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Rob Denney at tthe clubnight


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Hi Rob thanks for the reply. I have spent some time on Kelsall's site and watching infusion videos.

 

Avoiding fairing is an extreme attractive proposition for me right now :-).

 

Just to get my head around the overall process and relate it to what I already know a bit about: Could the build process be described as kind of like the Tortured ply method except, instead of using ply you are using custom infused foam glass panels. The panels have been laminated, cored, reinforced etc B4 hand to help enable it to take the desired shape and strength characteristics? Is that a valid summary?

 

Kelsall on his site, seems to talk as if he only laminates the outside first up and then does the tradional glass layup inside once bent and joined - I take it that you do all the lamination in one hit while flat?

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Hi Rob thanks for the reply. I have spent some time on Kelsall's site and watching infusion videos.

 

Avoiding fairing is an extreme attractive proposition for me right now :-).

 

Just to get my head around the overall process and relate it to what I already know a bit about: Could the build process be described as kind of like the Tortured ply method except, instead of using ply you are using custom infused foam glass panels. The panels have been laminated, cored, reinforced etc B4 hand to help enable it to take the desired shape and strength characteristics? Is that a valid summary?

 

There are two methods. Presume you are talking about the one in the video. It is not like tortured ply as the panels are only bent in one direction. The sides are parallel for the middle 4 m of the 6m hull, and the ends squeezed together. The bulge at the bottom that this causes is either manipulated or cut off and replaced with polystyrene and glassed over. This is my preferred method as it acts as a very good collision bumper and inbuilt buoyancy. Where there is a sharp bend (gunwhales, seats, hull bottom, the foam is replaced with uni glass so that it bends to the correct radius. On this boat, the max radius (hull bottoms) is 200mm. Any bigger and I would infuse it with the foam in, but not the inner laminate, which would be added after the shape was formed.

 

The mould method allows for much more shape in the hulls, but again, no compounding. The entire laminate and as much of the interior as possible is infused.

 

Kelsall on his site, seems to talk as if he only laminates the outside first up and then does the tradional glass layup inside once bent and joined - I take it that you do all the lamination in one hit while flat?

 

It depends on the bend radii required and the amount of compounding. When we used KSS for the first proa hull, we left the skins off the foam below the waterline, bolted the ends together and inflated a full length plastic bag inside it. This blew the hull out to the required shape, which was very compounded (much more than is possible with ply). The exterior was then glassed to hold the shape and the interior glassed. The fairing required on this hull and those using his normal cut and shut method was only below the waterline and was more filling the weave than actual fairing.

 

I have to admit that I am amazed that anyone in NZ (or anywhere else, I guess) would start building a multi without talking to Derek about build methods before they started. He does some amazing stuff, and has been for 50 odd years. If you are contemplating your own wing mast, you should talk to him about bending it up from a flat panel. He reckons he has all the laminates and layout sussed. Easier and less work than my plans, which are for the stock standard method of building a round mast. You might still want to talk to me about carbon, as we are getting some pretty good prices now that the mast business is ramping up.

rob

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Best part of 5 years since I spoke about easy boat building at the club.  Thought some of you might appreciate an update.

 

The method has evolved to the stage where we can build without any cutting, grinding or sanding of cured laminate, no fairing or mould polishing and no hand laminating.  The first complete boat to be built this way is the T60, a 7.5m long tender for the C60, which is currently being built by Ballotta in Peru.  90% of the C60 is built the same way, the rest using conventional methods.  The time and cost savings are significant, the dust and mess reduction large. 

 

There is an explanation of the technique and an animation at http://harryproa.com/?page_id=1327 and a description of the C60 at http://harryproa.com/?page_id=1177  

 

 

harryproa_cruiser_60_007.jpg

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