Something that actually looks like a boat part!

Started shaping my keel!  It was exciting seeing something take shape. 

Traced out my shape cut it out on a malina folder then put it on the end of the lamanated cedar.



Used spray paint to transfer the shape to the foil then used a table saw to scribe the correct depth thru the entire foil.

Then i took out the hand planer and went to town!  Doing this hungover is not advised as these things are fking loud!



The shape is roughed in!

Just a little bit of sawdust.

 



Beer Count: 23
Total Beer so far: 50
Hours: 31
Total Hours:115

Swimming in Epoxy

Well we got the Keel Foil laminated last night i definatly recommend you do this with at least one other person.  I did it with a friend of mine and it still was a huge amount of epoxy and filler and just a lot to handle by yourself.

This Link is a great article on building a foil.  This is what i used to direct my build and definatly recommend reading it.

Brad Spreading out the West Systems High Denity filler. 

Wood is notched for the 6' stainless 1/2" rod then filled with epoxy and high density filler.

All Glued up.

We gave up on this race at the upwind mark and started drinking.  Then we caught a awesome shift and ended up winning.  Thought it only be right to drink out of the cup we won while drinking.



Hours: 23

Total Hours So Far: 101

Beer: 18

Total Beer So far: 41

Actually making progress.

Took the mold apart last night and everything seems alright. 

Starting to take the mold apart. 

Well lets hope i don't need to make another mold.

The issue with the plug not coming out in one piece.  When i built the plug The tip and tail are not perfectly in line with the widest point.  When you bury the plug into the concrete you need to bury it up to the ends or the next pour will wrap around the tip and tail and encase them in that half.  So what happened is that my first pour went past the widest part of my mold and held it in tight.

Here you can see the overhang it caused.  I need to sand.grind this down so i can get the lead out once i pour that.

Going to let the mold dry then add some plaster to get it nice and smooth.

Mark and Matt helping my cut up the Cedar 2x4's for the keel foil.  I would recommend using Cedar 2x6's or bigger.  These worked but its very close to not reaching the sizes you need.

So after doing a fair amount of research let me share the different ideas and opinions with building this thing.

There are basically three different options for core material.

Mahogany- Heaviest/Strongest

Cedar- Medium Weight/Medium Strength

Foam- Lightest/Weakest.

Using Mahogany is definatly the safest route it is verry strong and verry dense.  The issue is its heavy and verry dificult to fair. 

Foam needs to be wraped in 7/10 layers of carbon to gain the streingth needed and not being up to speed with carbon yet and not wanting to drop alot of money on the carbon i decided to run with cedar to hopefully land somewhere in the middle.  Not super heavy like mahogany but strong enough and easy to build.

I also am running 1/2" Stainless rod all the way thru the foil.  When i ripped the 2x4's apart i made a notch in two of the pieces to allow my stainless rod to sit inside of it.  When i epoxy the pieces togeather i will epoxy the rod in with them using High Denity filler same as i will to glue the wood togeather. I just like the idea of having the bulb rest on Steel Rods and not having that pressure on the light weight cedar. 

Keel Bulb Mold

I have poured half of my mold for my keel bulb last night and i will try to explain my thought process in the bulb build and mold so far.


After making the foam plug and covering it in bondo i cut up some manila folders and marked lines on the mold so i could see if i had it at least near to the shape i wanted.  One change i would make when doing this is make the foam smaller than the finish shape.  When i would fair the bondo down i would start sanding thru and hit foam and this turned into a big issue trying to get the correct shape.  Also i made my finish product slightly larger than what it should be so i have room to work with the lead bulb and get that to the exact shape i want.  Its better to be to heavy than to be to lite.

This is the place i found the sections for the plug shape.  About half way down the page.
http://www.i550.org/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=2&func=view&catid=7&id=502

Finiished plug after 30 hours of fairing.

This is the Concrete i used.  I chose mortar because it has no stones in it and its pretty smooth.  I am concerned with the streingth.  Time will tell.

Plug in the box we build for the mold.  nothing fancy here just a box built out of 2x4's and plywood.

My buddy Matt spreading out the motar

Here is the first half of the mold poured.  I added the two light bulbs in the mold to make alignment holes.  Now when i pour the top half it will make the negative of the hole from the bulb then when i put the two halves back togeather they should align nicely. I still need to put a thin layer of plastic down after this hardens and pour the top half with a pour hole and two vent holes.  That will hopefully be done later this week.

A few more pics.

Hour Count- 5

Total Hours so far-80

Beer - 5

Total Beer - 21

Bulb Plug Fairing

I have 27 hours so far fairing that stupid bulb plug!  Hoping to finish it up tomorrow and pour the concrete mold. Then while i leave that sit for a few weeks i can get to work on my Keel Foil.

Windex?

Found this while cleaning the barn.  Think i will use it for my windex.  What do you think?

Insulating

Starting to get the barn insulated.

Hour Count 14
Total Hours 59
Beers: 7
Total Beers: 10

2011 Viper NA's

Well i took a few days of from work and from work on the boat to go race at the 2011 Viper NA's. (Can you blame me?) Here are a few pics from the trip there. No pics of racing cause nothing stays dry on those dam things. We didnt do so hot on day one and on day two the 28 kts of breeze turtled us and put our mast literally in the dirt.