There sure is a lot more work in setting up a strip operation than doing a stitch and glue build. In two nights we have a strongback done and have cut most of the mould stations. If we had found good ply we could have the panels done by now and started bending them into something resembling hulls.Next evening we will be able to finish cutting stations and start setting them up on the strongback. It will be very interesting to see how the lines of the hull come to life.
I guess this is how a Blade F-16 would look like if it hit something substantial at speed ;-) Still a few stations to cut.
We are now 6 hours into the project, but cost is low as we have used scraps and remains from other projects so far.
Here are the supports for the mould stations. 26 supports at 40cm length, or was it 40 supports at 40cm? Well, at least Frode cut enough of them while he was going at it.In the background there are two pieces of ply which will go on as the deck of a ply kayak I am finishing at the same time. Need to get the kayak out of the garage fast so I hope to install the deck this week. Ply is norwegian fir 3.6mm thick and not of marine quality, but for a kayak which will only see light use it is OK.
5 comments:
Did you ever considere building it on female stations?
We tought about that, and if we could have the stations CNC cut that would have been really good. But since this is our first strip plank project and we are fresh at everything we choose the best documented setup. We also hope that we will have more control on gap between planks and surface fairness with male moulds.
I made the mast for the Mini on female moulds and it came out fine and has been doing 1000 nm so far.
I am a little bit scared that on male moulds you will have the better fairness on the inside as all the irregularities in the wood will show up on the outside.
Do you define irregularities as holes after the staples and tool marks, or uneven planking? If it's the first, the trick is to not let the staplers tounge ever touch wood. You can alse raise the grain in troublesome areas with some water before sanding. If it is the latter.. ouch. We will have to sand the hulls with longboards to a 120grit finish before we put on glass, so I hope we will get a reasonable good looking result anyway.
I had not seen the "Gust" part of your website before you gave the hint about your mast building. It looks very strong! Obviously you choose to let the wood take most of the loads. Why did you not try lowering the weight by adding uni carbon inside and outside and one or two layers of +-45 weave so you could use less wood? Wouldn't that have saved some weight (in exchange for money).
How long is the mast and how much does it weight? We are toying with a future project where we would like to build our own mast. Knowing the dimensions and weight of your mast would be good.
I used all mentioned, UD carbon BX+-45 400 glass, and I ended upp with a little bit to hevy spar 37 kg (rigged)for a 9.2 m (profile 194x90) mast to take 40/80 m2 of sail.
A new one will be done for the next season and I hope to bring it down under 30 kg.
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