappear.

Here is the bow, an area where all the curves nearly disappear. Since this area is extending past the last frame, I double checked its shape by measuring down from the bow template. By adjusting a few of the battens I made sure that I had a uniform transition from the deck to the keel.

I tried a different approach to fill between the foam. When planking the floats, I had produced a 'V' shape by using my router table prior to securing the strip. For this I had been planing to Dremel a notch between them, but I had difficulty controlling the depth and size. Now with the narrow gap already in place I decided that I could decrease the volume of filler material by only removing foam on one side with my knife. I found this fast, easy, and surprisingly accurate.

Filled with the corner of a Zip-Lock bag cut off.

On the floats I had leveled this with a putty knife, but after sanding there was an obvious depression. This time I made a small notch in the putty knife which left thin ridge.

If caught at the right time, it easily comes off with a scraper and then 36 grit -- just like the 'cheese grating' when fairing.

We closed off the month on Maui, Hawaii. I enjoyed snorkeling every day.

The contrast of the volcano and . . .

. . . windward side was dramatic.

February

2011-02-28T15:30:00.000-08:00

A couple planks placed – nothing else to report (except another year marked by my birthday).

January

2011-01-31T15:00:00.000-08:00

A couple planks placed – nothing else to report.

December

2010-12-31T15:48:00.000-08:00

The Holidays - no building.

November

2010-11-30T15:33:00.000-08:00

No Building this month.

My wife is on the board of a nonprofit called Sister Connection, which supports Burundian widows and orphans. A decade of war has left thousands in need, and Sister Connection strives to help meet the basic daily needs of food, shelter, medical care, clothing, and education for many 'widows and orphans.

We took our youngest daughter and toured the activities of Sister Connection in Burundi. It's amazing the difference that can be made when people help people. It was also encouraging to see improvements in safety and economic development since the time my wife and I went to Rwanda and Burundi 10 years ago and helped at two hospitals.

Meeting a girl whom we have supported for ten years (through another organization) was an emotional experience. We felt we knew each other from shared pictures and stories over the years.

We had fun with all the children.

On the way home we went to Kenya and enjoyed the Masi Mara.

October

2010-10-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

Building came to a stop, likely not to resume until winter. We finished my Dad's boat - true to all projects it took longer and cost more . . .

My brother Toby and I took a fall hike in the North Cascades a couple of hours north of Seattle as a last hurrah of fall. Cold, sunny, and amazing views. A couple of days latter this trail closed until next summer with the first blizzard.

The other project that I worked on was the idea of printing my blog.

I first experimented with temporarily changing the template to one that was printer-friendly and just using my own printer. An ok option.

The other option for a print friendly template would be Bookemon. I'm sure there are others in this category. You have to save sections as .pdfs and then combine them. The nice thing is that with a little effort you can get a bound book.

Then I found Blog2Print. It sucks in your blog (or interestingly, anyone else's) and spits out a book. You don't really have any control, but it's easy and fast, and you get a bound copy in the mail for not too much money.

The high end is probably something like Blurb. While it can suck in all the text and pictures, it definitely needs some work after that. I found that I needed to upload higher resolution pictures and spend quite a bit of time making new templates. But you do have exacting control if you want to spend the time, which for a combination of text and pictures can give you 'professional' looking results.

September

2010-09-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

I'm still spending my weekends up helping my Dad on his boat, but I've continued to push ahead on free evenings after work.

I started placing the battens with the thought, "I'm going to use fewer than I did on the floats." But it didn't work out that way. Bending over convex shapes seems to beg for more to smooth things out -- too few and the transition is too sharp. Sucking the foam into a concave shape, especially when it may not have been thermoformed completely requires some holding power -- and a couple extra battens spreads this out. Where do you stop? I think I used more than necessary once again.

I'm planning on vacuum-bagging this time (the surface is too tall and far to reach it easily for the 'poor man's' technique I used on the floats) so I added an extra batten along the top to extend the foam for sealant tape attachment. I also thought about the placement of the battens in relationship to where I will be installing the centerboard case. As noted by others, the gunwale section forward of the forward beam mount are straight and therefore discontinuous with the aft battens.

With the complicated shape I spent more time trying to make sure the resulting surface was fair. A lot is happening with compound bends and twists to the battens in some areas. It's amazing how one batten will be more stiff than those next to it, or have to start twisting in a new direction -- and this will make it stand higher or lower than it should. In several areas I attached very thin, flexible, strips under the battens (parallel to the forms) which smoothed these areas out (picture later). It's possible that placing the foam does something similar, but I wanted to do everything I could.

Also, since the battens extend unsupported past form #1 (and they don't all want to do the same thing), I added extra support to position them how I though they should be.

At one point I remember seeing a wrist band with magnets that held fasteners at the ready. A magnet in the pocket allowed the screws to be handy when stooping (crawling?) underneath. My version below:

When doing the floats I tried to thermoform the foam and place it such that there was no tension on the battens. The soft (cheap) batten material I was using could be pulled out of shape if the foam was just forced into place and held with screws. I started with the same plan for the main hull, but I found that several factors made this more difficult to achieve.

The screws that I've been using don't really penetrate the foam very far. In some places I found myself expecting them to hold better than they could, so I went to longer screws that I held back with washers because the next size up was too long. Of course, now I found some tips that were just penetrating the surface (which won't do for VB'ing). I circled these and then replaced close by, with the hole enlarged and later filled.

I plan on joining the strips of foam by placing bog between them - just like I did on the floats. Because of the size and gentle curve on the floats, I was able to place a shallow bevel with a router table and a dovetail bit after thermoforming (thermoforming after this step puts a cusp on the edge). These strips have too big a curve to do this effectively. Most builders use a Dremel tool to place this groove after attaching, which is likely what I'll do.

My previous experience was that the foam strips which weren't quite together allowed a small amount of material to push through - which was easily removed when fairing the exterior foam prior to glassing. On the other hand, those strips which butted close together were 'dry' on the exterior. I had to open and backfill some of these before glassing. This time I'm using small shims between the strips to keep them slightly open and to encourage the gap to be filled all the way through. It's possible that with vacuum bagging (vs. hand lay-up) the exterior, any dry areas between the foam would be filled with epoxy, and therefore not require backfilling. I'll evaluate this when I get to that step.

Otherwise not much new. Thermoform, scribe, cut to shape, trace edge onto battens. Place packing tape, drill holes, pre-place screws from under side. (Behind the tape you can see the 'equalizing' strip attached underneath).

Then screw in place . . .

. . . and if you're lucky, someone will be happy to help.

August

2010-08-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

August didn't include as much work on the boat as I had originally planned. Shortly after coming back from our sailing vacation, my dad decided to take his boat out of the water and do a much-needed paint job. This turned into taking half the windows out to patch areas in the cabin sides, removing all the paint from the topsides and putting on an epoxy base before painting . . . and more. Suffice it to say that I spent all my weekends up in La Conner helping him. Not sure how long it will take, but he and my brother Toby are working on it full time.

I decided that I would work on finishing the second float outside in the backyard. That allowed me to be outside after work if there was time before it got dark, and in the garage after it got dark. I wanted to free up the garage to finish the last projects before I begin setting up the main hull form frames.

After making the same modification to the second rail, I secured the feet, placed the extra tape, and faired this area of the deck. I had only ordered one deck hatch so I could confirm that I liked it. Now the second one is on back order, so I'll just cover up the float as the rains will be here soon.

In the garage I began to put the centerboard case together. It requires a baffle. Having made the centerboard, I knew exactly what dimension I wanted so I constructed a simple mold. The inside corners are filleted before placing the glass.

Then I vacuum-bagged it. My original plan of using a cheap bag didn't work, so I slipped it in the same surfboard bag I used for the centerboard and rudder.

Attaching the baffle to one side of the centerboard case.

I decided to paint the interior of the centerboard case with bottom paint before I put it together. You can find many different opinions on the web about this step - essentially everything from doing nothing, to soft or hard anti-fouling, to copper-epoxy. And of course some paints are not designed to be out of the water or they lose their effectiveness. Also, once you start with one type, many require complete removal if you decide to change to another type. I asked Ian about this and he suggested a hard anti-fouling below the water line.

Where the inner flange is attached to the case, there's extra glass. To accommodate this thickness, I used to the table saw to make this end of the baffle slightly thinner.

I like the bright colors that Pettit Vivid anti-fouling offers and it met the other criteria.

Toxic though.

Poor picture, but shows my plan for attaching the two halves. I also left unpainted the area at the top where more reinforcements go, and the bottom where it will be trimmed and attached to the hull.

I started to finish cutting out all the remaining flat parts. An interesting side note about tools: I purchased a jig saw at the beginning of the project (replacing one that seemed suspect). It was 'entry level' but looked like it would do the job. And it had a LASER! (Not useful.) Well, some time ago I lost faith in its ability, so I did everything I could to chose an alternate tool. After a particularly frustrating time on one part, I'd had enough. A little research online and I found that everyone who commented on my particular saw said that after some use it would become uncontrollable! After looking at several different saws (unfortunately, over twice the price) and reading the comments -- people talking about liking theirs so much that they would use it for jobs I would never consider -- I knew I had to throw this one out and buy yet another one. Wow, works like a charm. Yet again, I'm learning that you spend less getting the right tool from the beginning, even when it's more expensive. I also found a different brand diamond grit blade that is narrower, but cuts smooth and lasts a long time.

My last step while having a large flat work space was making the gluing flange on the forward bunk and cockpit floor. I used some 3M adhesive spray along the peel ply on the side I didn't want the flange attached to. This allowed me to attach a smooth layer of release film and then peel ply over this. I took the peel ply off the side with the planned flange attachment and clamped the pieces together. Then I used the poor man's vacuum technique.

Here's the final, untrimmed glue flange. I found that, even with the layer of release film, it paid to separate them early, while it's still slightly green. With the peel ply removed from the flange, it's ready to use.

Wow, I cut nearly all the main hull form frames what seems like a million years ago (as in during the first month of this project). I had saved #1 and #2 to be cut out of one of my vacuum table tops. I'll save the other table for making the few remaining interior panels.

I checked the strong back for level, re-glued a couple legs that had worked free from the floor while fairing the floats, and started aligning the forms.

What a great shape! I actually positioned the rotating laser level vertically so that I could check the centerline at the hull shape, as well as at the bottom of the form against my center string. (You can see that I haven't yet modified the forms back in the cockpit from my original plan of doing the aft cabin version.)

July

2010-07-31T12:21:00.000-07:00

I have the luxury of building slowly, partly because my parents have always been gracious to let me borrow their boat. I think of it as the Memory Maker (if there's a reason to keep a log, it's to read/remember all the past times together as a family -- the Trice has been making memories for 43 years!) We love our chance to re-experience our local cruising areas in the San Juan Islands and if time allows, the Canadian Gulf Islands.

My brother Toby joined us this trip. He bought a Nimble 24 on Chesapeake Bay several years ago. He used its shallow draft and trailer to explore great places of history and great cruising grounds on the East Coast. This year he finished the spring season with 6 weeks in the Bahamas. After a two-week trailering trip across the US, he launched at my parent's the day before we left -- and joined us. (He has had many experiences that only a shallow draft and trailerable boat can access -- aspects that originally attracted me to the F-22.)

This cruise was marked by many great sails (some years, summer can be a better cruising time then sailing time, but not this year). It was fun to have another boat to sail with and rendezvous with at harbor.

We picked up my brother Jeremy and his family from the ferry terminal at Friday Harbor. They joined us for 3 days. It's great to share time and experiences together at some of our favorite places.

Teaching my nephew to row.

The Bald Eagle population has recovered and is now a frequent sighting, though not often this close.

Having two boats meant that Toby and I could take an afternoon or evening sail as easily as a row to shore. It was fun to sail together (should I admit that it was my first time sailing on a monohull?).

Nothin' like cruising'!

When we returned I decided to tackle a small problem that I had been ignoring since last month. While lowering my float from being suspended in the garage, the bow slipped out of its web holder and fell about 2 1/2 feet, landing on the sharp corner of one of the 3/4 inch MDF frames that was waiting to receive it. The frame actually broke in the center where it was narrow -- I was afraid to look at the float.

