Sunday, February 24, 2008

Port Hull finished

Well as much as it can be while I wait for the front beam to arrive.
I wasn't planing on having a deck beam under the rear deck but it became necessary to maintain the deck curve.
Started work on the rig. There is currently an internal jib halyard which is being removed and the mast is being made water tight.
When I come into some money I would like to put a carbon mast on, though I will be trying to source it locally.
The work on the starboard hull will progress faster as I know what I'm doing having just done the same work to the port.
ALSO!!! I've made a great discovery.
If, like me, you are prone to get epoxy resin on your hairy-ape like arms try this.
Pour some Sorbelene onto a rag and scrub it off.
Comes off easily and totally.



Monday, February 18, 2008

Progressing

The main deck stringers are installed as are the rear.

These are 18 x 18 cedar for the main and rear.They will add strength in themselves, but mainly they will give a good bond for the deck which is where the strength will come from.

Ultimately I will be adding a little wieght, though not that much. I am saving wieght with the new decks but then there is West System and glue to consider. Also beefing up chainplate, and rudder attachment points as well as beam mounts. The new larger beams are, of course, heavier.

I should achieve a saving with new rudder stocks (heads-whatever) also.

A small increase in wieght is acceptable to me. Niether the boat or it's crew are going to be competitive with the top guys on their Marstroms. They and their boats are just too good for us.

What I enjoy though is racing when it's blowing dogs off chains and being confident that the boat can take the punishment. There is nothing worse than worrying about the integrity of the construction.

I should add at this stage that this project isn't costing me a lot of money. I'm really sick of all the comments from mates of mine that you need buckets of money to sail a Tornado.

As a club boat a Tornado is no more expensive than any other large cat.

Sure Olympic campaigns are expensive. But that's not what I'm about(I'm pretty sure Darren and Glen won't be cancelling their tickets to Bejing if they see this blog).

And as a great ride there is no substitute for a Tornado. Everyone should do it.

Clamping the deck beams.


Fairing the beams sandpaper taped to aluminium beam.


Finished with central stringer.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Final fitting then back outside!

I have made up the gussets to support the beam boxes and glassed them in.

They are 25 layers of 6oz laminated and pressed.

Very difficult shape to clamp.

In the end I tacked them in place with a couple of dabs of 5min Areldite.

The boxes are glassed to the bulkhead and hull sides. the gussets are glassed to the boxes and glassed to the hullsides over fillets of glue.

When the glassing had set I drilled the beam for the outside bolts and marked it for the two inside ones. (Too difficult to accuratley drill up from inside the hull).

Finally dissassembled, returned to the garage to trim up, and put the lounges back in the living room.

Deck flanges yet to be fitted as well as a couple of 6oz layers over entire bulkhead.

The hole in the wall stays for the front beam.

Also, if you are not already following this you should be: Round The World Record Attempt.

http://www.cammas-groupama.com/en/courses/jules_verne_trophy/news/index.jsp


Panels of 25 layers 6oz.



Gussets cut out


Rear beam box fitted

Friday, February 15, 2008

It's in!

After a bit of furniture rearrangement and a small hole in the wall, the hulls are assembled in the living room. I've got the rear beam boxes glued in and lightly glassed to the bulkhead. Tomorrow, when the clamps are out of the way, I will glass in gussets and complete installation. The hulls are parallel and the diagonals come in at 4mm different over 6400mm, which will do me. As expected now that I am comitted to doing the work inside the rain has stopped and we have great weather. I doubt it will last though.



Monday, February 11, 2008

More Progress

After a slack day yesterday I have got back into it today.

The spinnaker bridle subdeck plan has been dropped as I don't think it solves the problem. The hulls are naturally strong in this area due to the two sides and deck being so close together. Spreading the load down the hull will be taken care of with the stringers I have installed. I think the main problem with this attachment is the anchoring of it as it is such a small area. So I have set the attachment in epoxy and also pined it to both stringers. The block of epoxy will be anchored to the deck and both sides as shown below.

Forestay bridle bulkhead. I have placed a 3mm ply plate on either side of the bulkhead. The bulkhead was quite secure, but I was worried about the bolt holes. There are two layers of 4oz glass between the ply and the bulkhead.

Lastly I have started laminating the rear beam bolt blocks as I want to install the beam next weekend.

The photo shows 30 layers of 6oz being pressed. From this I will cut 4 50mm x 25mm blocks to bolt through and glass to the bulkead and hullsides.

The 30 layers has come out quite thin (Maybe 6mm) so I might double them up to give 12mm.

Someone was telling me at work last night that the current weather pattern we are experiencing is forecast to stick around for 2 - 3 months. That totally rules out assembling the beams outside. (The beam boxes are glassed in with the decks off. Regardless of the sort of covering I put on, I am certain to get water in the open hulls which I really want to avoid at this stage.)

So it looks like a little remodelling will take place in the upstairs living room this week. Might start a whole new trend in decorating.

The other thing I want to do is measure the bend of my mast. Luff curve really. Should have done it before I dissassembled)

I reckon I can stay and step the mast against a wall, connect downhaul and mainsheet, secure well, and measure. (At the moment this is a non critical job best undertaken with a couple of beers and some friends standing around in the rain disscussing the best method.

