Starboard Float Bulkhead foam cores

The foam cores are ready for fabric now.
I'm just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit before heating up the shop enough to work on that.

In the meantime, epoxy post-curing continues.

Post Curing and Bulkhead templates

The weather has turned unseasonably cold and I've turned down the shop temp quite a bit to save some money on the utility bills. In the meantime, I'm working on post curing the float interior by moving the heating blanket around every eight hours when I can get to it. Unfortunately, some work related issues are keeping me away from home more than usual which is putting a bit of a damper on getting the cure completed.

This weekend I worked on building out two bulkhead templates (Frame #5 & #11)

I started by cutting out infusion flange and leveling off the foam to match the other half  in the bulkhead areas. Then I used a piece of cardboard to establish the rough shape before tracing that pattern onto a scrap piece of Luan.

Once that was cut and marked with center line information I used some tape pieces as a super "Low-Tech" solution to establish the final shape that would be traced onto the final template piece. It took quite a while, but the final template is a good fit and can now be used to transfer the shape over to some foam pieces.

Starboard Outer float half infused

Well finally...

With everything cleaned up around here and some holiday things taken care of I was able to get over to that second float half and get the infusion started.

Overall, everything went much better than the first half.
I was able to pull a good vacuum despite a leak I couldn't locate.
The infusion strategy worked better than last time as well and was much easier to manage.

The only real problem I had was a stupid decision to use 1/8" (3.175mm) resin lines.
I wanted to ensure the flow was slow enough to do a good job, but this was way too small and choked the flow.

The solution was to replace intake lines in the middle of the infusion to get things moving along. That worked OK except the last intake line got plugged up somehow forcing me to stab an additional connection directly into the bag as a last ditch effort. That kinda messed things up for me and caused some tense moments of panic.

In the end, it looks OK.

I will be contacting the vendor about the seemingly dry areas. I have a feeling my perforated film is not allowing enough resin to pass through quickly enough. I plan to test that theory by doing my next sheet infusion without that film to see what happens.

At the moment, I've got the shop heated up to 74F (24C) for 24 hours to complete the initial cure before applying heat.

I will be prepping for bulkhead creation here soon.
All bulkheads will be made with Carbon skins to save a little weight throughout and help to offset a little bit of my heavy handed parts in other places.

Left over waste resin. Not bad!

Peel-Ply is still in place and these glossy areas will turn to a matte finish after the heat is applied.
I think what happens is some of the excess resin "melts" into the fabric (?)

Wrapped and ready for cleanup

Over this past weekend I was able to wrap the Lower Folding Strut Beam Anchors and also the float chain plates. Both of which contain an extra wrap of Carbon Fiber to calm my nerves. It's not that I don't trust Ian's design or the fabric or even the epoxy itself. I really just don't trust myself and if an extra wrap in these super critical areas will buy me some peace of mind then I'll take the weight penalty.

Anyway, my parents are coming to visit for a weekend so I will be cleaning up the shop and taking care of a lot of odd jobs here and there. Then the next weekend we'll be busy as well and the third weekend I am planning to finally cut down those two big trees next to my house. so it may be a few weeks before I can be productive again. But that's OK, winter is coming and that usually means a lot more time in the shop since there's not a whole lot to do outside.

On the bright side, I did receive the epoxy for the next float half infusion so once I get the wrapped parts all cleaned up and prepped for install I can turn my attention to leak location.
That's the not-so-fun part.

It would have been nice to get some pictures during the wrap process, but that would require another person since I'm usually full of epoxy and trying to keep things moving along.

One of the new/replacement Lower Folding Strut Beam anchor blanks.
This blank will be cut up into eight pieces in preparation for the next step.

Still covered in Peel Ply

The first layer of fiberglass required on the Chain plates

Folded in place and stapled to secure the fabric before lamination

All wrapped and cured enough for handling.

Still VERY rough.
Looking forward to cleaning this up!

Once this is all cleaned up, I'll still need to put on another layer of fiberglass over the top

Peel Ply is still attached to the core along the sides and as you can tell I have a lot of sanding ahead of myself on these parts.

Hybrid Chainplates prepped for wrap

A while back I noticed that the F-32 was being built without the use of a Stainless Steel thimble in the carbon chain plates. And since I really want to get rid of metal parts at any opportunity, I asked Ian about using that technique on the F-39. He authorized the change and sent me the F-32 design page so I could merge the changes into my build. The result is a hybrid approach using design aspects from both layups.

The F-39 plans call for a long section of 5lb. foam topped with a short piece of Hi-Density foam.
The Stainless steel thimble is then glued to the Hi-Density foam and then the fiberglass and Carbon wraps are laid up.

Meanwhile, the F-32 plans call for a shorter length of 5lb. foam topped with a 2" (50mm) cap of Medium Density thickened epoxy. The G-10 tubing is glued in place during this step and then the part is ready for the fiberglass and Carbon layup.

I ended up merging both designs and ended up with a long section of 5lb. foam topped with a short section of Hi-Density Foam and then topped again with thickened epoxy and some G10 tubing.

Since I don't have a piece of metal here now, I am quite sure this will result in almost two knots of additional boat speed.

To get the proper thickness I had to start with ripping the pieces down a bit on the table saw. Once that was done and sanded smooth, I could proceed with gluing it all together.

Left to cure for a while before cleaning up and moving on to the thickened epoxy step next.

Setting up for the thickened epoxy with some sacrificial foam pieces to serve as spacers

After initial cure it was time for cleanup

Rough cleanup - foam dams removed

All cured, sanded and ready for the next step of actually wrapping with fiberglass and carbon.
I did lay in a layer of tape on the INSIDE of the G10 tubing to prevent any issues with epoxy fouling during the wrap.

Final checks before wrap

Almost six hours of fabric preparation and I'm finally ready for the wrap.

At this point, I'm all ready to go but I want someone to help me with the process.
It'll just make things go faster and easier.
Unfortunately, all the kids were busy this past weekend so I'm having to wait a bit for one of them to get some free time to help out.

In the meantime, I've been busy playing around with my new truck!
;-)
It's a 2014 Toyota Tacoma with 54K miles
4.0L six cylinder with a six speed manual transmission.

I haven't had a truck for almost fifteen years now.
But since my kids are getting old enough to drive themselves around I could finally justify trading in the Kia Sorento (great car by the way) for something I've been holding out for.

First thing on the list is to get those windows tinted.

And then get a Bull Bar installed.
I still need to wire in the light bar, but that'll have to wait for a few days.