back in the mac-hine...

So I'm back in Rhino, finalizing my design. I made this picture deal in photoshop. I think it does a pretty good job of showing how much "sculpting" I've done. The top is my new moth hull, (280mm freeboard) and the bottom is the original Sr-71 hullshape. I guess a lot can change in 2 years..........

Set it and forget it....

In some parts of the world it gets cold during the winter. Well its started here, been in the 20's f at night. Needless to say epoxy isn't a fan of cold, so before I can really go any further a heater box is in order. My old one fell apart in the move, so I built a new one and stuck some light-bulbs in it (it got me through the summer), but at these temps and with the slow and medium epoxy I use, more heat is necessary. I started out by sticking my jet heater into the box, but even on low it was way to hot (350 melt foam hot) and it eats propane, so wouldn't be something I would want to use very often. Needed to try something else. I thought 185f would be a decent temp to hone in on, and I really want some good convection for when I start messing with LTM prepregs. I figured space heaters would be a good way of getting there.

Cheap Gonzo Convection Oven:



Step 1: Steal the guts out of a couple 1500w heaters.



step 2: bypass the low temp thermostat and install in a capped 8'' to 7'' reducer, cut some vents in the cap and rig a little switch box.

*note. don't bypass the high/low switch, because in the summer you'll want to use the low setting since the fresh air intake temp will be higher.




Step 3: Install the heaters in the cure box, then install a "T" in the middle of the box and stretch some flex duct over to the heaters. Don't cover the intake more than 1/2 way or you'll run too hot (keep it below 200f) hotter and you'll blow up the fan motor, which will spike the heater coil, which will melt all the wiring. (don't ask me how I know....... I ran it at 230f for about 1/2 an hour, then the fan went and bad, smelly things started to happen. Lucky they are cheap little heaters)



I'll be cookin this weekend.




It ran great and stayed between 185 and 190 (measured at the exhaust T) for 6 hours. Seems to be working. So that's how I made a 14ft convection oven for less than $200.

****yes, I know exhaust is spelled wrong on the drawing. My spelling is terrible.

boatwork for reals yall.......

If i would have known switching this project to a moth was going to make it actually start going together I would have cut it up a lot sooner. Its Soooooo nice to be out in the shop (with a heater) instead of screwing off in the vertual world of rhino 3d.....




Bonded in and shaped the foam for the bow, and chopped the foredeck. Sexy no?





The bow......still needs a little shaping, then carbon and fairing. (I've always been a sucker for Dreadnought bows.)




Another one from the back. That little heater pumps out 80,000 btu's, Next time I do lay up I'm going to cut a hole in the side of the heater box and blast that little fella, should make my pump times a lot shorter.

lookin like a boat.

I chopped off some more freeboard, The stem is now 30mm and the stern is about 18cm. The hull is just so wide back there that I almost felt I needed to.



I also chopped the deck down so that it fits the hull. The white strips are the bits I took off the sides today. I'm now down to about 1/2 the boat I had before, and couldn't be happier.



The pimp stern. I will need to carve the foam out of the gantry anchor points and replace it with quarter inch carbon plate.


Moving along now.

A little off the top

There is nothing you can't do if you have a laser level and a tile cutter.... I'm fully in the pool.










I went a little conservative on the freeboard. 300mm at the stem and 220mm at the stern. I now have about 1/3rd less boat than before, I was originally going to cut the stern height down to minimum volume, but then ran into issues with gantry tube lengths and attachment points.

The Boat has been renamed "The Gonzo Sled"

Whole new world

So obviously my hull shell and decks need a full chop all around to measure as a moth, So I've started that process. I think it looks pretty cool. Here's some new dims.

Length: 3350mm (of course)
Beam: 380mm (Pretty wide, so I'm going to try to make up for it in freeboard......)
Stem Height: 260mm (see, short, I almost think I could go with even less)
Stern Height: 182mm (Is this an IC?)
Stern Width: 282mm (nope, its a skiff)

All my appendage placement should be pretty standard. Rig is standard pocket luff for now. (if anyone is trying to off a mast or boom I'm interested.)

