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Getting Ready for SHTP 2021
- Thread starter AlanH
- Start date
I cannot sing the praises of PL Premium, enough.
http://www.loctite-consumer.com.au/en/products/construction-adhesives/PLPremium.html
The stuff sets up way faster than epoxy. I won't touch an epoxy bond without it sitting overnight, but PL Premium will set up and be workable in 7-8 hours, depending on temperature. Full strength is 24 hours, pretty much without fail, and the stuff is ~strong~.
It's very similar to 3M 4200, just in "tan" color rather than white/black.
https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=2004
$20 for a 10 ounce cartridge tube. PL Premium is available at any hardware store for $7 a tube.
http://www.loctite-consumer.com.au/en/products/construction-adhesives/PLPremium.html
The stuff sets up way faster than epoxy. I won't touch an epoxy bond without it sitting overnight, but PL Premium will set up and be workable in 7-8 hours, depending on temperature. Full strength is 24 hours, pretty much without fail, and the stuff is ~strong~.
It's very similar to 3M 4200, just in "tan" color rather than white/black.
https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=2004
$20 for a 10 ounce cartridge tube. PL Premium is available at any hardware store for $7 a tube.
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This morning, the bonding on the hatch cover and the flanges is solid as a rock, so I don't think I'll bother glassing the inside. I'll just sand down some of the PL100 "sags", finish the epoxy/wood filleting at the ends and lay pieces of 3-inch tape along it. Then paint. That's plenty strong enough.
I just picked up a used AIS receiver from Blue Pelican for cheap. If I have to isolate myself from work, I can load up Open CPN and a mess of charts onto my little subnotebook, and hook up the AIS as well, and watch the traffic on the Bay.
so the current projects are:
1. companionway cover
2. hatch cover scabbard
3. get s.s. tiller cheeks on the primary rudder, move the currently-in-use aluminum ones to the e-rudder
4. replace the BIOS battery in my subnotebook (got it already) and load on Open CPN, the GPS hockey-puck software and the AIS software
On the horizon...
get Leading Edge to stitch up my heavy weather jib.. $150
buy/install Simrad autopilot .. $450
get Leading Edge to install heavy-duty cunningham point in the dacron mainsail .. $150
build/make stern pushpit ... I have the fittings, just need the tubing. ???
build USD Windvane and RHM pendulum oar. ...which will be more-or-less free, so it might get done before some of the more pricey items. However, having a working autopilot is sort of required for me to play in the Spinnaker PHRF class in the SSS, so that is going to the top of the list as soon as this companionway cover goes on.
and of course there's the Piper list.
1. make the boom......
2. Finish cleaning the inside of the hull
3. make the watertight bulkhead that will close off the bow area of the boat, and 'glass it in.
4. Paint the inside of the boat.
I just picked up a used AIS receiver from Blue Pelican for cheap. If I have to isolate myself from work, I can load up Open CPN and a mess of charts onto my little subnotebook, and hook up the AIS as well, and watch the traffic on the Bay.
so the current projects are:
1. companionway cover
2. hatch cover scabbard
3. get s.s. tiller cheeks on the primary rudder, move the currently-in-use aluminum ones to the e-rudder
4. replace the BIOS battery in my subnotebook (got it already) and load on Open CPN, the GPS hockey-puck software and the AIS software
On the horizon...
get Leading Edge to stitch up my heavy weather jib.. $150
buy/install Simrad autopilot .. $450
get Leading Edge to install heavy-duty cunningham point in the dacron mainsail .. $150
build/make stern pushpit ... I have the fittings, just need the tubing. ???
build USD Windvane and RHM pendulum oar. ...which will be more-or-less free, so it might get done before some of the more pricey items. However, having a working autopilot is sort of required for me to play in the Spinnaker PHRF class in the SSS, so that is going to the top of the list as soon as this companionway cover goes on.
and of course there's the Piper list.
1. make the boom......
2. Finish cleaning the inside of the hull
3. make the watertight bulkhead that will close off the bow area of the boat, and 'glass it in.
4. Paint the inside of the boat.
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It is good to hear of options. It turns out the low humidity in Bodfish ((Kern County) has 3M 5200 solidifies in geologic time. I didn't understand the slow cure until I read about humidity activated. Slow was 3-4 days and not set. Aargh.
Ants
The rain has brought progress...the last steps.... on the companionway cover to a halt. I think I'm going to bring it inside tonight and put it in front of a little space heater to dry out.
