Itchy and scratchy!
I have a bit of experience with grinding fiberglass, enough to know that the dust can make you quite itchy. Carbon fiber is apparently just as bad, if not worse. The guys at X-Marine have been very careful with the work they are doing, ensuring that the boat is closed up tight when they are doing any grinding on the boat. It’s obviously not 100% foolproof though as I was scratching a fair bit yesterday.
The davit reinforcement project seems to be progressing well. Carbon fiber braces have been affixed to the davit arms, and reinforcement to the deck, also with carbon fiber, has begun. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until Monday to see what comes next!
What were Rebecca and I doing while all this was going on? I tried my hand at some plumbing yesterday and learned an important lesson. That being, turning off the pressure pump and opening the taps to relieve the pressure in the system will not stop water from coming out if you open a pipe below the level of the water tanks! Good lesson.
Rebecca was doing some learning of her own. I put her up to a sewing project and she has been working her way through it. I’ll post more on that subject when she gets further along.
What’s on for today? Great question. I’m sure we’ll find some projects to fill our day. I just hope that whatever we do, it doesn’t involve fiberglass or carbon fiber dust!
Don’t send Michael any pictures of this. He might have kittens about what is happening to his lovely boat!
😉
Mike
I suspect he reads the blog. In fact, I bet he has an alarm set to wake him up when I post (there is a time difference). 🙂
Well, from a professional stand point I sure would like to have seen more clamps spreading the load on that bonding. I personally like to see goop come out 100% around the edges of anything I glue or bond. I’m sure it will be good enough knowing the davit is already rated just high enough to carry the dink. What will they pretty up the edge with, or will they?
I’m very susceptible to the itchy glass. No matter what I do when I work with glass, tape my cuffs, Vaseline, or powder, I WILL itch and bitch for at least a couple of days. I don’t think I need to tell you how well to wash down after.
I learned that plumping lesson years ago in my first house taking out an access plug in the basement of my clogged sewage pipe………….yes, it was exactly like you just pictured it.
Interesting points re. bonding. A few thoughts and guesses.
a. Perhaps they don’t intend to pretty the edge by sanding and gel coating the whole area; saves a lot of work if they can simply treat the edge. In this case the ooze is a problem. It is also possible they were only dry fitting at the moment.
b. While generally we like full contact, as described, I’m betting that the reinforcement is really only need near the bend and that there is FAR more bonding area than is needed for a partnering strip. They made the part long and wide partly for this reason. Also, since the part is carbon fiber it will be stiffer than the original FRP layup; this means they needed to extend it out of the high stress zone to avoid making a hard spot the wrong place. Again, there is little stress high up; why else would the hockey stick be asymmetrical? Carbon changes some ofthe rules, when used in a composite structure like this.
c. If the epoxy is thickened and there is enough, high clamping pressure does little. In fact, there is some risk of over clamping inducing stress when removed and creating glue-starved joints.
Still, I would mask, have it ooze out, and then peal it up. Perhaps they did and we just can’t see it.
Can’t see what is going on underneath, but it seems clear they are beefing up the attachment bolted areas. It looks thought-out to me. Not a minor project, trying to strengthen an engineered piece in just the right places without complete replacement.
Lots going on here.
I agree Drew, they do seem to be in an overkill mode. Maybe if we could get Mike to take more pictures as they work we could have a clearer idea of the whole job 😉
I’ll get right on that.
You do realize that these are only still pictures, right? Trust me, they know what they are doing.
Any info on the carbon fiber trimaran in the background by One Love? Those boats always interest me for some reason. That is looking at- never want to own one.
Sorry, Patrick. I don’t know anything about it. I was told that the guys from X-marine have done a lot of work on the red plywood catamaran that I think you can see in some of the images.