building new amas/floats from recycled beachcat hulls

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by trip the light fandango, Apr 23, 2019.

  1. Corley
    Joined: Oct 2009
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    Corley epoxy coated

    It's not very inspiring weather at the moment. Looked at the Aldi batteries myself thinking of doing that or having a Lithium battery I carry out in the dink. Not really sure on that yet, guess I need to get my boat back on the water first :)
     
  2. trip the light fandango
    Joined: Apr 2018
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    Location: Rhyll Phillip Island Victoria Australia

    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    Well the glass set at possibly lower than 18 Celsius so the resin isn't too old, I taped some plastic bags over to keep the rain off. With the sun directly on the surface, temperatures probably get to setting pretty quickly. After reading Oldmulti's excellent articles pointing out the values of thin ply, stresses and loads, it is reassuring when building with recycled beachcat, cutting shapes from foam sandwich panels, and glassing them up to strengthen areas that are taking load, it is very similar to thin ply sort of. There is lots of similar detail except a need to build up right angles with Qcell/ microballoons to avoid hard to glass angles that make working out trapped air difficult where timber stringers would have been used for bulkheads and twist/ torsional resistance areas. Those posts of his are really informative; how successful tris have been made.

    One thing a fibreglass Tremolino has over all the other trimarans I've read about is the flange that goes right around the main hull. It makes the boat very dry. A largish cabin would be nice instead of the pair of coffins , but still you can't have everything. Yes green water can come up the forward deck and spill into the cockpit[exaggerated by the flanges] but it's rare and a nasty 5ft short steep chop you've plowed to do it, and it sheds immediately..
     
  3. trip the light fandango
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    It's a good time of year to work on a boat Corley...feels early..,.. no perspiration drips..hardly any insects..the sanding warms you up... ha .. . cheers.
     
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  4. trip the light fandango
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    I've cut out the shapes from left over maricat carcass for the dagger board case extensions and I can cut my baffle stations/semi bulkheads out from the leftover panels that are left while I'm waiting for good weather.
     
  5. trip the light fandango
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    I'm thinking of using a wringer type of technique for when I join the donor hulls. to the original floats. Working the resin through and dropping excess into a largish tray to keep it cool, and keep the resin moving., and clamping the start of the matt to the bow as I work back, minimising heat build up. No issue with humidity at the moment but an over cast day ,low wind and just the right amount of catalyst will be crucial. Because I'll be laying up on a near vertical surface, wetted out but dryish/tacky will be important. When I've finished the sun can come out.. If I'm well organised ,don't allow anxiety to creep in,or freak out, and are prepared to strip off anything that cures before I'm ready I'll be right. Not quite enough catalyst and cool temperatures can work with polyester, easy and cheap to lay mixes over. But the 45 minute set on epoxy is beginning to sound safer. I'll keep practising with the laminating resin on the dagger board cases for now, I'll soon know whether my plan is feasible...
     
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  6. trip the light fandango
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    I've got caught up with trying to build dagger board cases strong enough for partial foiling. I think a case[bottom 3rd] of 5 layers of various width of 400 gsm by 45 diagonal should hold as the donor hulls also intersect at the cases. That matt absorbs a lot of resin, a spring loaded adjustable [wing nuts]scraper on the inside edge of the resin tray will speed things up. I may never foil but it is a good place to have lots of strength, the cases themselves are getting closer. It's slow work, my wish list may be a little over developed ,..what happens when one reads forums,.. ha . Focusing on mini/micro cruisers [similar hull space ]brings it all back down to earth.
     
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  7. trip the light fandango
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    I hadn't used this biaxial 45 400gsm x 150mm before, I'm beginning to think it's me [probably is] but it seems to require filling after each layer goes on. It's taking a while, I still have a big bag of micro balloons[Q cell] which is actually quite fun to sand, left over from the last time I worked on the Trem...reading the 6.5 performance/cruising trimarans and the Buccaneer 24 forums and Old multi's stuff is keeping me motivated in the meantime . I'm still pecking away.
     
  8. trip the light fandango
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    I was relieved when the dagger boards winkled out, getting close to glassing the 2 parts -hobie 16 and maricat which overlap on the new dagger board cases, maricat is the new stern. You can see the sanded line where the donor hulls will be glassed to. The new length is 21ft plus a bit, mainly coming from the maricat stern. the bows will be a modified form of H16.
    20190715_135913.jpg 20190715_135925.jpg 20190705_150938.jpg
     
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  9. aussiebushman
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    aussiebushman Innovator

    Have just fallen over this thread. Just for interest. I did precisely what you are doing, but in my case using A Class hulls. I posted a question on this forum and was told (especially by Richard Woods) that the hulls had insufficient buoyancy so I packed them out with shaped foam formers , then strip planked over that with Paulownia before glassing with biaxial cloth and epoxy. A bit heavy but the shape has worked well.
     

