efficient 10m displacement powercat (build thread)

My hatch waterways are a persistent problem - always clogging and where does the 'dust' come from? - just days after a good 'gurneying' with high pressure water-blast

 

I infused another forum members rudder today, i made a short video of it shown below...

I decided to infuse it for several reasons, the first being it was easier to wrap all the edges in glass. Using the vacuum bag, it pulls tight around all the edges and it gets a solid wrap on all the edges which would be difficult to do via a hand laminating. Another reason was it allowed the whole laminate to be completed in one shot rather than 1 side at a time and waiting to cure between... And yet another reason is its less work, less time to infuse it - this whole setup took about 1 hour including cutting up the materials getting the bag sealed and leak checking etc... the laminate was 4 layers of 820gsm triax on both sides, this would have taken quite some time to lay by hand including wrapping the edges etc...

Heres how it went;



And heres a shot about 10 mins later after the resin line has been clamped off and the rudder is almost 100% filled.

 

Bloody neat work, thanks for the view...

Some kids? lit a fire on the banks of the river - About 500M SE of the house where I am staying, Next door is a volunteer bush-fireman, ,hooning, around in self importance, whereas I had been around for a quiet look and assessed the situation was of modest risk to us and adjacent neighbours, else I would have phoned and reported the incident otherwise...

 

With rudders Im constantly picking up junk at the rudder to hull interface. Any defensive strategy to keep junk from getting caught in this area is worthwhile. Mini skeg, kelp cutter type apendage. The stern, over the rudder and prop, is a very good place for an underwater light and perspex viewing window. An aft facing depth sounder is also a winner.

 

Hi again Michael,
I have the mini-keels as well as the sail-drive legs before flotsam comes near the rudders... No problems there so far...
Thanks...

 

Much depends on the nature of the water you sail in. Kelp, plastic, discarded fishing gear........if its clean tropic water you're pretty safe.

If you make it a habit to break your anchor out, then maneuver in reverse while retrieving your anchor and chain , you can avoid dragging junk like discarded fishing nets, plastic tarps and cables under your boat.

I pick up all sorts of junk every year. Ghost fish nets picked up with the anchor are treacherous.

 

Kick up rudders are the answer. Just lift it up and off slides the junk. Works on multihulls, anyway.

 

so heres what the rudder looks like after its cured and the infusion consumables are stripped away...



Then the flash is cut away and the edges are trimmed up with a grinder, this is what is looks like 5 mins later...



Then its time to start the fairing process, so first coat of low density epoxy bog is applied with a 4mm notched adhesive trowel... this is what it looks like 20 mins later...



Ill have to wait until tomorrow before proceeding, let the bog cure and then get busy with the longboard...

 

Serrated bog is a nice way to fair. Just did a keel panel, serrated bog, board sand , second bog coat peel plied and wiped with a plexi plank . Came out 95 percent.

 

What can I say but WOW :!: :!:

 

fore deck is on the boat... was made in 2 halves then offered up onto the already standing frames...

Heres a pic of the foam core, prepped with high density inserts for the stanchions and cleats, and a recess for a drop in escape hatch gutter mold.



And heres a pic of both sides up and in position on the boat, the brown colour is the polyester peel ply im using at the moment... and look at all that damn imprint from the resin lines... i need to find a better material as opposed to spiral wrap for this purpose to eliminate it, i know its out there somewhere...

 

that is looking great ... is there a reason you infused down instead of up on the rudder?

 

yep just 1 reason, it was easier to drape everything over the rudder this way. To go up hill and still keep my flow media break at the end, would have required staples or similar to hold it where it needed it. In addition, i simply wanted to see how it would go and if it caused any problems - which it didnt, so id feel more confident about going downhill if i ever need to in the future...

 

Ok, was just thinking I'd like to do my stringers that way, thanks!

 

strong winds has damaged my plastic boat shed, so i can take a pic from a different angle... i think ill wrap things up until the cyclone season has passed...