TIP

Probably most of you builders have figured out some way to cut straight strips of BD fabric and avoid all those edge threads from coming apart and messing up the whoçe work.

I found this interesting and very simple way to cut straight strips from BD rolls.

First I measure the width on one of the sides, lift a couple of threads using a nail and just puçç them right out of the fabric. The result is a perfect guiding line.

Bulckhead Beam flanges

Making the beam mounting flanges on the beam bulkheads can be pretty awkward and time consuming . Having to apply 12 layers! of fabric ( of a total of 96!) on each bulckhead half in a cramped space is far from being a stroll in the park. Yet it's coming out much easier and more fluid than I anticipated. Started with the forward beam bulkheads to build up some courage to tackle the aft beam bulkheads latter on.

Setting up the 70º mold plate was a bit challenging in the begining until I decided to just putty bond a piece of plywood rapped in packaging tape. I expect it to come out although it won't be a problem if they just hang in there as part of the structure.

Back to work!

The past month has been pretty intense with plenty of things to do other than boat building. With several regatas and a visit to Holland to check on Menno's boat I spent many hours at sea.

Our Minitransat is out for maintenance after a pretty demanding sailing season with winds on the 20's most of the time and over 35 kts on one occasion. After several upwinds against choppy seas and some violent downwinds the boat just couldn't take any more beating ( neither could we!). The final account revealed engine failure, 3 busted mast sliders, 4 broken or lost battens and a busted running stays mast tensioner along with some ripps and tears on both the genoa and mainsail.

Now it's time to get back to some serious boat building!

Float half 3 of 4

Past week has been quite productive despite some rainy days along the way. The first two float halfs are ready and the third float half is on the way. Working productivity is increasing with time as expected.
Floats should be done by the end of next week which is not bad for a an effective working time of about 160 hours.
There should be some delay due to unusual weather pattern for this time of the year. By now we should have continuous clear skyes and day temperatures in the upper 30's but actually it looks more like late winter weather with plenty of rain and temperatures around 18ºC.
While this may delay lamination jobs, there are plenty of other things to do such as preparing some smaller components in advance.

Race time!

The building process will pause for a few days along the coming weeks because I have to get our boat ready for the next reggata. The start line is in Baiona (Spain) so we must sail the boat up north next weekend.

On July 10th we are participating in a reggata form Baiona( Spain) to Aveiro (Portugal) in a distance of about 100 miles. The reggata takes off at 3 pm and part of it will take place overnight with the first boats arriving next morning. Last year we finished 2nd out of about 40 boats with wind on the bow running mostly over 25knts.

Let's see how things run this year.

Here is a picture of our Coco mini650. This is a very competitive boat and it's just too bad we won't be able to keep both the Coco and the new F22.

Half no.1 almost ready!

First float half is nearly finished. After bonding the chainplate the float half is ready to come out and free the mold for the second half.

Chainplate

The sequence shows the process used to make the carbon chainplate core from design specifications to final step.

After spending some hours trying to figure out an easy and efficient way to make this part I decided to use this simple jig based on a hard plastic sheet ( from a paint roller package) and two pieces of wood with holes for the G10 tube and an extra hole to pour the resin in.

At the end the part came out quite satisfactory needing only some minor sanding to take out some resin flashing.

After pouring the resin there was a small leak at the bottom which was readely blocked. There's a significant volume o resin involved and considerable temperature build up ocurred during curing which called for the use of a small fan to keep exotherm under control and avoid the distortion of the plastic sheet.

Tomorrow I'll aply the carbon laminate.