News & Progress Part 5

News & Progress Part 5

Photo Gallery News & Progress Part 4 28-Aug-08



27 Aug 08. Fine tuning of the keel bearings.
	Worked on the fit of the keel bearings to the keel today. A lot of detail sanding to get everything to fit with out binding. Also drilled and sealed the mounting screws for the instrument panel.
25 Aug 08. Now where was I?
	Not doing any work on the boat or having fun. I have been doing long put off maintenance on my truck, new timing belt, spark plugs and other things like that. Today I finished the sanding on the floorboards and epoxied the mounting blocks, for the the instrument panel, in place.
01 Aug 08. Keel fairing.
	Got the primer sanded on all of the keel today. Coated the remainder of the backsides of the floor boards with epoxy. See Aug 08 Pix.
26 July 08. Instrument panel in place.
	Worked on the mounting blocks for the instrument panel, sanded the one side of the keel and sanded the underside of the floorboards and epoxied some of them.
25 July 08. Instrument panel epoxy.
	Painted the other side of the keel strut with primer. Also sanded the instrument panel and coated it with the final coat of epoxy.
24 July 08. Keel primer.
	Back at work! Did some final sanding and then painted one side with primer paint. See July Pix.
5-17 July 08. West Coast Race!
	We were at the start and finish for the 2008 West Coast Race for Minis. 3 boats made it to Victoria BC for the start. Due to forecast weather, the start was delayed. The 3 boats then had a short in harbor race in light wind and foggy conditions. By the time the forecast cleared the start was set for July 10th. With the shorted time constraints in was decided to end the race in San Francisco and to race double handed. We got the 2 boats that remained started and then took off to SF. This is a shot of Craig and Tom on Skyweb Express as they came in under the Golden Gate Bridge, shortly before the finish. See Race Pix.
21 June 08. More keel fairing.
	Finished with the keel fairing today. Sealed the exposed core cell foam in the axle area with epoxy. Also sealed with epoxy, the LED light bars for the inside. We are off to help with the West Coast Mini Race from Victoria BC to San Diego CA with a stop in San Francisco CA. See June Pix
19 & 20 June 08. Drilling holes.
	Thanks to Dean W. for some great advice on how to drill in thick stainless! The key point was slow speed. Also using good cutting fluid and carbide bits. I started with the battery powered drill in the screw setting, so it was running slow. Only problem was the battery could only do two holes before needing to be recharged and because I used the battery up so fast is was hot. So it would have to cool down before it would take a charge. Switched to the cord drill motor and was very careful not to run it fast. Because it was turning slow with a high load it too quickly became too hot to handle. The fact it was over 110 degrees here did not help any. So drill a couple of holes, fair keel, drill a couple of holes, fair keel......
09 June 08. Back to fairing the keel.
	Tried a dry fit of the keel, bearings and wet box today. Found that the keel will not fit through the slot in the box because it is not faired. So out with the longboards and fairing compound.
08 June 08. Light switches.
	Started the day by drilling the mounting bolt holes for the keel bearings in the wet box. Then tried to drill the holes in the stainless plate of the bearing holders. Well 6 burned up drill bits later and all I had was 3 holes. Ordered new bits and moved on to a funner project. Built up some LED reading lights and switches for general cabin lighting.
02 & 03 June 08. More of the keel bearing holders.
	Continued with grinding the stainless steel keel axle bearing holder and polishing it smooth. Also ground out the corners of the carbon fiber box and finally I was happy with the fit of the holders. Covered the holders with mold release and packing tape. Make a wooden dowel to simulate the keel axle as I put epoxy bog around the holders for a good fit in the box. Also covered the back of the floorboards with epoxy. Just knocked out the holders from the epoxy before it got too hard. Some work involved to get them to break free. But after the packing tape was pulled off, I've got a good fit. See June Pix
28 May 08. Wet box work.
	Cut the slot for the keel in the bottom of the wet box. Finished with the grinding off of the corners of the keel bearing holders. Then worked at getting a good fit with the holders and the bottom of the box. See May Pix
26 & 27 May 08. Floor boards and  Single point lift point done!
	Installed lock in the main hatch. Drilled the holes for the single point lift point bushings and epoxied them in place. Covered the floor boards with 2 coats of epoxy.
22 May 08.  Aft railings done!
	Bolted the aft railings on today. Mounted the tiller extension on to the tiller.
21 May 08.  Traveler track done!
	Got the traveler track and bar bolted in place today. No real problems other then mashing my little finger with the hammer. Drilled the holes for the aft railings. Also drilled the tiller for the extension.
