Kickbars, how to make them

[Ed]

Hello all,

I have been stripping back my 14 to do some modifications before repainting.

The boat has a deep cockpit and so it is easy to lose your footing before you get you foot on the gunwhale.

I was thinking i could try and find some sheet metal and bend it to shape or maybe a roof panel with a suitable profile.

How would you suggest moulding some kickbars. The plan would be for them to run parallel just outside the line of the rear rack strut.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

All the paint is coming off, infact most of it is now, i just dont have a recent picture.

[Tim Noyce]

Hi Ed, When I did my boat the other year, I used some 90° Plastic Angle from B&Q which I stuck down onto a board. I then used some clay to profile the ends. Wrapped the thing in parcel tape, waxed it, and laminated some glass over it. These were then stuck down onto the deck using epoxy and fillers.

Pics attached at various stages of the process. Not sure if I have any 'finished' ones, but I painted them and the floor up with grip paint and they seemed fine.

If I had used a larger section, I would have left the ends open, and then run elastics and things up inside them but didn't really need to in this case.

[Tim Noyce]

Another photo...

[Clive Everest]

Hi Ed,
29er kick bars have 1" alloy tube mounted on small supports.
It looks effective and easy to implement though you would obviously want to use carbon tubes.
Control lines can be lead underneath and stock tube will have reasonable wall thickness.

It could be a lot less work than trying to mould something and then laminating it on.
I would 3d print the supports but they could easily be cut from ply.

The tubes could be left un painted so that if they get scratched up they do not look as bad as a painted part with carbon showing through.

I was going to do something similar on A+E but ended up making kick-bars out of folded carbon foam sheet that the rest of the boat is made from. They are part of the fundamental structure of the boat, not just an add on.

Regarding your question on Durepox. I don't believe that  there was any UV inhibitor added. It has yellowed very slightly in 3 years.
Rog Angell sprayed it. I think that he just added a number of very thin coats at 1hr intervals until it was white not black.  I know that he said that if he was doing it again he would just use a roller.

[Ed]

Thanks for the input guys.

Tim

Thanks for the idea, I think i need a bigger profile as you suggest for running lines inside, but the methodology sounds like a good one.

Clive,

The cockpit floor is very thin with a nomex core so i would like to structurally reinforce it rather than just put on the tubes. The mounting of the tubes could easily collapse the floor without significant lamination onto the floor to spread the load.

Thanks for the info on the paint, I have just ordered a compressor so i will give spraying a go.
Got foils and another boat to do first as practice before the 14.

[Tim Noyce]

One thing of note, I obviously male moulded mine, but using the glass at 0/90 it didn't really like bending over the top of the angle to give a good edge. If you could arrange something to female mould them, then you would get a much nicer finish on the outside, and a nice clean 'corner'. Saying that, if you ever end up kneeling on the floor, then mine would probably be classed as a 'safety edge'! You could also try laying the cloth at 45/45, as it might work better.

I used glass for mine, and I think that was the right choice as they have survived plenty of abuse. From memory, they were 3 layers of 200g, no core. You could hit them with a hammer, and they would laugh at your efforts.

[Ed]

I havent made any progress on the boat, but i was thinking along the lines of the previous suggestions.

What about a windsurfing mast cut down the middle to make two tapered semi circular extrusions.

I have a broken mast in the garage so one half is spare, 0,75 kg as is but will be cut down a bit.
Cutting it perfectly in half will be a challenge.

What do you think?

[Tim Noyce]

I had round kick bars before. Wouldn't recommend.

Also, the weight of a windsurfer mast is really overkill for a kick bar. They really need only a few layers. Unless you plan to need lead, then this is a cheaper option than that!

[Ed]

Thanks Tim.

Definitely dont need lead, although maybe a bit once it is back together.

[Ed]

Just thought I would let you guys what i have decided to do and show the progress.

For several reasons i havent touched the boat since november but i have just started to make progress again.

i decided to mould my own kick bars around 2x4, as it happened i could have gone smaller, but now i have two spare strips of plate.

The bars have 200mm rinforcement at the ends allowing for wear and attaching fittings i run control line take ups inside in future.
The lay up is 2 x 300g plain weave and i will overlaminate once fitted with a further 2-300 gram fabric, hope that will be resilient enough.

The cockpit skin is extremely thin, so i will laminate a stripe to spread the load then stick them down.

as you can see the sailing season her is still a little way away.

[Ed]

pics 2

[Ed]

This is very similar to Tims method, but a bit bigger so i can run lines inside and also keep the spinnaker sock confined.
I will post how i finish them off, maybe it is of interest to someone else

Thanks for the input on ideas!