Archive for December 2014
Externally it seems no progress has been made on my Didi 40cr but behind the scenes little steps have been made. The underside of the cockpit floor is all but completed. Where the top of the rudder post is mounted all the reinforcement is in place, nicely routered with 6mm radius corners and double coated with epoxy resin. The corners that are not secured with cleats are double taped with epoxy fibreglass, sanded back and top coated with clear epoxy so that section of the yacht is finished.
Completed rudder post top support structure
Under the forward part of the cockpit where it is 850 mm wide the glass reinforcement has been sanded and primed with a first coat of Interguard. This is a good place to practice getting a good finish on the glass covered plywood. Despite the use of peel ply over the glass the finish is not as flat as I expected so I need practice spreading the epoxy with a fine nap roller to minimise the amount of filler required for the production boat standard I am trying to achieve.
First coat of Intergard primer on the cockpit underside
Elsewhere the inside of the water tanks have been lined with a light woven glass cloth had double coated with epoxy resin. Once the skin is on the hull that surface of the water tank will be lined from the access hatches in the top. It will be tight work but at least it will be downhand.
One of the next steps is to cut all the access ways for the electrical cables, water pipes and engine services. I want to do this while I have good access to the bulkheads and before the skin is started.
With the Laser on the way to Perth Saturday was free for Elaine and I to enter Passion in the Greenwich Flying Squadron Saturday race.
It was a picture perfect day for a race with the only downside a burnt face from the sun reflected back from the water. Despite wearing a wide brimmed hat all day I have suffered from not putting on the sun screen. On the course we did not expect to be competitive as we were not going to set spinnakers so we set ourselves the modest expectations of having a good time. After a few tacks we got into a routine of Elaine loading up the new sheet on the winch and letting the old one off as we tacked. Unfortunately the genoa clew kept catching on the stanchions and life lines which meant Elaine had to take the helm while I dashed forward so we tacked as little as possible.
Between us we got quite a work out. Elaine wore her knees out on the non skid so a set of knee pads will be in order for the next occasion we do a two hander. We achieved our objective of having a good time and were quite happy that we kept in touch with the fleet.
Tracks for Saturday’s race at GFS
Just as I wished last week the rain held off for the Christmas party at Greenwich Flying Squadron. With all the sad news from the past few days it was hard to get into the festive spirit. At times like this I recite the lines from one of Milton’s poems about the bird that visited his window. “Then to come in spite of sorrow and at my window bid good morrow” The sailing was not up to the result we expect due mostly to the state of the antifouling.
This has been the longest Passion has gone without new antifouling so I will book her in in the New Year and see if we cannot get back to the front of the fleet. The new stiffer batten in the top of the main does free the leech of the sail but it is getting caught on the back stay especially in the lighter conditions. At least twice we had to drop the main halyard to get the sucker to go through the back stay so I guess the running back stays on Next Passion will be no more trouble.Our tracks on the course looks spectacular with the help of the run out tide. Everyone else’s tracks must have looked outrageously good judging by the time we finished behind.
Crew and friends at the BBQ
The bright spot for the evening was definitely the raft up and BBQ with live entertainment and some traditional carols to get us into the Christmas mood. We packed in over 250 people and the social committee and twilight crew did a marvelous job. The raffle raised $1800 of which $900 was donated to the Salvation Army and that amount has already reached them.
Today I pottered around on Next Passion fitting the chain plate supports and preparing the cockpit underside for reinforcing fibreglass. Elaine washed the Santa Hats from last night and they looked cute hanging on the line so here is the photo for the week.
Santa hats washed and drying for next year with Next Passion under tarps in the distance
Sad day in Sydney with the hostage drama and the loss of two great lives. It is hard to be cheerful when there is so much sorrow but I battled on with the four sheets of plywood that would finish off the cockpit. First I had to cut dress fit and install some floor bearers for the 1.6 metre wide aft section. While the glue was curing I cut the four panels and fitted and installed them progressively. It was a big glue day with some long and wide gluing surfaces which required a big batch of glue. In the heat it was a battle to spread the glue before the mass in the glue pot heated up and accelerated the set time. To keep the glue time short each panel was pre drilled and temporary supports places so that the panel could be placed promptly. The process worked well but it was a long day and well after six when I downed tools happy with the effort.
