A Strange Couple of Weeks

A Strange Couple of Weeks

 
The guys and I went to BOOTS, We can no longer say we have never sailed! YIPPEE!!!!! Had two GREAT days of some sailing, making new friends and camping out. We all got to take turns single handing a small sail boat one of the guys brought.  No one sank.  Planning on doing it again next month at one of this areas messabouts,  if things go well.  I have never been that relaxed in my entire life. Both guys are seriously thinking about making a PD racer
I do believe the guys now understand why I want this so much. Will be posting pics later.


As the crow flies, I would say there is a solid 400 miles between me and the closest ocean.  Has that stopped two hurricanes from interrupting my boat related plans? Not one tiny bit.  First Earl came inland then just to keep us on our toes, Hermine came rolling through almost immediately. Needless to say, with all the resulting rain, there was not been much out door activity  going on in the boat building department while all that was going on.  .  Did get one solid day  of working on it in before we went to BOOTS.  Most of the  first hull  is done up to wrapping a tarp around it stage.  Two out of thee sides are almost complete except for some stern and bow work to do.  Right now it looks pretty much like a banana boat. If I put an outrigger, sail and rudder on it, I'm thinking it might sail.  Just for the heck of it, I'm actually thinking about doing it.

Read a article on Duck works about a guy who used PVC cloth on his kayak . I had some thick vinyl laying round left over from another project so I got busy testing out some theories,


Tried PVC glue  and roof coating on the vinyl.

First test was just PVC/ CPVC glue..I cut two strips about 4 inches by 2 inches and overlapped the ends so I had something to grab to try pulling them apart.  If I tried just pulling on the ends it refused to come loose,. If I peeled it  and  pulled really hard it would peel apart.

For second  test  I tried using both primer and glue and it is stuck.  For test I used purple primer so if I go this route at any time the key word is CLEAR PRIMER. The purple looks REALLY tacky. Letting it sit and cure for several days made a huge difference then testing it by pulling with in a few hours or even a couple of days.


Third test; I tried using some of the bucket version of roof coating between a piece of foam and the vinyl. It stuck great. . When I went to test the bond and  pull it off,  the vinyl lifted a small bit of the foam with it so its not goof proof but it did seal the vinyl to the foam . .

 I finally settled on using  just the  roof sealant as water proofing for now. Tried a tube of the Cool seal elasticomeric roof sealant just to see what the product would do in general before I committed to a 4.75 gallon bucket of the roof coat.  Both the caulk type product and the stuff in the bucket work fine. . It sticks to the foam just fine. Although the caulking version will rub off the tarp, I had to rub harder then with  the GE silicone.  I'm using more coats then I would on a roof but it is definitely sealing all the   

little holes and gaps.. As holes show up in coating, I am checking them for depth and spraying some canned foam in where the hole is deeper then surface level. It's slow going but any voids that have a leak to the surface are getting filled so I won't have water collecting inside the hulls unexpectedly.  Since I am using several thin layers of the sealant on this hulls just to make sure it will hold p under sailing conditions, I have almost used the entire 4. 75 gal container. on this first hull. The tarp is going to be more of an added layer of protecting the roof coating  then any thing  Kind of like seat covers for your car.

 In the back of my mind  I have had these snagging thoughts about why I did part os of this the way I did  Things like whats with me using the Schedule 40 4" pipe inside all this foam.  It occurs to me, there is no way both  hulls will be the same weight. The four inch pipe especially  with the 2 inch tubes going down to it provide a place to put removable ballast  to even out the weight of the two hulls as well as other ballast purposes. .
The screw off end cap at stern provide a place to remove that ballast if I need to . I could literally take a plastic sack from a the grocery store, put some rocks, sand , dirt or anything else small enough  in it and slide them down the 2 inch pipe to solve ballast trouble. If I absolutely HAD to I could use water for ballast in an emergency. .The screw on end  means I can also very easily extend these hulls to what I personalty would feel is a a more comfortable length for  transatlantic crossings with no problem.

  

The 4 inch size and heavy thickness of the Schedule 40 provided some serious structural strength in case of impact.  Should the unmentionable happen, there is less likely chance of me having significant  hull damage.
As far as that goes, Ive come to what I think is a rather significant conclusion about why I am not " finishing " the out side of these hulls.  When I get to the point of building a  'real boat" these hulls will go inside as part of the flotation system.  All the plans I have been looking at especially for cats have one of two basic  keel designs . They are either a triangular hull sitting up on  top of a round  hull or   a triangle with out the round hull under them siting directly on the water.   Once I get to that point, and the hulls are ready to put flotation foam in. All I have to do is insert these hulls into the bottom and pour that 2 part DIY foam around them.  Long story short this "Toy" is a plan ahead recycled hulls on the "real boat" level even if I did not do it on purpose.



Sail Safe