New Project........

Hello again. Been some time since the last post.
Mostly we were gone cruising for the last 2 years.....see www.doolittlecruising.blogspot.com


We are back in a cool house, kids are back in school, we are working, and I have a new garage project to keep me out of trouble in the evenings. I am going to build a carbon fiber road bike.

There are lots of internet resources and I have a couple of buddies helping w/ input etc.

Pictures tell the story:

I wanted to just re-tune my vacuum bagging set-up and skills......decided to try a quickie airfoil out of pink foam:

Unfortunately I forgot that polyester resin eats this stuff:

 

Attempt #2 was no better:

Tonight I got my hands on some EPOXY resin.  Here are the shapes I am trying to laminate and tonight's set up:

And now I wait for tomorrow to open this:

Wish me luck!

SOLD!!

My i550 has been sold!

On to new adventures............

check www.doolitlecruising.blogspot.com for the latest....
thanks for visiting.

And if you have ANY doubts, BUY THE PLANS, BUILD THE BOAT!!!!!

It was everything I hoped for!!

Sailing w/ Gordon....

Had a beautiful sail Memorial Day weekend.

Here is the course we took and the speed data.....

Gotta like hitting 10 knots when it wasn't blowing more than 15! (More like 10-13....NO whitecaps).

And here is a link to some video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGrszoC8RuQ&feature=player_embedded#at=306

(Pardon the skip in the soundtrack.....)

Vallejo race......

Got the keel working (Gougeon ROCKS!!) and sailed the Vallejo Race.

Went to the right off the start looking for pressure and current relief....thought we had it dialed but as the wind peetered out towards Richmond it looked like the rest of the fleet was getting lifted out in the Bay. Consolidated after a few good tacks and found ourselves in the mix w/ boats from the earlier starts! Then started the tacking spiral from hell.....we were near the Richmond long wharf and although we were moving through the water well we were losing ground over all against a strong ebb. Watched one boat after another kick on their engine and drop out.....finally threw in the towel about 4 pm and had a lovely sail back to Berkely. Bummer, but we were in solid company as a majority of boats in the 250 plus fleet also DNF'd.....all we need is wind!!

Sailing Anarchy ROCKS!!

Another front page appearance by Carbon Offset....YEAH!!

www.sailinganarchy.com

Thanks SA for the exposure....Buy the Plans, Build the Boat!!!

Ben

Sailing Feb 5, 2011... OR ....Self-Rightous

The weather was so nice I (amost) feel guilty. Gusty winds from the north, probably pushing 20 knots at times, then dialing back to 5+ then puffing hard again....very technical but a GREAT way to get a feel for how the boat responds. The killer part was it was sunny and in the upper 70's....oh YEAH!!!!!

This is only my second outing where I saw any wind and both times have been 2 up....this boat will FLY w/ three guys on the rail. Had the keel humming nicely on a few reaches. John P (who helped out a TON on the build) was w/ me.

Here is a short video of 2 sail reaching:

We tried to launch the spinnaker at one point, shrimped it pretty badly, and decided that as the wind was blowing across the channel, there just wasn't room to run off to hoist it.

Here is a video of the self righting test.....it works!!

And here is the money shot of the day......BLISS!!!!

Three Bridge Fiasco recap

We came. we saw, we sailed.....we didn't finish (along w/ 2/3's of the fleet).

The boat sails great..the outboard let me down. Even though we were over an hour late to the start we caught up w/ the fleet and sailed through...until the wind died all together.

Here is a short video from the delivery back to Sausalito

Here is a pic of me and the boys in our hotel in SF this weekend.....what a way to spend one's Anniversary Weekend (YES, our 11th Anniversary.....and Molly says, "Sure, go sail boat racing!"....God, I love my wife!!)

And here is the boat back at home this evenning.

6 bricks and away we go....

Loading everything up tomorrow for the trip down to SF. Still some minor things to do (like CF #'s and some safety gear) but otherwise the boat is ready to go. Waiting to hear from the PHRF folks who met this evening...fingers crossed!!! Race is Saturday.