20 May 08. Standoffish.
	Made the standoffs for the traveler today. The traveler where it crossed the deck needs to be supported, so I cut some Delrin rod square on one end and angled to match the deck on the other. The other problem is that the bolts to hold down the track ant the ends are not available in stainless in the length needed. So I made bolts by using stainless all-thread cutting it to length and then Locktighting and staking nuts on one end.
16 May 08. Hatch back on.
	Covered the instrument with carbon fiber. Then painted the traveler bar and cabin top teak with clear paint. Sealed and mounted the hatch in the new direction. Made the electric panel closed stop block and epoxied it in place.
15 May 08. Take it off and turn it 90 deg.
	The main hatch that is. After weeks of climbing in and out of the cabin I decided that having the hatch open to the side was not going to work. So off it came, the sealant was cleaned off and new holes and G-10 tube were made. Not all was a step back as I had extra epoxy and I made filler with it and filled a bunch of spots inside. See the May pictures to find out what way the hatch will open. See May Pix
14 May 08. A bit of everything.
	Last week I picked up the keel axel bearing holders from the machine shop. Thanks for the great job Bobby! So today I started grinding the corners down to match the wet box radius. I could only grind for about a 1/2 hour or so before they would get too warm. So in between seasons of grinding I finished off sanding the traveler bar and gave it a final coat of epoxy. Also epoxied and filleted the backing blocks for the traveler bar ends and stuck in the G-10 tube in the holes. Fitted the instrument panel above the main hatch.
09 May 08. Traveler bar.
	Drilled the mounting holes for the traveler today. Cut and epoxied in the G-10 tube insets as well.
02-04 May 08. Married!
	In between Wendy and I getting married and the big party the next day I did find time to get some work done on the mini. Spent some time vacuuming out and cleaning the boat. Fitted the floor boards. Mounted the switch panel in the electric panel. Fitted the keel wet box. Then today fitted the traveler support bar to the cockpit sides and epoxied in plugs on the ends for mounting. See May Pix
28 Apr 08.
	Got the traveler bar out of the vacuum bag. Epoxied the electric panel in place. Started cutting the teak and holly plywood for floor boards. See April Pix
27 Apr 08.
	Trimmed and sanded the traveler bar, then cut the carbon fiber and epoxied it to the bar. Then put the whole mess in a vacuum bag. After that I fitted the electric panel to the hinge and drilled / countersunk the mounting holes.
22 Apr 08. Epoxy.
	Epoxied the traveler brace together and while I had the epoxy out I coated the teak and the mounting holes.
21 Apr 08. Boxes from Harken.
	A much smaller piece and a lot of saw dust later, I finished shaping the teak above the hatch. Then the UPS man stopped with the hardware order from Harken. After unpacking and sorting I started on the reinforcing brace for under the traveler where it spans the cockpit.
20 Apr 08. Drill jig and a piece of teak.
	Made a drilling jig for the holes on the mast. Also started shaping a piece of teak for above the hatch. This will be the only bright finished piece of wood on the outside of the boat. See April Pix
16 Apr 08. Drilling the inserts.
	Drilled the holes for the bow railing. After much trial and error and runs to the hardware store, I got the holes drilled in the inserts. A piece of G-10 tube will pass thru the inserts and the mast to tie both sides together.
15 Apr 08. Oops and reshaping.
	Painted the railings and discovered that I had carefully shaped the spreader inserts to a 20 deg sweep angle. We had planed for a 15 deg angle. So back out with the sand paper and reshape in inserts.
14 Apr 08. Trimming and shaping the inserts.
	Trimmed the insert stock to length and shaped them for a snug fit in the spreader tube. Then cut them for the sweep and sanded to fit the mast profile. Also the bow and stern rails came back from the welder after being repaired from the shipping damage 3 years ago. No it did not take the welder 3 years to repair the rails. Just 2 different shops. The 1st shop I took the rails and keel bearings after 4 weeks and the only progress was to move the parts from a table to a box in the corner. Arg. So I got all the parts and took them to a shop recommended by a co-worker. The next day the rails were done and they are well on the way with the bearings. I then fitted the bow railing.
10 Apr 08. laying up the inserts.
	Laid up the carbon fiber on the spreader inserts today. 10 layers of 3k twill weave CF. Also put on another coat of epoxy on the electric panel. Maybe this time I won't scratch it before the epoxy is hard.
09 Apr 08. Spreader inserts.
	After a morning of troubleshooting, maintenance and repair on the J/24 outboard, I got started on the inserts for the inboard spreader ends. Shaped the foam and cut all the carbon and readied it for lay up.