The impact was on the outer side, right at the forward beam bulkhead. There was a circular crack in the fairing material and epoxy coating. It was also indented where the foam was compressed. I suspect that the bulkhead may have minimized the extent of the injury.

Here I've sanded the shiny epoxy coating with a longboard to show the area that was effected beyond the circular crack. Interestingly, the point of impact at the center of the circle showed no damage.

I removed the shallow fairing material and found a white circle in the glass, suggesting a disruption of the fibers. Ian agreed that it was not a structural issue, but said it may show as a cosmetic problem sometime in the future if all I did was re-fair this area. So, I put on a lightweight (~3 oz) glass patch under VB, hoping for the thinest fix possible.

I was lucky that this happened to be an area where the existing fairing material was just thick enough to allow me to place this thin patch without extensive re-fairing. This is my fairing patch placed with a couple layers of tape around the edge. A couple passes of the longboard show the usual low spot in the center of any filled area. The high overfill allowed a single sanding session make the problem disappear from sight.

I'll be more careful next time.

I started working on the inner supports for the wingnet rail. I came to two conclusions. One, I didn't want to have to fair the 'feet' where the rails attach to the float. Two, I decided to make them slightly beefier.

I started with a piece of the cutout from the rail itself. While in place, I added an upper lip under the rail, and after a some filleting material, a lower extension that conforms to the deck edge.

Originally, I had envisioned finishing it with a hand lay-up, but the lower extension was flexible, so needed to be done in place. And it was hard imagine working under the rail without making a mess. So I VB'd the part in place. Because the rail and deck edge are not parallel, the two pieces are not interchangeable. After cure, I released them from the packing tape on the deck edge and slipped out the ends for further shaping before epoxying them in place.

An exciting step -- holes for the deck openings.

I had previously purchased some reinforced plastic hatches. It was difficult to find any information about anyone's experiences with similar products. In the end I decided that they looked more like cockpit storage hatches than deck hatches. After looking some more, I settled on a Vetus hatch. More weight, more money, but designed for the job.

This was my first chance to get a look at the interior. I was most curious about the deck-to-flange attachment. I didn't enjoy doing this 'blind' -- was there enough adhesive, was there too much, did it ooze out all over the inside? In the end it looks like it was OK.

June

2010-06-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

When the centerboard came out of the bag, each side was covered in a single layer of 45/45 and the layers of UD. Along the trailing edge, the layers meet on the solid epoxy that I originally placed in the routed groove before shaping.

Along the leading edge, the carbon layers meet but do not overlap since I did each side separately. This means that I needed to wrap the leading edge with a layer of tape to tie these together before placing the final layer in one continuous piece. (I had rebated the foam in the area to accept this tape.) I VB'd this by taping to the central part of the CB where peel ply still remains. This gave a good result, given the many different profiles along the edge. The reason I didn't use the large bag was to try to avoid a 'wrinkle' along the edge. By putting the VB tape on the bag material, I was able to apply it with tension along the leading edge even before starting the vacuum.

(Hope this makes sense. See my effort at making the chainplates for a little more description. Likely less of a potential problem this time because there's only a single layer.)

I like the look of the carbon! (I forgot to mention that I put a narrow piece of Kevlar down the leading edge of both the rudder and CB. I'm not sure what's best, but I wanted to help the impact resistance to this leading edge.)

It was a little bit of a panic to wrap the whole board in a single piece of wet DB, then put on disposables, then get it in the bag. But it happened, and the result was good.

I pre-cut a little large, then wet the carbon out on plastic (with clear, you can see it has wet all the way through), wet the board, and draped it over while still on the plastic (pre-drawing a center line on the plastic allows you to align the leading edge before really setting it down). Then all the other layers were started while it was still upright.

Once it's covered up to the breather layer, it can easily be moved around without disturbing anything. With it laying on either side, you can open up the package enough to make sure everything is perfect, then slid it in the bag.

The two halves of the CB case were still bolted together, so it was easy to cut them exactly the same. I started cutting out all the other flat parts as well. A circular saw with rail guide along a straight edge for the straight parts, jig saw for the curved. Bosch has a nice narrow diamond blade (designed for tiles) which works great on the fiberglass.

Making the edge for the centerboard case.

And cutting the edge to height -- since the inner edge has some variability from the tape, I calculated the correct dimension from the table and used the sander on an appropriately-sized block as described by others.

Lines up nicely.

Checking for appropriate clearances with the actual CB.

I switched back to working on the floats. It seems like it's been a long time -- I guess it has. Interestingly, while I'd been postponing putting on the wingnet rails for no particular reason, a builder's update came out with a couple of changes. I was able to accommodate these without any problems.

I researched the bolt rope attachment along the wingnet rail. I like the Sunrise Yatch site (and they will email you costs for F-22s). This quote is important: "There are thin wall aluminum awning tracks and plastic tracks available that will not work for nets, as they are not strong enough and will open up under tension." They have an extruded product that will work, and I printed the full size profile.

Given the changes in height and angles, and knowing the size of the bolt rope extrusion, I likely would have made the rail differently, but it should work fine.

One of the changes called for lowering the rail, so my recesses in the deck helped in this regard. After appropriate positioning, I epoxied it in place, added the taped reinforcing, and finished fairing the deck.

May

2010-05-31T19:43:00.000-07:00

Through a complicated series of events I flew back and picked up the the van in St. George, UT, not Colorado. I had several days to explore the area before setting off. This is Snow Canyon.

It has great examples of petrified sand dunes (Kayenta Formation), lava flows and Navajo Sandstone.

Being near the south border of Utah at the start changed my trip plans significantly. I decided to drive up the 'steps' of the Grand Staircase. It rises 6,000 feet from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in five alternating plateaus and cliffs, exposing over 200 million years of geologic history.

This is the Colorado River cutting into the Kaibab Uplift (Kaibab limestone - Permian, 245 million years old) which is geologically the same as the top of the north rim about 50 miles downstream. Behind it are the first two cliffs. The short Chocolate Cliffs (Moenkopi Formation - Triassic, 200 myo) and the taller Vermillion Cliffs (Moenave and Kayenta Formation - Lower Jurassic, 165 myo) behind.

Another view of the Vermillion Cliffs. This is a site where California Condors are released from captive breading. Their numbers declined until it was decided in 1987 that the only way to save them from extinction was to capture them -- only 22 birds were left at that time. Now, of 384 living individuals, 188 are in the wild. (I saw one last year in Zion National Park while hiking -- with a 2.5 - 3 meter wing span, it's an impressive sight.)

National Monument and Bureau of Land Management areas allow dispersed camping, which, around here, means you are by yourself.

The White Cliffs (Navajo Sandstone - Upper Jurassic, 145 myo).

I drove up north through the Grand Staircase National Monument along the East Kaibab monocline -- known as the Cockscomb. Miles of dirt road.

The Grey Cliffs (Dakota Formation - Cretaceous, 100 myo) with the Pink Cliffs (Claron Formation limestones - Tertiary, 60 myo) in far distance.

The Pink Cliffs -- best viewed at Bryce Canyon National Park. All this is capped by the Paunsaugunt Plateau, less than 1 myo.

From Bryce I drove back into Arizona, across Nevada and to Santa Barbara, CA, to pick up my daughter from college. The real goal of the drive was to take a week trip bringing her home for the summer. It was a great time traveling together.

First destination was Yosemite (she hadn't been before), then up part of the Oregon coast. Mountains, water, green, cool, were all great after the desert.

This is the Fallen Monarch of the Mariposa Giant Sequoia Grove -- it fell over 300 years ago after standing for a couple thousand years! It's first picture is from 1899 with U.S. Cavalry officers and their horses up on top.

Long exposure from Tunnel View well after sunset.

Lots of water coming over the falls, standing in the meadows, and flowing down the Merced.

Watching the climbers on El Capitan gives you get an idea of the size of the granite cliffs. Six climbers here on 'The Nose', a 2900 feet, multi-day climb. You can see the lights of their hanging camps at night.

When I returned, I put the last layers of carbon on the ruder. I had left it with two non-overlaping layers and the uni. I put a layer down the leading edge to tie these together, an extra layer under where it sits in the rudder case, and then wrapped the whole thing in a continuous final layer. Here it is untrimmed, just out of the bag. Fairing and paint sometime in the future.

The centerboard ready for shaping.

From my experience with the rudder I was less worried about making two passes with the router to separately mark elevations and then remove material. Given its larger surface, it was easy to remove each step in one or two passes.

Flat contour of the trailing edge with resin groove exposed.

Rounder shape of leading edge.

There's not much left of that top layer of Corecell, but without a uniform top layer this technique wouldn't work.

You can also see how I relieved the forward edge, which remains in the case. This was noted by Menno and addressed by Ian in an update. I estimated the angle of the hull at this offset location from the full-size pattern of the bulkhead just forward from the case.

Cutting carbon after final sanding and routing of groove for uni on first side.

I proceeded with the other side and its first layer of carbon in a similar fashion.

April

2010-04-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

We hiked in snow flurries to get a different view of Delicate Arch (16 m tall) now across the valley. The desert in the spring is very interesting. We had sun and hot, sun and cold, wind with tremendous, visibility-cutting dust storms, snow . . . you name it, we had it.

Below, taking an email break. Email and nature might not seem to mix, but when service is infrequent, ya do whatchya gotta do.

The La Sal range on the eastern edge of Utah. I've always loved the contrast of the red rock and the white snow at this time of year.

We camped at Fisher Towers. Too close to the towers for a great picture (opposite direction), but great spot to spend the night.

We left the van in Grand Junction, Colorado, and flew home. I'll return in a month and continue on a trip towards California and then home.

Meanwhile, back in the garage . . .

When I cut out the profile of the rudder, I cut right on the line. With the centerboard, I left a margin so I could use the LB to smooth out the irregularities of my cutting.

The blank was thicker than the final board, so I took the whole thing down to the thickness that I wanted for the upper portion that remains in the case and will need to be flat (all dimensions at this point are minus the anticipated cloth).

I'm convinced that the groove around the edge is critical, and made this one even bigger. I put some black pigment in so that I could easily see it while sanding.

Now it was time to test out the preparations. First, have a plan on how not to get confused as to which line is which depth, and then set the router. (If you need to get in the mood, watch a video of a master making a hawaiian longboard -- "I know the board in the blank, and I know how to go get it")

For this first attempt, I considered the grooves to be markers for the final amount of material I needed to remove. I chose a narrow bit so they wouldn't run into each other on the leading-edge side and also would maximize the flat area to run the router on.

Then with a larger bit I worked from the outside to the inside, removing material with a stair-step pattern and a couple islands that were supports for the last swipe of the router (each stair step removes material at a depth of the next highest step so that the lower groove remains).

After some easy passes with the stiff long-board, it really took shape. I found that using some foam scraps cut to shape were great holders during this stage. You can see the trailing epoxy edge now showing.

Not quite sure why it seems hard to find, but it took a while to source stitched carbon at 45-45. I finally found it at Composites One (thank you Tom!) and because they allowed purchases in small quantities, chose VectorPly C-BX 0600 and 0900. While not the exact weights specified, it looks like great material -- and I could actually get it!

Here I've routed out the groove for the UD and am cutting the double-bias (DB) (UD does not actually go next to the foam).

The material was great to work with, nothing like the DB glass that falls apart so easily. As I always do, the piece was wet out on plastic, then moved while supported by the plastic. Here it is just off the vacuum table.

The idea is for the central piece of glass and this first outer layer to maintain the flat or 'trueness' while shaping the other side. The carbon at the trailing edge is placed exactly as I want it. I held the leading edge back (and thinned the foam for the extra layer) and will run an extra tape layer down this edge and over the top. After covering the other side, the whole foil will be wrapped in a single piece for the final layer.

