efficient 10m displacement powercat (build thread)

Ok, seriously, there should be a law against work getting in the way of boat building... wish i could spend the hours on it but need to take the money whilst its there...

Anyways, a bit of sandwich panel origami...

The kitchen is beginning to take shape, half of the bench top will go in next which boxes in the bathroom below... you can see the stuff up to the left where ive moved the doorway too



The back deck, a piece which forms part of the seat and icebox...



And the other side, just a seat which boxes in the bedroom below;



And yes i know, theres dust and crap everywhere... ill clean up one day when im done glassing maybe...

 

Looks great Groper! Really coming together. Love the way your getting those curves from flat panels.

Can i ask where your getting your foam core/divinycell from and if your getting a good deal? I'm planning a build and everywhere I go charges a fortune for this stuff in Australia.

 

I wish you would video yourself making those curves!
Nice!!!

 

Theres not much to show except infuse a flat panel both sides at once.
Measure out the overall cutsize on the cured panel.
Cut the peice out from the large panel using a circular saw with a steel cold cutting blade.
Make the kerf cuts using teh same circular saw with a shallow depth of cut, goes right through the core and stops about 2mm shy of teh bottom laminate.
Bend the panel around using your hands.
Hold the panel in place with screws whilst you glue it - if you look carefully you can see the screws protruding from the deck which are used as pins to hold the shape i want. After the glue is cured and the panel is locked in, the fillet and tape along the bottom edge will fill the screw holes left in this area.
Restore the cut side of the laminate by wet laminating over that side again, locks the shape in.
Done...

The number of kerf cuts and their spacing determines the radius you will get... I went with a 200mm radius in the above photos, 20mm spacing for the kerf cuts worked well for this.

 

Ok okay, I thought you were heating them up and bending them. Looking good!

 

Umm no, i use the heat and bend technique when i have a single skin laminate... so taper the core off and bring both laminates together, then bend the single solid laminate using added heat if the laminate is too stiff (too much glass). Works best when the panel is still quite green, say after about 24hours, as epoxy still has a very low HDT or Tg at this easrly stage...

If the laminate is thin enough, then it will bend without adding heat...

 

Did my first infusion using diab`s "VR cut" ie infusion groove cut foam core today...

Very easy to setup, no mucking around with perf film or infusion flow media, and can pull the resin much further so fewer resin lines... this one went 1 meter in 20 mins using a reasonably thick infusion resin @ 350cps, total distance of 1.2 meters no problem.

Down side is that the panel is 400grams per square meter heavier due to the extra resin in the grooves...

Well first half of the cabin top is done...

 

Hi groper,
A very neat job and a profitable way to spend your Saturday. Good on yer Bloke.

 

Had a week off work this week, which meant i finally had some good time to make progress on the boat...

Infused the other half of the roof, same as before, joined them together, and applied the first coat of highbuild paint to the cabin ceiling side and sanded it back ready for topcoating when i paint the rest of the boat. Got a few mates over and we manged to get the 92kg roof up as 1 peice.





There is a bit of compound curvature in the roof, not a lot, but it transitions from a longitudinal bend at the front which you can see in the above pic, to a transverse curve in the aft. This means we had to do a bit of torturing through the center in order to get it into shape which is difficult with these very stiff panels. You can also see that the chamfered sides have dart cuts in the front so these can be pulled together and taped thus forming a chine with longitudinal and transverse curvature in the front of the roof section - we havent taped this yet but is next on the list after the tabbing is cured on the aft bulkhead.

Also did a bit of furniture work, made the cabin setee and finished the basic kitchen panels, and also finished the rear cockpit seating etc.





And guess what,-- EEK-- the first bit of wood has found its way into the boat Im doing the interior cabinetry from it as its just too expensive to do absolutely everything in foam sandwich...



And just another shot of some of the hull and steps down from the bridgedeck with the fuel tank closest the camera...

 

Coming along very nicely. Beautiful work...

 

Looks great! ... Huge project!!

 

Awesome work as usual.

 

taping the roof today, had to pull the tarp down as the heat up there is a bit much... gave a nice opportunity for some pics i dont often get the angle for...









Few more little bits and peices have also been done inside, the stb hull single bunk top is done, little bit in the galley, saloon setee is done etc... ill get more pics of this stuff soon. rush is on now to get it painted before the wet season kicks in around xmas and the monsoon cyclonic winds destroy my tunnel house again...

 

I don't remember seeing this photo, how does that core compare price at same thickness? 14 oz is not much heavier, I would take that route any day!!!

 

About the same price jorge, maybe a couple dollars extra per sheet - i only remember the price difference was not worth considering.

It adds about 400grams per square meter to the finished panel weight - the resin stays in the panel rather than ripped off and thrown in the bin. But yes, it a much less hassle setup and theres less money to spend on flow media, perforated film and dumping fees... definately the way to go unless your extremely weight sensitive...