Whats happened so far:

1. I'm currently still waiting on the AMPREG F230 foaming epoxy resin that i order from SP systems so that i can do some tests with it. Then hopefully use it to make a centreboard and rudder. I was told it was going to be in the warehouse on the 6th of April, but they are still mucking around and haven't got it sorted. So best case at this stage is that it arrives on monday.

2. The jig is scheduled to be finished at the CNC cutters by Monday 19th of April. So at this stage i won't be able to put the jig together until i'm done with the centreboard and rudder moulds as they are using up all the table space. So best case at this stage is that the jig is assembled and ready to go in two weeks time.

3. I did some quick calcs today with regard to volume of foam and area of glass to be used in the hull shell. As a blank shell that is glassed without a centrecase or reinforcements etc i'm looking at the following:

Target weight: 11.7 kg
Epoxy used: 3.0 kg
Cloth used: 15.2 m^2

Also had a quick look at the fore deck:

Target weight: 2.4 kg
Epoxy used: 0.5 kg
Cloth used: 2.6 m^2

These calculations were done by taking the surface area of each section (extracting from solidworks) then based on a 50% Fibre Volume Fraction, which is reasonably achievable by careful hand-layup i'm told.

These calculations are all part of trying to put together an accurate list of materials needed so that we don't purchase too much at the beginning.

What i've got planned in the near future:

1. The 2009 version of Solidoworks (a 3d modeller) is now available on the computers at uni, which has the ability to analyise simple composite structures. With the use of this i intend to model a centreboard or rudder and perform a simple Finite Element Anaylsis (FEA) on it to see how i should stagger the lay-up within the board, so that i can remove exess material in areas that are under-stressed. I will post the images and results from this on the blog once it is completed.

2. Complete a materials list and have materials for the boat hull delivered before May hopefully.


Also if anyone has weighed their bare cherub shell from the mathews brothers when it was delivered i would be interested to find out how much it weighed. Thanks