Here is a shot of the 240 lbs of ballast in 6 lead bricks, plus the box they fit into and the rods to tie them down. It all fits together nice and snug in the bilge and ties together tight. The box and tie downs feel like overkill....and I am still nervous about it!!

Bad news, good news ...

Bad news: While working on the boat in the driveway this evening, it got away from me. I have a slanted drive and usually just park the boat across the driveway so it stays put. Trying to get the boat back in the garage it got away from me and rolled, at an ever increasing speed, down the driveway and SMACK right into the minivan....SHEEE-OOOTTT! It did a fair bit of damage to the right rear panel of the van and totally blew out the right rear light fixture.

Good news: The boat sustained nothing more than a minor scratch....this thing is built like a brick outhouse!! I couldn't believe it when I pried the 2 apart! Any fear I had about how stout glass and ply can be have been aswaged.

I also am nearly done w/ the stern addition:

I also have 4 of six bricks that come in right on weight!! I'll do the last 2 tomorrow morning.

Getting excited (read nervous) about this weekend....here we go!!!!

Adanasstomy........

The i550 falls short of PHRF NorCal's minimums of 400 lbs ballast and 19' length. So to get a certificate to race against the "big boys" I need at least another 240 lbs internal ballast and a foot of length.

Therefore, I have developed the Adanasstomy: the latest in surgical procedures for the i550...adding length and heft. Thought about Viagra, looked at PBX 90. Settled on Meranti ply, West Systems and good old fashioned lead.

First, here is the bilge bay where I will put the extra lead. 11.5" x 2.5" x 3.5" equals 100 cubic inches of lead. 6 of those should equal 600 cubic inches. Multiply 600 cu in of lead by .4 lb per cubic inch and you get 240 pounds. Just what the PHRF doctor ordered. (Photos of moulds are in yesterdays post below). Bottom of the boat is already 1/4" x 2 here and the lead will fit into a special box of 1/2" ply...all in hopes that the extra internal ballast doesn't blow through the bottom of the boat!

The boat tends to sit a bit bow up (stern a draggin') so I decided to place the extra ballast just forward of the keel.

And here is the extra 18" of boat. Obviously still waiting on fairing and paint...but looking pretty good so far.

Unfortunately the i580 doesn't fit in the garage....so it sleeps at night as it's alter ego, the i550.....kinda like Bruce Wayne at home in his jammies.

Application for the PHRF cert goes in this week.....pray for us!!

More to do

It's been awhile. But it's not like I haven't been busy.

I do want to race PHRF and that requires a certificate, which in this neck of the woods, requires a minimum of 19' and 400 lbs of ballast.....so I have been expanding the boat.

First, I have created the molds for the additional lead. 6 bricks at 40 lbs apiece should get me to the weight I need. I just hope the extra lead doesn't blow through the bottom of the boat!!

Second, I am working on a bolt on stern/suger scoop. I am building off a plan Chad of Knot Racing created. It is coming out pretty well.

Here it is w/ the first layer of glass.

Finally, I got out sailing again with the new sails. They still require some minor tweaks, but work brilliantly....sorry all, I don't have one picture....BIG mistake, but I will rectify that soon!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

The numbers...

So here is a summary of the numbers:



1 garage



12 months

9 gallons of epoxy

$8500

and the number we have all been waiting for.....it takes 528 beers to build an i550.

Actually, the beer-ah-meter was my time clock of sorts. It took somewhere around 500 hours to build the boat. I pretty much spent 40-50 hours a month working on it.

I spent $1500 on used Melges 20 sails. $1000 on hardware. $1500 on epoxy and resin if not a bit more. $300 on the trailer. $1000 between ply and the other building materials. Somehow, the West Marine wallet vacuum sucked the rest in $50 and $100 increments.

Lets hope we get that much fun out of the boat!!

Ben

LAUNCH DAY!

The boat got wet today! I have named it Carbon Offset....because it is SOO green!!

