Roobarb Canoe

 After cracking and repairing Monkeys daggerboard thought I had better make a new one. From the same 220mm cord mould I wet out 2 staggered plies of 400gsm cloth (T700 I think) and 1x 300ud laid this in the mould, added the pouring foam and clamped together. The front edge was trimmed to mould and the trailing left long Results are ok but there are a number of voids in the surface which is disappointing. These have been resin filled and the lot left to cure for a few days. I also used the same technique on a new rudder mould, with a similar but better result. I think the next trial  I might go back to curing the skins first. Assembly was the issue when I trailed this in the past but I think using a lightweight surface ply  and allowing this to go past the trim lines maybe the answer. Previously I had trimmed the skins before assembly and this caused issues with skins moving/ not fitting together well.

 Had new jib form HD sails. Measures 2.2 as requested, should really have gone for 2.4 which would have matched the main better …. Nice shape , quite full. Tried it first time in 20 ish knots… bit of a hard sail. Thought I might not get back at one point. Very difficult to tack, kept going aground. Mainly me out of practice…. Had compression failure on daggerboard. Which I repaired It failed where I ended the carbon ud. This was mainly a glass biaxial layup so it’s very flexible below the ud…. Thought I had better make a new one for the nationals in Loch Lomond.

  Relaunch of Monkey! Sunday 14 May Got the decals on (from Funky Monkey) and took her out in a nice gentle breeze. Didn't sink and generally all OK   Saturday 20 May Around 20 Knots of breeze, well mannered most of the time but some adjustments needed. Kept luffing up when wind dropped and after tacking. I think it must be unbalanced, jib only 2.1m2. I found in dragonfly with the same daggerboard that 100mm off the bottom worked well. Mast is very soft , perhaps that is also not helping? Chine digging in as well? Work to do: Mast track ate the luff rope so those mast repairs now more urgent (and new bolt rope) I adjusted the kicker but this needs further work Bottom rails of carriage need trimming Dagger board needs shortening Jib track i think needs a stopper as it runs too far out, new jib from HD coming so that will need setting up with that Toe straps are not the right webbing, they are like elastic! Need to source some new material

 Finishing off Monkey…. Well as much as it’s getting before it’s relaunch New shrouds, forestay ext and lowers, cut and shut rudder stock, a bit more rigging.  Seat and carriage back from sprayers and fitted out Trimming foredeck back, real dilemma this. I wanted a long foredeck with the main going right down to it ideally right back to the forward  but it’s a difficult packaging operation. Would work with a gnav but not keen on them. So keeping with a conventional vang and also wanting to be able to run with 150mm to 200mm of board up  Checking daggerboard fits  Still to do…. Mast….   Weight 55Kg, a good result

 2024 Worlds are in Germany as part of Travemunde week. The challenge is to complete Roobard in time, leaving Monkey free for Henry. Henry's not yet sailed a canoe (hes only 14....) but is up for a challenge even if he just races on quiet days. Monkeys seat and carriage is heading for the sprayers next week and im intending to re-launch her April 26th or 29th. There's still a bit to sort out.... rudder, kicking strap, mast, final rigging...... but essentially im now going to be getting her outside and starting on Roobarb.  Taking Friday 14th April as a starting point I have 14 months to put Roobarb together with an intended launch date of June 14th (my birthday). This gives me about a month to iron out any issues before the worlds. There is a bit of a head start already, the stations were machined out and assembled but i do need to set these up correctly before I skin them. The seat and carriage moulds are all sorted out and I have various moulds for the foils. I have secured ...

 And now the rubbing strips…few more to do after Easter 

 Further progress on Monkeys seat and carriage….

