I've been working on a good way to waste perfectly good carbon - manufacture
the hollow (removed foam core) toe rails.
The best way I have so far produces nice fair rails that are light and strong
but involves 3 discrete epoxy steps.
Make the rails after the deck is glassed and has had first level of fair
sanding.
A) Preparation
1. Bevel the ends of the rails and round the tips.
2. You want to cover the rail in strong shiny tape (to which epoxy does not
bond) and stick the structure down to the wing in the right place. I did this
by placing several slightly overlapping runs of fiberglass reinforced packing
tape, shiny side down (sticky side up), on the inner wing edge. Tape the ends
and at intervals so they don't move. Place the rail on the patch of tape,
bending the rail to shape as you go. Use a tape hold down for your first end to
keep it in place as you go along. When done, check that it is fair or adjust
accordingly. Fold up the sides of the tape eliminating wrinkles, then apply new
runs of tape to the sides and top of the rail. Smooth out all bumps as best you
can.
3. Lightly spray the wing top inner edges with Super 77 (remove with acetone
and final sanding later) and protect the wings and deck with a sheet of
plastic, smooth out all wrinkles in the plastic on the wing top and tape the
edges too. Spray Super 77 onto the underside of the taped up rail. Stick it
down to the plastic sheet on top of the wing where it should go. Check
alignment and fair curve or adjust.
B) Epoxy Carbon Cover
1. Epoxy 2 carbon layers over the top of the rail so that the carbon strip
drapes over the rail onto the wingtop (plastic) a little on each side of the
rail. Once that is set remove the rail and pull out the foam core without
breaking the carbon cover. The tough reinforced tape makes this easy. This
should leave a smooth shiny inside surface. Lightly sand the inside surface.
2. To make the bottom of the hollow rail, Wet out a carbon strip wider than
the rail along the top inner edge of the wing (on top of your plastic which you
have cleaned a little). Make some epoxy/410/graphite like molasses and paint
the bottom strip quite thickly. Paint the inner side of the rail cover
liberally. Place the rail top in place on top of the bottom carbon strip. The
idea is that the black epoxy/410 will slowly run down the inside edges and end
up on the bottom producing a smooth inner wall a smooth inside meniscus and
gluing the top to the bottom. Epoxy/410 is almost self leveling.
C) Beef it up!
1. Carefully sand the structure on the disk/belt sander. Remove the extra
flange on the outer bottom edge. The internal epoxy will hold it all together.
Weight should be about 8-10 ounces. Cover the outside with a little silica
thickened epoxy / several carbon strips. As many layers as you think you need
2-3 or more?. Make the last layer neat and straight grained and joined under
the rail. Place the rail back in place on the wing. Tape down very lightly in
place, if need be.
2. When set, fair sand, cut holes in the ends for cords. install trap exit
with SS pop rivets. Use a rat tail file to smooth out the holes.
D) Sexy hollow rails! um.. Solid as something made of bricks but lighter
1. Glue in place on final wingtop surface with epoxy, no need for holes into
the air chamber. Coat with clear varnish or epoxy/207 or linear polyurethane as
with deck. It will probably need a center or end drain hole but don't know
where that should be yet.
I'll add a picture later.
Good luck
Greg
----- Original Message -----
From: Christian Rasmussen
To: Steve Nichols
Cc: Greg Ryan ; Stefan Elvstad ; swiftsolo@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 9:07 PM
Subject: Re: Carbon fiber shortage?
Its been getting closer since he bought the plans. "close" is a relative
thing to some Austrailans. Anyway, I am commited to
go help him out with his deck/hull bonding. Just received my order of 3 inch
galvanized framing nails and the
numatic gun is oiled and ready. I figure a nail every 2 inches in the gunvale
should hold that sucker together.
Actually. Greg and NYC Skiffs makes building the swift so much easier with
their assortment of parts. Those
can take forever to built yourself and they always makes you feel like you
are not making progress. Can't wait
to see what kind of neat stuff he comes up with once he sails a swift more.
Christian
Steve Nichols wrote:
See you on the race course.
(OK, can the sarcastic replies, Christian, Bram and Rob).
H'mm from the tone of the above I suspect that the great day is getting
close
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Ryan [mailto:gregoryrryan@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, 24 January 2006 8:44 AM
To: Stefan Elvstad
Cc: swiftsolo@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Carbon fiber shortage?
Hey Stefan Welcome to the class! I see you are based in Brookings OR, plenty
of help for you in that neck of the woods.
Also another boat on the West Coast. Come on East Coast Lurkers, lets catch
up!!!
Seriously, yes there is a shortage of Carbon/Hybrid. It comes up from time
to time though. You will need 25 yards of the fabric.
If you are sure you will make a Swift Solo in the next couple of months then
Sweet Composites currently has one 100 yard roll of the material left. the
URL is http://sweetcomposites.com/ the prices are outstanding.
I suggest you secure what you need now or be too late. You could always sell
it later if you decide not to build the Swift. Maybe even make a profit.
My company, NYC Skiffs, currently has 10 yards for those that need some
little extra.
Greg
See you on the race course.
(OK, can the sarcastic replies, Christian, Bram and Rob).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stefan Elvstad" <stefan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <swiftsolo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 4:50 PM
Subject: Carbon fiber shortage?
When I stumbled across the Swift Solo article in Wooden Boat Magazine,
it was love at first sight, and I will just have to build one. My work
plan includes first building the workshop and a small project to get a
feel for the strip building process, and hopefully make the bigger
mistakes on something less significant than the Swift Solo. So, it will
take another couple of months before I will be ready to start on the
Swift. Meanwhile, I have truly enjoyed monitoring the emails coming
through on the email list.
When planning my trainer project, I discovered that the sources for
carbon fiber express problems with a global shortage of carbon fiber and
seem pretty discouraging about their ability to deliver. Is this
something you have had to deal with in the past, and does anyone have
any suggestion as to if and how we can get around the problem?
Stefan Elvstad
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