Still have to settle on a shape for the bow and stern, wingmounts should be straight forward Ninja style tubes.

If anyone has any thoughts or idea's let me know.

really....

Enough with the emails. I'm killing the trapfoiler concept. Until I can get down to working one full time job (instead of 2) I just don't have the time to give to something so involved right now. I hope to get back to it sometime down the line if the need arises. Time spent developing moths and moth bits will only add to it down the line. Knowing how to sail a foiler might be a better place to jump from as opposed to ground zero with nothing but brain teaser concepts to work with. On the plus side, I might be able to get to sailing some time this century. After seeing a moth in the flesh(damn you Eric) it seems to me that learning to sail one of those will be hard enough without all the added complexity of developing a new foil system, rig and sail. After watching the local wind patterns for the last 2 years I have concluded that a trapeze in Colorado is super duper overkill, I'll be lucky to get up and foiling most days. I originally planned to relocate to a more wind friendly place (read Portland OR) where I could take advantage of the trapeze, but that's no longer in the cards for now.There are some development opportunities I have for the moth that are just more interesting to me than bumping around in the dark with this thing for the foreseeable future.

Rail on, or don't.

-The Reluctant Mothie

going rogue.....but not really at all.

This is going to be the silliest shit I ever write on here.........This guy (Eric Nelson) moved to town and brought his moth. I went to Union Reservoir on Sunday to check it out (just lookin, ya know). I shouldn't have done that. Hydrofoil Sailing is even cooler than I had imagined. I sat there for a couple hours just watching. Then I came home and started figuring out how to chop my boat to fit moth rules.( something I've been fighting internally since the beginning). Now it's inevitable. Something I never thought would happen is happening. Moths are coming to Colorado. There is some talk, and defiantly some interest. Now its one thing when your a lone wingnut on a mountaintop who's going to develop this wacky idea out of pure isolation. nothing to do but get quotes and things for custom one off parts and masts and sails. (Making a one off boat is a pain in the ass). Its something all together different to have to watch other people race some pretty cool boats against each other with standard parts and kit all available and such, while your still getting quotes. Combine that with the supertech arms race that's going on in the class.... I need in. I'm sorry to anyone who thought this thing had legs, maybe someday. Right now I just want to get sailing. All you crazy SA moth legends "you told me so" I should have listened. More to come, I'm working on it. the cut down hull shape is super wacky. Anyone who read my thread on SA about wider low freeboard hullshapes won't be surprised, that thread was the beginning of this move. Have at it. Onward and upward.........

Damn coke badger

Today while fairing I was unceremoniously attacked by the Coke Badger. Will someone please tell him that Quickfair is different than Peruvian flake.......

I spent the morning pleading with the gods of fluid dynamics to look away just this once, but in the end went out to the shop, put on the tyvec and mask, papered the longboard and went after it. Things are "shaping" up (pun intended) and the outside is starting to look all smooth and pretty like the inside. Still have a ways to go though.

a few more....

Just a few more pics of what I did this after noon. Wow 2 bloog posts in one day, must be sick or something.




A rough trim to see what I've got. I have room to trim a bunch more off the gunwales. Since I'm using a tramp now (lots of thought in that one, just stopped fighting the reality that I will be doing a ton of light air "non trap mode" sailing here), I'm probably going to take another 5" off the overall beam.




All my bulkhead and frame templates fit, so that's cool. have to work on the new transom and foil case templates.




Not sure of my shell weight. My scale only goes to 11lbs and I'm pretty sure I'm over that, but my nine year old says its pretty light. Have a scuff and bog session planned for tomorrow, might even get some fairing in depending on the temps.

I got a 29er for training.

Oh..wait..wrong picture. I meant this one.



For those who haven't tried singletracking on one of these 29inch wheeled bigfoots I highly recommend giving it a go. Rolls over everything, climbs like a mountaingoat, and corners like a shifterkart.



