America to Japan Crossing - The Trimaran |
| Ama - Step 6 |
| Building an Ama (Bulkheads) |
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Bulk 1 all ready to start glassing (details coming soon) |
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Bulk 1, under 17Hg of vacuum (details coming soon) |
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Bulk 1, watching the epoxy show thought the bleeder (details coming soon) |
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Bulk 1, with the peelply still on but, done!!! (details coming soon) |
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Bulk 2, Under vacuum. Was a pain to get this one to stop loosing pressure. After 10 mins I got it to stop. (details coming soon) |
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Paul came to help glass this one, we will do a few more of these and then go for a half hull. (details coming soon) |
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Bulkhead 3 is one of the most complex parts. It has two types of foam (5 and 6 pound) that need to be bonded, two types of glass (23oz tri and 9oz uni). It also has a glassing schedule that has us putting 23oz on total serface of both sides, 2 extra layers of 23oz at the top left section, and four 2" layers of 9oz uni going across. First, we cut the foam to size leaving a flat edge for routing. |
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Once the foam has the bead and cove routed into it, we bond and clamp the part. |
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After tracing the bulkhead onto the glass making sure the warp (single layer in the triaxel going long ways) is going the correct way. Cutting the glass is always quick work. |
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Then cut all the vacuum bagging stuff. Here Miki is cutting the breather. |
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Now we are ready to glass, all the parts are layed out in the order they will be needed. Once the epoxy is mixed you don't want to be changing the order or running to get something, it is sticky - gooie - stuff. |
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After wettig out the glass and putting the bagging stuff on, it is put under 17"Hg of vacuum pressure. The vacuum is acting as a clamp. |
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After vacuum bagging for a few hours, wait about 24 to 48 hours before removing the peelply. |
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The peelply creates a nice texture on the surface that will be good for bonding, and reduces the amount of sanding to very little. |
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After waiting a week and sanding extra epoxy off the edges. Here is a closer look at the part, notice the uni glass built up to 10 layers here (looks like - 9,9,9,9,32,foam,32,9,9,9,9). It is thick and strong. |
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Before your expoy sets, make sure you do a little tool cleanup. Make sure you don't leave your tools on a surface that will not give them back. Using the plactic bucket, tap it a few times and you have your bucket back. It is kinda cool to see what it will end up looking like. Here Miki is desplaying our new artwork. |
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