Building is starting. Several questions in here. Answer any you like! :)

Have you built your work benches, mdf is best as its smooth and nothing to catch glass on. If you have ply or chipboard then cover with plastic when cutting up glass.
Two 8x4 sheets will do most of the time, have it modular so that you can move it around. At times its handy to have 3 or 4 sheets long, the extras can be simple extensions on saw horses.
Melamine laminating table, see if your plywood supplier has any 1" cover sheets going cheap.
Stand for your glass rolls that will fit to the end of a bench.
Acetone bucket.
Peel ply, go direct to textile suppliers 60 gsm polyester taffata is much cheaper than through fiberglass suppliers.

Sourcing materials does take time, but as mentioned before your biggest time waster when working in humid locations is waiting for the humidity to drop. Those that don't care about the humidity levels then its not an issue.

 

Check. Everything mentioned that is applicable is done.

Any thoughts on cheapest foam for the deck?

 

What ever is the cheapest, I only use corecell or cross linked PVC, pvc will give you slightly higher compression strength. Re read your threads we have covered this.
Remember no slits or perforations, only plain sheets for your build.

 

Wow. Corecell is not exactly what I had expected it to be. It's much stronger. Feels like you could build a boat out of it without a fiberglass skin.

Needless to say, it barely bends at all. It's more like aerated epoxy.

Anyway, now I have to figure out:

Do I bead and cove or build a hotbox for this stuff? It definitely won't bend to conform to my bilge at all. It doesn't even budge when you turn a heat gun on it. It's some very stiff stuff.

 

Some progress

Here is some progress. Did my first laminate of 34oz (1150gsm) triax today. Back breaking work for sure, bending over and glassing down low. Better than overhead though!

The picture shows the final product with peel ply on top. Couple bubbles in the peel ply close to the camera and in focus (of course!), but as I worked toward the stern, I got the peel ply laying better.

No bubbles (I hope!) in the laminate.





Tomorrow I'm off to find something better than a Tyvek suit to work in. I was swimming in epoxy and it soaked right through the suit instantly. I need to find a rubber smock or is the word chaps??

I felt a lot like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqfOxm_1BE0

 

Hi, I'm a new member here and wonder if anyone is familiar with the traditional style 'Ontong Java" built by well known sailor hans klaas. IMO this vessel is testament to the fact that you don't need loads of money or fancy equipment to build a seaworthy craft that many would also consider a thing of beauty and certainly unique. The concept has me considering the possibility as a first budget build of constructing a catamaran using two suitable long tails thai boats and lashing them together with beams (wharram tiki style) as a platform for additional modifications. I spend a lot of time in Thailand and would seek to find a suitable location to build there for cost advantages.

This may be the silliest idea you have ever heard and I welcome all comments on the feasibility of this idea as I know very little about boat building and design but I do have the spare time, money, fabrication and management skills to complete the project should it be considered worthwhile. (this is posted in another thread accidently sorry)

 

Build a Oven and heat it!

 

Look 2 posts up, my friend. That's my hull.

It's already bent and installed in the mold with the laminate done for one section.

 

Get some spray Krylon paint and spray the places on the front of the tyvek suit where the epoxy came through before, or roll on some rubber cement or liquid rubber if Krylon doesn't work. Even melted parrafin might work.

 

Right... that might be a good trick, Hoyt.

What would be great is to put a coating on the Tyvek that epoxy can't stick to. I was picturing polyethylene chaps, but then, I don't know... the idea of chaps kind of scares me! Too many of the wrong kind of people wear those in the wrong way! ha ha ha

So would epoxy not stick to Krylon paint? What other things might epoxy not stick to that I can put on there, but that will dry and not mess up the epoxy I'm putting down as I swim through it?

 

You might try rubbing onto the strategic areas of the tyvek suit some carnauba car wax using latex gloves. Almost nothing will stick to that. At least I don't think it will.


Never mind.

 

Or you could brush on some clear silicone aquarium sealer. It dries rather quickly and remains flexible.

 

Looking Good CB

Hey, why couldn't you build a stb panel with full bulkheads, set it off, then re-form and build a port panel and roll it over to mate the first panel, then do the reverse?

 

Maybe some KIWI select rain and stain protector. rick

 

No good, Hoyt. That'll get all over my layup and keep my secondary bonds from working. It has to dry hard and have no oily residue... like a piece of plastic.