04 Apr 08. Bagging the pole.
	Laid up the carbon fiber uni's to reinforce the pole to the fitting. All went smoothly until I started to pull a vacuum. I had placed a mixing cup on the inside with seal tape to close off the pole. As the plastic closed down on the cup it just squeezed it and broke the seal. So I stuck a cup in the other end. That's when I found the pole is not vacuum tight. A whole roll of seal tape later I got most of it plugged to pull a decent vacuum.
03 Apr 08. More with the bow sprit pole.
	Shaped the sprit fitting and added sections of foam. Then epoxied the fitting to the pole.
02 Apr 08. Cabin top clutches done!
	Started building up the bow sprit pole to forestay fitting today. And mounted the cabin top rope clutches. Thanks for all the interest in the quiz. Andy Abel got it right away. It is the deck opening for the single point lift strap. See April Pix
31 Mar 08. A hint.
	We have gotten a couple of right answers to our quiz so far. So to help the rest of you out before reveling the answer I took a picture of the completed hole. Email me with your guess.
29 Mar 08. Stanchions done! And a quiz.
	Got the 4 lifeline stanchions are bolted down. All was going well until I cross threaded one of the support studs. And then proceeded to bust it off at deck level. Arrg! After much gnashing of teeth, I drilled out the stud, threaded it with a tap and ran a bolt up from inside. Figured out where the line stoppers on the cabin top go and drilled the mounting holes. Also cut a big hole, as seen in the picture on the left, for..... That is the quiz part. Can you guess what that hole is for? Email me with your guess. See Mar Pix
28 Mar 08. Not feeling well today.
	Sanded a bit on the inside where the stanchions bolt thru. And then coated some epoxy on it.
27 Mar 08. Cabin top winch done! Forestay fitting done!
	Mounted the cabin top winch and forestay fitting today. The two aft screws and the eye bolt are thru-bolted. The rest of the screws are bonded in epoxy as per the Gougeon's method.
23 Mar 08. Inserts for stanchions.
	Cut G-10 tube for all the stanchion bases, forestay fitting and cabin top winch. Drilled the holes for the winch and then epoxied all the tubes in place. Sanded the filler on Mike's keel and covered it with primer paint.
22 Mar 08.  Rudder gudgeons and tiller bearing done!
	Bolted on the rudder gudgeons today. Also mounted the tiller bearing plate to the transom. Mike F. stopped by with his swing keel from their O'Day 25. The axle shaft had rusted out completely and board fell out of the boat. The only thing that kept him from losing it was the pennant for retracting it. We sanded off the old anti fowling and faired the leading edge and sides.
18 Mar 08. Keel bearing holder?
	Yesterday afternoon I took all the stuff needed to the machine shop to make the keel bearing holders. They had a hard time from looking at the drawings and the stainless chunks of metal how it all would fit together. So today I build a model of the bearing holder of core cell foam to help them out. Drilled the holes in the deck for the stanchions.
17 Mar 08.  Aft chain plates done!
	The aft chain plates for the running backstays are mounted. Drilled the holes for the tiller. Tried to mount the rudder fittings, but the bolts I had ordered managed to grow in transit and were to long. Sigh. Made a pattern for the stanchion bases and marked where the holes are to be drilled. Drilled the holes for the forestay fitting and made up the bow eye bolt. Today we are now 2100 hours into it. See Mar Pix
12 Mar 08.  Hatches done!
	All of the hatches have been mounted. All went well except for the main hatch where gravity was extra strong. If it could be dropped it was, many times.
11 Mar 08. Half way hatched.
	Got the two ports, the access plates on the aft deck and the escape hatch installed today.
10 Mar 08. Making holes.
	Have spent the previous days figuring out what kind of fasteners I'll need to mount all the stuff to the hull. Today drilled the holes for the hatches, rudder gudgeons, tiller mount and backstay chainplates. Cut and epoxied in pieces of G-10 tube on all the holes where it will be though bolted. Also faired some more on the keel. We went over 2080 build hours today. If this was a job that would be 1 year!
03 Mar 08. Keel fairing.
	Faired in around the axle and started with the foil. Also cleaned up some drips of paint around the inside of the hatches. See Mar Pix
29 Feb 08. Axel cutting.
	Cut the axel to length. Yes I know the little cut-off wheel is a slow way to do it. Even slower was waiting for the air compressor to catch up. After that I added foam along the axel line for fairing and then added fairing bog to the other side of the trailing edge.
28 Feb 08. Keel donuts.
	Made donuts for the keel axel today. Also installed the axel shaft in the strut. Did not intend to install it but by the time it was in there was no getting it back out. Epoxied the donuts on either side of the keel on the axel for thrust bearings. Faired in part of the strut. Weighed the boat on the moving frame today. With frame it is 993 lbs.