The reason for the above stems from the growing amount of time I am spending lurking around the yahoo sailmaking discussion group. Some really interesting stuff and knowledgable people. (Especially with all the work Rolf has done on his tornado sails).








Saturday, February 9, 2008

New Decks








Pissing down with rain yet again.

Have decided to go with new decks. I have a few sheets of 3mm and 4mm
Gaboon ply so that's what I will be using.

I have installed deck strigers and deck beams for the foredeck.


Still have a couple of deck beams to install.

For those who are interested:

The original foredeck wieghs 3kg.

This is what I am putting in:
4mm ply foredeck = 2Kg (cut 25mm oversize)

Cedar deck beams and stringers = 910g

New subdeck for spinnaker bridle = 300g

So, with the additional subdeck I will add about 210g.

These wieghts do not include Epoxy, so it will be a little more.

I think it will be far stronger though. The old decks are pretty
tired and I think there is a good chance that you damage them when
you remove them from the hulls.

The deck beams in the photo are cut to the measuring template. I will
make sure they are fair with one another with a long sanding board.

BTW those deck beams are 28 x 28 cedar cut out with a AU$14 jig saw.
That saw has already built a previous boat.

I am wondering how long it has left.

Heard from my eldest son and his girlfriend. They are in Europe now. They went overseas with us in December and stayed. I dropped them at the Greyhound station in Kelowna BC on January 2nd, since then they have been to Mexico, Cuba, Belize, Guettemulla(sp?), UK, Now in France and heading to the Netherlands.

They are 20yrs old and financed the trip themselves.

I have always encouraged my kids to get out and see the world and I am stoked that these two are seeing so much.

My daughter, natasha, is thinking of trying to get work at Whistler when the 2010 Olympics are on. If she can land it it would be a great gig.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Just say no!

Beam boxes turned out great. That brown packing tape is a brilliant mould release,gives a beautiful finish. If, however, anyone tells you to stick it on aluminium say NO. I spent three hours today cleaning the adhesive residue off the beam with paint thinners and a plastic scourer.

Glued the top stringer in for the spinnaker subdeck. I have to use stringers rather than just glassing it in as I won't be able to reach underneath it when I install.

I was hoping to be able to set the rear beam this weekend but I don't think I'll make it. Probably just as well as the weather is meant to be wet.

I know there are a lot of people who depend on the rain for their livelyhood but this is just geting ridiculous. We had seven inches of rain in 24hrs the other day.

The drought was really good to me. Didn't have to mow the lawn, garage didn't flood, didn't have to wade through mud at work.

The way things are now (torrential rain interspersed with a bright sunny hot day) you can literally watch the grass grow.

Anyway, shoundn't complain.


Thursday, February 7, 2008

Building the beam boxes



I've made the boxes for the rear beam.




Went a bit heavier than Geoff suggested. They're 5 layers of 4 oz all the way across plus 2 more layers of 6 oz 3 in wide at each end.




The deck curve is drawn out on the beam, which has been covered in packing tape. When they set I can trim them up. The deck flanges will be added later.




Also started on the spinnaker bridle subdeck.




As shown in the photos, I made a template out of cardboard, then cut the 3mm ply.




Added a cedar stringer for the subdeck to attach to.




Wednesday, February 6, 2008

For those who thought my wife was cool for offering our living room for the rebuild.

You need some perspective.

Lisa hates boats. She thinks they are poison. This is because she spent her childhood in the front end of a Corsair. (Aussies reading will immediatley understand, for the others, well.....think of some 400kg under canvased boat that appeals to the purists).

So, as I mentioned in my first post, Lisa is happy to let me screw around with boats, but she has absolutley no interest or desire in them.

That having been said, she never complains at seeing money dissapear to support my habbit. She just seems to figure it's better to have a happy husband.

As I said earlier...... Glad I married her.

More T work



First photo shows what happens when you reach over the gagged fibreglass hull edge, secure the spanner that you know is the correct size, then give it some. Unbeknown to you the bolt head is burred.
Second pic shows an area that I am concerned about. I worry that the white area is shitty glass bonding.
Maybe I am wrong, but I am going to grind it out and replace it anyway.
Also, wieghed a hull, it came in at 44k with rudder pintles and chain plates attached. I think that is pretty good.
Given that the new rear beam wieghs heaps (haven't wieghed it , but it must be close to 8 or 10k.
Still........ Happy with hull wieghts for a twenty year old boat.

Monday, February 4, 2008

That's why I married her

My garage is too small to fit the Tornado in assembled so I’ve been doing this job outside.

(Fitting new beams http://yellowtaxi.blogspot.com/)

Trouble is all the rain.

So, half joking, I say to my wife “If you really wanted to impress me you wouldn’t mind if I set the Ts beam boxes in the living room”

Lisa says “Yeah, that’d be OK, no one goes up there much anyway.”

Shit!

I race up with the tape measure. The living room is 6m long. The Tornado comes in at 6.050 or thereabouts.

Anyway the next day I say “Guess I’d be pushing my luck if I knocked that wall down”

Lisa says “No, it’d be great having one big room up there”

Trouble is I’m all set up for a boat job not a house renovation.

Still it’s the thought that counts.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Removing The Decks





Managed to get the decks off port hull.

Started off using a chissel but this was a bit messy, so I went with a thin cut off wheel in the grinder.

All subdecks and bulkheads are in excellent condition, no cracks, which came as a bit of a surprise.