Here is the pile of carbon I pulled off the boat after the first attempt at bagging on the hulls outer skin. I tried a new really aggressive peel ply without doing a sample. (***note. don't ever just believe the materials data sheet***) anyway, to make a long story short. The resin uptake on the new stuff was just enough to suck most of my bonding layer out from between the foam and the skin. Nice foam coat, nice cloth wet out, nothing left to bond the two together. But a really nice peelply finish.......



Time for attempt #2. This is Conner, a local "science kid" who wanted to fill his brain and get his hands sticky so he can finish the glass/ply johnboat in his garage and start making carbon bits for his high school robot competition. He came over to help and get his "carbon monkey" started. I think he had fun, it was nice having another set of hands.



Popping went fairly easy, just came right off with the help of a couple big wedges. (I love Freecoat, best release system out there) I had flashbreaker taped my trimline. When I pulled the tape off the tool it also brought up some of the duratech with it in spots. Oh well, it can be patched if I ever use these tools again for some reason. The inside looks awesome, the ouside needs some work. I'll never use male tools again, but they were good learning system for a first go.


Needs to be trimmed and scuffed so I can slap on a couple layers of quickfair.








just need to bag the foredeck and some flatplate, make and bond a bow piece, and then the real fun begins.....

yup

So this is high density core replacement I've been using. Good stuff. All the same compression characteristics of ply but at half the weight and no rotting.



I sanded out some 1/16'' x 1'' grooves where my seams overlap, easier to fair a depression than a high spot. (technique stolen directly from Chris Mass.....thanks)



If you look close you can see where I put in the through plate for the foil case. Took some 1/8'' Coosa foam and bonded it into the channel I routed out. I backed it with 2 layers of 3k per side, should be nice and strong down there now.






Pumps running and I'm going to bed. Can't wait to pop it tomorrow and see what I got. Its like Xmas. Now if my quickfair would show up.

roto what?

Stuck far from the boat until Monday so figured I'd catch up on my bloogin. Earlier in week while waiting for a batch of bog to hit, I figured I would trim some of the parts I've been putting off. Got out the Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel and started going to town......and blew it up. It was off to the hardware store to pick up another one. I blow up a Dremel every couple years, so I pretty much expect it. I was thinking about just getting a new angle grinder and a trim router to replace it so that I wouldn't be going to get another one next year.....anyway, I ran into the Rotozip which came in a router/cutting disk combo pack. Its always the motor that goes, and this one has a big, speed controled motor with replaceable brushs so I figured what the hell. Bought the combo kit and one of the diamond edged tile disks and went back to the shop to try it out.



The cutter worked great, went through everything like butter. It even left a nice clean cut on the hybrid, which usually ends up all hairy like kevlar. I did find the disk housing/guard a little cumbersome. It tended to get in the way a lot. Luckily it comes off.



The Roto also comes with a router base/jigsaw handle. I used it to route a spot in the bottom of the hull where the foil case comes through. I plan to bond in a piece of carbon plate as core replacement. The Rotozip worked like a champ, the base isn't that precise, but I'm thinking of milling a nice aluminum one up for precision work. I also tried the spiral cutter on some foam cored test plates I had around. Grease lightning. Should come in real handy when I'm cutting out bulkheads and the internal structure.



And on the actual build front....the foam is fared and ready for carbon. Monday when I get back home....I promise. I've also been reworking the design, so I'll be posting some of that here soon as well.

coming along

Still fairing, but I think its looking pretty good. I'm enjoying the artsy aspect of foam shaping. You can really get into the soul of the form.

smack my bottom

Ran home from work Thursday night and bagged the bottom core. Not nearly as much of a chore as doing the sides. Cut to shape, vacuum the dust off, roller some epoxy onto the foam and the surface, squeeze some bog into the corners frosting bag style, put in the panels, cover with peel ply, and slam it.



I woke up early this morning ready to go. Trimmed the sides to match the bottom and started fairing. I love foam dust, I like how it stays put and doesn't get everywhere.........(or not)


After Dinner I went out and filled the gaps and seams, tomorrow I can fair the sides. If I'm feeling ambitious (and blow off mowing the yard) I might throw the outer skin on.



More to come.......