2004/08/26 [ 1½ hrs ]: Finished filling in all the screw holes. Found a bit of damaged foam along the bottom edge so cut it out and replaced with new foam.
2004/08/28 [ 8 hrs ]: Many assorted bits and pieces. Some sanding/ fairing of inner hull - it's actually already very fair and needs very little, if any, fairing compound inside. Vacuum all the surfaces and basically got it ready for laminating. Rebated the foam by about 3" along the bottom edge to allow for the fiberglass overlap when I complete the second part of the hull next week. I just need to cut the fibreglass to size and then glue it in.
2004/08/30 [ 2 hrs ]: Setup a small epoxy/hardener station in the garage. Discovered that the hardener is much lighter in colour ( basically clear ) than the hardener in the shed. I remember reading in several places that the hardener can/does change colour as it 'ages', but it doesn't loose any strength even with the colour change - lets hope the experts are right. Glued on HD insert on aft bulkhead. Cutout the missing piece of foam for the forward bulkhead ( I know I cut it out last year, but I just can't find the small piece ). Glued the 3 forward bulkhead bits together and cutout the daggerboard case template. I've booked most of next week off work to try and get the hull half finished...
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| Fig 91 The aft and foward bulkheads |
2004/08/31 [ 8 hrs ]: Took a vacation day. Assembled the mast bulkhead and added the HD insert for the forward bulkhead. Spent about an hour trying to figure out which of my four rolls of fiberglass was the 18oz roll and which 3 were 24oz. Ended up cutting off identical size strips off each roll and weighing them and as expected, one was ~20% lighter than the rest. Even knowing that, you still can't tell just by feeling it which is which. From now, I'll be writing the weight in permanent marker along the side of the roll when it arrives. Cutout all the required fiberglass for the hull laminations and most of the reinforcements ( ~100 feet of 50" 24oz stiched fiberglass). Made the foam window stiffeners and bow beam support. Sent an email off to Ian Farrier about an inconsistency in the plans and as usually, got a reply back in an hour - what great service! ( It ended up being due to me using one of the updated plan sheets he sends out referencing another sheet that has changed number ). <
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2004/09/01 [ 6 hrs ]: Another vacation day. Vacuum bagged the Aft bulkhead. This was my first bulkhead and I've learnt a few things:
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2004/09/02 [ 12 hrs ]: Another vacation day. 12 hours of basically laminating and adding in reinforcements - my back is killing me! Anyways, the inner hull half is now laminated ( at least where I've laided the inital foam ) and all reinforcements are done ( including bow beam stringer and window stiffeners ). My neighbour's son, Patrick, helped out from 7:30am - 11am then my friend Frank came by and helped for a couple of hours.
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2004/09/04 [ 6 hrs ]: Cleaned up and sanded the forward bulkhead and then spent over 3 hours cutting out all the fabric and reinforcements for it. Cutout and installed the HD inserts for the mast bulkhead.
2004/11/17 - Thanks for the emails I've received wondering what's going on. Basically, I haven't had time to get the website updated. I'll try and get it done in the next couple of days. The two hull halves have been covered up for the winter and I'm starting to setup a new strongback in my neighbours large workshop for the winter. Details soon....
2004/12/20 - Sorry - no recent updates - work has been crazy with no time to get anything else done. Looks like it'll be like this for another month or so, but I'm suppose to get a few days off next week, so I'll try and update then. I'd like to get the new strongback setup finished as well. Last night it was -32C ( -43C with wind chill )... yuck :(
2005/05/06 Well, the snow is gone and the rain has let up, so I've started erecting the new shed/carport structure. I got several nice strong 12' x 20' carports from Costco which I'm starting to erect over the hull halfs. Should be done by end of next week. My primary goal this summer is to get the hull joined.
2005/05/09 Got an email from Ian Farrier saying he was in the area, so he dropped by today! What a really nice guy! He had lots of advice and comments. Apparently the fiberglass I've been using isn't great stuff ( it's been causing lots of ripples in both the hand layed up and the vacuum bagged laminates ). So he's going to send me info on where to get some good rolls. I'll use the remaining 4 rolls I have for only the vacuum bagging. He also thinks I'm using a bit to much epoxy for the vacuum bagging, but it might be due to the epoxy and/or the fiberglass I'm using, though he's not positive. I'll try some test pieces with different amounts of epoxy to test out a couple of theories. Anyways, it was definitely great having him come by and have a look. I wished I'd just remembered to take a couple of pictures!
