I am glad I have some 1000g uni. I had to cut 35 strips of 50mm (I cut them to 60mm because here and there you lose the outside strand). The plans show uni strips on both sides of bulkheads 4, 5, 6 and 7 but I don’t know how I am going to get uni on the front of bulkhead 4 as this is where the webs are on the up curved section. I will leave this until last and ring the designers on Monday. It took me 4 hours to cut the strips needed so if I was using 460g it would have taken a whole day. As it was I started stripping on Wednesday and finished today.
Bulkhead 4 calls for 7 layers of 460g so I will lay 4 layers of 1000g on the rear of the bulkhead. Then bulkhead 5 calls for 13 layers of 460g on each side so I will lay 6 layers of 1000g each side, then bulkhead 6 calls for 5 layers of 460g each side so I will lay 3 layers of 1000g each side, then finally bulkhead 7 calls for 15 layers of 460g each side so I will lay 7 layers of 1000g each side, which if my math is correct comes to 35 strips (plus 4 more if I need to put them under the webs on the front of bulkhead 4).
The length of the unis are staggered from waterline over the bridgedeck to the other waterline to start and then staggered back to the bridgedeck join (so just lapping over the bridgedeck onto the chamfer panel). The reason for the stagger is to diffuse the load similar to the way leaf springs work in suspension.
Whilst I finished the stripping today Jo used the dust extractor to vacuum the floor of the shed. I still have to sand the underwing deck to hull join so I will probably get dust all over the floor again, then for a while the work will all be inside the hulls so the floor might stay clean for a while.
On Saturday I will start the wet out process. I plan to lay one layer at a time and wet it out on the job as I go. The plans suggest the ADR resin is better for this job. Once each stack of uni is down I have to cove the top and maybe the edges and then layer a final finishing layer of biax and peel ply.
Today as we drove past the boat ramp at Gosford we noticed a cat on the back of a truck and a crane next to it and originally thought it was being launched. It was actually being lifted out so the owner can refurbish it in his front yard. So we followed it to his house and watched it being lifted off the truck, over powerlines and trees into his front yard. It was great to see and whilst seeing a cat dangling from a crane would always be nerve-wracking it did ease our nervousness about this process a little. Check it out.
And James has been busy making the second hull of Nine Lives. The bulkheads are all stood and the stringers are all in place and today the boys were planking the hulls. They tell me that they intend to glass this hull during the coming week so some time the week after that the hull will be turned and preparations will be made to join the hulls. by the end of the month this boat will be at the same stage mine is, well minus the fairing I have done!