Here's the second side after literally 2-3 minutes with the longboard using the grooves as a guide - not much left to remove. While I was anxious at first about being able to control the router and get an 'exact' groove, this was really not a worry. The longboard fixes nearly everything. If you make an error on the outside of the line, the longboard easily takes off the small high spot. If you make an error on the inside of the line, a slight low spot will remain. If you can still see it after two layers of carbon, then it will easily disappear during final fairing. Either way, the grooves provide a guide to the perfect shape.

Hard to show in a picture, but it really is a great shape.

Second side in the bag. I found this 'tube' bag material used for surf boards - it's useful for parts that shouldn't be against the table. Just cut to any length and close the ends.

I left the trailing-edge carbon long on this side and will cut/sand to shape against the strengthened epoxy groove that has now been exposed on both sides and encased in first layer of DB.

March

2010-03-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

I wanted to drill the pivot hole in the centerboard while I still had a flat surface to work with. My dad has a drill press, so I headed north.

The Skagit Valley, a very productive agricultural area, is a little over an hour north of Seattle. It was first settled by families from Holland and is still known for growing tulip and daffodil bulbs. It's also one of the largest producers of seed crop.

March is daffodil season.

My dad was doing the annual on his plane while I drilled the pivot hole.

Also this month, my daughter and I went on a morning and evening photo shoot of Seattle. On one side, Lake Union. (A link to the Duck Dodge)

While the other side is on Puget Sound, connected to the Pacific Ocean (a 3-4 day sail, water is just to the right, out of the picture).

Back to building: some decisions are hard. The only boats I've sailed have had booms. Would I like one without? Most of the time I plan on using dry storage - a 'mast up' area where you can either launch with a crane or trailer. This makes me lean less towards quick set up, and more towards . . . I'm not sure exactly.

In the end I decided on a main boom. The reason I'm thinking about this now is that I wanted to recess the area of the main sheet traveler and track in the cockpit seat. Originally I was planning on recessing the whole thing, but after evaluating the size of the traveler and leaving enough space so that lines wouldn't be caught etc., it seemed too large. Instead, I went for leveling the attachment surface (seats are slanted out) and then leveling the top of the track with seat cushions. That hopefully will limit Murphy's Law with sheets and traveler binding, and also allow lying down comfortably. Pieces are of HD and will be secured at time of VB.

Here I'm making the measurements -- length along the cord and corresponding thickness -- for the topographical plan of the centerboard. Glasses with 'readers' weren't enough -- I didn't have this problem when I started this project!

Also this month, my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with friends and family,

then took a trip south. We stopped in Salt Lake to do some Spring skiing at Alta, 32oo m, 1300 cm snow, one of the first ski resorts in US. We lucked out with fresh snow and sunshine!

Heading south, we visited Nine Mile Canyon, a 40 mile canyon showcasing over 1000 panels and 10,000 images of petroglyphs and pictographs from the Fremont Native Americans, 300 - 1250 A.D.

And hoodoos with Wilson Range in the distance near Goblins State Park.

We hiked Little Wild Horse Canyon, a narrow slot canyon in the sandstone on the edge of the San Rafael Swell. You wouldn't want to do this with the threat of thunderstorms up drainage. Amazing twists and turns, colors and shapes.

We camped at Arches National Park. There are over 2000 arches and fascinating sandstone formations here. We've been here before, so it was relaxing to not 'have to do it all.'

Colors of Salt Valley (thousands of feet of salt are in a dome underneath, which accounts for many of the types of formations at the northern end of the park.)

February

2010-02-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

The size of the rudder's central core is determined by the final shape of the foil, the thickness of the wrapped glass and the unidirectional (UD) placed between the two outer skins. I estimated the shape (erring on smaller than too large).

I rounded over the edges for the wrapping.

After the wrap had cured in the VB, I placed it with spacers in the blank. I went to great pains at each step to insure that the blank remained perfectly flat. Each step is making it stiffer. Also, holding the leading / trailing dimension exact is important at this stage, just filling any gap as necessary.

Again, I tried to be too economical. You can see I'm trying to conserve that expensive HD foam. After fooling around to keep all the little pieces oriented and wondering now how I was going to brace the router, I decided to own up to the fact that I was going to have to go out and buy some more. I wasn't going to go through this on the 'big brother' centerboard, whose blank is now sitting below.

Using the router table, I put a groove along the trailing edge and filled with strengthened epoxy. This will make sure the exact center is never lost, potentially add stiffness to this thin edge until it is glassed, and solve the problem of having foam near the edge, since the edge will have a slightly flat profile.

The larger centerboard requires lofting between the upper and lower profiles which are given. Because of its orientation, the shape is slightly more complicated, but the same techniques work well. The key is the centerline that is given for each shape.

Momentum is building as I work on multiple parts. I was able to get a great price on some Divinycell 3/4 inch pre-perforated when a local boat manufacturer went out of business. It's much different that my Corecell (I have to say I'm partial to the Corecell, but it may just be what I'm used too) but was an economical way to get extra material for the larger cockpit floor, seats, and centerboard.

Cutting out HD portions.

Inserts almost ready to epoxy in place. It makes the rudder look pretty small. The colors are: grey = Divinycell, cream = Corecell, yellow = Corecell 1200.

The central core gets it glass wrap and vacuum-bagging. The clamped hardwood strips help to insure it doesn't warp.

This picture is just to show that I do own a different set of clothes!

Getting all the bracing set before placing the central core back in the blank. Because of the centerboard's length I went out and bought a section of aluminum angle -- wish I'd done that earlier. It's a great straight edge for drafting and marking, and I think it will be useful when positioning large flat pieces in the main hull.

January

2010-01-31T20:12:00.000-08:00

I finally started building the last week of the month -- after going nearly 8 months without. In the end it became evident that there would never be a good time to restart, just like there was never really a good time to start in the beginning. It's all about inertia, and I had to turn the tide.

Instead of jumping in with rebuilding some of the flat parts for the aft cockpit, I decided to make things more interesting and finish other parts.

This included the beam mount additions (note: I have early, not updated versions).

And then I started the rudder. I followed in the footsteps of Meno and Grant. It's a technique that makes so much sense to me for making one-off versions of the rudder and, in my case, centerboard.

The cross section of the foil is given at key locations on the full size patterns. I measured the position of common thickness along the cord from the leading edge. The different thicknesses chosen are arbitrary, but should be spaced to allow setting and running the router along the resulting topographical map.

Once the points are plotted and connected, one begins to appreciate the design in a 3D fashion. (Many areas are actually quite flat, so determining, say, the exact 0.8 mm location on the trailing portion can be difficult. But when drafted out the data can be artistically averaged-out as the intent of the shape becomes obvious.)

And then I discovered that after 8 months off, you can forget all the steps. I vacuum-bagged the blank, but when I opened the package I found I had forgotten to wax the table! Wow, that stuff sticks -- I had to ruin the blank and in the end, the table.

So, the message is to review new or past techniques before wasting materials.

Once I recreated the blank, I was almost glad that I'd had trouble. I had been trying to be conservative with foam and was piecing together some odd leftovers -- in the end this technique is about knowing the exact center and having a uniform surface and thickness for the router. Using a new single sheet of foam to cut from was better towards this end.

My blank has a single layer of glass sandwiched in the middle that is not called for in the plans. The thought is that this will help the blank stay true while being shaped without its outer skin.

I cut out the parts which will be HD foam including the central core.

November - December

2009-12-31T19:50:00.000-08:00

No building. Soon.

We took a trip to Israel and then Santa Barbara to visit my daughter - but I'm refraining from turning this into a travel-log.

October

2009-10-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not building yet . . instead I'll post some pictures I took on my fall trip the last part of September and early October. I drove to Colorado for the fall colors via Oregon and Utah, then drove the high plateau of Utah before dashing home. Just over 4000 miles. No Farrier sightings, I'm afraid.

I stopped in central Oregon to see the Painted Hills (ash deposits from extinct volcanos). The area also has many fossils, like banana plants and early horses, camels, and rhinoceroses.

I also explored the tallest single-structured sand dune in North America in the high desert of eastern Oregon -- Bruneau Dunes.

From there, I drove straight to the Canyon Lands of Utah, Dead Horse State Park. This is where the Colorado and Green Rivers come together, going from here down through the Grand Canyon to the Gulf of Mexico.

I met my friend Robert and his wife here, and we spent a week in Colorado. First stop: Maroon Bells. Colorado likes its 'Fourteeners' and these two are over 14,000 feet.

We drove miles of dirt road through beautiful parts of the Rockies. These are the San Jaun Mountains – more fourteeners. The color of the changing Aspen was fantastic.

Mt. Wilson (fourteener) near Telluride.

My friend Robert has a Jeep, so we went on some great 4x4 adventures. Here Ophir pass gets us above the tree line and tops out around 13,000 feet.

Last stop in Colorado was Mesa Verde, an area of cliff dwellings made in the 12th century by the Anasazi, ancient Pueblo people.

From here I left Robert to head to Utah. I looped up through the southern Canyon Lands.

Natural Bridges National Monument.

Classic South Western scenes. The Colorado Plateau (found in four states, here Utah) at times was covered by warm seas and at other times lifted by faulting and exposed to tremendous erosion - the layers extend from nearly 2 billion years ago to the present.

The high areas are now at 9,000+ elevations. I drove south across Capital Reef, a 'water pocket fold' 100 miles long . . .

. . . to Bryce Canyon's amazing hoodoos.

My last stop before heading home was three days hiking in Zion National Park, where you camp in a valley surrounded by 2000 foot cliffs.

The hiking was fantastic, though the start was always up.

My highlight hike was Angel's Landing. The narrow trail along a rock fin drops 1200 feet on one side and 900 on the other.

The massive canyon walls make for quite a backdrop.

It was a bit long to be away from the family, but the sights were amazing.

September

2009-09-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

No building. But some thinking.

I had originally planned on building the standard / aft cabin. In fact I've already built all the flat vacuum-bagged parts specific for the cockpit, aft cabin, bunk, transom.

I based my original decision on thinking that I would maximize interior space. And our family is used to an enclosed cockpit with seat backs. I remember describing an open transom -- "Why?" and "No!" were the responses.

I have visited Jay's aft cabin and like the interior space, and the family would like the 'enclosed' feel of the cockpit. But, at this stage I've decided to concede that I will be using the boat mostly for day sails and that I would enjoy sailing more with a larger cockpit. The standard cabin will be ample for the week or two of cruising in the summer.

August

2009-08-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

After returning from Alaska I decided to take the rest of the summer and most of the fall off from building. We have been breaking records of dry and heat – I haven't wanted to miss out on life's other opportunities.

July

2009-07-31T21:32:00.000-07:00

How do you pick 15 pictures out of several thousand? You finally give up on finding the 'right' ones and be done with it. Following are some pictures of our Alaska trip.

(I think it was Grant who first posted a picture from near his home and suggested others do likewise. I've expanded the idea to include some local trips in the Northwest. If you look at these, you'll see two Farrier-related ones!)

We spent 3 days going up the Inside Passage through British Columbia, Canada, and then Southeast Alaska.

Although we had a stateroom, the ferry is unique because they encourage tenting on deck! My F-22 cap helped me meet several F-boat sailers (both from California).

After debarking in southern Alaska, you have to enter Canada again to drive around Wrangell - St. Elias National Park (which contains 9 of the 16 highest peaks in US, and the largest North American non polar ice cap). The Yukon had its own unique beauty.

Valdez (the end of the Trans-Alaska pipeline) is a harbor surrounded by mountains.

We took another ferry across Prince William Sound.

We debarked at Whittier on the Kenai Peninsula. There I meet Sean, an avid F-boat sailor. It was enjoyable to talk as his family launched prior to a several day cruise. He knew of one other F-boat in Prince William Sound (Valdez).

When I had been researching this trip I investigated a glacier hike out of Seward. One of the links was to a Flicker site with pictures of a man hiking with his sons. But slipped in at the end was a picture of a boat project . . . and I knew what they were - F-22 floats! We e-mailed several times, agreeing to meet if possible. I enjoyed an afternoon talking with Dan (also of note -- a previous F-24 owner) about Alaska, sailing and boat building. (I also gave him Sean's e-mail and know they have been in touch.) Small world.

