Day 7

Day 7...

Today I pulled the bubble gum beam out of the jig. My two test batches measured by volume kicked off... one melted the mixing pot. I've deduced... that there is some junk keeping the piston from giving a full squirt of hardener. I've decided I'm never gonna use mixing pumps again if I can help it...

Since I had a beam that acted and felt like the real thing, I power planed off the excess glue on the top and two sides. Then I ran it through the planer, and took it over to Pylasteki for fitting. I goofed following the sides of the cabin top... and it had next to no spring back, so my extra arch in the center touched the deck and not much else. I noted this, on the beam with a sharpie... Then set it aside.
After that, I went to lowes and bought two pieces of angle iron, and a flat piece of bar stock. It hurts me when I do this, as theres about four cents worth of steel in that sentence, and 20 dollars soon parted. My bulkheads were plumb, and square... So I'ma gonna use the port one as a jig for the starboard one, with blocks spacing out the gap between them while it hangs in "Foam space" around the outer edge.

I then had to go spend some time on Noel looking over quotes for hydraulics and new shafts...

I borrowed a three jaw gear puller, and went over to Pylasteki and pulled the shaft coupling, turned the rudder all the way to one side and slid out the shaft with the prop still attached.

Returned tools to rightful owner (With free 1/2 inch socket lodged forever on the end of the puller...) and got to work cutting out my bulkhead pattern, which is exactly 5/8ths smaller than the pattern I made yesterday that fit perfect. 3/4 inch squishy foam... figure it ought to be about right for proper "stiction" so it's neither wagging around in foam space, nor 11 pounds of potatoes in a 10 pound bag.

With that done, I went over to Pylasteki (Notice a trend here... the two boat yards are around the corner from each other..) and pondered my PVC pipe installation. 4 inch sewer pipe, split long ways in 10 foot sticks. I twisted and warped an 8 foot piece in under the V-berth to see how it'd lay to the hull, and chopped off a 2 foot length. Set that aside, and found the perfect line that intersects the underside of the V-berth, top of the settees... and prepped the surface for glass. (Grinder > Random orbit sander with 40 grit> Acetone > Hot coat of epoxy...> I took one of my 64 inch long, 8 inch wide strips of 1708 biax tabbing and laid it to the hull. Then I took my PVC pipe, and hot glued it in place on my marks, mixed up a bunch of cabosil thickened epoxy and did a fillet... then put 3 layers of 1708 over it, staggering outside of my projected bulkhead tabbing.

Somewhere in here I went to lowes again and bought more clamps (Can never have enough clamps... reminds me of metal working... but somehow i don't think vice grips fit the bill...) a sheet of foam board, and a 6 foot folding table...

With that done... I collected my resin, gloves, acetone, and sander... loaded up the truck and went around the corner to Noel, where I adjusted my mast beam jig with my new findings... and prepped my "Good ash" by sanding with 60 grit till it was smooth, with no scalloping or burnish marks from the planer. I cut out my polyethelyene sheet, wide enough to put a wrap and a half around the stack... then wet out with 20 ounces of resin, everything but the bottom of the bottom board. You see... Noel is sitting on an incline... which I probably should measure... But while wetting out and flipping boards, the top two on the stack float slowly down hill, an inch or two every ten seconds... The marvels of a work surface thats that far out...

After that, it was a half hour ago and I took a shower.

Goodnight.

Zach - Tomorrow, I use a compass.

Pictures: Part of a PVC stringer.
No Prop
Bubblegum Beam, new beam waiting to cure
How to cut PVC without it binding up... fences aren't square.
Bevel board... Lay bevel gauge on it, read off. Ooooh yeah.