Monday, August 28, 2017

This and That

With only a couple weeks left before we head out on our Big RV Adventure I've been doing just a little of This & That around the boat.

A few days spent fairing the frakkin' rudder! *sigh*
Multiple coats of Quickfair
A couple more coats of Quickfair and I should be ready to add the reinforcements.

Yes Dear! I did read the instructions! *Grrrrrrrr*
Stations Drawing
Double checking measurements for the placement of the bulkheads. I got bulkhead (station G) lined up today and will glue/tape it in tomorrow.
Bulkhead G aligned ready for glue & tape. Bulkhead I in the background.
Working on dirt it's a PITA to have to re-level the boat every time it rains. We've been in drought for almost a week now so the boat has settled quite nicely. I use a 'water level' for that.
Right On The Bubble
Measuring the level on the top of the bulkhead, Nailed It! :-) Lil' bit fussy when it comes to that sorta stuff. It's plumb too!

That's about it. Standby....

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Just Puttering Around

The weather's too nice, it hasn't rained in 36 hrs so I got to work on some minor tasks.
Frames H and I
The two after most frames needed glass on one side. I did the other side last year.
Turned out pretty nice
Pulled some offcuts out of the bin and trimmed them to size. It was warm out so I knew I had to work quickly. The smaller bulkhead took about 20 oz of epoxy and the larger one almost 30 oz. That's some heavy glass. Probably the 24 oz triaxial I had laying around. I had it so I used it. Wasn't totally necessary to glass these two but they will certainly be waterproof!

The other thing we did today was pick the plastic wrap off the backside of the rudder. OMG! What a PITA! For you old folks out there OMG = Oh My God! and PITA = Pain In The Ass! :-)  Never, ever pour foam over plastic!!!
Picking Plastic off the Foam
The Admiral loaned an extra pair of hands and we had it done in half an hour or so. I got the first layer of mud on and that'll be ready to sand later on today.

I did manage to get the boat levelled. Let's hope it stops raining or I'll have to do it again. Don't, ever, build a boat on dirt! :-(

That's it. Thanks for looking in.

Cheers!

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Overthinking Things

When it comes to a project this size and with limited experience it's way too easy to overthink everything. That's my curse. If I just decide to do 'something' and go do it without a whole lotta thought, it manages to get done. That happened this morning.

Decided to get to work on my rudder. The rains seemed to have stopped and the shed has dried up enough to work in there. The idea is to fill the voids in the rudder with expanding foam. I've never worked with this stuff but it's pretty easy to use.
Rudder Armature

This is the armature for the rudder. You last saw me trying my hand at fusing stainless steel together with angry pixies (electricity). Laid out on plastic sheet with cardboard sides to contain the foam.
Two part foam laid out ready for mixing
I've only seen this two part foam used on the Web, YouTube & the forums etc. Seems pretty simple. Mix equal parts of A & B, stir and pour. It was a lil' coolish in the shed today so it didn't kick off as fast as I was expecting.

The foam doesn't take long to kick off and stiffen up. Thirty minutes maybe. You can see the part where I was mucking around in it compared to the second pour with much less mucking about!
I baked a cake!
Once it stiffened up I could begin cutting off the excess and roughing out the shape of the rudder.
Handsaw makes quick work of the excess foam
The foam cuts surprisingly well with a plain hand saw. Just follow the ribs of the rudder for the rough shape.
Flexi-Cat sander helps get it as smooth as possible
A little sanding and the shape came together nicely. Little messy but it's the easiest way I think.
First coat of QuickFair
QuickFair is epoxy putty. It's made for filling large (and small) areas that will be sanded smooth. This rudder will require a couple of applications before it gets good enough for fiberglass.
Lots of little bubbles
I didn't want to overwork the QuickFair and make a real mess but you can see lots of tiny bubbles. I think the foam may have still been off gassing. I'll pop these open tomorrow with the sander and do another coat.Adding the QuickFair now will hopefully stabilize the rudder so I don't screw it up by punching a hole in it or anything stupid like that.

Once this side is finished I'll flip it over and do the other, which should be in much better shape. A bit of sanding to form the leading and trailing edges etc. and we'll be ready for a resin infusion of the reinforcing layers of glass and carbon fiber.

Thanks for looking in and keeping the faith.

Standby...