Started the port side

The port side only had a 12" square delaminated area. This should be much easier to do than the other side was. :)

Final layer of glass / carbon....

Weather was good again (~45 this morning), so I decided to lay up the final layers of 3K carbon fiber and 14.5 oz glass. The final count is 1 strip 8" 6K carbon fiber as a stiffener under the traveler, 1 layer overlapped 12" 14.5oz glass, 1 strip 4" glass tape under the traveler, 1 layer continuous 3K carbon fiber, and a final 12" 14.5 oz glass strip under the traveler again. Seems pretty tough...I hope it stays together over the racing season. I've got a 12" hole in the seat on the port side I'll do next time I go down...will be easy to do in one layup I think.

New Gauge

Hey, the system is old and beat, but it works and the gauge looks good and pressure seems to read well. 3K PSI max for this boat!!

Backstay Pressure

The contraption in the photo is our old Stearns hydraulic backstay adjuster. The gauge never worked, so I'm replacing it with one from here. http://www.gaugestore.com/gaugestore/97wikpresgau26.html
Nice price, quick ship. I'll let you know how it works out.

Added a layer of 14.5 oz glass

The weather was cool today, around 40. Decided to add the 14.5 oz skin components. I used 12" cloth run transversally in 4 sections for this layer. I also ran a row of 4" tape down the center where I had overlap on the carbon. I wet out the glass on a piece of polyethelyne sheeting, then applied the wet mess by hand. It stuck well and all that was required was a little smoothing. I wore purple nitrile gloves this time....huge difference, no mess. :)

Skin started

Was blowing blue stink today (40 from the north). Working in the boat on stands made me more nervous than I think I would have been sailing in the same conditions! The core appears to have set well in place. Today I added an 8" 6K carbon fiber strap directly under the traveler. I ran it up the back of the seat and down the seat front. This should give me a little extra strength / less flex in this area where the traveler loads are high. Next will come the layer of 14.5oz glass over the carbon and the rest of the seat, and then a final layer of carbon 3K over the whole thing.

Core Set in Place

Was a nice day today...a little too nice, as the temperature approached 60 degrees. The Low Temperature Epoxy I have is good from 38 to 60...eek! After sanding the bulk of the old 'blue cheeze' filler off the deck, I test fit the compression fixture to make sure it would hold everything in place while the epoxy cured.

Next was to mix up the Low Temperature Epoxy and prime the surfaces. This was no big deal, but I did notice that the epoxy did not go as far as I thought it would. Oh well. After priming both surfaces, I added the hardener to the BOG mix I made up front by thickening the part A with colloidial silica...I did this so I would not waste time mixing. The mix was not as thick as I wanted, so I had to go back and add more filler. Again, the bog did not go as far as I thought it would. I pasted the boat surface with one batch, and hit the core with another batch. It was no where near the thickness I originally wanted...I ended up with about a millimeter thick layer on everything.

I hope it's enough! It was enough to hold the core in place without support. After sticking the core up, I pressed it in place with a hydraulic jack and a length of 2x4 pressing just the foam board. The thing I made earlier with the luan was too stiff and I needed too much pressure to get it to conform to the seat. The foam ended up working well. I squeezed it gently and just enough to get epoxy to ooze out around the edges a little. After that, I filled some hardware holes on the deck with epoxy to keep the water from getting in to the core. I plan to pull all the hardware eventually....but time limits me and I'm doing the high priority stuff 1st. Oh, BTW, a dixie cup of the Low Temp epoxy with no filler at 60 degrees will get so hot you can't hold the cup!! It is definitely not good unthickened at warm temps.

Some January Progress

Built the form today to press the balsacore into place once everything else is ready to go. I used 1/2" blue foam board cut as a template for the core material. That was pretty easy. The form is just a section of thin luan plywood cut to size. The idea is to press the core in place into a good epoxy bog and press it with light pressure from a hydraulic jack. It will take the slight curve of the seats from the pressure. The form is covered with polyethelyne plastic and will be reused to hold the skin on during the next step.