2007 building logs

July 07 Inside the boat starts

With the underside of the boat now complete except for fitting such things as daggerboards, rudders, outboard holes and the nose cones the rest of the work on the boat is for the inside or topsides. Even though a lot of work will still take place off the boat, such as building the saloon roof and some furniture, I now have to start internal fit out so a lot of work will now be inside the hulls, starting with the uni taping, keelsons and hull floor webs. So that is what I will start on this month.

July 01 Cutting uni strips.

The cross boat bulkheads (4,5,6,7) are strengthened with uni tape along the top edge of the bulkhead (after removing the balsa core to a depth of 25mm) and also on either side of the bulkheads on the bridgedeck laid one layer on top of another. On one bulkhead 15 layers of 450g uni is specified. However, I have some 1000g uni and after consulting the designers I am advised that I can substitute 2 layers of 450g with 1 layer of 1000g which at least halves the number of layers but as they are thicker the end result will be a very similar size stack and amount of resin used, it will just be a little less work. I have started cutting the uni strips to length from the 1300mm wide roll. I started by cutting off a section of the roll to the longest uni needed and then I started stripping it down into 50mm strips in the same way I did for the uni on the underwing stiffeners. Unfortunately I forgot to take an pictures but I need more strips so I will take some then.

July 08 No boat work for this week.

This week came and went and before I knew it the week was gone and no work was done on the boat. I started feeling a little unwell on Monday, and spent Tuesday in bed getting progressively worse with the flu. On Wednesday and Thursday I was in Melbourne on business although I probably should have been in bed. I spent Friday very busy working and still feeling unwell.

On Saturday Jo and I went into Sydney for the Live Earth concert. For those that don't know, this was one of 9 concerts around the world organised by Al Gore to highlight environmental damage and to encourage green practices. As Jo and I aspire to live aboard our boat and be as power and water self sufficient as we can and to use our motors to the absolute minimum (I would really like to have electric engines and not have to rely on fuel ever but that is not yet attainable and a generator would be needed for extended motoring and the cost of electric options are still staggeringly expensive) we felt our intentions meant we were not totally hypocritical. But we also learnt that we can start to do the right thing now by just doing things like changing light globes to energy efficient compact fluoro's and turning off lights and appliances not in use. (We already practice not having lights on as we will have to get used to living that way anyway, but even things like having a dvd player on standby is wasting power).

Anyway back to the weekend, we went along because we also like many of the bands on the schedule which included Wolf Mother, Eskimo Joe, Missy Higgins but for us the highlights were the reformed Crowded House, Paul Kelly and best of all the John Butler Trio, but more importantly we were celebrating. We stayed at the Sebel Pier One hotel right on Sydney harbour almost directly under the harbour bridge. The more observant long time readers would know that this weekend was our 1st wedding anniversary. Many people ask me (mostly in jest but some serious) how I convinced my wife to agree to building and cruising a cat and my answer besides the obvious choose the right wife, is not to let the build get in the way of your relationship, which means sometimes it takes a back seat. I gladly take a break from the build from time to time as I decided before I started that I did not subscribe to the notion that you had to give up living now for a great lifestyle later in order to achieve this dream, you have to be realistic and continue to enjoy some of the things you do to maintain your health, your relationships and your lifestyle.

This morning we started with Pancakes then a 2 hour walk around circular quay and the Opera House and around the botanical gardens to take a look at the American Aircraft Carrier the Kitty Hawk. This is one huge ship. It is at dock with the aircraft all along the deck, jets and choppers. We saw the 2 queens (Cunard lines Queen Mary and QE2) in February and this boat rivals the QM. We hope we never have to stare up the bow of one at sea! Then once we got back to the car to go home we couldn't get the key to rotate to start the car. We rang the auto club (NRMA) and they asked if it was our immobiliser because they were getting a lot of calls about immobilisers due they thought to the Kitty Hawk sending out some kind of blocking signal. I wouldn't be surprised. We got the car started and drove home but left the car outside the dealer in case we cant start it again in the morning and will have a new lock fitted.