Rigging up

Me and Molly on our maiden voyage

My favorite pic of the day, BOYS ROCK BOAT

A virgin touches the water

Another view

I grabbed some dacron sails while I get the Melges 20 sails altered. I am looking forward to a little more breeze next time out.

Huge thanks to John P who helped throughout this project. It was really nice to have him along for the first trip out today.

I am EXHAUSTED!! I will summarize the numbers in the next blog entry (dollars spent, hours spent etc.)

Finally, I can't thank Molly and the boys enough for putting up w/ my crazy project over the last year...you are SOOOO awesome!! Thanks

Good night!

Ben

Keel foil top plate

There have been issues w/ other boats losing the top plate of the keel foil. This plate keeps the keel from dropping out through the bottom of the boat.....in other words, a fairly important piece! One HUGE advantage to being a part of the second generation of boats is learning AHEAD of time what to avoid.

This is my plan:

Drill 3 x 1/4" holes down through the top of the foil

Cross drill 3 over sized holes where the first holes terminate

Flatten the top of the holes for plates and washers, bolt it all together and fill w/ epoxy and pray!

Here is the bulb atached (temporarily) to the bottom of the foil

So far so good!!!

keel bulb

A very exciting and different part of the build: melting 150 lbs of lead and pouring it into the female molds.

The set-up, big burner, dutch oven, and molds VERY close by.

Safety gear....lead is really toxic, so respirator, safety glasses, and cold water at the ready.

Lead melted and ready for the big slide.

Sliding the oven off the burner and pouring. (Bend at the KNEES!!!)

Snap crackle and pop.

A little persuasion to help the foil section stay buried in the molten lead.

Lead in the molds.

Waste/shlag weighing in as planned.

Finished product.

Molly took video of the pour.

I was only able to get that posted on the i550 facebook site, and I can't get that link to load here. A quick search should pull it up for you though.

I have 150 lbs of lead between the two halves. I also have a little extra to fill in between the 2 halves when I bolt them together and 20 lbs in the keel foil. I won't be over the max, but pretty close to it!

Besides getting the keel assembled, I really only need to cut down the sails and I am ready to sail!!

YAHOOOOO!!!!!

Getting close

So I took a few weeks off. Work is busy, I was a bit burned out after putting in alot of time over the summer, and there is a real hesitation to FINISH as I dread finding out what is going to break first. But I'm over all that now and making the final push.

Rudder w/ tiller handle, extension and pintels/gudgeons all in place

Boom, gooseneck, mainsheet blocks and bridle done

Piles of halyards ready to be fished through the mast which has spreaders finished and halyard sheaves all cut in

The punch list:

run halyards and measure sails to be cut down

pour lead keel bulb and attach to keel

get keel into boat and beef up keel box

GO SAILING......hopefully only a few weeks away at this point!!!

rudder, hardware and mast...

Have been working on a couple of things at once:

Rudder is shaped, glassed, beefed up around the gudgeon location and painted (first coat)

I have also been installing the Ronstan hardware. Here is some of the cockpit bling. I went w/ one access port and 2 speakers (thanks Chad for that idea).

Finally, I got the mast stood up fully rigged w/ the standing rigging. It looks like all of the rigging came out right. Time will tell as I tune everything, but at this point, it looks pretty good. Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera handy so pics will come later....

I am still short one boom.....need to work on that soon!!

Bow sprits and beer caps......

I got the bow sprit sorted (mostly) tonight.

And counted bottle caps. Progress continues......

Plugging along

HUGE day Saturday this past weekend as John Perrault came by and spent the ENTIRE day (in sweltering heat) helping me build and rig the mast. We got all the standing rigging sorted and 4 of six shrouds installed. We had it up more than once but as both of us were scurrying around lifting, balancing, sweating, measuring, sweating, lowering, cutting, raising the mast (and sweating) there wasn't much leisure time for photography.

Here's a picture of the mast laying down next to the house:

I also built the trailer:

And CAREFULLY lifted the boat up in the air (scary):

And placed the trailer under the boat:

I got a HUGE amount done this weekend. Thanks again to John, I would be no where near this far if not for him.

Oh yeah, and today was the boys first day of school: