Not quite 'back on track'

Ordered and received the NEXUS instruments. Gone for the NX Starter Pack 1, which includes; wireless wind transducer, log, depth and water triducer and one read-out. Simple and great price! Thanks All Spars!!

Did a little with Guy this afternoon, first of the last two remaining longitudinals, did forward of the fin casing. We were finding that the boat was bending too much to do both as we were moving around in the hull so (and as I was needed at home) we settled for just the one until tomorrow sometime. Hope to get the LAST one in place tomorrow.

Also hope to post some photos tomorrow as my camera has been used at home with the new edition to the family

Ah, found one on the computer of where most of my time has been spent, bathing etc

More tomorrow

Fitting the Keel Box

Friday evening was spent re-levelling the boat (pre-going to the pub!) just to make sure that the boat hadn't strayed off the perpendicular and horizontal. Sure enough, what wih the workshop being a shared space and all our leaping in and out of the boat she had moved a little. We checked the waterlines marked on the bulkheads using as our level a clear plastic tube filled with water. The height the water is at one end is always the same height at the other and with two of you it is very easy to check all round the boat, not to mention cheaper that a laser level. Before long we were happy that the boat was level and we could head to the pub knowing that the keel could be fitted quickly in the morning.

The keel box went in a just a little more than a push fit so we had some wiggle freedom required to align the keel. You can probably also see the small bit of sail batten sticking up on the leading edge, this was to replace the material we took away when cutting the keelbox from the keel.


With the boat nice and level we then put in the keel and made sure that she was vertical and with no twist. We effectively ignored the keel box.


Once the keel was properly aligned we u-pol'ed the keel to the floor of the workshop! Not going anywhere now! I am sure there are better ways to to this, but we do love U-Pol!

The other thing we did before glassing in with our usual fillets and 100mm 450 +-90 was to add a little more support whilst we worked within the boat, especially now we had a hole in the bottom and the keel was perfectly aligned. Nothing complicated, just a few planks to support the bottom of the hull.

And then we glassed her in. Note that after we had filleted the keel box with a micro-fibre resin mix, but before doing the taping we added some overlapping patches of some more 450 +-90 on the hull at both the leading and trailing edges of the keel box to take the load of the keel into the hull in case of grounding etc. You can see the extent of the patching by looking at the peel-ply on the hull in the picture below. We have 3-layers; 100x100mm, 250x250mm and finally the last layer of 400x 400mm.

Next we will add the logitudinal on top of the patching, extending from the keel box to the bulkheads just fwd and aft.

Even Keel

Time to cut a hole. The following picture sequence should explain all!

We have cut the hole slightly large than the keel box so we can have room to align when the time comes. The keel box has its 2 lots of 450 +- 90 lapped on the front to replace the bit we cut down the leading edge (see last blog). Pictures of that during the next post.

"Fein" saw to cut the bulkhead and the hole for the foil.

A Hole! We need to cut out the aft block but will do that once the keel box taping has cured

She fits!

The happy father with the keel.

Extra Frames

OK, back on it hoping to get everything under the deck sorted (about time!) this week - what with a bank holiday coming along too, surely this is achievable! Above is a piccie of the keel "box". We just wrapped it around the foil (which had packaging tape on) with an acetal block to take the trailing edge. The block also helps us spread the load into the hull/deck/glass when we go aground - after all this is going to be raced in the Solent! We then cut along the leading edge so we could easily release the glass from the keel. We will replace in way of the cut as well as adding a little spacer so the keel slides easily. You could easily make a ply-box instead, but we had the glass and is just as straight forward.



Hopefully you can see the extra frames I have added today in the picture above (2nd and 4th one back in the picture). Basically mid-panel ring frames in the slamming areas. It may be argued either way whether one needs them or not, but I have decided that the extra stiffness for a small weight penalty is probably worth it. Back down again tomorrow to get working on the keel.

Oh so quiet.....

Apologies to all for the deafening silence:

Holiday, Cowes Week, Commodore Cup, New born baby, Sail lofts and design studios (not to mention all the other stuff) have intervened. However I seem to have cleared the decks so while Gerry is tending to his new project (baby), I thought I might spend some mornings down at the yard as I did this morning.