The van worked great. Before we left I fitted a bug screen that goes around the awning. This gave us room for four people to spread out. The long days were incredible.

Wildlife beyond counting.

Denali National Park was a highlight. Denali (Mt. McKinley) is 20,320 feet tall - with a prominence of over 18,000 feet, which makes it look as big as it really is. Less than a third of visitors see it because it makes its own weather. We saw it one afternoon of three days that we were there.

After Fairbanks, we started down the Alaska Highway. It's 1422 miles long, constructed between March 8, 1942 and October 28, 1942 by over 18,000 people as a military supply route during WWII. Over 8,000 planes, thousands of tanks and trucks, were all hauled up this route and flown into Russia to support the war in Europe.

The drive through Canada was spectacular.

A fantastic trip.

June

2009-06-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

I just had a week in June to work on the boat before I had to change gears and get the van ready for a trip (Alaska).

The rudder web was finished. Given the forces it must endure, it's a multi-layer-up affair suitable for short stints after work each night.

Also, June marked an exciting event: the delivery of the beams! This is obviously well before I need them, but I have been spreading out the cash outlay.

Truth be told, it cost more to get them here than I thought. I ordered them Oct 31 with the understanding that there was no rush. They shipped April 14th (~$500) and arrived in Los Angles May 18th (~$165 to get them off the dock and into a truck to come up the coast) and then I was able to pick them up at a Seattle customs clearing area on June 4th (~$485 fees and duty). Whew.

Given the boot prints all over the box, I was glad for the excellent packaging.

And, of course, they look very svelte and wonderfully constructed.

I took another item that I had received months ago out of its box - the beam mounts. Since I ordered them early, I got the 'original' - they have since been modified in terms of how they are installed.

The originals require replicating the bolting flange onto the other side. I used the 'alternate' beam mount as a mold to make the 'mold', then bolted it onto its symmetric partner.

Then there's quite the lay-up schedule of UD and DB.

That was it for the month. One daughter was home from college and we picked up our other daughter on the last day of school, heading directly to Bellingham to catch the evening sailing of the Alaska Ferry.

May

2009-05-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

After that initial sand, I still had some problems with several low areas: around the attachment of the foam bow, and the transition of more round/full keel towards the sharper entry area. I decided a skim coat would be easiest. I also spot-filled some bubbles.

(This is an area that has been problematic in varying degrees on all four float sides, and I've seen others comment also. I have two ideas. The reflection of extra glass at the bow entry leaves a low spot behind, and I've been too aggressive at sanding down the stripes in this transition area from full/round to flat/vertical. Or the root problem may also be how the forward end of the float is constructed. The battens near the keel make a difficult twist in a compound curve as they approach form #1 - this may make this area shallow. A more careful investigation when attaching the foam cap and fairing the foam could alleviate this problem.)

I have a constant supply of used, but clean syringes from work. I cut off the Luer-lock to make a fine point, use a couple of reusable ergonomic modifications to save my hands, and fill them with a Ziploc bag. With these I can fill the small Dremel bur depressions left from attacking the bubbles with minimal effort or material.

I did the deck in a similar fashion as the first float. First I put on a single skim coat, working the material with significant force to work out any bubbles. I'll admit this is more successful than on the sides with the candy stripes.

I modified my sanding by trying the 'cheese grating' technique described by Wayne Hicks. Essentially you begin sanding while it's still soft - when it deforms with a thumb nail, but isn't tacky.

The idea is different enough that I was sure it wouldn't work . . . but it does.

Shortly after I finished applying the QuickFair I was able to begin sanding with 36 grit (at the bow where I had started) and slowly worked towards the stern while it continued to cure. The material came off in soft clumps that did not clog the sandpaper and were easily brushed off. Interestingly, the heat of the sanding seemed to speed the cure as I moved along. It was a great time saver to remove the majority of excess QF - and there was no dust! Unfortunately, I can't see how I could incorporate this technique to larger curved areas, as I couldn't apply it fast enough with the short cure time of QF.

Nearly finished except small detail areas.

After working with the soft QF during the 'cheese grating' I tried several other variations on this idea. One was obvious - cut off the tops of any filled Dremel divots with a wide chisel. This negated any effort trying to sand them without lowering my finished QF level.

I also found a couple of areas that were low from the edge of the trowel during the skim coat of the deck. Attempts to fill this type of area before had either left it low by trying to minimize the amount, or required extra effort to sand down without hurting the surrounding material. To fill these high, I put tape around the defect and skimmed over the top. This left the QF patch elevated by the uniform thickness of the tape. When strong enough to not tear, but soft enough to cut, I used a chisel and easily removed the excess.

Both these techniques took care of the last minute touch-ups before I began the final sanding to get it to that 'thin as possible' state.

I used the same skim coat followed by two coats of raw epoxy as required to seal the QF.

I have been working hard to get the floats to a stopping point before June. So, though they have a ways to go, this is how they'll sit.

Between steps I also continued to work on smaller parts. Here are the gudgeons as made in the mold.

My previous experience of vacuuming after wrapping carbon around an edge had not been perfect. As the excess resin is removed and as the fibers are compressed, they are not pulled tighter around the edge, but instead make a small wave or wrinkle. I decided to do a hand lay-up and let gravity pull the peel ply over the carbon. I've also found that making the part slightly larger and cutting to size makes the finished carbon uniformly thick out to the edges.

Gudgeons being fitted on rudder web.

April

2009-04-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

The trip and getting back up to speed cut into the month, but I decided to start by using the Dremel and filling obvious bubbles before I finished sanding. I like to finish sanding, not filling, but of course if you fill too early and find some more . . .

I was pleased with the result. Hopefully the picture shows how you can see through the QF as it thins (yellow foam/glass color).

A close up with pattern from the stitched glass tow's and even a vague stripe to the right which is a seam between foam strips.

I do continue to learn about fairing and the rigid longboard (LB). I started out thinking: sand end to end, then back, then repeat. But there are a few nuances I've picked up over the last two sides.

First, there is more than one fair shape. We would like the one chosen by the designer and the one that has the least added fairing weight. I know my first side was fair, but likely not the best I could do now at achieving the other two goals.

What I've recognized is that the curved areas thin first. (I've mentioned not feathering at deck and keel till the last step.) A more subtle area is the transition from bow section to center hull. I think my impression on the first side was that this meant I needed the slightly thicker QF between two thinning areas (thinning must mean it was high, right?). After all, when I checked it was 'fair'.

I've come to a different conclusion. The LB wants to remove high areas, easy to visualize on a flat surface. But on a complicated surface, say convex changing to flat changing to convex, the game changes. Let's assume that with a given grit and force, an equal amount of material can be removed. On a flat surface, the whole LB touches (for example 1 unit force/100 sq inches). On a curved surface, the area of LB that touches significantly decreases, and with equal force the amount of removed material increases significantly (1 unit force/5 sq in).

Now what happens is that instead of creating an ultimately flat surface, the LB actually accentuates the curve! More is removed at the convex curve area, and less at the flat area since more is left behind. It's fair, it just doesn't meet our other two goals.

The floats have convex curves and lots of flat (fore and aft), but no concave. This means that you have to compensate for the above phenomena by either decreasing the force over the convex areas, or doing a 'double stroke' (or triple) and sand the flat areas for more time. Note: this phenomena is even more pronounced when you are sanding the candy stripes by themselves, so that you start at a disadvantage which only becomes more pronounced.

(Likely, someone will make the argument, "that's what a flexible board is for." I suppose. But then you have still more variables to control: stiffer for subtle curves? more flexible for tighter curves? should you still vary the force applied? . . . And I don't like flexible boards on the flat – which is really what you have a lot of.)

In retrospect, it seems so obvious. I think when I started that I was blinded by the sand, sand, sand, and the idea that "if it's fair, I must be doing it right."

There is also variable hardness in the QF depending when you get back to sanding. Although it cures enough to hand-sand at ~3 hours, it continues to cure to a harder state over the next several days. You can use this to your advantage by going after the mini-bubble fills early. But it can also be a disadvantage if you're sanding a larger fill patch where it is removed preferentially in comparison to the surrounding material with an advanced harder cure.

This is just a picture on the second side of how I try to put down the stripes. I use a Ziplock bag with the corner cut off at 45º. I've found that the sides have a seam, but the bottom doesn't. If you hold the bag with the bottom against the hull, the seam then makes the opening a triangle, giving the bead a nice wide base of attachment and a narrow top. The QuickFair is so good at keeping its shape that if you were to do it so the bead was round, it would not slough down, but cure with a narrow attachment and overhangs above. These would later just be voids, as it is very difficult to fill such small spaces.

Another time saver that gives superior results (gotta love something like that!) is to use a paint scraper or similar tool along the edge of the stripe instead of sanding. It straightens out imperfections, gives a perpendicular edge, and seems to be a perfect bonding surface. At least with my tool, I didn't notice any damage to the laminate. Remember, leaving the stripes high does not mean the final layer will be that thick!

I reread the email from Meno (posted in 'January', I recommend it). It's interesting that he went from stripes to simply troweling on material, and I've done the opposite. Of course it was his description of, "if you want to try candy-bag . . ." and listing some of the difficulties he encountered that has helped me feel that I've become successful enough with the candy-bag method. For me, an extra time investment to get the material on has been easier. Will I still think so after the main hull?

I proceeded to fill, then started making dust.

March

2009-03-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

This is obviously my second time around for the shaping and glassing of the float, so I have just a few pictures and comments.

In the last post I forgot to mention that I had constructed the second bow slightly different. I made the central core of four sheets at the same time. But on the second bow I attached the outer pieces with contact cement, like Ian suggested. On the first one I had used QF (thinking, 'how could contact cement be strong enough?'), which worked and shaped easily, but the contact cement is lighter and was easier to construct. There was no tendency for the pieces to slip in the garbage bag vacuum clamp. I think it takes longer to cure to the same strength, but it held up great while shaping. As they say, listen to the designer.

Free-hand shaping with an electric hand planner is quick and more controllable than you would first think. You can see the desired profile penciled along the stem. Final shaping was with the longboard.

A small hand router with a guided trim bit cuts off the excess deck along the hull. After this I longboarded the upper hull to make sure I was happy with its shape since it will serve as final guide for the next step.

A 45-degree bit with roller guide starts the deck radius. This is quick and makes hand sanding faster and easier to control. I used the same radius sander made from PVC pipe to make most of the edge, but my final radius does change along the length of the boat and is finished with the longboard.

I think I learned on the first float to fair the foam more aggressively. Three-eights foam seems thin to be thinking of sanding too much, but it's the high spots that make the low spots, which will need filling. The risk seems to be that the surface can flex, specifically between the bulkheads, with only the interior layer of glass. Hence the possibility of taking off more over the bulkheads -- while in between, the material flexes away instead of being sanded off. Theoretical or real, I'm not sure.

Finished shape.

I glassed in my usual fashion without any incidents. (Both pictures with plastic still on.) I'm not sure I've mentioned it, but somewhere along the way I've started blowing off the surface with compressed air. Even after vacuuming several times it makes an enormous difference, though it does foul the air for a while.

The skirt of painter's plastic allows me work out the excess resin and not worry about messing the floor, etc. From my experience last time, I would say that the extra effort of rebating the foam for extra layers of glass is well worth it.

Trying to go another step in removing bubbles that develop while mixing the QF, I 'worked' the QF before putting it in the bag used to make my stripes. It helped, but at the cost of a smaller time window to apply. I'm not convinced I'll always do this.

The instructions say to apply multiple thin coats so you can minimize the bubbles. Of course I'm trying to avoid the multiple applications, and in particular the stripes are not 'worked' after applying. Would putting the material in a brief vacuum reduce them? In the end, fixing the few that are apparent after sanding is not really that big of a deal.

I advance guides forward to help keep them straight and the proper distance for my trowel. Quick and easy, but the real value is how this helps in later stages.

This was the real test for rigid vs. flexible longboarding. I went after the surface with the rigid board, then checked it with all my straight edge tricks. **SUCCESS!** Fast, easy, and 100% fair! None of the fiddle from before. I would strongly endorse using a rigid board.

