The Cape Henry 21 building thread

[Mike1902]

I am intrigued by your methods Max, and the results of those methods.
I have been toying with the idea of timber encased carbon tubes for spars.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Mike.

[Max F]

Thanks Mike.
If doing a whole mast, you probably can´t beat a machine made mast where all fibres get the right tension.
But It would make a super mast anyway.
I did a lot of thinking before I got started with the fibre lay up, and everything went on smooth.
I did pre wet all the carbon oversize with the calculated amount of resin.
Covered from both sides wit plastic film it was easy to cut out the wanted pieces.




This is one layer biaxial and 5 layers unidirectional later.
After layer nr.5 I had to wind some sewing thread around to keep the stubborn fibres in place.




After the last layer was on, I secured the laminates with some glass fibre tape.
Just to keep all secure in place while putting on the peel ply , breather fabric and the vacuum bag.
The glass tape is more or less temporary and will probably be sanded away later on.



All done, pump running and a calmed down happy builder.



Gosh, that was absolutely rewarding!
Especialy after beeing a little anxious in the beginning if all would go well.
I´ll let the mast cure for some time before I go over the the next steps.
Then I´ll sand the new laminate and pull a layer of woven tube carbon farbric as a final layer over it.
So next, the handrails.

[Max F]

I went another route for the handrails and don´t do them like drawn. Intstead they will be made from a solid piece of teak.
First I marked the position of the bulkheads on the roof, and laid a flexible batten into the future position of the rails.



I marked the lenght of the handrails and the position of the two critical bulkheads onto the batten.
with these measurements I was able to calculate the position of the bases in equal lenghs




The main tool of the day was a router in different steps with a selection of cutters.













To prevent some tear out I clamped both sides to each over while doing the radiuses. Worked like a charm

[Max F]

After a final sanding i meassured the necessary bend at the roof and marked that on to the shop floor .
With angle irons srewed in place and some clamps I will now convince the rails slowly and little by little over the next weeks to take their new shape.
With taking my time, the wood fibres will relax and won´t break , what could happen with such a severe bend.
In addition, when prebent they will be much easier to install



I´ll call it a day gentlemen. Cheers.

[Max F]

During the cold season I move on with small parts that can be build indoors.
My next project is the centerboard.
Other than in the plans I do this as a carbon foil with naca 0007(hull)- 0012( at the tip) shape.
Maximum thickness will be 58mm inside a 60mm centerboardcase
First thing was to make the wooden pluggs to build the fibreglass moulds for the vacuum bagging

Well that is not exactly traditional wooden boat building, but I hope you will enjoy it nevertheless.


rough cutting the shape and marking.
Both sides were screwed to each other before cuting to get exactly the same size




Thinning out the blade








Marking from the pattern through little cut in windows. Quick and easy.




Multi chined naca...

[Max F]

Nearly done with shaping






Assembled and ready to be glassed over.
I build the pluggs with extra 10 mm thickness to strengthen the thin and delicate trailing edge.
Because of that I had to build a 10mm frame around the plugg.



Mould finished



Time to make a break to take care off our X-mas preparation.
Cheers
Max

[Andrew Donald]

Good to see you can still do some work Max. Merry Xmas from the other side of the world

[Max F]

Thanks Andrew, Merry Xmas.

[pablobesser]

hi, great job max as ussual! but i wonder where will you put the lead , inside? probably the amount of work is larger on your way, then just fill the plug with lead and layer out with carbon and glass but for the other side very interesting to see and sure you enjoy the prosses, the single main reason we built boat and dont buy it jajaja.

[Max F]

Hey Pablo
It is for sure the long and hard way to build the centerboard, but as you suspected, I´m enjoying every second.
Now, as the molds are waxed and ready to use, it is not that much work, to laminate the two halfes and glue them together.
After that a 25mm hole will be drilled into the top and lead shot with resin will be poured inside.
I guess that it will take roughly 120- 150kg of lead, hopefully more...
Advantages are a really sopisticated shape and a very strong structure too.
My plans are to build it to 5,5 mm wall thickness pure carbon fibre
Lay up will be one layer of biaxial fibres followed by unidirectional fibres, alternating laid parallel to leading edge and trailing edge.
Another advantage, with these molds ready to use is I could easily build another one.
So if a Cape Henry 21 builder would like one , that wouldnt be a big issue.
Have fun building and mery Xmas

[Max F]

The first half of the centerboard got vacuum baged yesterday.
I had some workmates helping so all went smooth and very quick.
Unfortunately the camera was full before we put on the bag.


Pre-wetting the fibres



Plotting and the impregnated carbon with a pattern. The carbon is sandwiched between plastic film.
So cutting with sizzors is very clean




Rolle up on a cardboard tube made this job so easy.








More later

[Mike1902]

Very thorough and methodical Max, look forward to seeing the finished article.
Cheers,
Mike.