And a question to all... Anyone out there who wants to start building now, with the time resources to get a boat up and running (i.e. quicker than us!!)? Get in touch. We can talk about helping you with your project; at the moment all I get is guilt that we are not sailing yet, as well as an outbox full of excuses!! We will still continue our build and identify any changes that we think might be needed but as you can tell - it is not always good asking a busy man to to a job!

Heading back down to the yard so expect some more pictures later today.

Decision time

Advise has been coming from all over the place on some extra structure in the 'crash-zone'! Guy has taken some of it on-board and made a decision. For the sake of it, we've today cut some extra frames that will go in-between the bulkheads nearer the bow. We hope to bond and glass them in place tomorrow after the last longitudinal is in place.

Working from the bow to the wide end we're going to finish all the structural bits, and as we've made the keel casing (photo to follow), this is gonna be one of the next sections to complete. Had a few 'real' boat builders look over the area and listened to their advise, now all they need to do is show up for work!

Unfortunately as I'm quite busy at work I cannot get the mast onto the loft floor to get some bits and pieces sorted, the splicing of halyards is something I would like to get done soon, I know just the person! Chain plates have been designed by Guy, the local engineering shop will get a drawing soon. Once we've designed the adjustable forestay and hardware (and the structure etc is done in the boat, including the chain plates) the mast will go up and final measurements will go to North Sails UK for finishing the sail design.

Back to work.............

Bow sprit in place

More accomplished: Longitudinal went into the bow section, bonded and taped, 'floor' on top of that, also bonded and taped. Starting to feel really solid in that area now. Bow sprit support tube bonded in place, now needs a good rub down and clean-up after my messy filling. Support tube needs taping in next.

The aft bonding was heaps neater as there was more room to work in.

We had to run a new centre line to position the sprit. We extend the sprit all the way out and clamped in place as the bonding cured. It's damn close to perfect, I might add.

As we're now going to have an adjustable forestay, (this should give us more control of the rig as we've no backstay) we need to concentrate a little more on more structure in the bow area. The support tube will help for the compression loads we're expecting.

More to follow as we're about to start on the casing for the fin. We are moulding it from glass over the fin itself as the mould, this should be interesting, watch this space.....................

Holey Tubes

We have taken a hole saw to the bow (see above). The over lamiation shaping foam and ply are clearly shown. We played about with height of the exit and have gone for a slightly higher location than originally drawn... the first update to the plans required!

For the glass tube we literally wrapped around the spinnaker pole with a split plastic pipe as our spacer (which may act as our bearing material too) then packaging tape as a further spacer and release material. Was a bit of a bugger to release once the glass had gone off but we managed it by making good use of a couple of jubliee clips to squish each end of the plastic tube once we had removed the spinnaker pole which came out easily. Now to bond in.

Bow Sprit.

The Bowsprit has arrived! 59mm dia. section from Allspars. It will not be the length shown (unless Gerry gets his way). I reckon that the section is marginal for our purposes so we will strengthen the inboard section.



We have been making a tube between the first and second bulkhead today purely as a watertight housing. It is perfectly acceptable just to use a bit of PTFE at each bearing surface instead. I will post on making the glass tube tomorrow.

Hull n Rig

We have been a bit remiss in updating the blog, but that doesn't mean we have come to a stand-still although a bit more time dedicated to the project would be welcome. Another push coming on though!The hull and main bulkheads are all taped in and we have been playing with the rig and starting to produce some of the details. No problems with the hull, we we able to comfortably stand in the boat and tape, the boat getting stiffer all the while. Even the bow are was easy to finish with the flat stem and generous fillets.

We have fitted the outhaul in the boom, we have gone for a 4:1 purchase at this stage. We are using Dyneema 6mm and Tylasker spool shackles (just because they are easy!). We will probably use the same technology on the tack too.


Tylasker Spool Shackle above


For the 4:1 cascade we used in order (from the user!)
HKN 376 block on a small eye
A friction cleat
HKN 421 Thru-deck (through Boom)
Antal 10x7 Low friction ring
HKN 340 29mm Carbo
Tylasker Spool Shackle
6mm Dyneema

It seems Guy has been around to 'steal' my camera with photos taken in the last 2 weeks or so to add to the blog. Some things have happened with the hull, mast, boom and bow sprit, (that arrived last week) in that time. I hope Guy adds the pics and writes a great blog.

Over to you mate.......

