New Boat Build

[Phil Alderson]

At the Nationals we decided that we had taken Pocket Rocket about as far as we could, and we fancied a new challenge. I liked the look of A&E and thaught that Clive's inovative build method would allow for a quick build. So after talking to Clive and him offering me the use of his mould I decided to order all the bits and build a new boat. Many thanks to Clive for the use of the mould and for letting me build his design.
I ordered the prelaminated, and waterjet cut panels from Fibre Fusion (https://www.fibrefusion.com/) which will make up the majority of the boat, and also some plain foam panels which fit on the mould to make the hull.

I started the build with a trip to the south coast to pick up the mould, and had also aranged to do the initial layup of the hull with Nick's help at his place. Doing a big laminating job is hard on your own, so some extra help and advice was much apreciated.

Some photos below of the mould prep and first layer of Carbon.


I was originally planning to do both layers of skin over the weekend however as we finished laminating the first bit at 4am the slow cure resin was still green in the morning. So we would have needed to wait most of the day before we could do any more.   


 Decided instead to let it cure on the road and headed back up the road with the hull all wrapped up. The last picture is it all wrapped up in it's new home for the rest of the build.

[pratn0]

I see the cling film survived the trip.

[Phil Alderson]

Hi Nick,

The cling film was a good call for protecting it on the way up the road. One end came slightly loose but was tucked away and did not move.

Since I got back I have been sorting the areas where the foam did not stick, most of them are on the side panels where I think they dropped down onto the flange at some point between sticking and pulling the bag down.

I have also been fairing the foam to get a smooth shape, I started with 80 grid which was not making much impact on the foam, then got some 40 grid which is doing the job nicely.

[kerrgreg]

Looking good!

[Phil Alderson]

I have mostly been working on fairing the hull, you start with a bumpy hull where each of the sections of foam fit against each other;

Then after about 45 minutes with a long board you end up with a pile of dust and a smooth hull


I have the bottom of the hull done now, I still have a bit more to do on the sides, and around the bow where I need to measure carefully to make sure that there is enough tolerance in the length and the bow profile to fit the rules once the outer skin is added.

[Phil Alderson]

The waterjet panels have arrived, they look great, the cuts are so clean and they look spot on for shape. I haven't had a chance to lay everything out, but setup the spine and bulkheads.



They also included some christmas decorations which was a nice supprise.

[Neil C.]

Looking good Phil. That's impressive progress in just a couple of weeks.
Are you planning solid wings or racks?  I think you might have told me already but I can't remember!

[Phil Alderson]

Chears Neil, I need to keep the momentum up to get it done this winter, or it will just drag out and never get finished.

I am going for solid wings, should give more places to put my feet when stumbling around the boat.

There has been a bit more progress, I got the outer skin on last weekend,



Then yesterday got it off the mould.


I have trimmed the outer flange a bit and started fettling the frames. They are really close and don't need much work, except for the fwd spine section with is not quite right around the snout, but a bit of sanding should sort that. There are also a few areas where the inner skin has not bonded to the outer, which will need a bit of repair.

Phil

[Clive Everest]

"I need to keep the momentum up to get it done this winter,"

Should be easier in Scotland.

[Clive Everest]

Looks great.

[pratn0]

glad it came off ok.

[Phil Alderson]

It was not too bad to get off, I baught some wedges from (https://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/category/wedges). Two yellow ones and one black in the smallest size, and three was very useful as you could work along the length.  The black one was the most useful as it was soft enough to get around the corner of the flange. I think that having a larger one would be be useful. In the end I made up a long wooden wedge that went in at the back and it just came off.

I have now got the transom aft part of the spine and one bulkhead in, and also have repaired all the delamination at the back. It was worse at the back, so I think the first batch of resin we put on at the back must have gone off too much by the time we got the foam on.

I am going to build a centerboard next so I can do the case.
 

[Phil Alderson]

"I need to keep the momentum up to get it done this winter,"

Should be easier in Scotland.

Good point, I would not like to try and finish a job in the Summer

[Phil Alderson]

I have made quite a bit of progress since the last update.

I have made a centerboard I got the foam core for my centreboard CNC routed to shape. It was done in two halves with a layer of carbon on the flat side to help stabilise it.

I glued the two halves together in a vac bag to give consistent clamping pressure, with the bag hung up and weighted to hold the board straight while curing. I then laminated the outside skin again trying to keep everything straight. I have two centreboards planned one long and one short. The first picture shows the long one, before any laminating, and the second shows the short board complete with some padding around it ready to make the case.

 
I have fitted most of the bulkheads and put wooden strips along the top to help spread the contact area for gluing, and along the spine to support the deck panels during gluing. I will get the last bulkhead in once I have installed the centreboard case.



I made up the king post from an old bit of RS600 mast, which I have reinforced with some additional uni’s along the unsupported area and some biax around what will be the top to help reinforce the mast step area. It is a bit long and dry fitted at the moment together with the fwd. support strut to make it easier to pull in and out to adjust the holes in the deck panels to get a good fit. The last photo shows the front and rear deck panels jointed together and roughly in position.



 

[kerrgreg]

Looking great Phil!

I best get working on Madge, at this rate you will have built an entire new boat in the time Ive repaired Madge!