i550class.org

Great to hear about your continuing recovery, Warren!

Looks like I'll be spending some time in mid-coast Maine in August (Brooklin and Castine). Just a short hop from New Scotland (lovely N.B., notwithstanding). An i550 meet-up in the offing?

Tim,

I wouldn't mind seeing another i550 builder and sailor here in NS, but it is an 8 hour drive from Brooklin Maine to Boutiliers Point!

Glassed the foredeck tonight. I hate glassing so it's only one layer. Peel-ply off tomorrow and hit it with some fairing compound, although I think there are outstanding honey-dos that can't be avoided if I am seen to be fit enough for boatbuilding.

It's still a long drive, but if you do get to Maine, my boat is (pretty much permanently) in Maine, about 25 miles from St. Stephen, NB.

Phil

Phil, what lake are you on (I recall a lake, but maybe it was salt water)?

My boat has become a shelf. If you’re fixing to meetup in Maine this summer keep us informed. I’ll do my best to join in.

I'm on Cathance Lake, about half-way between Calais and Machias.

Phil

Don't THINK you have white InterProtect, CHECK!

I had a bit of grey InterProtect left so I was going to mix up some light grey using the left-over grey with the white that I'd bought so I could put contrasting grey on the boot-top stripe, but I had bought grey, not white. So the first coat of primer on the deck is light grey and subsequent coats will be darker grey that I will have to carry down to the top of the boot stripe to avoid shadows in the topsides finish coat.

On the bright side, I did manage to mix the amount of paint that I needed.

Good from afar, but far from good. But I needed to show some progress. It is just the first coat so there is more sanding to come ...

Brightside Matterhorn White for the decks, with flattening agent and non-skid to come in following coats. Topsides (Fighting Lady Yellow) and boot stripe in Pettit Easy-poxy with hardener added.

Well done Warren. It not only looks good,but looks like it is WANTING to jump into ACTION.

Looks terrific Warren! Congrats on all your progress!

Diversion .....

Stuff gets in the way so there is a last coat of paint to go. But I wanted to do something about a keel crane before that last coat. Years ago a friend and I went dumpster diving to rescue a dead spinnaker pole. I finally found a use for my end. I put a small screw-in hatch next to the keel box and blanked off the bottom of the hole to allow drilling for the pole. A right-sized hatch would have been ideal, but I couldn't find any of those. The rest of the details will come later, including the pole-end receiver down below, but painting can proceed (the final coat on the decks will be flattened and use micro-sphere non-skid).

I realize after doing all of the masking, over and over again, that I should have bought shares in a tape company.

Incremental progress.

I have been staring at the keel fin for a long time, but finally set to with a sharp plane and a template to get it ready for sheathing. At least this time I remembered my cedar sensitivity and wore a face mask.

More pictures ... pretty standard stuff.

It took about a garbage can of shavings before the template would slide all the way down the foil. After that I routed out a 1/16th or so deep, 4 inch wide recess at the maximum thickness (it's simply a NACA 0012) and laid in 4 layers of 12 oz uni carbon. I've got a fairly standard set-up to do the next stage: three layers of 12 oz uni carbon at the root, tapering to one at the bulb, all to be covered by a 9 oz layer of 45-45 carbon biaxial. Cutting carbon, peel-ply and 6 mil plastic for the vacuum bag tomorrow.

The keel is set up between two B&D Workmates: I bought the first one in the late 1970s and the shiny one last year. The new one is a piece of junk in comparison .....

Tony came over this morning to help with the fin lay-up. In truth, he's the experienced one for stuff like this, and built his vacuum pump out of an old diving compressor run 'the wrong way'. Four hands were a boon to keep a continuous supply of resin going and manoeuvring nearly 6 ft long bits of carbon fibre into position. My breather fabric (T-shirt cotton from the fabric store) was a bit thin so the pressure came down rather slowly after chasing down the leaks, but it's rattling away at 0.68 BAR now. Later today I'll unplug the vacuum pump and tomorrow I'll start fighting with peel-ply prior to some fairing.

In the meantime I'm beginning to install fittings on the hull.

The peel-ply and breather came off like a dream, not like the nasty job with my rudder. The benefits of 'just right' wet-out are clear. Then on to some fairing, although not too much. There is some print-through of creases in the vacuum bag, steps where the uni laminations end, and a few areas of weave not completely filled.

I can smile ...

Looking good Warren!

First prime-coat = more fairing. No surprise.

I am not sure that makers of Japanese-toothed western saws ever envisioned users cutting carbon fibre, but it does a good job without much dust. Then some sanding and the first coat of VC Performance Epoxy, which makes InterProtect smell nice ...

Oooo...I have saw envy! What is that saw, where'd you get it and how much $$$ are we talking about?

Also, that's a really pretty section, I don't think mine will look anywhere near as good...but I'm in a similar phase with my fir laminate. Plan on making a cement female mold today and casting some lead on Sunday to affix to the bottom of the foil.

Tim,

Ah, wait a bit longer for the concrete to cure (dry out) before casting the lead. If there is still significant moisture not yet chemically incorporated in the concrete cure there may be steam creation which would cause lead blow-back during the pour: NOT NICE!

Tim, I failed to answer your question. The saw is an Irwin, but there are many brands. I got mine (three or four actually) at Lee valley Tools. They had a special buy and were selling them at 15 bucks a pop or so. They are probably long gone, but other brands are available. Avoid ones with coarse teeth - I have one of those too and it is hard to start a cut cleanly.

Thanks! I ordered a new saw yesterday!

Yes, the funny thing is, the kid (12 yr old) in my neighborhood who is a scrapper pointed out the same hazard. Not good when kids are smarter than full-fledged adults! (not that I claim to be one of those )

Two coats of VC Performance Epoxy and a quick wet-sand with 220 grit to check fairness. 'Quick' wet-sand was the operative word because the mosquitoes were hungry this morning. No big bumps came through so I can put the fin aside until the bulb is ready and go back to hardware installation on the hull. There's a trailer to build too.

If you can't make much progress at least chip away at the little things ....

I wondered what to do for the plate on top of the keel that stops it from death diving and settled on some 6mm ply covered with carbon fibre, for looks more than anything. I have a press that I use for DN runner bodies so I improvised. I didn't take any beginning photos so offer a sketch of the lay-up.

I made a 6mm Meranti core. I cut two 3mm 'surrounds' (3mm ply with holes about a mm bigger than the core). I laid peel ply on the bottom platten, then the first surround. Then 2 layers of 9oz 45-45 CF, then the core. Then 2 more layers of of CF. Then the second surround, more peel ply and the top platten. Clamp until cured. Then cut off the 'surrounds' and the CF flanges and sand the finished edges to get rid of traces of the 3mm surrounds. After some clear coat it should look spiffier than it really is!

A bit like Christmas ....

I picked up my ballast bulb today. Instead of wheel weights and a turkey fryer I used money. Tern Boatworks and New Dublin Ship Fittings turned my pattern into a faired ballast bulb.