Two Floats! (nearly)

Another high visual progress moment achieved this weekend. Removed the second float from the frames after gluing the last two halves and taping in the bulkheads over the last couple of weeks. Certainly is very motivating when you can actually see something happening rather than the normal routine of spending hours prepering to do small jobs that once done those not in the know wonder what you've done to justify the hours spent in the shed.

As for the 1st float after I finished the bulkhead flanges as in my previous post I went to work on shaping the keel. Forgot to take a photo of the finished shape unfortunatly but I was surprised how a small radius on the keel made the float look so much more like a hull of a yacht. I also put an extra layer of tape on the inside at the transom as I managed to sand right down to the laminate while shaping the keel.

Other small jobs done were the making of the two compression struts for the bow of each float and fitting the first one. Also glued together the foam block to make the bow for the port float.

Compression strut fitted

Block of foam all glued together and joined to the hull waiting for the sander.

Bulkhead flanges

Managed to get the bulkhead flanges done on the 1st float this week. This was a job I had not been looking foward to. I was a bit concerned with how I was going to get the six layers of glass around all the corners and still keep it reasonably tidy. As it turned out it wasn't as bad as I thought it might have been. I was surprised how well the glass conformed to the required shapes once it was wetted out and only required a bit of gentle persuasion to get it all in.

Just a little bit of tidy up required and that will be another one ticked off the list, only a few thousand more to go!!

Also managed to get the last float 1/2 laminated this weekend which when I removed the peel ply tonight has turned out to the best result so far. No bubbles or lumpy bits at all. I geuss I must be learning something after all!

The last 1/2 waiting to be joined

4th float half and 1st float joined

Work still plodding along at a bit of a slow pace over the last couple of weeks. Mainly due to the cold weather and apparently building a yacht doesn't get me out of mowing the lawns!!

However I finished the chain plates that I molded last post. Got the required carbon on and after a bit of an issue trying to find a small leak in the vacuum bag managed to get a reasonable vacuum of 25"Hg.


Out of the bag then cut in half to make the two chainplates


Work then carried on with the 1st joined float. I finished taping the bulkheads into the 3rd 1/2. The bow bulkhead proved to be a real test of patience. It was so much easier to do when there isn't another float 1/2 sitting on top! I managed in the end to be able to just reach the bottom of the bow bulkhead by holding the brush with my finger tips and used the theory of just get more resin in there and it seemed to turn out OK.

Then removed the joined float from the frames and taped the keel join. Thought it would be easier to tape the keel join with the hull sitting upright and working with gravity rather than against it. Also got the 4th float half ready to laminate but will do that next weekend.

The photo below shows the joined hull upside down with the 4th half in the frames in the fore ground. This will make it a little more civalised to do the Bulkhead deck flanges that are called for in the plans. With it at this height I can sit down with just my head inside the float.





Started to work on the mold to make the beam flanges which is proving to be a little difficult to hold the angled plate in position. In the photo above I am holding in the plate by screwing it to the deck flange plate but I may change my mind yet as I am a bit worried that I may get resin into the screw threads and it becoming a permenant part of the foat! I will see how I feel tomorrow when I start to glass it all up.