Yep, still sanding

Ok, I know I haven't posted lately. The reason being that not much is happening. It's not that I haven't been working on the boat, it's just that the progress isn't very quantifiable. (especially in pictures) If you want to check it out, you really have to stop by and feel it. Feel how smooth everything is getting and how the bumps and lines are gone. I'm almost done with the bottom. I'm still hoping to turn the hull sometime in January and can then start construction on the inside. I am enjoying the sanding. It's tedious and mind numbing but for now, that's a pretty good thing. Tonight Luke (Magic Juan's bowman extraordinare) came over to see the progress. He tried his hand at mixing some epoxy for me. It was nice to spread one batch and have another all ready for me--thanks Luke! Just noticed the crazed look in my eyes--that's from too much sanding!

I'm Still Sanding

Still hard at work sanding. Not a whole lot exciting to say about it. I just put a very thin coat of thickened epoxy on, let it cure, then sand it smooth. Then repeat. There is a lot of surface area here but I'm making progress. It is nice to see the cloth weave, lines, and bumps, all disappear and get replaced by smooth surface. I also found another bag of old tapes from college so have even more great tunes to listen to during sanding. I'm mostly using my hand sander because I can hear the music and get an upper body workout at the same time. I am also trying out a pneumatic longboard sander which is also fun because it's annoyingly loud and creates an amazing dust cloud! Rock on!

Future Naval Architects

Andrew (6) and Thomas (4) came to the conclusions that dad's progress was way too slow and decided to build their own boats. Last night when I was sanding, they found left over foam and shaped it with a hand saw and sand paper and then used other scraps to build the rigs and sails. It's fun having these guys working out in the shop with me. I'm always amazed at their creativity and skill :) (Note Tommy's canting mast--he's so cutting edge!)

Girl holding my rudder

Ok guys, got a picture of a girl here now and have gone a week without another picture of me sanding the hull --so is that better? (Denise is gonna kick my butt when she sees this) Anyway, I was busy today resurecting "Magic Juan" my dear SJ24. Today I finally got the mast back up and she should be sailing tomorrow. We had a bit of bad luck while sailing in a gale a couple weeks ago--long story but involved being knocked down by an 8' wave, losing outboard, breaking off tiller, losing boom, eventually losing forestay--and we were soo close to winning the race!! So I did more sanding on the hull this evening. I also formed the top of the rudder. This is a cassette type rudder and the top part will fit into the rudder holder thingy (what is that thing called?) Should be a pretty slick system--will allow us to pull the rudder up easily to inspect or remove seaweed between races. I've gotten the first coat of fairing compound on and it is pretty sweet. Just a little more sanding and one more light coat of fairing and it should be ready to glass.

I heard from Scott who sails a b-25 and he's going to let me borrow an old rudder of theirs. This will allow me to compare it to the one I've just made. Hopefully, I won't find any fatal errors in the way I've shaped mine but if it is way off, I can always use theirs as a pattern and build a new one.

Pretty in Pink

Yeah-- the rudder is pink ok--got a problem with that?? I finally got a chance to do some work this afternoon. To get a break from just sanding and to be able to actually see some progress, I decided to start on the rudder. Today I was able to rough out the foam core. I decided to go with a NACA 0012 foil which is a good compromise between high lift/ low drag, and forgiving stall characteristics. The rudder will be mostly constant chord for ease of construction but with an elliptical tip to minimize drag caused by water flowing spanwise. I made a template and drew out the foil shape on the end of the foam stock. The I just ran the stock through the table saw 200 times as I adjusted the blade depth each time. Took a couple hours but I was quite happy with how true the core turned out. Now (like every part of this project) I will do some fairing, sanding, and repeat... Once it is totally shaped, I'll rip it in half and put in a strip or two of 5mm okume ply to act as a stiffening stringer (like a surfboard) This will add little weight and will allow for a lighter lamination schedule (I hope)

Progress continues (slowly)

Busy week at work, followed by crazy week at home with Dental and Doctor visits, and 3 soccer games has meant not so much time on Vertigo. I have managed to fill the weave on the top (actually I guess it would be the bottom) of the hull. I have done lots of sanding and it's fun to see how the tape lines and weave dissappear and things start getting smooth and fair. (Yes, I'm actually enjoying sanding) I'd post pictures but nothing really looks any different unless you look real close. The big difference is when you run your hands over the surface. Gone is the cheese grater like texture of the cloth and bumps of tape lines. Its now smooth like glass (still slightly bumpy glass but improving rapidly). I'm thinking that to keep the blog interesting, I will start a side project of working on the rudder since this is sort of a tedious stage with the hull. (someone also suggested the blog could use some pics of hot women to hold interest...yeah, I'll talk to Denise...) That's all for now!

It's just not Fair

Actually, it's fairly fair but a few areas needed some work. So this morning I mixed up some fairing compound. First I mixed up the epoxy, then added microballons for easier sandability and lightness, then some silica to stiffen it up so it doesn't ooze down. In my white coveralls, gloves, and respirator, I feel like some sort of mad scientist as I'm stiring up these concoctions. (which is cool because I always wanted to be a mad scientist) The areas that needed the most attention were where the panels were scarffed together. I made a really wide scraper out of plywood which seemed to work well. Now I just have to let it all cure and then do some sanding--actually, a lot of sanding. Last night I bought a new tool that I have a feeling I will get to know very intimately by the end of this project--my longboard sander.