'Working' the material seems to remove the bubbles. A 45º action decreases the chance of getting air trapped along the stripe. A word of caution – it doesn't take long for the QF to become 'dry' in how it behaves with the laminate. What I mean is that it is still workable, but if you spread it out and then remove it to examine the surface, it will not have as wet an appearance as it does when spread just after mixing. I again recommend reading Wayne Hick's treatise, part of which I will quote:

"The most frustrating part is getting the micro to spread out evenly without it tearing, lifting up, or rolling up into a ball behind the trowel. The trick is to go slow enough to give the micro time to spread out from under the trowel and stick to the surface. You'll notice that the micro doesn't want to stick at first, but give it a few seconds. The epoxy within the dry micro will migrate outward and will wet out the surface. Once this happens, the micro will adhere and will spread out easier. (This is why some builders like the epoxy wipe.)"

So, I guess by his description, I'm suggesting that the epoxy 'migration' decreases the closer you get to gel, and may happen while it still seems to be spreadable. I think his material has a much longer work time.

((DISCLAIMER: My guess is that all builders will experiment with different techniques, and likely come to different conclusions. Experience, materials, tools, personality, and goals will influence choices. The value in reading each other's experience is not to find a recipe, but to have a multitude of potential approaches and 'tricks' to springboard from (or things to avoid). This became very evident when I bought a new batch of QuickFair. I'm not sure what the reason was, but it had slight, but important differences in how it handled. For a while I felt like I was learning all over. Each builder will likely have slightly different experiences and draw different conclusions about how they want to approach similar problems -- by sharing them we all win. My own techniques are a first time builder learning from reading and doing. They will evolve as I push forward, and this commentary is on my experience and choices – which are not to be construed as the right or better way.))

I'm still marking the top of the stripes so that I can spot-sand any areas where the trowel may have floated high, as you can see here.

A reminder why the stripes have to be left high – they're the first to come off when the real fun begins.

Three long evenings after work: stripes, fair and fill, then fair. Looks like I'll make it with a single application/sand, though I won't know till later, as we leave on a trip tomorrow.

My wife and I took a trip to see our daughter in California. While last fall I drove straight down, then explored the Sierras on my way home, this time we worked our way down, then flew home and let my parents drive the rig back up the coast several weeks later.

We crossed to the central Oregon coast (reliving part of our honeymoon, this just happens to be our 24th wedding anniversary).

Then we drove diagonally across northern California. The west coast has a string of volcanoes – here is Mt. Shasta.

My goal was to see Yosemite again, this time in the spring with all the snow melt. So different than the fall! Water everywhere.

Yosemite Falls with Merced River.

Breakfast under El Capitan.

Rainbows at every falls.

Evening glow from Tunnel View, Bridal Veil Falls.

Breakfast looking across Cook Meadow. In the morning, Yosemite Creek was frozen slush, and we could hear loud crashes as large chunks of ice were carried over the falls. Above the 3000+ foot cliffs is nothing but snow and ice. Tioga Pass, which I drove last fall just before it closed, will not usually open till late May.

Hike to Upper Yosemite Falls with Half Dome in distance.

We crossed California yet again to drive the coast. The foot hills down to the San Joaquin Valley were full of poppies and red bud.

Walking against a strong wind at a beach along Big Sur.

One of the few mainland sea lion colonies. Mamas and young, but no bulls at this time of year.

February

2009-02-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

Sanding gives you some time to think. So I was excited to start fresh on the second side. I wanted to try a couple of new ideas on top of what I'd already learned. My dream was to get all the QF on and then sand it off, all in two sessions (had I gone from depression to

mania?)

One of my first ideas was to fine-tune the guides. Several issues presented themselves.

1) I felt I was learning what the long board was capable of.

It's a great 'averager' of heights. While it can do some amazing things, if you give it a variety of heights (or in the case of stripes, even a variety of widths) you will get an average that is some place lower than the lowest height. (Or, "if you give it junk, you get back below-average junk.")

2) Getting out the straight edge is a necessity.

The first time I sanded down the stripes, I sanded till the long board touched everywhere. What became apparent later was that sanding till it looks sanded isn't a very good endpoint. Many parts of the float are nearly flat fore and aft, and you can have a long 'wave' of high and low develop. And, with enough force it seems that the flexible board can dish-out areas (especially if you get confused and start sanding low spots, versus sand the high spots like you should). The straight edge doesn't lie.

I got the straight edge out near the end of the first side, but my thought for this side was to use it on the guides at the beginning.

You can sight along the straight edge (SE), but better yet, listen. After a little sanding, you can rock the SE along the stripes from deck to keel and get a smooth, non-clicking motion. This is the easiest dimension to achieve. Do this fore and aft, and at first you will get a non-uniform motion with one or more slapping sounds. Keep sanding and an eventual fair shape will produce an even motion with an even clicking sound as you rock over each stripe in turn. A slap indicates that the SE is rotating over a high spot or bridging a low spot.

Then I noticed that some graphite from previous markings along the SE was being left behind. I added more along the edge and marked the stripes by using a rocking motion starting at the deck and working down to the keel. The whole side was finished in a couple minutes.

Marks on all adjacent stripes means fair.

A stripe (or two) without marks means it's too low, or one of the adjacent sides are too high.

Sighting along the SE at these locations usually suggested the appropriate action and I developed an easy marking system so I could go along and spot-sand, fixing the problems. With minimal effort I now felt that I was starting with guides that were intentionally high, but fair.

I filled between the stripes as before. I think I forgot to mention that I would sand the edges of the stripes. Not really a fun way to spend an hour, but how could you leave a surface that you know will not bond secondarily?

In the picture below you can see a problem, similar to the other side, of a low area just above the keel. I could see this while I was planking, but any maneuver to fix it seemed to cause more troubles elsewhere, so here I am. Also (as seen in pictures further down), I discovered that feathering the stripes at the deck and keel like this before filling was a mistake. Leave them high until the end.

You can see in the last picture how I marked with pencil along each stripe. After filling, there will be some high ridges that are easy to sand away, but I was concerned about removing as much of the junk as possible before I actually started fairing. My plan was to spot-sand down to the marked surface to increase my odds of starting fair.

You can see that after the first couple passes I need to correct some areas to be at the 'fair guide' height. You can also see why high guides are important. And you can see what is developing at the keel by feathering the stripes before filling. Too much material is getting removed too quickly.

I'm already concerned that I didn't leave the guides high enough. Only moderate sanding and I'm starting to mark spots where I'm concerned that I removed too much material. The glass showing along the keel is the edge that was wrapped around from the other side, so as it shows I'm really just feathering its edge. You can also see how just above the keel, feathering the stripes too low (to clarify, sanded to the correct final height before filling) has caused a row of low spots.

At some point I decided to stop and fill. The rows of little dabs of QF are filling bubbles that were in the stripes. Obviously they showed up during mixing and came out the Zip-lock candy bag. I enlarged these with the Dremel as before.

Below shows an idea for trying to fill and spot-sand a low spot. The goal is to minimize its effect on lowering the surrounding finished height during final sanding. (I find sanding addicting -- a little more . . . Now, before filling I again find myself almost, if not at, the stopping height.) I marked the surface with diagonal marks, sanded for adhesion, then marked the perimeter of the sanded area with a irregular circle. After filling a thin, but adequate amount, I removed the excess outside the circle with a putty knife.

Then I attempted to spot-sand, using the usual motions, until I was just sanding on the surrounding glossy surface left by the putty knife. I also spot-sanded the dabs filling the bubbles.

I think the above ideas were reasonable, but suffice it to say that all my efforts to do it in one big session -- or now, even one spot fill -- weren't going to work. I was forced to stop before I sanded on glass.

What I discoved (not a new discovery . . . sometimes we just have to experience things for ourselves) is that when you first sand through the fairing compound, it's tempting to continue on the epoxy. This hard spot can remain for quite a few passes depending on pressure and grit before any damage is done to the glass. You're thinking, "I'm not on the glass yet!" But of course you've disrupted your fair surface by adding in a new substrate with different properties. The surrounding QF continues to lower at a faster rate than the epoxy. The straight edge never lies. The only way I felt I could take care of little problems here and there was to skim coat again.

Here it is after a couple passes. What you see is a pencil mark through the skim coat, marking an area of concern, i.e. the top of a high spot. As the QF thins it becomes transparent and is a great help in knowing when the stopping point is getting close.

When it was close I changed to 60 grit and called it good. Not quite the one on, one off I had been hoping, but I was happy with the end result.

At this point, I had a major breakthrough.

I flipped the hull upside-down to fine-tune the keel. It seemed I had a couple of low spots, so I filled these, and re-sanded. This time it looked like I had different low spots. I know that one thing affects another, but this seemed ridiculous.

The day before I had purchased a RIGID 3M Hookit longboard, thinking that it would be useful for the flat surface of the deck. I gingerly tried using it along the keel and immediately felt like it might be giving me 'truer' results than the flexible.

Before going too far I stopped to do some research, wondering about this whole flexible versus rigid thing. I had started thinking that curved=flexible and flat=rigid. I came upon a website from the experimental airplane building community, part of Wayne Hicks' Cozy IV project. I read 'Chapter 25: The Contouring Process' several times. Part of me was sad because I had already spent so much time learning some of these things for myself (at least my thoughts weren't far off); the other part of me was excited to try all the new ideas.

I sent Wayne an email, and he responded in a couple of hours.

Wayne, enjoyed your site.

---> Thanx!

I am building a Farrier F-22 Trailerable Trimaran --

---> Cool! I've heard of 'em. I used to race Tornado catamarans.

My question was about using the flexible vs. rigid long board (3M Hookit). I have been exclusively using the flexible for the long convex shape of the outside of the hulls, but recently purchased the rigid as the deck on the floats is flat. Does the rigid board have any role for this curved surface?

----> I have found that the flat board works better than the flexi board when contouring large-area curved surfaces. Here's why - the flexi board is TOO flexible. The rigid board allows for better control. This is especially true if you overlap your strokes by an inch or two. They say the human eye can only detect imperfections in contour to about 3 feet. Even most large-area surface contours are effectively "flat" at that length.

I can't overstate how switching to the rigid long board improved my end result. I would also say that reading 'Chapter 25' is a must for all builders embarking on the fairing challenge.

The first new idea I wanted to try was the "skim coat before raw epoxy finishing technique" for scratches and pin holes (see step 5 in chapter 25). After all the effort of fairing the sides, I was anxious about slathering on some mixture with a squeegee, so decided to try it on the deck UNDER the QF. I had a couple of areas that I could experiment on, that had something similar to pin holes where the area between the glass tows were light on epoxy (and I had previously found that QF was difficult to get into very small imperfections). I did it just like he described, and it gave me enough confidence to plan on doing the whole hull. Here is a close up.

Before it cured I did a skim coat of QF over the deck and transom. I'm still sold on the candy-stripe method for curved surfaces, but I know what Menno was saying about the extra work, so tried without.

It was four days before I got back to it. QF gets harder! Still, the end result worked out well. I played with what direction to work the long-board. The usual orientation -- keeping the long-board pointing towards bow/stern -- could leave a camber in the deck. I countered this by also adding a bow-to-stern motion with the board oriented at 45°, then back the other 45°. The skim coat method worked well, given that I was sure the deck was flat by rebating the foam in areas with two layers of glass and having it flat against the strong back while attaching it.

QuickFair requires several coats of epoxy sealer. Originally I figured that any scratches from sanding would be taken care of by these layers. After reading Wayne's advice, I modified this to include a skim coat of low-density filler with a soft, creamy consistency. I applied this with a squeegee, just as I had experimented with on the deck.

I worked it into pin holes etc., smoothed uniformly, then removed with a forceful drag of the squeegee. What I removed was pushed forward to a new area. I actually used very little material. I did discover that the QF (I assume) slowly absorbed the epoxy, causing the mixture to become thicker. So after moving it forward several sections, I could discard it for new mixture. Using a resin mixture with a long work time was so pleasant after the 10 minute work time of QF.

