Build Log: Albacore

Marc - wipe the deck down with either acetone or lacquer thinner first to make sure there is no contamination. As suggested, if you are just wanting to fill pinholes, they have to be clean so they don’t reject the epoxy. Then wipe with finger if you are able to pencil areas where holes are located. Adding another cloth layer may just hide the pinholes and it will leak from a different location if water can move between layers of cloth - which can happen even if “bagged”.

Dick, the deck areas where I am getting the most leaking is where the cloth separated while it was curing… in areas where I had compound curves not sure what happened. I guess I lost focus… got greedy trying to the the entire deck in once peice, rather than 3 smaller easier peices…

live and learn…right…

Then the idea of pouring thinned epoxy inside the hull deck area (hull upside down) and sloshing it around could be quick fix, without any surgery ?

problem is the deck being what is is it follows the contours of the hull so I would have pour/paint the tinned epoxy on the outside… since I would be unable to ensure adequate coverage on the inside. turn a bowl upside down and put some epoxy on the top of the bowl and then try to ensure adequate coverage while blindfolded…

it won’t be pretty… but the key will be getting the mix just right… to thin it will flow through, like water. too thick, and well it may not penetrate to get down between the layers…

it make me almost want to take some sort of impermeable fabric, like trispi, and epoxy in the trispy like a water proof membrane

Hi Marc,

Just a quick one, have you thought of a vinyl covering? It’s around 80 gsm, so 5/8ths of nothing on a deck…

yes I have, but I would then need to redo the sheeting angles and change the supports around. since I have the open transom…

an option would be to just cut off the entire deck and start from scratch… and redeck using vinyl, cellophane, ect…

my reasoning for doing the deck the way I did was to “mimic” the albacore…

My idea was to put it straight over the existing deck, and use it like the waterproof membrane you referred to earlier.

Or I have cured porosity in ultra lightweight carbon panels (>50gsm) by using acrylic varnish applied to it…

Cheers, Jim.

ah, ok jim I see what you are saying…

you can go back to the really thin epoxy idea - just cover the deck (outside) with 2 inch wide clear plastic packaging tape - overlap edges so no missed areas. It will resist the thin epoxy from going all the way through and dripping on the floor. Also - epoxy won’t stick to the plastic tape. Tape overlaps are so thin, you can probably use a piece of glass or furniture scraper to remove the slight line of the tape edge. And - If really thin, you can always do a double coat after the first one starts to “flash off”.

if you look at pic 14… the white deck area is not where I have the separation. its the grey, aft area. where I am getting all the leaks… basically dick, what you are doing is like what I did to the foam. cover in tape. epoxy pops right off… pretty neat trick…

Aaaaaaargh ------ I thought it was up in bow area. Sorry ! That will be a Bit*h to try to coat the underside.

I guess I would try some microlight (WEST 410) in a rather thin epoxy mixture and give a light brushed on coating, pressing and rubbing the filler into any pores with (gloved) finger as K1W120 suggested. If you work it in, and rub hard, you would be left with very minimal sanding and could repaint. It will not be as hard as straight epoxy when cured and probably some brass wool or maybe even 400 wet/dry would finish it off before a light coat of paint.

Again, I was working at the other end of the boat - sorry - my bad!

no worries dick… at this point aesthetics are kind of out the door(to a point)… biggest issue is making it dry… so I can sail the season… and the boat not be any heavier than it needs to be…

I’ve got some great planes fiberglass powder that I could add to the west to make it a bit “grittier” I only have the west 403 microfiber. not the micro light.

I could always slather the epoxy on and then use something like wax paper, packing tape or similar smoothed out on top to give me a smooth finish, and then when dry remove

supposed to rain on Saturday, so I know what I’m doing… that way I’ll can test it on Sunday. and if it doesn’t work then I still have 7 days to make something else happen…

I do appreciate all the responses and Ideas…

sucess…

thinned epoxy, with some fiberglass shavings sealed the pinholes in the cockpit, deck, and hull.

not a drop of water inside the hull. but water still spills and collects inside the open cockpit. when t he boat is heeled over in a breeze.

Boat seems to move pretty good, but it does push a lot of water I think in version #2 it will get some hull refinements and a closed deck that way I can put the servo’s and batteries behind the keel so it will have a better sailing balance and maybe keep the bow out of the water…

ok, well in preparation for the dlalas regional in March… making a new bulb with a new keel. first thing I did was to make a fiberglass of the orange keel. and poured a new bulb. only 460grams. so I got my drill press fired up and turned it into a lathe and formed up a foam plug that is fatter and longer than the original. we’ll call it the “marc001” covered in saran wrap and copious amounts of epoxy and fiberglass and laid up 1/2 of the proposed two part mold. no idea on the weight. I guess I could have used the bulb calculator an actually made a much better bulb to the proposed weight. hoping to get above 600…couple with an extra 3 inches depth on the keel will do wonders for the fattie albacore.

I am planning on making a new Albacore hull with a few minor refinements for the event…

Marc,

A question regarding the hull construction from earlier in this thread (after post #10). What method do you use to trim away the excess once the resin has set?

Jim.

jim

used a dremel with an abrasive disc…

did some sanding on the orginal hull plug. and and coated with drywall mud and will sand some more be applying tape…waiting for some carbon to come in the mail… gonna do one layer of carbon and then a layer of 1 ounce or 1/2 oucne glass on top to make for a smooth top coat…

new keel bulb…

after sanding down to 700gms need to cut a groove for the keel figure it will take another 100 grams off the weight…

did some sand and prep work on the old hull plug to prepare it for a new hull… have some carbon fiber on the way for my IOM keel so we will pop a carbon albacore. with a layer of one ounce angel hair fiberglass on top to help with the smooth final finish…

almost final sand and I used my new milling machine to cut the groove.

645 grams. two holes drilled to hold the fin in place, not epoxied yet… with a significant length addition…

Hi Marc,

Just looking at the burnt finish of your ballast mold, did you pour the molten lead into the fibre glass mold? If so, how did it go - any spitting etc and if necessary how did you prevent it from melting?

Cheers,

Row

poured it directly in… yes the mold got warm… lead is molten at 600 degrees… and some of the epoxy cooked off. but the fiberglass is an insulator and it helped keep the cooking to a minimum.

I figure I’ll get2-3 pours before its unusable or I have to dress it up…

The west is pretty durable stuff… not as durable as an aluminum mold… but… still kind of neat. with some epoxy, fiberglass and extreme caution… you can make a mold and cast a bulb…