The Pelagic autopilot has been removed, and I'm sending it to Ants. I hope he has better luck with it than I ever had. A Simrad TP22 will take it's place pretty soon. I need to get out to the boat again and take some measurements.
I bought an AIS receiver at Blue Pelican over e-bay last week, and went to the store to pick it up. While there, I grabbed a VHF antenne for $10 and a few bits of jewelry for the Pipers boom, which I will be able to cut out from the old skerry mast extrusion, pretty soon. Seeing as starting tomorrow, Stanford wants me to work at home, I should have some extra time.
The Pelagic autopilot has been removed, and I'm sending it to Ants. I hope he has better luck with it than I ever had. A Simrad TP22 will take it's place pretty soon. I need to get out to the boat again and take some measurements.
I bought an AIS receiver at Blue Pelican over e-bay last week, and went to the store to pick it up. While there, I grabbed a VHF antenne for $10 and a few bits of jewelry for the Pipers boom, which I will be able to cut out from the old skerry mast extrusion, pretty soon. Seeing as starting tomorrow, Stanford wants me to work at home, I should have some extra time.
Now I'm working from home, as Stanford has sent everybody but "essential services" home. It's really quiet, I can work for two hours, then do something else for an hour or two...work for an hour, etc. through the day. Today I managed to finish the last of the fiberglassing on the companionway cover. Tomorrow, if it's not raining, I'll get a coat of white latex paint on it.
I'm wrestling with the fact that my old laptop with Win 7 on it doesn't list COM ports. The USB "Hockey Puck" GPS receiver that I have needs to talk to Open CPN through a com port. Hm... Not sure how to solve this.
I'm wrestling with the fact that my old laptop with Win 7 on it doesn't list COM ports. The USB "Hockey Puck" GPS receiver that I have needs to talk to Open CPN through a com port. Hm... Not sure how to solve this.
breezetrees
New member
If you open "device manager" in windows 7 it will list the com ports and numbers for hardware and USB devices. The easiest way to find it is to click on the start button and type "device manager" otherwise it's buried in the control panel options. If you are missing a USB-serial driver the GPS will show up under USB devices with an ! to show it isn't working but should give you a name to google for the driver, that's usually the issue if the com port isn't showing up.
This is what I've been doing, but my hockey puck GPS software creates a separate COM port that Open CPN doesn't "see". This little laptop also has LINUX on it, I might try that, instead.
I'm working from home and it's just not that busy. Also, now I have more weekends free. Joan wants to go hiking a lot, which is good but I still have time to make "boat stuff". In light of that, I'm starting on the next project, which I didn't think I would get to for months....a windvane.
I'm going to be making a variant on Jan Alkema's USD windvane, combined with his RHM pendulum. Mister Vee uses the USD concept, (USD = UpSide Down) but I don't know of any commercial enterprise that makes a RHM pendulum. "RHM" stands for Rudder Head Mount, and it's a servo-pendulum specifically designed for transom-mounted rudders. You can read about the system here: http://www.windautopilot.de/docs/alkema/RHM-USD.pdf
Jans own prototype, which he used on a boat not THAT different from the Wildcat, was a plywood job, though he changed over to welded stainless after a few years. I'm building ver. 1.0 in redwood and fiberglass/epoxy. Today I cut out the redwood bits for the actual mount and would have cut out the parts for the oar, but I ran out of time.
I'm going to be making a variant on Jan Alkema's USD windvane, combined with his RHM pendulum. Mister Vee uses the USD concept, (USD = UpSide Down) but I don't know of any commercial enterprise that makes a RHM pendulum. "RHM" stands for Rudder Head Mount, and it's a servo-pendulum specifically designed for transom-mounted rudders. You can read about the system here: http://www.windautopilot.de/docs/alkema/RHM-USD.pdf
Jans own prototype, which he used on a boat not THAT different from the Wildcat, was a plywood job, though he changed over to welded stainless after a few years. I'm building ver. 1.0 in redwood and fiberglass/epoxy. Today I cut out the redwood bits for the actual mount and would have cut out the parts for the oar, but I ran out of time.
