Still preparing to attach the float decks

The checking off of tasks in preparation for attaching the float decks continues.

1. The deck stiffeners for the two floats have been glued and cut to shape. They are now ready to cut to final length.
   
2. The Al tapping plate in the float bows have been glued and locked into place with fiberglass tape.
3. The vent holes have been drilled into the shroud and forward beam bulkheads.
4. I have decided to put the deck on in three pieces. The forward bow pieces have been cut out and the high density inserts put into place. This first section will extend from the bow cap back past the forward beam bulkhead. Just far enough back to accept the extra lamination around the bulkhead.
   

Here are multiple layers of foam strips clamped and glued to make the proper deck stiffener thickness. (Every other layer is glued here.) Also shown is the polyurethane adhesive that I have been using to glue foam to foam when it will be covered with glass.

Here are the first little metal bits going into the boat. These will serve as tapping plates for the forward bow deck eye. There is no way once the deck is on to get an arm up into this part of the boat. These 3/16" Al parts each weigh well under an ounce. I think that I can handle that.

Adding bow compression strut and covering chainplates

I 'levitated' the floats in order to get a better orientation for covering the chainplates.

Here is the port side float with the light filler sanded down and ready for covering. I debated whether to get the vacuum system ready in the garage but in the end I felt confident enough to do a hand lay up. The 9 oz s-glass aircraft cloth is quite drapeable after all.



Now covered with the two layers of fiberglass cloth and peel ply.

Starboard side finished.
Port side finished.
The bow compression struts are also now installed. It seems like a long checklist to get to the deck work. But I'm getting there.

Proud Dad stuff

Cam and Con have achieved the Canadian Sailing Association's bronze level's 5 and 4 respectively. Congratulations. It looks like we have a third generation of sailors in my family.

Damn, now they want a 29er.

Positioning and gluing the carbon fiber chainplates on the floats

It sure is good to get these chain plates I made early last winter finally on the boat. Last night I took Jay's good advice and cut the opening for the Precourt hardware before gluing them on today. The best tools for cutting the opening in my opinion is a hacksaw and a file. However, I was tempted to take them to work and have the openings machined on a full mill. It took some time with the hand tools but I'm happy with the result.


They need to be covered after the epoxy putty cures (I used Aeropoxy resin and Cabosil) and plan to use some lighter filler to smooth out the sharp corners.

Gluing float bow caps

This will be a short post. After work today I decided to glue those large foam bow caps onto the floats.

My method, mostly inspired by fellow builders, is shown as below.

First I strapped down the float to the strong back so that the float would not slip in the frames.


Then using spreading clamps and the garage wall I could set up an appropriate clamping force. I also built up some wood from below the so that the foam could not slip down.

Getting the floats upright

The keel shaping and float foam fairing is getting pretty close to done. The floats are slowly turning more blue than brown. So.... I've convinced myself I can right the floats to

1. Inspect and clean up the interior laminations.
2. Add the bow compression strut in both floats.
3. Get the chain plates on the mounts.
4. Glue on the bow caps and do the shaping.
5. Get the deck on.

I want to keep to the strategy to working on both floats (more or less) at the same time. So I've used the form frame templates to cut out these duo support frames.


In no time at all they are Both upright in the garage. I have to admit I took a few moments to have a look at these (floats still with great potential) structures in this orientation for the first time.


First thing I did was to cut and sand down the transoms.

And again take another moment to pre-visualize the floats in their finished state.

Building up float bow caps

The question of the day for me was whether to glue together all the little foam scraps or to purchase some thicker foam stock? Thinking about lightness, I wanted to minimize the amount of glue in the bow cap.

I decided to use the scrap pieces and proceeded to cut them up into rectangular shapes to make it easier to glue.

I actually practiced laying out the foam pieces not sure how complicated a job this was going to be. In the end it was very straight forward and I was happily cutting pieces to fit as I went along.

I used a polyurethane glue that tends to foam as it cures and used my daggerboard case mold to good advantage for clamping.

Here are the raw over sized blocks of foam. Not very pretty.

Now they are slightly better looking after some work with the planer and sander. Still slightly over sized, I think they are ready to glue onto the bow, when the final shaping (foam sculpting) can begin.

Monica took a surprise shot. It looks like Cameron in the background is getting psyched up to lift this very heavy float.