60ft eX race yacht to cruiser conversion.

Sure , it’s just the usual PVC foam core and carbon laminate is;
200gsm woven
450gsm uni directional
450gsm dbias

Also worth noting is we’re using a high Tg vinyl ester resin so the sunlight won’t soften it when it gets very hot as black finishes get in tropical sun .
we used a layer of peel ply in the mold first as we’re going to clear coat after touching up any blemishes and tidying up the edge treatment where the 2 halves meet.

there’s extra uni layers on the main posts and cross beams , just a single layer on the rest of them - however not seeing the full design this probably isn’t clear yet…

 

Finally got the new deckhouse installed - whilst on anchor of course !

Came up nicely I think, suits the hull style we think

 

thank you
it top does suit the boat very well IMHO

 

Building integral tanks for water and diesel where the old water ballast tanks used to be. We managed to reuse the bottom part of the ballast tanks including the baffles, but had to seal up a bunch of holes and make a new landing flange for the new tank lid which forms the bunk tops. Another bunk support platform will land on cleats to the centre engine box which will extend the single bunks into a queen berth each side. Tank under half and storage under the other half.



The carbon solar hard top over the cockpit will begin once this inside stuff is completed- you can see in thr pic we had to tape in a small bulkhead to provide some structure for the vertical posts of thr hardtop to come thru the deck and land on.

 

, lot of good work and planning there. very interested in the solar hard top

 

4x Carbon posts to support the solar roof weigh in at 2466grams per linear meter . This one is 1.5m long.

overall Section size is 150mm x 60mm.
put peel ply into mold, then;
200gsm woven
400gsm dbias
400gsm uni x2 layers
25mm PVC foam x2 layers

Run the completed halves thru table saw to trim the daggy edges down to size then glue to 2 halves together with the short sides overlapping .
Flood coat with UV stable epoxy , sand down smooth, then finish with a 2k clear PU coating .

Repeating this process for the perimeter facia beams and central longitudinal beam. the curved transverse beams will be hand laid over PVC core as I can’t be bothered making a curved mold for only 2 beams….

 

Diesel and water tanks completed ;


Finished the hardtop vertical posts for the solar hardtop

 

Installed the posts into the boat. Cut holes in deck , inserted them and glassed them onto the bulkheads so they won’t move or wobble.


Now I can move onto building the hardtop from more of these beams and aluminium frame bifacial solar panels at home as a single piece. Then it will be lifted onto these posts and bolted . Thr reason for bolting like this is so we can remove it easily for hauling the boat out on a typical 35tonne travel lift. If we can’t drop the boom down then we can only haul out on an 80 tonne lift which limits our options in remote places . So I’ll include permanent lifting points on the hardtop aswell….

 

Started building tbe crossbeams which fit between the above posts .
PVC foam sheet glued into a box hollow beam shape with foam bulkheads every 300mm;

some extra plates to spread the point load where the bolted connections to posts are;

started laminating the carbon , 3 layers 400gsm uni and 1x 400dbias;

same again on the opposite side except there will also be a final layer of cloth for aesthetic finish on the visible surfaces ….

 

Just mocking up a jig so I can measure out the central catwalk beam. I’ll use this jig to glue the beams together once I’ve finished clear coating the carbon.
4 glass PV panels in total , 2 down either edge with central catwalk.
The vertical posts we’ve installed into the boat will land under the transverse beams near the end connections.
I’ll add a curved brow to the front end which will serve to attach clear curtains down to the deckhouse.
Total weight in these 4 beams is 28kg.
The central catwalk will add another 10kg or so, the front brow another 5-6kg.
then the 4 glass bifacial panels - 88kg!