Rig Delivery

We went and fetched the rig from the mainland yesterday; boom, standing rigging and mast. Fortunately the Solent was pretty smooth so we weren't too affected by the fact the mast is somewhat larger than my little RIB! Detailed pictures of the section and components to follow when we unwrap. The skill here is to make sure that once we have checked all the components, they are neatly packaged again so there are no dramas when it comes to installation. We will either swage and finish ourselves or more likely get a local rigger to do it on our behalf. Rigs/plans that we will supply will be to the finished lengths but leaving it unfinished and over length for the prototypw means that if there are minor changes to the design (maststep/chainplates etc) we can freely make them and it will not be a disaster.

Ground/Grind Hog Day

One section at a time; a quick key up of the shiny fillets and then bogging any of the gaps and taping in one hit.... why didn't we do this all in one go when the boat was upside down at the stitch stage? However one section at a time is quick easy and manageable. The keel area is next so we might skip this (just do the chines) and come back when the keel trunk is made. I think we will mould the trunk seeing as we have the keel section, but a ply trunk would do just fine.

As an aside, the sail plan is with North Sails and we hope to have something back from them shortly; when we have a itinery I will add to the blog.

Stuff used:

See previous entry!

Taping Up

A few hours on the weekend (thank you Ed) and finally we have begun taping... that's the trouble with this time of year; it should have been a winter project when we had some time. Ed popped in and started the taping on the promise that he will be the third member of our crew when it comes to sailing time. A few hours of prep (sanding back the fillets) and taping and it is starting to look good. The transom was an easy area to reach and finish and has stiffened up the back of the boat enough to hopefully work on the next section easily. This is not the way to do the boat in one hit, but if you are short of time and resource its quite a nice way of working! I prepped the next section early on this afternoon and intend to pop back this evening and tape. If we ever manage to get a couple of us down at once we will finish all the bottom in one hit!!

Note that we added a few tapes at the bottom of the transom to spread the load to the hull from the rudder. This was done before the addition of the longitudinal to ensure continuity of the taping.

You may be able to see that the peel-ply is not fully wetted out; this won't give as nice a finish, but it will mean that we do not have an excess of resin and therefore less weight ... there are arguments either way but we will probably wet out the peel-ply fully where we will add additional reinforcement over the top so that it adheres better.



Stuff used:
Peel Ply
100mm Tape E-Glass 450 +- 45
Ampreg 21 Resin and Hardener
Roller
Paintbrush
Scissors
tongue depressor
Resin/Fibre mix for any gaps

The Longitudinals

A few hours on the boat today; cutting out and fitting the longitudinals.

No measurements required as the templates were spot on (I like this). The same technique as the bulkheads but not surprisingly it all seems to go together a bit quicker now we are little more experienced.

The Longitudinals won't be tabbed in yet as the inside of the chines will need to be done first. Doing the longitudinals at this stage was basically an visualisation exercise to see exactly how much structure we have and whether there needs to be any re-thinks at this stage. It all looks good so far.


Above; Cutting out by hand from printed templates


A little cleaning up of excess resin with this cunning tool, but a circular grinder would have done a similar job. It is so much easier to see with the boat the right way up - not to mention better light in the new workshop.

Items used today:
Full sized printouts
6mm Ply for the longitudinals
Sandpaper
Hand plane
Spikes (for marking out the longitudinals through the paper.)
Grinder

The Rig

As previously mentioned a visit to a rig manufacturer plus a few very minor changes to the rig plan (addition of some lowers) I can finally finalise the rig and start talking sails. The sail profiles may modify a little as and when we go sailing but I think that we are pretty close; a nod towards an open 60 style roach profile. I am hoping that Gerry will add a few comments on the sails (as he will be the man making/finishing them!).

I am also getting a lot of emails (which is a good thing!) regarding costs and plans. It is my intention to supply a complete study/build pack (the plans) as well as to team up with a CNC cutter team who can provide a full kit (IKEA style!) - the usual model for bome builds. I also want to pass on the development we are doing with any third party supplier (such as the rig, sails, appendages) so we can offer full off the shelf packs for these as well as the plywood for those that are interested.

Watch this space and thank you for all the ongoing support and interest!

New Premises!

Apologies to all for not blogging these last couple of weeks. Our GT6 Wednesdays are still happening with essential progress going on albeit not getting too dirty:

We had good meeting with a mast/rig supplier yesterday; a long trip, but worth it - so important that we could eye-ball and choose the fittings - the deposit has been paid and delivery in 3 weeks. More on that on the next blog entry when I have updated the rig and sail plan.