I also talked to him about the various engine configurations and I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the new pivot style retractable outboards that Ian has designed. I've always wanted to be able to beach the F-41 and to have as much open space as possible inside, so this seems like the best option. Then I can just install a small quiet light generator like the Honda 1000 for charging.
2005/08/16 Due to a lack of time, weather and cash, I haven't been able to do any construction work till now. It's basically been 30C or higher for the last couple of months ( I think I heard one of the hottest summers so far ), plus I've had very little free time. Anyways, I still need to get the hull halfs joined before winter. Erected the final shed and cleaned up a bit.
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| Fig 95 The 'new' boat shed. Several 20'x10' carports stuck together |
During the winter, 3 MDF forms were damaged beyond repair due to water and snow weight and will need to be replaced. These are forms 10, 11 and 15. 15 is going to be just a straight replacement since it has no stringers or foam on it. However, 10 and 11 and going to be more difficult since I'll have to cut them off half way since they already have stringers, foam and fiberglass layed up on them. Ughh... ugly job :(
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2005/08/17 Using scraps from the old vacuum table, I built a new 12'x4' work table in the work shed/carport and organized a bit.
2005/08/21 One of the slowest jobs foaming the hull has been using a heat gun to heat the foam strips to get them into the correct shape - which takes about 5-10 mins per strip. I was looking at Ian's latest updates on f-boat.com and noticed this picture of a heat lamp foam strip heater. Well, I don't know why I didn't think of it since it seems to solve the foam heating problem. So I started building one. I just need to finish wiring up the heat lamps on Wednesday.
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| Fig 97 My new workspace under a 20'x10' carport. Also the frame of the heat lamp foam heater thingy... |
I was going to epoxy glue in six strips I had heat foamed last year, but didn't get round to it. Also, went to Home Depot and ordered 12 sheets of 3/4" ply to replace the 3 broken forms and for the forms for the bridge deck.
2005/08/25 [ 1 hr ] Worked on the foam strip heater some more
2005/08/26 [ 3 hrs ] Finished up the foam strip heater. Taped up a bunch of form battens for use for tomorrow morning.
2005/08/28 [ 5 hrs ] Used my new foam heater today - wow - what a difference it makes. Pop a strip of foam in it for 3 mins, go do something else for those 3 mins, and out comes a (fairly) flexible strip of corecell which I can then immediately bend into shape. Works much faster then the old heat gun method. Did 6 strips in about 30 mins. I did end up adjusting the height of the heat lamps three times trying to get the best performance. To close, and the foam would expand ( ruined two strips this way ). Ended up moving the heat lamps as far away as possible fromt he strip. Three minutes on one side, then flip it for another minute.
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| Fig 98 The foam heater in use. |
2005/08/29 [ 2 hrs ] Epoxied in the 3 remaining strips from yesterday. Took a bunch of measurements off forms 10 and 11 to transfer onto the replacement forms. Prepared a fresh sheet of ply for form 10 - it was a bit depressing seeing the form 10 paper pattern laid out again - something I hadn't expected to see again :(
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| Fig 99 Tracing out form 11 |
2005/08/30 [ 1 hrs ] Up at 4:45am to catch the train for headoffice in Montreal for the day. Got back at 7pm and then traced and cut out the new form 10. I have to say that the sheet plywood is _much_ easier to work with then the MDF. Much less mess and cuts much easier. The only disadvantage I've seen so far is that it's a bit harder to trace out on since its surface isn't as smooth as the MDF.
2005/08/31 [ 4 hrs ] Finished installing new forms 10 and 11.
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2005/09/02 [ 4 hrs ] Finished installing new forms 10 and 11. Screwed in a lot of stringers and taped a bunch up. I want to try and get a full sheet of foam installed tomorrow.
2005/09/04 - 09 [ 40 hrs ] Took a weeks vacation from work, but I forgot to track what I did and how much time each day - so just the highlights. Cut out and installed new form 15. Installed all remaining form stringers. Finished foaming the hull. Trimmed the foam along the keel. Screwed in ~500 backing foam screws and removed the front side foam battens.
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