What a great idea! I was pleased with the results. It seems that my 36 grit has some clumps of abrasive which I'll try to watch for in the future, but I think this technique is a great way to take care of these and other small imperfections.

When this got tacky, I rolled and tipped a layer of epoxy. Seeing that first, shiny coat was pretty fun. When cured enough I put on a second layer. After this layer, all the imperfections were hidden.

Off to storage, switching places with the other float.

The second float seemed so far behind. Luckily I had done all the interior work. Having done this once before, I was able to be more efficient with certain steps. Here I filled screw holes.

Below: fitting my three deck pieces together and cutting out the deck flange for the stiffeners. (I joined the pieces while the hull was upright, but I did the interior taping while the deck was flat on the strong back, just before joining to the hull. I had previously rebated the pieces so as to not make high spots on the finished deck.)

Between steps -- while things cured -- I began to think about other small parts. Below is the mold for the rudder gudgeons.

Since I made two foam bows earlier, it was a simple matter to attach the second before the deck bond had even cured.

January

2009-01-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

I took a couple weeks off around the holidays. This marks a year of work -- I'm still having fun, a fact I attribute to a generous and understanding wife and family. And a well-thought-out design and set of plans. The only times that I haven't enjoyed myself so far are when I find myself stressed about the 'schedule'. My New Years resolution is to continue making goals, but not worry when I fall behind. When I started, people would ask, "how long?" and I would say, "a couple years." I'm still responding, "a couple years." Life happens, and I don't want to miss it.

I did a wet lay-up for the wingnet rail -- peel ply, cloth, peel ply. With a little help I moved the whole lot onto the form, then used my usual plastic and squeegee to compact the layers and remove bubbles. Worked great.

I mapped out what size I wanted the cut-outs to be. The important areas seemed to be the rigging and hatch. One thing to remember is that the deck/float is tilted, so the clearance for the rigging is better than it would first appear. Like severals others, I chose the Tempress 1317 Marine Hatch. It fits the space, has two cams, and a gasket around the edge. It actually looked better (stronger) than I thought it might. Hopefully it will hold up to the UV and not leak too much. It's much lighter (including on the pocket book) than the aluminum/glass options that I saw, and I didn't really want to make my own.

Using double stick tape to hold sandpaper around the circular template makes a great sander.

(There was a reason that I stopped and made the wingnet rails before glassing the deck. This is not in the plans and I won't know if the effort is worth it, or what trouble I've caused myself until later. I evaluated where the feet of the wingnet rail would fall -- they happened to be over stiffeners and doubled glass, or bulkheads -- so I decided to rebate the deck and potentially make the fairing easier. This isn't something that I'm advocating, I'm only admitting to it since it's visible in some of the pictures.)

My plan had been to vacuum bag the deck. It would be a change of pace and seemed easy enough. I placed PP around all the edges to make the seal good and the tape easy to remove. I cut all the supplies, mixed some resin and had at it. Luckily I started at the stern, where I saw the air vent hole which I had forgotten about (remember Jay's experience with the bloated float and Tor's with the collapsing float . . .). I did a quick switch-a-roo and started using the cut bag material to do my usual PMVB. My first thought was that this was going to be the 'premium' material, but remember how my stretchy VB material affected my vacuum infusion results? Well, the force of the squeegeeing action stretched the material (which was not evident at the time). Then, since the edges are not controlled, it gradually pulled back, making enormous wrinkles! But what seemed like a nightmare turned out like any other wrinkles I've had which are caused by the plastic -- a collection of resin above the PP which just pulls off.

The lesson is that thin or stretchy plastic, which at first might seem good because it can conform to curves, actually is not what you want if you are going to work the surface with a squeegee. Thicker plastic cut into appropriate sized, overlapping strips is best.

I insulated the carbon of the chain plate cut-out at the same time.

I feathered the glass over the radiused deck edge with the long board. Watching how fibers with different orientations show up during sanding helps in deciding how much has been removed.

A great moment -- removing the PP from the side of the hull. It's hard to capture the shape in a picture, but I'll tell you it looks nice.

My second float is stored outside with the interior finished but the deck/bow not yet attached. I plan to fair and seal this one, then switch them out.

I'll admit to having a sense of dread about the fairing. It seemed that everyone talked about how it was a nuisance, a lot of work, etc . . . but I hadn't picked up enough facts or tips to feel like I could just jump in.

First, most people end up trying a couple methods, then settling on something that matches their personality and material. Some, the 'sanders', tend to put on most or all of the material first and then sand. Others, the 'fillers', will sand then fill, sand then fill . . . I thought of myself as a little more of a sander than a filler.

The general advice is to put on some limited material which is faired -- and acts as a guide when applying the bulk of material. This is to limit effort and waste (QuikFair - QF - and I'm sure all premixed materials tend to be very expensive).

Then of course, you have specific limitations from your fairing material. QF has a limited work window -- 10 minutes -- being hand-sandable at 3 hours @ 70º F. It has to be sanded between applications for adhesion purposes. When I first contacted System Three they said, "there is no window of time which allows a second coat, and it MUST BE SANDED" (capitals are theirs).

Ian's building manual describes one way to produce guides. Put on the first layer with a notched trowel, sand the tops to achieve a fair surface, then fill the grooves before the final sanding. While this might work if done within a cure window for some systems, QF did not seem to be one of them. Since this technique was mentioned in the System Three Epoxy Book also, I contacted S3 about my concerns of the interior grooves not being sanded before the second application. Their response:

"You raise an excellent point. But there is a way around it. Before sanding, scrub the QuikFair with vinegar then rinse with water. Allow drying. This will make the unsanded QuikFair surface bondable with additional QuikFair. Vacuum the dust before applying more QuikFair."

Two things made me stay away from this. One was this comment by Oliver Blanc (a Scarab 22 builder, made on a nonF-boat site), "Be careful with that method. The second application of bog does not bond well inside the grooves of the first application. I have seen old cedar strip F-9 floats done that way that had to be redone after a few years." And second, I have a house that has peeling paint no matter what you do . . .

So I decided that if I used guides, I would do a candy bag method similar to Henny and others.

I reread several blogs and decided to contact Menno for some specific advice since he had just finished final fairing. Here's his email reply:

Andrew,

As you can probably see reading my blog I'm not an expert building with fiberglass, so I can't guarantee I did it the right way. Anyway, here are some thoughts I have on the fairing.

I stopped using the candy-bag method because it was extra work and I didn't really notice the benefit of it. Also the guide lines tend to cause a lot of voids and cracks in the putty along the lines because when 'filling up' air tends to get trapped alongside the lines. Hope it is clear to you what I'm trying to explain. It's not fun backfilling all the small voids after sanding. I guess using the 'notched spreader' method will also give some problems with voids.

If you want to try the candy-bag method, make sure to put the lines not too far apart(when I would do it again I would go for about 10 cm apart maximum) and make sure they run all the way from the top to the bottom; lines with a gap will cause the trowel to 'hang' and give nasty depressions which you'll have to back-fill later on.

Just putting on a fairly thick layer of compound (using a big sturdy trowel, dry-wall style; you'll get better at it after some practice) and then sanding back as far as possible with the longboard (until you're almost at the glass) worked fine for me. It's probably a bit more wasteful then the candy-bag method. I wouldn't worry about the possible extra sanding that's involved. The first rought passes don't take up that much time. With a longboard and grit 40 you'll remove the bulk of the compound in (relatively) no time anyway. I found the last part of the sanding most time consuming.

With both methods (with or without candy-bag) I felt I was using quite a lot of compound per square meter, but a lot is sanded off eventually. On the cutout sections of the hull (windows) it's clear to see there's only a minimum of faring compound left.

An idea I read about but didn't use - maybe I should have - is to put some dark color on the glass before putting on the fairing compound. That way it's better to see when you are almost through the compound and sanding glass. When sanding with the rough grit sometimes you're there before you know it, and it doesn't take much to sand through the glass.

Sanding. Of course you'll have to use a longboard. The float sides have little curve, in fact they are almost straight for long stretches. You can use a big longboard for those. I did, but I'm not sure it's necesarry. On the main hull I mainly used a smallish longboard (about 50 cm long and about 6 cm wide) because the bigger boards would just not fit in all the curved sections. Final paint is not on yet, but I'm quite sure it's all fair. Because of the vertical planking the hulls should be fairly fair anyway, and with the 'fairing' you can only get rid of the last small imperfections.

I did all the sanding diagonally. Start at one end with the longboard just pointing straight ahead, make a diagonal sanding movement (keeping the longboard pointing forward), put the longboard about 2 cm further forward, repeat till you're at the end, then do the same thing with diagonal strokes in the opposite directions (thus sanding an 'x' pattern), and then again the other way around, etc., etc.

I hope this is of any help. If it is let me know, maybe I can put this text on my blog or the builders group....

Good luck building

Regards

Menno

(As you can see, since it was a great help, I took the last line as his permission to publish this.)

So I decided to try a small area. I knew that the area where the foam bow and hull attach was slightly low, and this seemed like a place to start.

I hadn't gotten far before I had my first feelings of foreboding . . . how thick was was this material going on? Even with a wide trowel it had grooves and transitions. And although I didn't notice them at first, bubbles. Needless to say I was glad that I was only trying a small spot. Then I sanded . . . and sanded. I started with 36 on a flexible 3M Hookit board. An early mistake was changing to 60 too soon. And bubbles! I extrapolated this experience to the whole boat, and was quickly depressed.

I was telling someone at work the next day about my experience [I say 'telling' because I know I wasn't complaining ;-) ] and the response was, "You knew when you started the project that you were going to have to do this, and it's just part of the process, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then it sounds like you need to suck-it-up-and-drive-on!"

I'm not sure where that comes from, but I've felt better ever since she gave me that advice.

Here's the section. I was pretty happy with the shape, but didn't know how much further I was going to have to sand -- and bubbles! I decided to try something different and come back to it.

I might be a 'sander', but I needed guides. I heeded Menno's advice about straight, close, and continuous, using a Zip-Lock bag to place beads of QF.

And then I sanded with the long board. I knew about a couple problems near the keel where it was a little concave, and nothing shows that like sanded candy stripes. And there were other areas, nothing drastic, but the matte surface left by the PP hides the imperfections that need to be taken care of.

Then I filled between them with a narrow trowel. The process seems to have two parts: getting it on and giving it a finished surface. Applying it at 45º to the beads minimizes the air trapping along the edge. Working the material helps remove any bubbles (all the product instructions say, "mix so that no bubbles form," -- good luck -- when the clock starts ticking and you have ten minutes to get it in the bag and on the surface . . .). A final pass with minimal material on the trowel gives a nice finished surface.

Other blogs well describe how the material will be low between the guides. This has several causes:

1) Flexing of the trowel (and the angle of attack).

2) The curved hull areas are convex, so by definition the area between the stripes will tend to be too low if you put a straight line between them.

3) And the viscosity of the material affects how it stays behind or gets carried along. If you're moving too much material, it will begin to 'roll' under the trowel, and the mass of material effectively leaves the surface depressed.

Some material left behind on the trailing side of the trowel is OK, but don't accept low spots -- like tipping paint, if the material is still workable, keep at it. You want it to be right. Obviously it took many batches because of the short work time.

Here you can see large areas where the guides were sanded too low and I couldn't reliably leave material behind. It was tempting to let the trowel 'float', leaving more material behind, but unsystematic high spots don't help.

After fairing, it seemed so close. But I had many low spots and the bubbles near the bow to fill (I had sanded that down till I could see glass in areas, then opened and enlarged the bubbles with a small burr on a Dremel). I decided the best way to solve all these problems was to prep the low spots, then skim coat the whole side.

I learned several lessons here. This material likes to be worked! A soft touch doesn't give the best result. This is when I remembered, "thixotropic: the property of becoming less viscous when subjected to applied stress, shown for example by some gels that become temporarily fluid when shaken or stirred." Previously, I had really only thought of this in the 'can be applied, but doesn't sag' version. Now it was, 'push harder so it flows better'.