Work started yesterday on the RHM Pendulum Oar and USD windvane. The WindVane will be mounted on the stern pulpit, using a 4 1/2 foot length of fiberglass pole that I have lying around. It was formerly part of a Highland Games Weight-Over-Bar crossbar ie...it was free. IN fact, it this whole thing works, I might re-make the entire structure from these fiberglass poles, as I have a bunch of this stuff. It's remarkably strong, pretty light, and totally corrosion-free. Rough it up a bit, and it bonds really well with epoxy and fiberglass tape.
Anyway, I need to make a bracket with thumb screws that will allow the wind paddle to be spun 'round on that pole and aligned to the wind. This aluminum triangle is part of the bracket system. Ditto for the bent piece of aluminum stock. The triangle is just hacksawed out of this random piece of aluminum stock that I had lying round, and then I used JB Weld to stick it all together.
Anyway, I need to make a bracket with thumb screws that will allow the wind paddle to be spun 'round on that pole and aligned to the wind. This aluminum triangle is part of the bracket system. Ditto for the bent piece of aluminum stock. The triangle is just hacksawed out of this random piece of aluminum stock that I had lying round, and then I used JB Weld to stick it all together.
So for this attempt, everything is going to be made out of that scrap redwood that I've been using for practically everything. Why? It's free. I wonder if I can make this whole windvane getup for < $30. I bet I can. If it works, I'll make a sexier version out of aluminum and fiberglass poles.
Anyway, here's the pendulum oar, glue'd up with PL Premium. It's 6 feet long and got a 5-inch chord. It's an inch thick. That will be a pretty chubby foil shape, but that's OK.
I happen to have two dinghy pintles for 1-inch thick rudders, so I'll use them to hang the oar off the oar carrier, which you can see glue'd up and clamped, to the left of the oar.
Anyway, here's the pendulum oar, glue'd up with PL Premium. It's 6 feet long and got a 5-inch chord. It's an inch thick. That will be a pretty chubby foil shape, but that's OK.
I happen to have two dinghy pintles for 1-inch thick rudders, so I'll use them to hang the oar off the oar carrier, which you can see glue'd up and clamped, to the left of the oar.
The RHM pendulum oar system mounts to a "hinge" which is affixed to the top of the outboard rudder. The hinge supports the pendulum oar carrier. Here you can see the wood piece that I'm going to bolt to the top of the rudder, and the part that hinges with it, which will be attached to the pendulum oar carrier.
I actually have a couple of fairly substantial pieces of aluminum plate in my garage, and I'm tempted to make the part that bolts to the top of the rudder from that stuff. It would be a good excuse to buy a MAPP torch and some Muggyweld rods and try silver-soldering the aluminum.
If this all works, and I build the "upgrade" I will actually keep the Wind Vane part, and I will keep the pendulum oar. It's the oar carrier and the hingey-bits that would get rebuilt.
I actually have a couple of fairly substantial pieces of aluminum plate in my garage, and I'm tempted to make the part that bolts to the top of the rudder from that stuff. It would be a good excuse to buy a MAPP torch and some Muggyweld rods and try silver-soldering the aluminum.
If this all works, and I build the "upgrade" I will actually keep the Wind Vane part, and I will keep the pendulum oar. It's the oar carrier and the hingey-bits that would get rebuilt.
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Many years ago I built a windvane based on a bunch of Walt Murrays designs. Walt passed away in 2005 I believe but the Mister Vee website maintains a large proportion of Walt's design work, which is wonderful. That windvane never worked. The VANE worked, it was the pendulum oar that didn't. I remember motoring out of Coyote Point on my Santana 3030-with the framework temporary bolted/lashed to the back of the boat and the pendulum oar swung out to one side. It didn't work at all and I gave up on it.
I've been thinking about that, and it occurred to me that the oar itself was buoyant. I mean, I made it out of 1x pine. that means that once it's pulled even a little bit out of completely vertical, the buoyancy is going to force it to the surface. That's the exact opposite of what you want, so I'm going to be adding some lead to the bottom of this pendulum oar, to try to pull it back down to vertical, and even things out.
I've realized that $6 of thick, but not crazy-thick aluminum angle, some JB Weld and four machine bolts combined with a piece of aluminum I already have, will make a MASSIVELY stronger base for this whole contraption than the piece of wood I've got in that photograph above. I think I'll go by Alan Steel today or tomorrow.
I've been thinking about that, and it occurred to me that the oar itself was buoyant. I mean, I made it out of 1x pine. that means that once it's pulled even a little bit out of completely vertical, the buoyancy is going to force it to the surface. That's the exact opposite of what you want, so I'm going to be adding some lead to the bottom of this pendulum oar, to try to pull it back down to vertical, and even things out.