Anyway, that's the weekend. I am still coughing and spluttering and no work done on the boat to report. I should be able to get back to it soon. Jo and I had a great weekend and I love Jo very much. Jo and I decided that we will try and start a tradition of staying the night of our anniversary in a nice hotel somewhere around the world each year especially after we start cruising so even if we are in a lovely harbour somewhere we will stay the night in a hotel. Jo suggested we start next year with the Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong followed by Raffles Singapore the year after, which if we do will mean we will probably only be able to afford one outboard which in turn would mean we use less fossil fuel so a win win I guess!

Life is great and the boat is coming along nicely. In the next few weeks, once the uni strips are done I will start on the keelsons and hull webs which will include starting on the plumbing of pipes and wiring conduits through the web under the hull floors. Fun stuff.

July 13 Uni Stripping.

I am glad I have some 1000g uni. I had to cut 35 strips of 50mm (I cut them to 60mm because here and there you lose the outside strand). The plans show uni strips on both sides of bulkheads 4, 5, 6 and 7 but I don't know how I am going to get uni on the front of bulkhead 4 as this is where the webs are on the up curved section. I will leave this until last and ring the designers on Monday. It took me 4 hours to cut the strips needed so if I was using 460g it would have taken a whole day. As it was I started stripping on Wednesday and finished today.

Bulkhead 4 calls for 7 layers of 460g so I will lay 4 layers of 1000g on the rear of the bulkhead. Then bulkhead 5 calls for 13 layers of 460g on each side so I will lay 6 layers of 1000g each side, then bulkhead 6 calls for 5 layers of 460g each side so I will lay 3 layers of 1000g each side, then finally bulkhead 7 calls for 15 layers of 460g each side so I will lay 7 layers of 1000g each side, which if my math is correct comes to 35 strips (plus 4 more if I need to put them under the webs on the front of bulkhead 4).

The length of the unis are staggered from waterline over the bridgedeck to the other waterline to start and then staggered back to the bridgedeck join (so just lapping over the bridgedeck onto the chamfer panel). The reason for the stagger is to diffuse the load similar to the way leaf springs work in suspension.

Whilst I finished the stripping today Jo used the dust extractor to vacuum the floor of the shed. I still have to sand the underwing deck to hull join so I will probably get dust all over the floor again, then for a while the work will all be inside the hulls so the floor might stay clean for a while.

On Saturday I will start the wet out process. I plan to lay one layer at a time and wet it out on the job as I go. The plans suggest the ADR resin is better for this job. Once each stack of uni is down I have to cove the top and maybe the edges and then layer a final finishing layer of biax and peel ply.

Today as we drove past the boat ramp at Gosford we noticed a cat on the back of a truck and a crane next to it and originally thought it was being launched. It was actually being lifted out so the owner can refurbish it in his front yard. So we followed it to his house and watched it being lifted off the truck, over powerlines and trees into his front yard. It was great to see and whilst seeing a cat dangling from a crane would always be nerve-wracking it did ease our nervousness about this process a little. Check it out.

And James has been busy making the second hull of Nine Lives. The bulkheads are all stood and the stringers are all in place and today the boys were planking the hulls. They tell me that they intend to glass this hull during the coming week so some time the week after that the hull will be turned and preparations will be made to join the hulls. by the end of the month this boat will be at the same stage mine is, well minus the fairing I have done!

July 13 Laying Uni's.

I was at the shed for 7 hours today, but I spent nearly 2 hours of that time chatting to visitors. One of the great things about building a cat like this (and publicly on the website) is that there are many interested in what I am doing and the catamaran community is without doubt the friendliest bunch of people around. Take yesterday for example. I stopped to watch the cat above being loaded onto the truck and after less than 5 minutes chatting to the owner and explaining my interest he had offered me a sail on his cat as soon as he gets it back in the water. Amazing! He only knew me for 5 minutes! Today Amnon and his brother Sam, both contemplating building a cat (together) visited for a run down on what is involved in building a cat and my progress to date. After going over the build so far and my plans for how and what I am doing, I told them they must attend the next Schionning muster in October to see finished cats on the water. Along with visiting works in progress, seeing finished boats is a must see for anyone thinking of building.

So when I eventually did get to work I set about laying down the uni tapes to the back of Bulkhead 4 (the front of the bedrooms). I suspect I am going to have to cut holes in the webs forward of this bulkhead in the curved section to lay uni tapes there too but I will leave that until last. If I do have to do that I will also lay a conduit down to take the water pipes for the forward ensuite in the sb hull before gluing the cut-out pieces back in. It would have been much easier to cut these sections out before gluing the deck up but no big deal. It may not even be necessary, I still have to confirm with the designers.