The other big(?) news is that we have moved the boat, lock, stock and barrel, to newer and cleaner premises where we not only have the key but can leave our tools and ply out! This will save us heaps of time rather than having to unpack and packup for every job. I forgot to take pictures when we were last there but the hull looked superb from across the carpark a sneak preview of what she will look like when she is finished.

Gerry has also stated that we should do the round the island race as our first competitive outing. We had better put the hours in then! The longitudinals are next.....

Anarchists

A nice surprise to be told the GT6 is sitting prettily on the home page of sailing anarchy. An incentive to pick up the pace, especially now it seems that Spring has arrived! We will be blogging next week with more progress.

Over She Goes

Finally, with the help of a couple of friends we lifted, turned and put the boat down during a snatched hour at the weekend. Does this mean we are halfway?! Many thanks to Ben and Ed.


The fillets we put in whilst the boat was upside were more than strong enough to manhandle the boat with confidence. Good and Stiff!

Spot the boat surveyor below; always working!!

We can now tape the inside whilst leaning over the boat as she probably won't be strong enough to take our weight. We will add the longitudinal, rig chain-plates and keel structure before adding the deck. Doing these the "right way up" we should have gravity on our side.

We will need to check that we haven't put a twist in the hull during the move before the final taping. An initial run around with the spirit level would suggest that we are ok but some standing back and staring is recommended, with a cup o tea in hand....

Stuff we used:
Some cradles we made out of the plywood offcuts
Friends to help turn her over (this could have been done with three persons)
Spirit level.

Taping the Hull Chines

Good effort Gerry. We are definitely at one of those stages where a days work doesn't seem to show much progress... chin-up!!

Without wanting to repeat Gerry's good blogging here are the salient pics and words from yesterdays effort (we snuck an afternoon off!).

Here is extruded NACA 0012 section Gerry was reffering to that we are using for the keel fin. This is a quite conservative section but will be adequate for our purposes and puts a great big tick in the "Budget Sportboat" - we could have spent time drawing a perfect section for our needs but at 250 quid.... Also using a NACA section means that everyone (who might build one) has access to the data. Can't wait to stick it in the boat.

What we should have done is left the filling of the outside chines and bogged them as we put the tape down - this would have saved us a sanding (rather green expoxy) job. There's a few hours of my life I won't get back!

A real pain as the taping went on so quickly - all we have to do is wait for this to go off..... is it time to turn her over now???

!Top Tip: We discovered that heating the resin before using made it lovely and thin and easy to use...

Stuff we used today:

80 Grit Sandpaper

Long(ish)board

Pliers & sharp knife (to remove the last of the cable ties)

50mm wide glass ape (160g)

Ampreg Epoxy and Hardener etc

Roll of Peel-ply

A couple of electic heaters

Finishing the hull, part 2.1

Guy and myself spent the afternoon today sanding some of the filler I added covering the cable tie holes some days ago, removing the final load of cable ties (from the last panel set and bonded into place), more tidying-up around the place and adding the 160 gsm glass tape over the external panel joins. As we ended up using S L O W Ampreg 21 hardner with the mix, we both hope that the weather warms up a bit for the resin to set so we can get on with turning the little beauty over.

I guess our next step is to add a larger radius fillet to the inside panels and bulkhead joins and glass the lot together, using the balance of the +/- 45 deg, 450 gsm, 100 mm glass tape we have.

As Guy was the photographer today I hope he'll be adding the photographs he took today to the blog.

We've got so much more to do and trying to think a step ahead of ourselves, and keeping the normal day jobs going, is proving difficult. I'm always on Guys case asking him about the bulb, rudder, rig, chain plates etc etc etc. (I've almost got the 180 kg lead sorted). As a 'quick fix' (and easy option) we've opted for an 'off-the-shelf' fin. Found on the web in Sweden, Krona Boats do a NACA 0012 section of marine grade (?) aluminium @ 12% of a 300mm cord (Guy knows the details here). At £ 250 or so I thought, as a sailmaker, I would stay cleaner for a while longer not trying to build a foil. And for possible future builders, it's very quick!!! and easy!!!

