Mr. DeWalt needs a rest, and some new parts.

Tonight ripping strips was on the program. Frode came over and together we ripped enough strips in an hour to build two new panels. We did not finish the job though as our very nice and smooth deWalt skilsaw busted a bearing or something like that. Afterwards we did not dare to use the saw as it vibrated and made really bad sounds when powered on. Saw goes in under warranty tomorrow (new years eve), but we dont have high hopes for when it will be returned. Good that we now have enough strips to build panel #6 and #7. The flipover of the stations in the mould and stuff like that should have us occupied while waiting for the saw. We can also use the time to make progress on the beams.

Even the best plans..

Tonight I had made arrangmentes with Omar so we could cut some more planks. Alas, his son got a fever so he had to stay at home. Sometimes even the best plans dont work out.. But we did get to transport panel #3 and #4 to his place so they are out of the workshop. It takes 15minutes to re-seal the door to the workshop after opening it, so it is something I try not to do very often.
I also got to pull the staples off panel #5 tonight. Easy and fast work with a horseshoe plier and a deft hand.
To finish off the evening I filled all the "knotholes" in #5, and gave the seams where the epoxy from the first brushing had seeped through a new dosis. Probably not neccesary, but it is nice and reaffirming to se perfect glue lines when sanding.

For tomorrow night, sanding or cutting planks, depending on wheter I can get help and what I feel up to.

1060 staples a panel..

After working 1060 staples loose tonight, my right hand is a bit sore. Timecount, 2 hours.. If I keep this up, I will have the same right hand as Hellboy ;-)

Panel #5, glued.

Here is a pic of panel #5 on the mould with gunwhales laminated and planks glued. All done in 3 hours last night. I must say I much prefer to work with wood over messing with epoxy. I am not big on painting eather :)

Anyway, panel #5 is a solo project, and I must say that the result is the best so far. Not becouse Frode and Omar is no good, but becouse working alone seems to result in better concentration. Not many gaps between planks on this hull.
Now there is some filling of knotholes to do, pull some staples and sanding, then panel #6 kan be started. Once panel #6 is off the mould, we can flip the stations around. Whohoo!!

Gunwhale woes

After a comment by a friend, I began to get some nagging woes over how we have done the gunwhales. I had the opportunity to talk with Phill Brander before christmas and check this out amongst other things. Turned out we have goofed up a bit and need to adjust our gunwhales a bit before assembling the hulls

Phill, here are the photos you asked for, showing the inside of a hull panel and the gunwhale butts.
Here is the inside of panel #4, with the electric stapler in the foreground. The electric stapler is a "must have", as each hull panel requires about one thousand staples!

Quality control is important

I went down to the workshop at 0200 tonight (I like to stay up late, but get really tired the next day) to check on our laminating work. I am really happy that I did. Two massive airbubbles/areas where the glass had pulled off. Both about 10cm long and 4cm wide. This was two hours after we finished laminating, so the epoxy had not hardened yet. Some quick work with a squeege and it looked good again. This morning the epoxy had hardened substantially and it looked good.
Going over the lamniate again after some hours have become routine when not using the vacuum pump. Usually I find some small air bubbles to remove and stuff like that.

We are rolling..

Feeling good about progress lately. Panel 4 glassed on the inside tonight (note to self: never allow fillets to harden partly before putting on the glass!).
Panel 5 is on the mould, lacking just two planks and the gunwhale before it can be glued. Perhaps we get panel 6 off the mould during christmas so we can flip the stations over. That would be a major milestone for us!

Frode and I did a major decision today. We are cutting our time spent on "strip plank bulkheads" and go forward with plywood bulkheads instead. We have a lot of hours invested in our special bulkheads so far, but enough is enough now that we can get BS1088 gaboon/okume ply. Even with all the hours invested in BHs, there would still be many-many hours to go before they were done, and the result would not be spectacular due to many different reasons (our building skill amongst them). So, next task is the get the beams started, and then it is the foils. Hope Florian gets the CNC macine running!

Building times

I did some quick estimations today on building time in strip:
Planking 5 hours, when done alone.
Sanding the inside and outsite 2 - 3 hours.
Glassing inside and outside 3 + 3 hours

5 + 2 (3) + 3 + 3 = 14 hours for one half hull panel. Scary stuff!