I mixed up pots of 400g of ADR resin and pots of 100g of ADR hardener and used a third pot to pour into and mix. If you use 3 pots this way you can use 1 for each of the parts and have a texta mark on the side for a rough idea and then as you weigh them you can add or subtract back into the main drums until correct weight and then use the third pot to pour them into to mix, and then you can always have the next pots full and ready to mix. The stuff doesn't start to go off until you mix them, so this way you are always ready with the next pot as you may run out half way through a tape. (This resin is also know as kinetics and has a much longer pot life than West so you are not under the same time pressure so this readiness is not as critical but still a handy habit to be in because in summer you definitely don't have time to waste).

I laid down 4 uni tapes each shorter by about 300mm each end than the one below it with the longest on the bottom. I rolled the uni's up and then unrolled them laying them out dry on the bridgedeck. I placed the first right up against the bulkhead and once it was centred I wet it out starting at the centre and working out to the ends. With each subsequent tape I unrolled them about 200mm behind the bulkhead, then I placed the tape a little at a time into place over the wet tape below and again starting from the middle out to each side and down into the hull I wet the tape out using a brush and a tub of resin. I repeated this until all 4 tapes were down and wet.

I then mixed up some coving material and coved the bridgedeck to bulkhead angle over the uni tapes. I didn't have to do this in the hulls as these had already been coved when I taped the bulkheads into the hulls, I just had to blend the deck cove into the hull coves for a smooth transition. I then used the wombat and West resin to wet out a 200mm tape and covered over the uni's with a final double bi tape and then I covered it all with peel ply. Most of these tapes will be completely covered by furniture with only small sections visible so I used recycled peel ply. A tip here is that it is much easier to lay peel ply in flat sections and to cut the peel ply and start again on the next angle than trying to make peel ply go around corners.

Because the ADR is mixed by weight 4:1 I know exactly how much resin I used. I used 4 lots of 500g of resin. Each full length (7500mm) x 60mm at 1000g per square meter means that each full length of tape weighed about 450g. Each tape was about 600mm shorter than the tape before and I had about a quarter of a tub or 120g of resin left when finished. So I think I can say I used close enough to 1:1 resin on the uni's. I also used 12 pumps of resin (each pump is 50g) or 600g to wet out a 7500mm x 200mm 457g double bi tape, this works out to 685 grams of tape, and I used up the last of the ADR (It still hadn't gone off!) so about 700g of resin give or take for 685 grams of tape, again, as close as spit to 1:1. I am pretty chuffed that without consciously trying I am getting an almost perfect resin to glass ratio.

No pictures today because I was too busy getting the job done after wasting time early. It took me 5 hours to lay the 5 tapes but I figure I will get much faster now that I have done 1 set. I may even be able to get double that much done in the same time next time. Either both sides of a similar layout or one of the 7 layer layouts. I will stop for photos next time.

July 16 More Laying Uni's.

I had a late start today and was also distracted by having a TV on in the shed (on the bridgedeck!) to watch my team get smashed again in the football. I was contemplating going as my team is only ever in Sydney once a year (I follow Carlton for the Southern State Aussies) but decided to keep going on the boat with the TV on.

I worked for 5 hours (from 1.30pm until 6.30pm) and managed to get the 3 unis on each side of bulkhead 6 laid and the double bi and peel ply over the top (and the coving on the bridgedeck to ease the tape around). So about twice as much work as yesterday as predicted. Actually I laid 8 layers (6 unis and 2 double bias) compared to 5 for the same time yesterday so not quite twice as fast. I can probably work a little faster again if not distracted by a TV although there were few highlights for me so I probably didn't miss too much work! It could be worse I guess, we could be a decent team and lose, so as a bum team losing is no great surprise. All we can hope for now is to not win any more games this year and get an extra pick in the draft!

So back to the boat, same process as yesterday. Laying down the longest tapes first right up against the bulkhead and wetting it out with ADR resin mixed 4:1 by weight, then laying the next tape down behind it, lining it up and placing the tape on top of the now already wet uni below and wetting it out with a brush and then finally the third uni. The reason ADR is used is so that there is not too great a heat build up in the layers of uni, which if I was using 460g could be as many as 15 layers.

