Hard Top Project, Part 8

Moving along nicely, I think Paul has nailed it! The top comes out of the mold.

Below: Paul says "if you own a Henderson 30 and break that nice carbon mast, don't throw it out, one day it may come in handy" This is our Steelhead Davit with a Henderson mast extension, worked beautifully.

Final fitting 

Hardtop Project, Part 7

Lay Up Begins!

While the previous post the work happened over 4-5 days in this post the work was done in about 5-6 hours. Even with the extra slow hardener (West Systems) the team has to work very quickly.

The technique is referred to as "Wet Preg". All the cloth is precut, wetted in a bath then run between two rollers saturating the fabric and squeezing out the excess resin. The cloth is then layed out between 2 thin sheets of plastic, this allows the cloth to be handled, cut and trimmed as needed. To apply the cloth the plastic is removed from one side then the cloth is laid by hand and formed into place. Once in position the top layer of plastic is removed. Once the lay up including coring is completed the entire structure is vacuum bagged which squeezes all the layers together and pulls out any air and excess resin. The technique was first developed in New Zealand and is now a fairly common technique.


Below: Paul laying down a strip of  Wet Preg carbon cloth into one of the ribs. The plastic film has been removed from the underside of the cloth but not the topside......yet.

The center "beam". This channel is hollow for solar and light wiring.

 Wetting out the Corcell® coring.

Below: A layer of core mat which adds stiffness and prevents "bleed through" meaning the top structure when laminated on top will not show through to the underside.

Below: Bagging the entire structure.

Under vacuum!

Below: You can see the excess epoxy being pulled up into the bleed cloth. Pauls says the pressure is approximately 9 pounds per square inch, over a ton of pressure on this structure.

Hardtop Project, Part 6

The support structure is mostly carbon/epoxy/foam core construction but the "flange" that will be bonded to the flybridge coaming is solid glass/epoxy. In the previous post you can see the planning and mock up of the design. This way Paul uses the boat as a  "pattern" to accurately transfer dimensions to the workshop.  I should mention, Sylken sea is on the hard, 5 meters from Paul's shop. Convenient and efficient.




Below: This is solid glass/epoxy and will become the flange that is bonded to the boat. I thought using the boat as the "mold" was a clever idea. Once the support is bonded to this flange the entire piece will be released from the "mold" and taken to the shop for finishing.

Below: The carbon/foam/epoxy support leg bonded to the flange.

Below: Supports and flange remove and "rough" finished in the shop. Each of these weigh only 11 kg!

Below: Detail of flange/support temporarily in position. As expected the fit is perfect.

It's starting to come together now!

The top will have an opening that these supports fit into, fairly snug fit, the openings are molded into the top.  The plan is to bond the top to the supports on the boat then remove the entire structure as one single piece for painting before the final installation.

Hard Top Project, Part 5

The guys are waiting on some material to finish up the mold so they start on the support structure. Spent a whole day building a mock up, measuring and making patterns.

Above: Cutting out patterns.

Below: "OK it will go like this, right?" Discussing details and finalizing the design. The supports will not just be straight up and down nor will they be parallel to the boat centre line. They will be  angled to match the angles of the fly bridge coaming, tapered to look like part of the original boat.

Below: Mock up of the support in place, starboard side.

Happiness is a new Exhaust Elbow

Ten years, 4540 hours and four exhaust elbows, the genny is just fine!  Northern Lights has changed the design a bit, new part number. Still a casting so not sure if they have improved the life expectancy. I use a mirror and flashlight and inspect at least once a year, usually twice, 'cause if she drips nasty salty water guess where it goes? Yep, bye, bye Genny.

Hard Top Project, Part 4

Things are moving along nicely, I knew molds take time to build but I had no idea how much time. The sanding, faring, sealing is endless. Now we are in the late stages, Paul and his team are applying Teflon® release tape to the mold, almost ready to do the layup!

Below: The brown material you see is a very cool Teflon® release tape. It is called "tape" but actually comes in a large roll. Paul tells me "nothing sticks to it". I am very impressed with Paul Ammon and his team, Caribbean Carbon Works Ltd. Paul understands what we want, appreciates nice lines and understands functionality. So fun to work with someone who is passionate about their art.