I've realized that $6 of thick, but not crazy-thick aluminum angle, some JB Weld and four machine bolts combined with a piece of aluminum I already have, will make a MASSIVELY stronger base for this whole contraption than the piece of wood I've got in that photograph above. I think I'll go by Alan Steel today or tomorrow.
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WBChristie
New member
My friend Lee built a servo pendulum from a design by Bill Belcher. It works really well and has steered his boat all over the Pacific
There are several DIY windvane designs out there. I have Bill Belchers book, too.
The Hebridean is about as low-tech as it gets. It's essentially all wood.
This woman..."girl in a gale"...scoped out an Auto-Helm and built her own knockoff, back in 2011. The windvane part is pretty good, but the auxiliary rudder and trim tab is as crude as you can imagine....but it worked!
http://www.girlinagale.com/2010/11/cvane-self-made-wind-vane-steering.html
The Holland windvane kit...
http://www.hollandwindvane.com/self-steering/
I could build a trim tab for the Wildcats primary rudder, and go that route but I hate to mess with the rudder that I spent so much time building. Since the Wildcat has a transom-mounted rudder, having the whole pendulum oar assembly NOT sticking out too much further behind the rudder is nice, thus the RHM concept. However, if it doesn't work, it's not terribly difficult to cut some more parts and build a simple servo-pendulum, driven by the wind vane I'll be building anyway. Honestly, one of the nice things about the RHM concept is that you drill fewer holes in the boat!
Today I cut out and glued up the air blade. I followed Walt Murrays dimensions, just that I didn't happen to have any 1/4 inch plywood. I had my last piece of doorskin....so I improvised. Here's a graphic from Walt's page, now hosted by the Mister Vee website, with a note added by me.
Here it is, doorskins, clamps and Elmers wood glue, on the tonneau cover of my truck.
I might add a little strip of unidirectional carbon fiber down the middle, length-wise, we'll see. That will get sanded and then a coat of epoxy on each side.
Here it is, doorskins, clamps and Elmers wood glue, on the tonneau cover of my truck.
I might add a little strip of unidirectional carbon fiber down the middle, length-wise, we'll see. That will get sanded and then a coat of epoxy on each side.
So far I haven't spent a nickel on this project. Everything is just stuff I had lying around, or left over from other projects, like the emergency rudder. That will end soon, though. I'm going to need some s.s. nuts and bolts and wood screws, as well as two little pieces of 1 1/2 inch long, medium aluminum L-angle stock. I might spend ten bucks...
OK, today I spent most of the day on the windvane. I did the following...
1. cut the angles at the top of the wind blade and got a piece of 4-inch glass tape in epoxy folded over the bottom of it.
2. painted a layer of epoxy on the wind blade, and laid on a 1-inch wide strip of unidirectional carbon fiber on each side for stiffening.
3. discovered that I had another, longer piece of the lime green fiberglass pole stuff, that I'm using for the mast. Nice...
4. drilled, cut, glue'd and assembled the main wind blade carrier.
5. laid out some funky duct tape on the garage floor in the appropriate angle, sort of put everything into alignment, and checked to make sure it will all fit....it will!
Wind Blade Carrier....still life with tools and laundry basket...
....and 6. wrapped the lime green pole stuff in a couple layers of wax paper, and used some leftover lightweight fiberglass cloth to wrap around it, for the moveable part that the wind blade carrier will ride on. Once I got all the cloth on there (3 layers) I wrapped it again in wax paper, and then wound duct tape around the whole thing, really tightly. We'll see how this comes out.
1. cut the angles at the top of the wind blade and got a piece of 4-inch glass tape in epoxy folded over the bottom of it.
2. painted a layer of epoxy on the wind blade, and laid on a 1-inch wide strip of unidirectional carbon fiber on each side for stiffening.
3. discovered that I had another, longer piece of the lime green fiberglass pole stuff, that I'm using for the mast. Nice...
4. drilled, cut, glue'd and assembled the main wind blade carrier.
5. laid out some funky duct tape on the garage floor in the appropriate angle, sort of put everything into alignment, and checked to make sure it will all fit....it will!
Wind Blade Carrier....still life with tools and laundry basket...
