Thad Allen's Apache + The Birth of the Cheetah Cat
05-08-2010 | 05:48 PM
#141
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From: Beautiful Fort Lauderdale www.cheetahcat.com
On one offs,when bagging laminates on the outside of one of the builds -to avoid overlaps in the fiberglass so it does not buildup and give a hump...
on the transom we let the foam in ahead of time so the laps are not proud and are flush or a bit low,the material I use does not have any mat attached and with the higher bagging pressures on the epoxy laminates the surface blends in pretty well also you can butt the laminates edges together, I did one job where there were 4 plys called for we were at a 72" width with 50" material so I added a layer to the stack.
I ramp the pressure up from an initial 5-6 HG (on epoxy) into the teens ( shop temp plays into this time)also I use a 170 Fabric in most cases, this is a pain to handle and the reason I had a 50' x 1" Thick MDF topped cutting table and then it was rolled after cutting onto PVC pipe mandrels as it lay and Not pulled on this was for handling only ,then tapering the laps out so all there was left is a single layer along the edge. easy For the fairing and avoiding a hard spot crack/break here,With a leaf spring kind of mentality. You have a dry fabric @ .028 and I crunch that down 30-40%
great material it is hard to beat, glass a good balance of physicals and reasonable cost, the whole thing is tailoring work and how one handles the Resin system ,I use a fair amount of S-Glass which I really like ,a good percentage of that material is hollow for some reason.
on the transom we let the foam in ahead of time so the laps are not proud and are flush or a bit low,the material I use does not have any mat attached and with the higher bagging pressures on the epoxy laminates the surface blends in pretty well also you can butt the laminates edges together, I did one job where there were 4 plys called for we were at a 72" width with 50" material so I added a layer to the stack.
I ramp the pressure up from an initial 5-6 HG (on epoxy) into the teens ( shop temp plays into this time)also I use a 170 Fabric in most cases, this is a pain to handle and the reason I had a 50' x 1" Thick MDF topped cutting table and then it was rolled after cutting onto PVC pipe mandrels as it lay and Not pulled on this was for handling only ,then tapering the laps out so all there was left is a single layer along the edge. easy For the fairing and avoiding a hard spot crack/break here,With a leaf spring kind of mentality. You have a dry fabric @ .028 and I crunch that down 30-40%
great material it is hard to beat, glass a good balance of physicals and reasonable cost, the whole thing is tailoring work and how one handles the Resin system ,I use a fair amount of S-Glass which I really like ,a good percentage of that material is hollow for some reason.
Last edited by Steve 1; 05-10-2010 at 08:56 PM.
05-08-2010 | 05:52 PM
#142
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From: Beautiful Fort Lauderdale www.cheetahcat.com
I have been using S-Glass for quite a while The orcoweb was the first I worked with back in the early 80's nice stuff funny when you look at the Rolls the first time they do not have the slight green tint,Then later a friend (Jack Clark a great guy) had a deal buying Navy overages from a manufacturer and would get the stuff by the ton. (the US Navy Loved the stuff)
Personally I go for the Uni's that way I can get it 100% in the direction I want, We Had a fabric worked out once upon a time in for the Cheetahcat 12 (my first inboard) 12% Carbon 88% S-Glass.
It is really a underestimated material great stiffness and Tensile strength.
Personally I go for the Uni's that way I can get it 100% in the direction I want, We Had a fabric worked out once upon a time in for the Cheetahcat 12 (my first inboard) 12% Carbon 88% S-Glass.
It is really a underestimated material great stiffness and Tensile strength.
Last edited by Steve 1; 05-10-2010 at 08:57 PM.
05-08-2010 | 05:52 PM
#143
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From: Beautiful Fort Lauderdale www.cheetahcat.com
Also, like cutting when bonding tape from a fabric like the 170;always go with the length, cutting across the width (off the end of the roll) Does not work well.
A 6 foot piece can stretch to 8 feet through poor handling,even the drops had to be rolled up if you want any usable material in the scrap pile.
We marked with Cheap Chinese Pencils (soft lead)or Carpenter pencils, Magic markers are a no no, they seem to poison the curing process with some resins in those areas.
We use the S-Glass in unidirectional, I have had 4 oz and 6 oz material it lays out easy and I can line up the filament exactly with the loading without the weight penalty and the added thickness of a 90 or a 45 degree layer of material in there going along for the ride. And I can X out the loaded areas like the bulkheads and the hull shell with it.You get the guys together (after work) break a piece of glass strip in half and ask them how they would repair it the smarter ones say 45 degree biaxial then sometimes in a long while One will point at the uni Bingo you have your next foreman as he understands . The S-Glass is at home in Poly, Vinlyester and Epoxy with the finish/coupling agent they use on it.
A 6 foot piece can stretch to 8 feet through poor handling,even the drops had to be rolled up if you want any usable material in the scrap pile.