Then I coved the bridgedeck section either side and then I started up the wombat and wet out the double bias with West resin. I had it already on the top spindle in one long length with a texta mark at the length needed ready to cut, this saved reloading the wombat as I could cut it after it went through ready to wet the next tape, otherwise you have to push the next tape through a partially filled bag of resin which can get a bit messy.

Once I had the final double bi tapes on (on both sides) I applied the peel ply. I alway apply the peel ply last once I have finished all of what I consider the compulsory work, as I consider peel ply to be non essential. It is helpful but not mandatory, it is more important to tape wet on wet wherever possible as the bond is much better and it is much less work. If I applied the peel ply onto the just laid tape before going on and applying the next tape I may have run out of time before getting that tape on, which I wanted to avoid. In the end even though I was running over time (I usually like to be home around 6pm) I pressed on and got the peel ply on. Oh and I decided that both sides of BH6 have a fairly high rate of visibility especially on the cockpit side as there is not much furniture to cover it, so I used new peel ply. No easier to apply (in fact it seemed more difficult because it is less stiff so creases and wrinkles are more prevalent which in turn cause bubbles which are then also harder to get out) but I should get a better final finish as once you do get the bubbles out, the finish of new peel ply is smoother.

So with 3 bulkhead sides done (rear of BH4 and both sides of BH6) I have 4 or 5 more depending on whether I have to do the front of BH4. The 2 remaining bulkheads 5 and 7 have heavy load bearing and have 6 (BH5) or 7 (BH7) layers of uni each side so these jobs are likely to take a minimum of 3 - 4 hours each side so it is doubtful I can get these done during the afternoons this coming week so I may have to wait until next weekend to start on these. (wet on wet means I must finish once I start)

July 17 Prep work in the hulls.

Because the next uni sets are 6 or 7 layers, and because I want to complete the wet out start to finish, I don't get enough time on weeknights to finish so I cant start them. I will do them on the weekend. In the meantime there is plenty of other work to do. Today I sanded the tapes on the inside of both hulls and sanded the join of each hull ready to fill the gaps left and laying a layer of glass down to fully seal it. (Remember I had to add a piece down the middle of each hull due to a 20mm gap down the middle, and because the hulls were upside down I wanted to wait until I had gravity on my side.

So I spent 2 hours today sanding. Not a pleasant job but not a major hassle. I also spent a couple of hours yesterday just pottering about thinking of where I would be putting things, like water tanks, grey and black tanks, and just generally daydreaming about how the boat will work. Whilst I am not counting those hours towards the build, many hours can be saved by spending time now and again just working things out. I also refined some ideas I have been working on.

I may not have to run uni tapes on the front of bulkhead 4, I can add more uni tape to the back of the bulkhead to make up the difference, which is probably what I will do, however I am thinking that I may run a pvc pipe through the forward webs so I can run wiring and water pipes for the forward ensuite inside it and I may run the unis over the pvc pipe (and let it set before putting the pvc pipe in) with overhang to go down into the hulls. I am not sure yet but it will all make sense with pictures to help explain it if I go ahead and do it.

July 21 Another set of unis.

I did not manage to get much meaningful work done during this week but it all helps. I sanded the bottoms of the hulls (keel panels) and then cleaned up inside the hulls ready for the next stage of laying down the floor webs and soles and keelsons. I was heading for a less than full day today with a later than anticipated start but I still managed to get all the work I set out to do. I have laid the 6 layers of uni down on each side of bulkhead 5, plus the layer of double bi and peel ply each side. And I did it in just under 6 hours, that's only half an hour for each layer which I thought was pretty good going.

Recently (well for a while actually) I have noticed that the skin around my eyes feels like it is sunburnt a few days after applying resin all day, so I decided that I would get a full face mask to protect my eyes. I think the resin gives off fumes that burn any sensitive skin like that around the eyes so a way to reduce or stop this is to stop the fumes getting at that skin. A good investment. So with everything laid out ready I got to wetting out 14 layers of glass. The routine was the same as previous, wetting out the uni with a brush, one layer over the next, each one slightly shorter than the one below like a leaf spring and then, once all the layers were down one each side, I mixed up some filler and coved the bridgedeck to bulkhead. Then finally using the wombat I wet out the double bias for each side and laid it down and then peel ply to finish.

