Building a center counsel "Need HELP!"

[SamSam]

I would do it in two stages. A rough prototype and a finished prototype. A rough prototype could be made from plywood or foam, covered with glass and a quick rough fiberglass mold made from it, something you could reasonably expect to get maybe 5 parts from. Or a rough female mold could be made directly from plywood coated with melimine, formica, or directly from hardboard tileboard http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053 . Clay can be used for the corners. In that rough mold I would make a rough prototype, which would have the shape that's wanted and built with the materials that would (as far as I could tell from what I figured might work) be used in the final production part, but would not have the finished details such as glass smooth surface, perfect corners, etc.

I would make a rough prototype, install it and use/abuse it to find out if it is structurally sound and if that is the actual shape wanted.

After maybe a few mold and or console changes and I decide OK, this is it, I would make one more console and finish that to the exact degree I wanted the finished production piece to look like. That would be the production plug from which the production mold/molds would be made. That production plug would be made not with the intent of using it as a console, but from the intent that it's shape and surfaces would remain stable through the molding process and also into the future for future molds.

A mold has to usually have around 2 degrees draft to it. That is, if you were laminating a box shape, the sides should slope at least 2 degrees to get the box out of a mold, but especially off of a mold, as fiberglass shrinks a little bit. The bend at the top of your console would physically stop the part from being withdrawn from a one piece mold, so a two piece mold would be required. The mold could be two halves and come apart sideways, port and starboard with the seam running forward and aft, or vice-versa. Or it could be three sided, where the fourth side comes off and lets the part out and leaves a seam close to the corner. Usually the seams have to be dressed a little and sometimes buffed also. A two part mold would make gel coating it a whole lot easier, the open halves sprayed, then bolted together and allowed to cure before laminating.

I believe balsa cores can be through bolted with no reinforcement, but you say you don't want wood. I don't know too much about cores, we always just put plywood in where it was needed. The steering wheel, the handrails and the motor controls need to be through bolted and be physically strong areas. Ferrules and backing plates might work for through bolted stuff with a foam core. The instruments, compass, lights etc areas pretty much just have to be able to take a screw without stripping, your outside thickness of the sandwich (1/8-3/16") should be good enough for screws, with bedding.

That's about it generally, but other things would effect the final design. The attachment and supporting structure, what supports the seat, storage compartments or having a battery in it, etc.

[ryanpratt]

Thanks a lot SamSam great advice. I will give it a shot and make the rough one first and go from their.

[rwatson]

Originally Posted by ryanpratt

This is the wheel we are planing on offering on the counsel.
http://www.edsonmarine.com/marinesto...roducts_id=693

yes, that looks like a very usefull wheel, more so than the standard one in the first sketches.

I think I should start my console before the boat is finished being designed - its the sort of thing that takes up a lot of work at the end of the project.

I certainly have a lot of good ideas there. My preference would be for a minimal type of space frame inner aluminium skeleton, with the glass fibre 'skin'.