....and 6. wrapped the lime green pole stuff in a couple layers of wax paper, and used some leftover lightweight fiberglass cloth to wrap around it, for the moveable part that the wind blade carrier will ride on. Once I got all the cloth on there (3 layers) I wrapped it again in wax paper, and then wound duct tape around the whole thing, really tightly. We'll see how this comes out.
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Except for a nice 45-minute walk with Joan when the rain let up, I worked on the vane all day, today. Most of this work is cutting out or drilling or gluing little fiddly-bits. Joan mentioned that whatever I was making sure had a lot of parts, and she is right.
So today I took off the fiberglass tube that I made around the green fiberglass pipe that will be the windvane mast. I laid it up yesterday and let it kick off all night. This tube is what the wind vane carrier assembly will be attached to. It needs to fit pretty snugly to the vane mast. Well, the epoxy soaked through the wax paper a little bit, so sadly I had to split the tube to get it off. No big deal, I was going to wrap it with more glass anyway. I was shocked at how well it came out, actually. Anyway, I got it off, cleaned up the mast tube, and wrapped the mast tube with a double layer of cling-wrap...household plastic wrap. That should seal it! Three wraps of wax paper went over that and then I slipped the fiberglass tube I made over that. It got multiple wraps of light fiberglass....scraps I had left over, in epoxy and the top got several wraps of my last bit of 4-inch glass tape. That is where the clamp that holds the windvane carrier will go.
That got wrapped up with 3 wraps of wax paper around the outside and then I used tightly wound duct tape to keep everything compressed. It was pretty cool today, down in the 50's for most of the day so I warmed the rod with the heat gun a few times to help with getting the epoxy to set.. This is what it looks like...truly an exciting photograph!
I made a couple more parts...warmed the wind blade a few times with a heat gun to get the epoxy to kick off, and assembled everything on the garage floor. Before I cut the 3/8 aluminum rod that is the axis of rotation of the wind blade, and which the carrier spins on I wanted to make dropdead sure that everything lined up. Jan Alkema and Walt Murray recommend 30 deg. incline with the USD vane. Two other guys who have made them suggest less, more like 15 degrees. Other vanes (not USD) vary from no incline at a;; to almost 40 degrees. I decided on 25 degrees. 90 - 25 = 65. So with the rod that is the axis of rotation of the blade at 65 degrees from the mast, does everything fit together?
I clamped everything to a piece of wood, used a paint can for a counterbalance, and set it all up. Son of a gun!
Damn, I'm good!
So today I took off the fiberglass tube that I made around the green fiberglass pipe that will be the windvane mast. I laid it up yesterday and let it kick off all night. This tube is what the wind vane carrier assembly will be attached to. It needs to fit pretty snugly to the vane mast. Well, the epoxy soaked through the wax paper a little bit, so sadly I had to split the tube to get it off. No big deal, I was going to wrap it with more glass anyway. I was shocked at how well it came out, actually. Anyway, I got it off, cleaned up the mast tube, and wrapped the mast tube with a double layer of cling-wrap...household plastic wrap. That should seal it! Three wraps of wax paper went over that and then I slipped the fiberglass tube I made over that. It got multiple wraps of light fiberglass....scraps I had left over, in epoxy and the top got several wraps of my last bit of 4-inch glass tape. That is where the clamp that holds the windvane carrier will go.
That got wrapped up with 3 wraps of wax paper around the outside and then I used tightly wound duct tape to keep everything compressed. It was pretty cool today, down in the 50's for most of the day so I warmed the rod with the heat gun a few times to help with getting the epoxy to set.. This is what it looks like...truly an exciting photograph!
I made a couple more parts...warmed the wind blade a few times with a heat gun to get the epoxy to kick off, and assembled everything on the garage floor. Before I cut the 3/8 aluminum rod that is the axis of rotation of the wind blade, and which the carrier spins on I wanted to make dropdead sure that everything lined up. Jan Alkema and Walt Murray recommend 30 deg. incline with the USD vane. Two other guys who have made them suggest less, more like 15 degrees. Other vanes (not USD) vary from no incline at a;; to almost 40 degrees. I decided on 25 degrees. 90 - 25 = 65. So with the rod that is the axis of rotation of the blade at 65 degrees from the mast, does everything fit together?
I clamped everything to a piece of wood, used a paint can for a counterbalance, and set it all up. Son of a gun!
Damn, I'm good!
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