We marked with Cheap Chinese Pencils (soft lead)or Carpenter pencils, Magic markers are a no no, they seem to poison the curing process with some resins in those areas.
We use the S-Glass in unidirectional, I have had 4 oz and 6 oz material it lays out easy and I can line up the filament exactly with the loading without the weight penalty and the added thickness of a 90 or a 45 degree layer of material in there going along for the ride. And I can X out the loaded areas like the bulkheads and the hull shell with it.You get the guys together (after work) break a piece of glass strip in half and ask them how they would repair it the smarter ones say 45 degree biaxial then sometimes in a long while One will point at the uni Bingo you have your next foreman as he understands . The S-Glass is at home in Poly, Vinlyester and Epoxy with the finish/coupling agent they use on it.
Last edited by Steve 1; 05-10-2010 at 08:59 PM.
05-08-2010 | 05:59 PM
#144
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From: Beautiful Fort Lauderdale www.cheetahcat.com
when bagging a laminate on to a honeycomb core, to keep it flat and not go down every hole prime the edges of the honeycomb cells a flat table and use Prepreg weather a shop made or bought from the outside.
That was the problem in a very Famous Cat ,the cells in the Aluminum Honeycomb were filled with Epoxy it weighed about as much as the "heavy" one it was replacing.
That was the problem in a very Famous Cat ,the cells in the Aluminum Honeycomb were filled with Epoxy it weighed about as much as the "heavy" one it was replacing.
Last edited by Steve 1; 05-10-2010 at 08:59 PM.
05-08-2010 | 06:03 PM
#146
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From: Beautiful Fort Lauderdale www.cheetahcat.com
More from Steve 2
This I would build as a one off that way we can move things around a little for the customer. Build the hull on a male fixture (Kind of like the 41)and the deck in a female Like the Cheetahcat 8's
This I would build as a one off that way we can move things around a little for the customer. Build the hull on a male fixture (Kind of like the 41)and the deck in a female Like the Cheetahcat 8's
Last edited by Steve 1; 05-10-2010 at 09:00 PM.
05-08-2010 | 06:08 PM
#147
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From: Beautiful Fort Lauderdale www.cheetahcat.com
this guy came by one day and got some Airex from me, Mr Vihlen was a very cool person to talk to!
Here is a little bit about him: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2181452AAcTpzF
Here is a little bit about him: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2181452AAcTpzF
Last edited by Steve 1; 05-10-2010 at 09:00 PM.
05-08-2010 | 06:11 PM
#148
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From: Beautiful Fort Lauderdale www.cheetahcat.com
Here is my personal Flats Boat 18 Feet all up bagging Dow 470-36 Resin 1'airex core 450# hull and deck, 37 Gallon composite tank in the Bow, the polling platform is also composite as it's legs witch were hi density Foam made in a kind of an oval shape with unidirectional s bagged around them ,I had built a large box spar inside between them to keep everything honest.
The Gelcoat was a white fade to blue on the sides,the boot stripe is a flop of that, white Bottom, Cool boat 50+ with a 70.
The colors remember this was from the Miami Vice days
This Boat was from a panel built Plug.
The Gelcoat was a white fade to blue on the sides,the boot stripe is a flop of that, white Bottom, Cool boat 50+ with a 70.
The colors remember this was from the Miami Vice days
This Boat was from a panel built Plug.
Last edited by Steve 1; 05-10-2010 at 09:00 PM.
05-08-2010 | 06:16 PM
#149
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From: Beautiful Fort Lauderdale www.cheetahcat.com
That was a old Boat from the 80's, The one off in my work came from trashing hundreds of thousand dollars in the plug business after the Mold was pulled when I could have had a usable boat in the end was my initial mentality.
the uni's squeegeed out are pretty close to a wet bagged laminate on a repair so it is handy to keep some in stock,the pipes on my glass rack were long and there was always a roll of unidirectional there.
The Cat thread coming up I was looking at everything including the dust in the air so to speak, that first boat was all consuming in the planning stages there was no room for anything that did not belong there, everything had a exact weight allowance right down to the fairing compounds which I shop made,plus the Cat was on the scales every day.
A friend I was buying material from wrote a book One Off Airex Construction as well back in those days. Please excuse the book it got a bath in hurricane Wilma.
the uni's squeegeed out are pretty close to a wet bagged laminate on a repair so it is handy to keep some in stock,the pipes on my glass rack were long and there was always a roll of unidirectional there.
The Cat thread coming up I was looking at everything including the dust in the air so to speak, that first boat was all consuming in the planning stages there was no room for anything that did not belong there, everything had a exact weight allowance right down to the fairing compounds which I shop made,plus the Cat was on the scales every day.
A friend I was buying material from wrote a book One Off Airex Construction as well back in those days. Please excuse the book it got a bath in hurricane Wilma.
Last edited by Steve 1; 05-10-2010 at 09:01 PM.