I found that putting parallel beads of QF controlled for an even volume. Adding a 45º crisscross motion to the trowel, vs. just deck to keel, also increased the uniformity of the skim coat. I finished with a continuous, firm-pressured swipe from deck to keel.

Sanding: 36 grit, board parallel to the deck edge, with 45º motion. Start at one end, advancing ~1/2 inch with each 45° swipe until you get to the other end, then return the other direction with the alternate 45º.

It's taking shape. It goes slowly at first (a low actual surface area of board touching because of high spots?), then the material starts to disappear faster. It still takes hours. If I felt discouraged or felt like stopping, I found that changing to a new piece of sanding paper would improve the speed and my outlook.

I decided that, in order to get a uniform finish, I needed to take care of any low spots early. You can see some below.

It's easy to get focused on the low spots when sanding. But remember, you can't sand a low spot -- you can only sand the high spots. Truly low spots have to be filled. Since the last step is sanding, not filling, I think stopping to fill early is likely better than hoping the low spots will disappear before you've reached glass. You have to stop when you see glass, though if low spots remain it can be so tempting to try just a little more.

I probably filled some that were going to disappear before I stopped sanding, but I was becoming determined that this was it, no more rounds of QF!

Tired sander, but happy to have sucked-it-up-and-sanded-on. (And yes, it seems I tried a couple of different methods too.)

Several interesting observations from my patch-work of filling.

1) By the time I had spot-sanded the 'low' spots for adhesion purposes, they were now low for sure.

2) When sanding at this stage, more than just the high spots (which are now the slightly proud filled areas) get removed. The grit also moves across the previously faired material, making it go down also. The high spots are removed, but not at the same rate as during the initial sanding. Said another way -- after filling, the new faired shape/depth will be lower than where you stopped before filling. So, fill early.

December

2008-12-31T19:44:00.000-08:00

I built several radius sanders, and finally settled on one that approached a 2-inch radius, was stiff enough, and had an ergonomic handle. I cut a partially-used hook and loop 36-grit sandpaper to size and held it in place by a strip of double-sided carpet tape. This makes it easy to change paper when necessary.

This model was then further modified so that it was not a full quarter round. Like I mentioned before (when placing the foam filler for the deck flange), the deck/hull angle is greater than 90º in areas and you can see how easy it was to make accidental grooves in the hull side. The modified version worked great, but I needed to be ever watchful -- things happen fast.

This shows the finished radius. The 'center' foam stripe is the foam filler for the deck flange with the QF attaching it to the hull below. The QF above is why I used two types of epoxy to join the deck – if this layer had been hard to sand, you can see what a nuisance it would have been. When using the radius sander, I did not notice the QF. But when doing the finishing touches with the long board, it's just like the keel – any QF that runs parallel to the long board can stay proud/high as the board rotates quickly over the slightly harder QF.

Once happy with the shape, I placed the extra schedules of glass on the bow cap. I put a rebate in the foam to hopefully make it easier to fair the final layer of glass. I've seen the glass placed different ways. I placed the glass folded across bow, tucked the keel, and didn't bother with going onto the deck except to overlap the join. This minimized cutting, shaping, and overlaps.

I used the PMVB, which worked perfect for the leading edge and sides. It becomes more tricky with complex curves and angles. I used multiple pieces of packing tape to help hold the complicated edges, but I must admit that I got a couple small waves or wrinkles from the tension or pull that I applied to these. This aspect needs further evaluation.

My glass comes in 50-inch widths. In preparing to glass the sides I cut off a strip that was wide enough to make the wingnet rails. Doing this to both sides produced enough for one rail, and I plan to cut one 50-inch width in half to produce enough for two decks. This really leaves very little wastage except shaping the sides along towards the transom.

Repeating my usual technique: wet foam, wet glass, *trim edge*, wet peel ply, (trim slightly larger), place plastic (trim slightly larger), wet plastic . . squeegee out excess.

I emphasized trimming after wetting. It is much easier to trim odd angles (anything other than 90º) to shape after wetting -- the viscosity of the resin tends to hold things together. The downside is that it does make it harder to save glass remnants to use later. Also, when stitched fabrics are cut at oblique angles, you invariably have some long strands that are not held in place. With PMVB the forceful squeegee action is often perpendicular to these strands and can force them out from the edge. Given that the edge will be feathered/faired, I don't think we were counting on these strands for any strength, but they can be an occasional nuisance.

You can see how the glass has to wrap around and under the keel. I found it easiest to wet the glass while holding it out from the boat, cut to shape, squeegee in place. Gravity slowly removes resin from the glass while on the verticle/upside down edge. And glass doesn't like to hang upside either. PMVB helps in both cases -- just make sure there's enough resin before placing the plastic.

I like the shape! You can see cured resin beaded on the plastic.

For working with edges that are on foam (verses overlapping another laminate layer), I used a painter's tool for dispensing tape and plastic at the same time. All the layers of glass, PP, and plastic went over this. It was easy to trim this with a sharp knife while green. It leaves an edge that's easy to feather on the radius, and all the other foam is clean.

I've so far been hesitant to do this over a cured laminate layer for fear of cutting the layer below. I still place the tape and plastic, but I only let the PP overlap the tape so no cutting is involved. The PP leaves a clean surface for secondary bonding and any sanding is just to feather the laminate edge.

Here you can see the feathered edge on the underside of the keel. My overlap may be excessive here, but at the time I was thinking cruiser strength, not racer weight.

Here's the backside of the bow after clean up. The two broad stripes of QF are fairing the rebate areas. Glassing the second side went the same way.

Before glassing the deck I decided to make the two wingnet rails. Angles and measurements are from full-size patterns. I used a couple pieces of MDF molding run through the table saw. One trick for gluing these together is to lay them out flat with the open angle next to table and tape them together. This tape acts like a hinge, holding the edge during gluing.

I used hot glue, thinking I didn't want to wait the 24 hours for my other glue to set, but I wouldn't do this again (at least at the temperatures of my garage). The glue would stiffen up before I could place it along the entire edge and close the joint (this even with a 'special' wood-working, extended open version). This made it hard to keep the same angles I cut. I purchased some 5 minute epoxy for the next time I have a project like this.

I routed the 90º edge, longboarded the other, and filled the last with QF.

You can see the float suspended above the work table as I get ready to do the lay-up.

November

2008-11-30T15:16:00.000-08:00

Since I only have space to work on one float at a time, I switch them out as I'm moving along. This may make the pictures seem like they jump slightly -- I'm trying to not report on progress twice unless I've learned/tried something different.

On this side, I filled screw holes and gaps before trying any attempt at fairing the foam. I think last time I was so excited to see the shape develop that I filled after, and of course will have to sand/fair twice.

I use a syringe with narrow attachment to get the QuickFair into the screw holes. They are deep and narrow so filling them from the 'inside out' is important. Remember that vinegar (any dilute acid) easily cleans tools, skin, and spills of uncured epoxy (which is a base). So, if you have a limited supply of that special tool (ie., the narrow tip attachment) you can reuse it as long as the acid is rinsed off before its next use.

Here I'm pre-wetting the tape for the inside keel join, including an extra layer along each side at the transom. Prepping this area as much as possible before the join obviously makes life easier. PMVB as usual.

My plan is to post-cure the SilverTip laminating epoxy that I am using. When initially researching this, I wanted an epoxy designed especially for a fiberglass composite construction – the skins are the strength, not just protection, as it would be for a wood boat. SystemThree has several options, its PhaseTwo (special order, expensive . . .) and SilverTip. They state, "SilverTip 'Slow' laminating resin excels in application for composite-cored boats, exhibiting excellent mechanical properties, following a moderate post-cure." Moderate means 140ºF for two hours.

Since the foam is a great insulator and the hulls will have limited air flow after being closed up, I decided to cure the interior of the hull before closing it up. A little jury rigging and . . .

It's relatively easy to shape the keel using the guides for frames 2, 7, and 11.

I liked Tor's technique of having the deck flat and pulling the hull against it. My deck was in three parts which I fitted and glued while on top of the hull. It was then moved to the strong back and taped together.

My plan was to put the joining bog mixture on the hull flange and then flip it onto the deck, align the beam mount pins with their respective holes, then clamp with ratcheting tie-downs. After a dry run it seemed possible.

No pictures because we were a bit rushed. I wanted to use a 'strong' material at the flange, but a 'sandable' material at the foam-foam join. As usual, the 10 minute work time with QF was the rate limiting/stressful step.

Of course the question of 'how much' seemed difficult to know. You don't want too little as the deck flange is only two layers of glass, so it's a bit flexible at its outer edge, and not always exactly flat (ie., a slight gap at the inner edge if you put a straight edge across). Given that you can't clean up the inside squeeze-out, you don't want too much. Just the best you can, I guess.

A rush to apply, a two person flip (now at the weight limit of what my wife wants to do), a slight jiggle to align the pin and holes . . .

In the end we had squeeze-out along most of the outer edge. I won't know what the inside looks like until I cut the access hatches. Some areas where I had left the hull planking slightly short (from early planking when I was learning) had a larger area and consequently a void. I think this will disappear when I sand the radius to the deck edge. Next time I think mixing my own bog and having a longer work time would decrease the stress.

I found that it was important to have a slippery material between the tie downs and the foam as this ensured that the force was equalized on both sides, verses tight on the ratchet side and weak on the other.

To make the foam bow caps I first made a blank from scraps four layers thick, then estimated additional pieces for the outsides.

I used a large garbage bag as a 'vacuum clamp'. I think I first saw Meno do this. Two zip-ties with a twist to the bag in-between was adequate since a small leak was inconsequential.

I extended the centerline forward with a straight edge and then a plum line to make sure it wasn't cock-eyed. A little of the QF and . . .

The builder happily shaping.

I used a power planer and longboard to contour the bow. Now we're starting to look like a boat!

I had rough-faired the hull before the deck join. Two passes with the router started the shape of the deck radius. First I used a flush cut bit to remove the edge, then a 45º bit with guide to remove material to make hand sanding easier.

October

2008-10-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

I didn't seem to get any action shots this time -- it's hard enough to get yourself in the upside down hull, let alone with a camera. I was able to accomplish all the 'inside' tasks: making fore and aft beam mounting flanges, the deck mounting flange on the center BH and transom, the compression strut between bow stiffeners, the tapping plate for the deck eye, and a sealing coat of resin along keel.

I mounted the T6061 aluminum plate under flanges (best done upside down). A trick I used in hard-to-reach areas of bow and transom: take a cloth towel in a plastic bag and shove, wedge, or brace into the small place. It works wonders to hold tape (plus or minus peel ply) in place and removes easily when the resin is cured.

Strut at stringers.

Forward and aft beam mounting flanges. I would pre-wet the glass on a sheet of plastic, then place each layer individually. For the double bias I cut the plastic around the glass then applied both, removing the plastic before the next layer. This plastic backing kept the pieces full-size as they were applied. In the smaller confines of the aft/transom area where I could sometimes only get one arm and shoulder in at a time, this helped with even the bi-directional. I finished these with the usual poor man's vacuum bag.

I wanted to shape the keel before putting on the deck in case I sanded too close to the interior laminate. I rough cut the keel foam with a Japanese pull saw, then attacked with the long board and 36 grit.

Templates at several form stations help guide the final shape. Just starting here with the keel still square.

I will make a qualification on my previous statement of the sand-ability of QuickFair. It's not exactly like foam. For the screw holes and vertical plank joins, it's as if the QF isn't there. The longboard is going perpendicular to the join at all times. Also, the join between the halves was easy. But the join where the planks butt against the keel foam required some extra attention. They're parallel to the action of the longboard and it's difficult to control the rocking motion as the board goes over the slightly harder QF. This can leave a slight hump or angle instead of the smooth curve that would naturally develop if it was exactly the same as the foam. I broke the rules and with light pressure went perpendicular to this seam just before my last pass of the board -- it disappeared.

