Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Ring Frames 1...

There are 3 ring frames to help form the shape of the upper hull/deck.



Here is how the ring frames will look inside the boat.




Here the various ring frame parts are getting a fiberglass skin.


Two ring frame pieces are joined with a butt block on one side.

The parts are coated with thickened epoxy...



...and clamped.















The ring frames are strengthened with a laminated 10 x 50 mm cap.  I used 5 strips for each lamination.




The ring frame is clamped to the table with spacers underneath so that the ring lamination is centered on the frame



One frame with a ring and one without.



The side opposite the butt block gets a two layer glass reinforcement.


This ring frame goes completely across the boat.

I did the lamination of this full frame in 2 steps.  The nearer lamination is clamped but not yet glued to the frame.  It is isolated from the further lamination (which is being glued) with clear packing tape.



Keel Fin Tool...


The boat will be getting a pre-preg carbon laminated fin with douglas fir shear web.  It is important for the keel fin to fit accurately into the keel box.  Gabe Murphy made a one-off tool for the keel fin using a CNC milling machine.   The keel fin will be laminated in this tool.  The tool has a left and a right side.  Here are the two blanks on the milling machine table.





Almost done.

The two halves have been milled and are now sealed.  The near end is the top and will form a taper to fit tightly in the keel box.  The bottom has a tab that fits into a socket in the lead keel bulb.


All finished and ready for the lay up.