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  10. trip the light fandango
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    I'm in bali so I have been having a break from the forum. I'm interested in what your tri looks like complete,I have vague memories of you using your boat mainly on inland waterways..I'll have a look when I get home next week..your floats/amas look more like you designed them for performance..very tidy..did you increase the length much and how did it work out?
     
  11. aussiebushman
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    aussiebushman Innovator

    There was a sad sequel to the story. I got a lot of pleasure from this boat sailing around St George' Basin but it was moored fore and aft at Sussex Inlet where it was subjected to bad cross winds coming down a creek, so I had a new mooring laid off Basin View. It took just a week before the boat was stripped, then torched. The Vaka burned completely. I lost the new sails, winches, electronics, night-vision optics, GPS, my diving gear and heaps of other stuff.
    I did recover the amas, the mast, the pulpit and a few of the alloy beams and am building a little catamaran from the parts.
    Not a happy outcome from a couple of years of work and several thousand dollars!
     

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  12. trip the light fandango
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    Indeed a grisly end to a nice boat, it looked quite comfortable..well thought out. .with a lovely area to cruise around .safety in numbers l suppose..what a shame.
     
  13. trip the light fandango
    Joined: Apr 2018
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    aussiebushman, an early farrier would be a cheapish way back, or the surf lifesaving boats make a pretty good vaka main hull, if you can be bothered . I really shouldn't ask but how long did you end up making your floats/amas and have you considered parting with them... eek..

    Great trip, can nearly surf properly again.. warm water ...wow, makes up for the harrassment carrying the missus bag through endless street stalls compromise ...eergh. Had a sail cover made from sunbrella ,zip,tie downs ,velcro, for $ 100, typically friendly, bright,fair, keen to help, a Muslim bloke from Java. I'm nearly over the flight home lurgy , apparently it's the newbie's job to crack open the aircraft door of 6 hours of human fumes upon arrival, it's time to devote all spare time to the trem again. I've been away long enough for it all to seem pretty straight forward and quick to do.. we'll see... ha .

    edit note .. It probably should have been skip the light, not trip the ,...anyway bigger fish to fry
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2019
  14. aussiebushman
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    aussiebushman Innovator

    Yes, I thought about building a new vaka in strip planked Paulownia (like the last one) to use with the recovered amas. You are also right that a new hull could have been made from a surf boat or whatever but either way the amount of work was daunting and the cost beyond my current means.

    I have no doubt it was a silly decision to use the recovered hulls as the basis for a simple sailing catamaran but I did have most of the components, including the alloy cross beams, most of the rigging, the pulpit etc that I pulled from the wreck. The result is a ugly little ******* (literally a product of mixed parentage) that is yet to see water (other than my dam used to check the hull integrity and mark the waterline. After that exercise, I remodeled the stern sections of each ama to provide greater buoyancy, then re-glassed these hulls to make them stronger.

    Whether it will ever be completed is debatable. I'm debating whether to pull off the sailing gear and just power it with the 5 Hp outboard I have acquired, OR finish the sailing version that is probably 75% complete. A new rudder is ready to fit and I have worked out a system for a swing-up centre-hung daggerboard I have a 16' skiff mast and some good second hand sails for it but worry about that rig being too tall and potentially causing trouble.

    My level of interest in finishing this boat has waned considerably since I started, but I still want something to get me and my dog back onto the water, even if it is restricted to inshore use. At least it will be trailerable and avoid the hassles and cost of a mooring. The other option is to sell it for whatever I can get and use the money to buy a used "project" Folkboat or similar.

    Boy - do I miss the beautiful 30' sailing catamaran I built - see picture - the one effectively stolen when my ex-wife refused to contribute to outstanding school fees!
     

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  15. trip the light fandango
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    trip the light fandango Senior Member

    I'm not surprised you miss that cat, your new build looks like a mini house boat[comfortable] , but any kite or small main should get it along at 5 knots.?. It would sail beam/broad reach and run without sail probably.dagger board permitting. It looks like a comfortable enough space to ride out bad weather in a sheltered spot. and can get in close. Your anchor and length of chain/ warp will perhaps need to be a little longer and heavier because of the potential windage it could load up with [and the lack of power], if you got caught out. It sits happily on it lines it looks like . It 's quite a good compromise .
     
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