27 Feb 08. Hull painting completed!
	Painted on the last coat of non-skid yesterday. Pulled the masking tape and.... Wow! Look at that! After moving the boat out for some pictures I got back to work. Cut and installed the stainless steel rods for the chain plates. Then started back in on the keel strut. Opened the axel shaft holes up. Mixed up some fairing bog and slapped it on. See Feb Pix.
23 Feb 08. Non skid.
	Painted on the 1st coat of non-skid paint today. Mixed the Perfection paint with non-skid compound Intergrip.
22 Feb 08. Ready for non-skid.
	Masked off the boat today so I could apply the non-skid paint. Then it started to rain. So much for painting today.
17 Feb 08. Final coat of paint.
	Here's Wendy showing off her tipping skills. Rolled and tipped the final coat of Perfection topcoat paint on the hull and cabin sides.
15 Feb 08. Painting the shinny areas.
	Wendy and I got the 2nd coat of the topsides paint on the cabin sides and hull sides. We held off as the weather did not look so good this morning, but by noon had cleared a bit. Well as these things go as soon as I mixed the paint the clouds were back and as we finished it started to rain. Closed up the garage and put on the heater to keep the humidity down so the paint will not blush.
10-11 Feb 08. No more sanding.
	Yeah right! Finished with the wet sanding and with a little luck I will not need to do any more large area sanding. See Feb Pix.
09 Feb 08. A bit more primer.
	Primered the toe rails and the back of the hatch board and electric panel. Oh yeah, more wet sanding.
08 Feb 08 Toe rails on.
	Epoxied the two toe rail extensions in place and made the fairetts around the base. Continued with the wet sanding.
05 Feb 08. Paint 'n Sand
	Primered the toe rails and hatch board. Also got a bit more of the hull side wet sanded.
04 Feb 08. Wet Sanding.
	Wet and cold here today, too cold to have the door open. Or if I want the epoxy to cure. Started wet sanding the hull and decks today. Also covered the toe rails and hatch board with epoxy.
03 Feb 08. Oops and odds and ends.
	Some new rule changes have come out from Classe Mini concerning hatches and flotation volumes. As I was reading these new rules I found that my toe rails do not extend aft far enough. So out with saws and I made up a couple of sections of toe rails. Then ground off the paint where they will attach. I also made a panel to cover the companionway for the new rule, and started cutting the instrument panel for above the hatch. Then covered the parts with epoxy. \ See Feb Pix.
29 Jan 08. Shiny!
	Painted on the 1st coat of the topsides paint. Used Interlux Perfection and rolled it on then tipped it off. Went on very well and looks great.
28 Jan 08. Clean up.
	Finished with all the touch up sanding and moved the boat outside, so I could blow all the dust out of the shop. masked of the bottom and wiped it clean. Will try to apply the 1st coat of finish paint tomorrow, if the weather cooperates. And It looks like we have gone over 2000 hrs. See Jan Pix.
21 & 23 Jan 08. Dull.
	Not sanding, no sanding is fun! The last coat of primer has been sanded smooth and dull.
15,16, & 17 Jan 08. OK, what do we do after we paint?
	I know we've had this question before. That's right, we sand! Sanded the hull sides and the aft port deck.
11 Jan 08. Paint.
	Got the last round of primer paint on the boat today. Other then the mixing mishap all went on well.
3,4,5,9 & 10 Jan 08. You guessed it, sanding!
	Finally the primer is all sanded and cleaned. We have masked off the bottom and are ready for the final coats of primer. See Jan Pix.
30 Dec 07. Sanding.
	I have been sanding the last primer coat as I have had time. Today got 3 hours free and sanded the portside decks and shear.
10 Dec 07. There goes another gallon of primer.
	Covered the decks/topsides with 2 coats of primer. This is a different brand of epoxy paint and for an "off white" color it is more tan then white.
05 Dec 07. Done with that.
	This is a shot of the last section of primer that was sanded. It's done and ready for more primer.
04 Dec 07. Still sanding.
	Continued with sanding primer. Got the foredeck and cabin top sanded. When I got bored with sanding I cut the slots on the carbon chainplates. See Dec Pix.
30 Nov 07. Sanding in the rain.
	Big rain storm in Phoenix today, with a total rain fall forecast to be 2". We have not have this much rain from a single storm in over 4 years. Completed the fairing of the chainplates on the hull sides. Then continued with sanding the primer on the topsides.
18 Nov 07. More fairing.
	Got the fairing on the chain plate area mostly faired. Then added a bit of touch up compound for the last little bit.
12 Nov 07. Fairing continues.
	Over the last couple of weeks, as I have had time, I've continued with fairing in the carbon chainplates. Added more compound to both sides and have sanded both to a rough fair.

Photo Gallery News & Progress Part 4