This was my first experience with the longboard. An amazing tool. I have the 3M Hookit -- flexible. I caused myself a little grief right off the bat by turning the board perpendicular to the keel and sanding the keel to match the hull side near the bow. Of course, the side was a little low, but I didn't want the keel low there -- I just hadn't started thinking (I wanted them to match, right?). Lesson learned. You can only sand high spots, and if you use the tool wrong, you get the wrong result.

Here you can see how thin I needed to sand the foam to achieve the desired shape (that's the shadow of my hand). The plans call for some extra reinforcement if you sand to (or through) the laminate in the keel area. I decided to place an extra piece of tape on each side near the transom. You can see how using the 3/4 inch foam at the keel gives a larger flat surface, so the tape does not go up on the hull sides near the transom. I will place this extra lamination on the second float at the same time as taping the keel.

The final shape at the transom. The deck will be next, then final shaping before glassing.

I took a trip down to California to see my daughter at college. I drove straight down, toured the campus, camped at the beach with her for several days, and visited with my brother and sister-in-law.

I'll share a couple pictures to entice people to visit the West Coast. These pictures are all California -- the rest of the time I was making miles (3000 in 11 days).

Big Sur, a wild part of the southern coast, visited on the way down.

After leaving Santa Barbara, I went to Yosemite -- a National Park and World Heritage Site. I'd never been to Yosemite. Having the Eurovan makes me realize I've done a lot of international travel, but seen only a fraction of my own country.

Taft Point (behind me is the view point) with a 3000 foot drop to the valley floor where I camped. El Capitan is in the distance across the valley. Mid 70's and sunshine every day.

Half Dome as seen from Glacier Point. The pass to the eastern side is in the distance. So much granite!

El Capitan, Half Dome in distance, at sunset from Tunnel View.

El Capitan, at sunrise from Valley View with Merced River. One of the classic sights of Yosemite is all the waterfalls coming over the high cliffs, but there is very little water after the end of summer. I plan to return in the spring.

Cathedral Rocks by (full) moonlight, from the valley floor.

Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoia (largest living organism by mass, found only on west side of Sierras. The tallest is a relative, the Coast Redwood, also found in California).

I drove east across the Sierra Nevada on Tioga Pass. Here's lunch at 9950 feet. This road closed because of snow two weeks later.

Searching for Fall colors. The classic in eastern Sierra are Aspen. I was a little early, but they were still pretty. Lee Vining Valley.

Mono Lake with tufa looking at the Eastern Sierra at sunrise. The ecology of the Great Basin is amazing (200,000 square miles with no outlet to the Pacific). I stopped to hike in several more valleys, then headed north.

September

2008-09-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

September brought a distraction -- I purchased a land yacht (on a similar size to the F-22) -- and we took a trip each weekend trying it out.

Mount Rainier just south of Seattle.

The beach on the Pacific coast, just west of Seattle.

My brother Stacy was up from Santa Barbara, CA, and he joined us for a trip to Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan in the North Cascades, just north of Seattle.

Camping made easy -- stove, fridge, heater, bed . . . east must be next.

Consequently, I didn't make a whole lot of progress. Here I am taping the bulkheads. The keel was taped with the boat vertical.

I hadn't had time to tape after the join, so I had placed PP along the bog to minimize the sanding -- it was a major time saver.

Here are a couple of interesting pictures of the interior while upside down. Bow with stiffeners.

Transom.

This was one of the molds I made for making the angled beam mount flange (hot glue is amazingly strong, covered in tape).

Not quite enough room to put both shoulders in. The strap holds the float down against flat part of the mold on top of the form.

Here, I placed the first two layers with PP (removed) and positioned the mold plate for the subsequent layers. I plan on filleting the groove and then placing the multiple layers in PMVB fashion.

August

2008-08-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

After vacation I moved the joined halves to the storage area. They sit here with a tarp over them. My wife is looking forward to having the pathway back.

The fourth half proceeded like the others with few changes, other than that I was a little faster and more proficient at getting the shapes correct. I like having the keel in place and shaping the planks to fit. After thermoforming, I marked them for length at the deck edge and cut them before attaching. This was faster and easier then cutting them all together at the end as I had done previously.

I have been deviating from the plans by using 3/4 inch material along the keel. I'm hoping that it makes it easy to shape the keel without sanding through near the transom (plans talk about this risk). It also raises the 'floor' inside which gives a wider surface for taping.

Plank to keel gap.

After joining the firs two halves and experimenting with sanding the exterior of the float I'm convinced that a small gap between the planks is best (at least if using QuickFair like I am). It is very easy to sand (no different than foam) and some of the planks which were pushed together tight and didn't have this squeezed out look 'dry'. I think some will require a little Dremel work and backfilling -- easier to leave a playing-card size gap and skip the potential extra step (Oh, to be VB'ing and have these spaces automatically filled).

'V' with gap.

The gaps above after filling and sanding, ready for fiberglass.

Here is a cross section (at the transom) of the 'V' that the dovetail router bit leaves, filled with QF.

My brother Jeremy came over to help with the fiberglassing of the interior.

After VB'ing the stiffener and fitting, trimming and marking, it was ready to join.

The trimmed keel defines one center line, so bulkheads are trimmed as necessary to allow it to lay together. At the deck I screwed a block at the center of the bulkhead which rested on the form (you can see them mounted, though not yet in use). This assures proper width of the hull -- and most importantly that the alignment holes for the beams are in the correct place. I learned from the first join that I didn't have enough clamps to go along the keel, so I prepared some blocks with two screws to replace the clamps as I moved along.

My daughter helped me place the epoxy and lift in place.

Went without a hitch. I will note that I use two different materials: a System Three premix EZ Fillet material around the bulkheads, and QFair along the keel. The QF is because of concerns about shaping the keel if I used a non-sanding material, and I couldn't convince myself why this joint needed more after overlapping glass above and below. The choice of these materials adds a little angst since the EZF has a twenty minute work time, and the QF only 10 minutes.

Next, the interior.

July

2008-07-31T17:43:00.000-07:00

An idea came to me after making the first float half, and it seemed to save considerable time and effort with the next three.

Start by planning what size planks to use, then follow this plan for all four halves. I used two sizes so that I could alternate as necessary -- so as to not have any plank edges over the forms (it's difficult to screw too close to the form from underneath, so this eliminates any concern about holding the edge down). I chose 12-inch and 9-inch planks, because planks larger than 12 inches were difficult to curve and my sheets of foam were easily divided with these measurements without wastage.

So, starting with three 12-inch planks between forms 6 and 7, flank with the 9-inch and proceed in both directions, choosing 12-inch when able, 9-inch if necessary (look more than one plank ahead).

Mark the edge on the battens, then pre-drill from the top. I tended to use one screw near each edge and one in middle. Although I pre-drilled all battens, I skipped putting screws in some if there wasn't much curve to hold. (I would suggest experimenting with two screws placed at thirds -- since the battens are either nearly flat or concave in the fore-aft direction, it's possible that two screws closer to the middle would suck the foam down and the edges would hold themselves. I never tried this for reasons below.)

Partially pre-place the screws from below before fitting the foam. This is easier than starting the screws balanced on the driver with the foam and an extra hand above. Then place foam with counter pressure from above, double checking alignment before it's too late.

Here's the real time-saver:

When you remove the float, only back out the screws halfway! When planking the next float, just follow the same pattern of plank widths and most of the work done stooping and kneeling is already done.

I didn't take many pictures. Here are the forms turned around with the battens replaced. I did it with the screws in place, which worked fine. I was a little concerned about 'memory' of the battens so several were replaced. The foam, including keel pieces, are pre-cut and waiting.

I had a glass-cutting session to get ready for the next two halves and the beam mounting flanges for each float.

I was able to finish the third half and join two together. It all went without a hitch. I'll put up a couple details with pictures next time.

I did take a closer picture of the wrinkles that can be left from the plastic using the PMVB technique. I have experimented with several thicknesses, but the issue of wrinkles left from the packaging folds are always present to some degree. Below is one of the worst examples, but you can see that when the PP is removed, the wrinkle comes with it (*almost* all the time). After smoothing/working with the squeegee, some of the fold in the plastic gradually returns, sucking some resin with it. The glass remains against the foam. A couple of wrinkles have remained under the PP (in much reduced size), where the PP was also slightly pulled into the fold, but in all instances so far the glass is flat -- meaning that the epoxy 'wrinkle' can be lightly sanded flat without hurting the glass. Since the final product looks great 99% of the time and the resin ripples happen infrequently (and they're easier to fix than bubbles, of which I've had none), I plan on continuing with this technique.

The most important thing to ensure the success of a proper glass/resin ratio and smooth surface seems to be to put adequate resin on top of the plastic so that you can squeegee without any resistance against it.

The end of July and first part of August was our family vacation. This year we took a three week sailing trip in the San Juan and southern Canadian Gulf Islands. I have always been fortunate to be able to use my father's trimaran, 'TRICE', which he built and launched in 1967. It has been well cared for and updated over the years, making a perfect family cruising platform for over 40 years. Since both my parents were teachers, we spent my childhood summers sailing, and being able to share that with my family has been extra special.

Heading north from La Conner, WA, the 'Gateway to the San Juan Islands.'

Most of the San Juans are dry because of the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Farther north this shadow disappears, making the hikes a little more green.

One of our favorite anchorages in British Columbia, Canada. Stern line ashore on the north side of Portland Island, all of which is a marine park.

Kayaking allows phenomenal sights.

A couple of pointers before setting the girls off solo.

There are several resident pods of Orca whales.

The end to a slow, relaxing vacation. Just what the family needs. Looking forward to splashing F22!

June

2008-06-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

There was a momentous event in June (wish I could say it included finishing the pond). My oldest daughter graduated from high school! Hard to imagine that time could pass so quickly. She will be leaving for college in California this fall. When the celebrating was done, I got back to building.

To cut out the bulkheads I used the same trick as with the forms: flat on a piece of styrofoam. I rough cut, then finished with a sanding station.

To remove foam for filling exposed edges, I use a Dremel 'steel brush' attachment. It could go through the laminate, but with a little care, only removes the foam. (The hose is from my dust collector.)

The full size templates make fitting very easy. I made each slightly small so that I would have a bed of fillet material under the edge.

Since no clamping pressure is necessary, the placement gig only needs to hold the BH in proper orientation until cured. Originally, I had thought that the BH would be cut to size and fit in its correct location, but making them marginally smaller made me rethink things. A 1/4 inch MDF screwed at the centerline of the BH and placed across the form made the vertical placement easy; a small piece of BH material acting as a spacer between the MDF and the edge of the form took care of fore-aft placement; and a small level took care of the third critical element.

After testing and marking, I placed some fillet material on the hull, put the BH into position, and finished the fillet on each side with a plastic bag and a putty knife rounded to the size of an American quarter. I found this left a smooth finish and allowed me to pick up the excess material and return it to the bag, making for very little waste.

With the proper timing, the tape can be placed before the fillet cures completely. Since I use the PMVB technique on the tape, the cure must be solid enough to withstand pushing with the squeegee. If the fillet material will cure first, some PP will make sure no sanding has to be done before the taping.

During my first experience of PMVB on a fillet, I used small pieces of plastic to account for the curves of the hull, stiffener, keel, etc. This seemed too slow, so I started using one long, narrow piece. This allowed for working out the air and excess resin, but did not allow for a complete 'seal' like the technique does for flatter surfaces. In the end this didn't seem to matter, as you can differentiate a bubble that appears later under the plastic vs. one that appears under the glass. Wetting the plastic and cutting a small dart in it as you are proceeding can decrease any problems. In any event, it seemed superior to working the glass alone or with just PP. Extra layers of laminate are placed at the same time and I put small pieces of PP in areas that will have future layers, like near the keel, where it will eventually be taped together.

The chainplate is placed in its proper orientation on each of the left (for starboard) and right (for port) float halves (don't forget future deck thickness) and receives its extra glass.

I had constructed the deck flange mold such that it could be removed for fitting the chainplate while the hull was still in place on the forms/battens.

Then the big moment -- lifting out the float half! Pop the keel side and out she comes.

Lots of screw holes to fill, but the foam joins and fairness look pretty good.

Off to storage.

Starting another half.