Didi 40cr wide stern racing cockpit fitted and glued in place
The photo shows the 850 mm wide fore cockpit and the 1.6 metre wide aft cockpit which gives a lot of room for a racing crew. Next job is to router the edges of the underside of the cockpit and glass the underside. I am going to glass both sided of the cockpit floor for in the front section to avoid the need for deck beams that would protrude into the quarter berth space. Instead the underside or the cockpit floor will be smooth. The join in the two sections is a butt join staggered so that the join is not in line with the frame. Once the hull is right way up the join will be ground back and glassed for a strong durable join.
Progress on installing the cockpit of my Didi 40cr is going well. The plan is to complete the cockpit while the hull is still upside down so that I can router the edges and glass the seams while working down hand. In Duldey’s 40cr design one side of the cockpit is a 12 mm thick plywood panel which goes all the way from the deck to the hull forming one side of the huge quarter berth in the process. To make it even more robust on one side is a wet locker which stiffens it up vertically and provides support for the front end of the cockpit which hangs in mid air on the other side. Well it does not really hang in mid air but one side of the cockpit is supported from the deck which is not installed yet so I will install a temporary strut in the quarter berth to keep it all steady until the hull is turned and the deck completed.
Didi 40cr cockpit sides being installed in the up side down hull
My Didi 40cr has a wide stern that Dudley has drawn for me and that allows an extra 250mm of cockpit width. It means the quarter berth is 125 mm wider and the locker correspondingly slimmer. It is a much more complicated structure as behind the last frame my cockpit widens out to almost 1.6 metres for a more racing oriented layout. All this discussion is to explain why there is a 45 degree corner on the front of the cockpit and not the standard 90 degree one. Tomorrow I will try to fit the floor in the front half of the cockpit and start the wide section at the back. The first part will be easy as the 12 mm plywood cockpit floor will fit on the 30 mm triangle cleats and just be slid through the 12 mm gap on the frame into the aft section where it will be joined to the 1.6 metre wide section of the floor.
Didi 40cr cockpit sides from the stern showing the cleats on the last frame ready to take the wide floor section
This photo shows the wide aft cockpit section with the sides sloping up to match the angle of the cockpit coamings. It will look very modern.
So tomorrows job is just four bits of plywood, 850 mm wide front cockpit floor, 1.6 metre wide aft cockpit floor and two aft cockpit sides.
Last night the thunderstorms stayed away and we managed a race despite the wet conditions. Racing conditions were truly tricky. Our notable win was a 45 degree lift along the Birchgrove shore that let us clear Long Nose in a single board. Our notable loss was the knock along Snail Bay on the way home where we were trapped between a Black fleet yacht stalled head to wind on the concrete dolphin and a procession of Green fleet starboard tackers coming up with breeze. A couple of tacks here in little breeze and the fleet leaders were gone. It also allowed French Connection to catch us and while we were ahead going into Humbug a big lift for the following yachts did us no good as we had to tack away from the shore on a big header.
Next week it will be fine for the Christmas Party after the race. The forecast says so and I believe it. After all the rain we have had there can be not much left. I want it to be fine for the party and I want the sun to come out so I can get on with the boat building. Today I invested in another tarpaulin to give the hull a double cover and used the time to measure up and cut panels for the cockpit. If the sun comes out I might make some progress.
Quarter berth doorway from inside the berth. The taper matches the angle of the companionway steps so we get a bit more with for the upper body.
the finished keel king plank with the hull under covers from Sydney’s thunderstorms
I am forming up the companionway, the quarter berth cabin and the toilet and shower room. As the big flat sheets of plywood are fitted at right angles to the bulkhead this is the time to check the bulkhead alignments and stiffen up any wobbly plywood frames. Because the cleats for the enclosures are already fitted to the bulkheads progress is quite swift and with a bit of luck the two enclosures will be completed tomorrow.
The king plank looks neater with all the clamps removed. The hull is under covers to protect it from Sydney’s thunderstorms. A big one came through Wednesday night causing our twilight race at GFS to be cancelled. Nice BBQ though and the best non sailing of the week.
Kingplank spanning eight floors and extending back into the engine bearer structure
The keel king plank is installed two days ahead of schedule. The plans call for a 15 mm by 150 mm king plank and rather than plane down an 18 mm plank I used the full 18 mm thickness. That saved a bit of time but the real time saver was not having to spline glue the plank in sections. Because the frames behind the keel in the 40Cr version are spaced further apart than in the 38 version the whole length of the king plank could be slid into position in one go.
It is hard to get a good picture but here is a section with the clamp still in place while the glue dries.