As the service agent for North Sails here on the Isle of Wight I hope to get North Sails to design the sails and build them here at Medina Sailcare, as we could do any remedial and development works ourselves as and when required.

All we now need is a decent rig. Again here we would like to remain as cheap, and easy to obtain, as possible (help required on this one). There are loads of options available with all the companies out there and I'm trying to work on it. Once we have the mast and boom sorted I can get onto NS for the sail design. Mainsail with a reef, Lt/Med jib, Med/Hvy jib and 2 x 38 sqm A sails, or maybe one slightly smaller! MAYBE!

Guy and I discussed furling the jib, but as our bowsprit is 'pretty-damn-long', and we have 30 deg. sweep on the spreaders and extra jib area cannot be wrong, we're going for a 'always up' jib on a TuffLuff. The hope is that the jib and kite can be up together without affecting performance and not having a bowman pissing around in front of the mast is always good, self tacking might even be an option. Might have to add a purchase system on the tack of the jib for halyard tension. Still working on that one though ......

I think, that between us, we haven't done enough sports boat sailing to know how all the systems will work and will work out so we're still looking and trying to combine dinghy and keelboat system that might or might not work out, after all: Is the GT6 a dinghy or keelboat?

Trialing Times

In answer to the question we have been asked many times now "what will she rate?" - and because the answer we give that "she is not really that type of boat" doesn't seem to satisfy curious minds I have put in a trial cert to our local rating office.....

Not that this is an IRC boat in any way... as perhaps the cert reflects. I am sure that the number will come down as we finalise a few items and with the final boat trim.... still it's another point on the graph...

Finishing the Hull

More filleting as we work down the planks.... we could have added the taping at this stage, but more time constraints and home-life beckon.

She's a beauty! All the planks on and filling the chines before adding the glass tapes. People coming through the yard are now stopping to chat and admire now that the shape is coming together (the yard owner has threatened to charge admission due to the amount of footfall we are generating)

Next stage - adding the tape to the outside and then...... turning her over...

Are you excited Gerry?

Day - 4 More Hull

Now the fun part!

With a little scarfing just add the planks - we faffed around trying to clamp down each plank in place but found that when we added the stitching this was not necessary. For stitches we just used cable ties - cheap and easy.....

Starting to look like a boat!

As each plank went down we tabbed in place with a thickened (microfibres) resin mix
As you can see from the photo below this was before we discovered the joy of using the cable ties! We did two planks at a time (each side) and waited for them to go off coming back each day to add the next round - a bit long winded but perfect for fitting around the rest of one's life!

Stuff we used for planking the hull:
Hand plane
Cable Ties
Resin
Microfibres
Hardener
Digital Scales for resin/hardener mix
Plastic tubs
Gloves
tongue depressors for the fillets
Hand drill

Day 3 - The Hull

Cutting out the hull planks was exactly the same process as cutting out the bulkheads; straight from the printed templates.

Of course the plywood sheets are not as long as the planks and needed joining together.

We joined the planks by using +-45 450 e-glass on both sides of the join (we routed 1/2mm and used peel-ply on the outside of the planks for neatness but is not necessary. We didn't scarf reasoning that a good butt joint will be stronger that the plywood; not to mention a good deal easier to achieve!

Stuff used on Day 3:

Resin (Ampreg 21)
Hardener (Ampreg 21 - fast)
Roll of e-glass +-45, 100mm wide
Paint Roller
Peel-ply
Router
Hull Templates
Jigsaw
Knife
Hand Plane
Sandpaper

Day 2 - The Bulkheads

Much more exciting work on day 2 as it meant cutting bits and pieces out for the actual boat (as opposed to the frame).

All we did is plot out the frames full size and transfer to the plywood bulkheads (6mm marine ply). As the hull shape is straight lines at the bulkheads it was very much a join the dots exercise. The lightening holes were done in a similar manner just with handy radii in the corners (e.g. paint pot lids).





After marking out the bulkheads we scored along all the edges with a knife. Although rather a dull process it mean that we got very little splintering when we cut out with the jigsaw.

We marked a 500mm Waterline and the CL and then matched these up to the same marked points on the frame. A quick check with a spirit level and soon we were looking like we had a boaty shaped thing in the yard




Stuff we used on day 2:
Pencil
Plywood
Plots of the bulkheads
Stanley knife
Jigsaw
Sandpaper
Hand Plane
Screws and Screwdriver
Spirit Level