Wheeww! It has been a long winter for the boat.  She came cleaner and neater.  Back in the water she lookes even better.  Up coming races at Leukemia and ScrewPile will show her new true colors.

 

 

Tags: evelyn 32-2

After a long hard winter Pterobyte is coming out to play.  We have a few weeks of tuning ahead of us before we our next race, Lukiemia Cup and then Screw Pile.  We need crew wanna come too?

We have gotten so much done I can’t believe it.  It looks like the boat will splash on Friday, May 22, and race on Saturday.

I have not posted in some time.  The crew and I have been making great progress however.  I have been taking pictures along the way. To-date we have:

• Finished the keel
• Finished the non skin
• Finished painting the interior
• Fabricated new hatch board rails, slides and hand rails
• Fabricated and installed new windows

We should have the boat in the water in a few weeks.  Stay tuned for the date and the unveiling party… Till then I am holding the pictures …

Well we have turned the corner…

Pterobyte saw it’s first coat of paint.  It has becomethe grey ghost.  Of course that means the first coat of paint is primer but at least it is on it’s way to being beautiful….. again…!

This is with the Interlux Pre-Kote primer.

Tags: evelyn 32-2, interlux, painting

I cut out the keel templates from Computer Keels. I thought we would be on the second blue line, 35%. I cut the first one, lowest station, and it didn’t fit right. The trailer edge didn’t come into ceenter line. I cut station two and had the same problem. So I recut section 2 to the next deeper line, 40%, and it fit like a charm so I cut all three that way. It appears they all fit pretty will and only need some trim.

The port side bulge we were worried about seems to be taken care of with the new keel box repair and we won’t have to grind lead.

Tags: computer keel, keel, templates

We seated the keel and laser sighted it to be straight.  Found several areas that need repair under the paint.  Took off most the bottom paint with Peel Away.  About 80% done with that.  We also glassed the deck to the hull, hope this seals some leaks.

The paint stripping is a challenge.  Once the Peel Away has had time to ‘cook off’ it does not adhere very well to the paper they supply.  This may be because it is hanging upside down.  I took the boat out and pressure washed it and got a lot off the bottom, more so then just scraping.  I have one batch cooking now but I am out of the paper they supply.  So I put a batch under some thin poly film. Tomorrow we will take it out and pressure wash it again and see how that does.

Tags: naked bottom, paint striping, peel away

After searching for foam core, honeycomb and other methods of producing light weight boards for floor and other fab part boards for about three months I finally came accross Nidacore structual Honeycomb Material.  www.nida-core.com . I talked with them on the phone and they were VERY helpful. They sent me a sample box of material and the contact for the local distributor.

This product is not nearly as expensive as the others I have been looking at and is almost as light as the lightest high tech material. I am covering mine in fiber glass. If it is covered in carbon it would even lighter. I did one piece with vacuum layup. The results are fantastic. The cost of the vacuum supplies is pretty steep so I reverted to laying up flat panels on a waxed smooth surface, covering with heavy poly and putting a cover board and weight on it. The results are a bit heavier then the vacuum product but as little of this as I am using it is well worth it. The board on the boat I am replacing, paper honey comb, probably weight 2 or 3 times what Nidacore does and the Nidacore does not absorb water or rot.

I also met some great folks at the local Nidacore supplier, Eastern Burlap in Norfolk Va.  These guys are fantastic and great to work with.  They really know their stuff.

757-622-5914

Tags: composit core, eastern burlap, fiber glass, honeycomb core, nidacore, renovation, sailboat

No pictures tonight but with Chris’s help this weekend and the work I got done today.

All the Nida-Core pieces are cut out:
Forepeak stringer
Forepeak main platform
Forepeak aft bulkhead
Forepeak inspection cover
Main bulkhead, chain plate additions.

I have one piece laid up and curing  now.  Will do more tomorrow.

Also I wanted to share this great note from John.  This will help set the rig properly along with Jim Baker’s input:

Tags: bulk head, bulkhead, chain plate, nida-core

A lot has been going on.

 

 

Tags: bulkbhead, laser, nida board, work