I have only bulkhead 7 (both sides) left to do and forward of bulkhead 4 which I am still contemplating doing by cutting hole saw holes and laying a pvc pipe through with the uni attached to it. Once all of the uni is done I will start on the floor webs and keelsons in each hull.

A friend warned me that the next 2 years of work will look painstakingly slow with each task taking much longer than the job appears, and if you were to be visited on the build by a non builder 6 months apart they would wonder what you had been doing for so long with little visible progress. I am starting to feel that way with 3 weeks taken up laying unis and the overall appearance of the boat changing little in that time. I guess this is a timely warning for readers not to expect too much physical change over the next few months as the more time consuming jobs eat up the time for little to show.

Both hulls on Nine Lives are now finished and the second hull is turned. The next task for James is to plumb and line up the hulls ready for joining. I imaging they will overtake me in about 2 weeks.

July 22 One more set of unis.

I have just 2 sets of unis to go now, the 4 layers in front of BH4 and the back of BH7 over the duckboard. I only managed one side of bulkhead 7 today, 7 layers of 1000g uni and a layer of 457g double bias with the same to go. I only have 2 more lengths of 1000g so I will have to use some 460g. I have a 100mm roll of 460g so I will cut half as many as I need and fold them when wetting out to get to the 50mm I need. I figure I need 5 lengths for the back of BH7 and 2 lengths for the front of BH4.

I had a light day today, just 4 hours. I did not have time to do both sides anyway or I should say I didn't want to work for that long today, so I took it easy and just did the front set. Once I have the last set behind BH7 done, I will start on the hull webs and leave the very last set in front of BH4 for later when I push through plumbing and wiring.

I also want to finish the forebeam and fit it soon, and maybe the saloon roof after that and it would be fun to start on the strip planking as these once made are taken off again until after everything is fitted so it would be nice to have that job done, both for the time consuming nature of it (the fairing!) because as the end of the build nears it would be great to have a big hurdle already done, but more for getting the visual that the finished sides and decks give to the boat. Also winter is the best time to do big glass and glue jobs (strip planking and saloon roof) as the open time is so much longer.

The next couple of months should be interesting.

July 29 Unis done

Not much to report this weekend. I had a couple of interruptions to work time, we got a new couch delivered on Saturday and in the good tradition of delivery people I had to wait all day for them to turn up, which could have been anytime from 9 am until they eventually arrived at 3pm so the whole day wasted, too late to go and do any significant boat work. Then just to compound my wasted weekend, we had sold our old couch on eBay and the buyer was supposed to turn up between 12 and 2pm and at 1.55pm I get a call from him to say he didn't receive my email and because we had not confirmed a time (which we did do in the email he didn't get) he was not coming until next Saturday.

So to say I was annoyed was an understatement. But I managed to channel my annoyance into energy and got 4 good hours work done today. I laid the last uni's onto the back of bulkhead 7 and started preparing the 13mm duflex panels which house the last pieces of the shell stage items such as floor webs and soles, cockpit furniture, steps and a few other pieces of the build for gluing together under the deck of the boat. I have removed all of the legs now so it is a big open space under there.

I think the next step will be to make some steps up to the deck from the ground out of the timber I braced the bridgedeck with to make getting up and down into the boat easier, one of the milk crates squashed under me and I almost did a face plant today. I ended up on my bum on the floor but lucky I didn't fall more awkwardly and injure myself. A timely warning to make the steps.

I keep telling myself I have to get more hours in, as I only managed 30 hours so far this month. I did miss nearly 2 whole weekends (anniversary celebrations and this lost weekend), and I may also have a short month next month, next weekend the Sydney boat show is on and at the end of August I am going to the snow for a week but fortunately I will only miss one weekend instead of the usual 2 there. I am also thinking I would like to do some of the really meaty work soon, like planking the hull to deck curves, they are removed to glass the inside and can then be left off until the end once all the internal furniture is in, and I may finish the forebeam and fit it.

No pictures today but nothing much interesting that I have not already covered happened, but it should start to get interesting again in the next few weeks.