 Another frantic wet laminating Sunday afternoon listening to Gardeners Questions . Don’t like gardening but it’s strangely reassuring and calming…. Demoulded Monday evening. Used heat blanket to keep it warm (Argos’s finest ) started at 25 degs (exotherm??) then dropped so it was 20 degs in the morning  Laminate a bit erratic, got a lost in the process and missed some 660 out I think.  I planned to do Front and rear x2 200 5mm foam, x2 200 Sides and rails x1 200, x2 660, x1 200 + 100mm wide 300gsm ud folded to fit bearing surfaces Center x1 200gsm, 5mm foam, x1 200gsm

 Here's my T foil design.  100mm cord on vertical, 75mm cord on horizontal, 600mm wide on tips. Bit on the small side but I think that's OK, my theory being that you get as much from pitch damping as lift and i dont think you need much for pitch damping. Less surface area means less drag... who knows if it will work or if I will ever get it made.....

Seat upper surface took two sessions.  First was 2 plies 200gsm cloth all over+ main foams (5mm pet) Second was 8mm foam on side then 2 plies all over , 4 plies 25mm wide 300gsm UD in the load areas+ 1x UD 25mm wide just inboard of the foot wells  Both sessions a bit frantic, about a 4 hour layup. Laminating and bagging really difficult around the foot wells, I like the loose tools but have been pondering about other options. Fortunately the new tacky tape seals really well so no problem with leaks. Both times the vac was left on over night with heat blankets giving some gentle warmth, about 20 degs. The top and bottom will now sit in the moulds and "post cure" while I tackle the carriage, hopefully in one go. The poly prop returns seem to have worked well, they are offcuts from worktops at work, these were 4mm thick, I have some 6mm thick to mould the rails around for Roobarb.  

 It seems like this project is taking a long time so I was thinking how long does it actually take? I started this rebuild in June 2021 and I think it will be finished around end of March so about 21months. There’s not much more work in a new boat and I hope in this I will have a seat and carriage for the new boat as well.  I think I do an average of 4 hours a week, some a lot more but then some none at all. That would make 336 hrs ( excluding mast and foils)

 I posted this on Face book a while ago… Thinking about weight of various bits of the IC as targets in build Hull ( sprayed but no fittings) 25kg Fittings 0.5kg Mast 5kg Boom 1.5kg Seat 8kg Carriage 4kg Foils 6kg Total 50kg Some tough targets there, are they about right? Hayden and Andy had some useful comments, 23kg for sprayed hull seemed to be a target with the savings going mostly into fittings… spray was about 3kg with undercoat so a target for the laminated faired hull would be 20kg. I had always thought 25kg was ok but that now seems a bit out. I have 8kg for seat, but that’s a finished weight so perhaps 7kg for laminated? 2.75kg for bottom moulding, 3.75 for top and 0.5kg for bulkheads and bonding, possibly bit tight?

 Actually got to the point of moulding part of the seat…. Not the most calm evening.  Did the complete laminate in one go, should have done outer and core then called it a day. Tacky tape would not seal, so stripped it all off and used a softer one which luckily I had. These are all old bits and bobs so will be getting some new softer stuff for the next part. I think I would also benefit from trying infusion as I could set it up over a few evenings then go for it when ready. First thing will be to see if the moulds actually hold good vacuum, pointless trying infusion if they don’t…. Laminate was 1x 200gsm twill either side of 5mm PET foam for the main bottom surface. This part also incorporated the leading edge, x2 plies either side of 8mm pvc foam, returning 25mm top and bottom. No foam where the load will go through to the carriage, this had x4 plies of 300gsm UD 25mm wide the whole length of the seat.  I think this is similar to the layup I did for Dragonfly but don’t ...

 Since my last post I’ve been Ill with a virus, then we had Christmas, new year and COVID ( first time I’ve tested positive)  But some progress  has been made… The carriage mould is 800 m wide (designed orignally for Dragonfly) so for Monkey I’ve added a 15mm packer each side making it 830mm wide..side flanges now bolted and double sided tapped into place and filleted with soft wax. For Roobarb this will be 15mm inside as that will be narrower. Hopefully I’ll get Roobarbs made as well over the next few weeks, but making Monkeys first.