Memorial Day Weekend

It has been a week since my successful finish of my first 50mile ultra. It has been a few since I updated the blog. Details will be sacrificed for a quick post. 

I have received the two belt drives and custom folding props that Rick has developed. I can't remember ever receiving something from Australia since the track and field trip to Sydney they send to almost EVERY high school runner (please enclose $10,000). 

Anyway, I was able to connect one of the drives to the gear box. It pedals smooth. Going with Rick on this was for convenience and knowing that I was going to have it quickly. The folding props are pretty amazing. They are folded back to keep the drag down when not pedaling, but the force of pedaling draws them to their perpendicular position to drive forward. 

Ok, now to our progress. While I was racing, Tim came over and sanded some of the main hull. After recovering a bit from the race, I was able to work through plotting, cutting, setup, and gluing the two pedestals; the rudder, and part of the wing. The pedestals and rudder will get some attention from the sander tomorrow as well as gluing the top to the wing. This should set us up to glass all three before I am forced to take a bit more time off next week. 

Meanwhile in middle Missouri, Jerico is setting up and welding the seat frames. 

More to come soon. 

Just sanding to go

I just cut away the excess and removed the duct tape making the glass on the sides for the overlap. 

I will sand when I get an opportunity in the next few days. Weight check: 79.4 pounds or 36 kg. 

Have a good night... 

The deck is glassed

I prepped this morning by cutting away the excess fiberglass. Then I carried the boat outside as I sanded and got the deck ready for fiberglass as well. The hull now weighs 76.4 pounds. After masking for the edge of the deck's glass, I carried it back into the garage and laid out the glass. I smoothed it out a few times, but it did not require much since it was off of a roll. 

Tim came over in the afternoon (after his paddle with his family) and we wetted out the glass with epoxy. It worked out well with only a few blemishes to touch up later. 

59 days until the start of the MR 340. Of course I would have likeed to be out in it training by now.  Considering our situation, I am satisfied with a hull and two stabilizers at this point. Jerico is rigging up some pedal stations for us. I will start work on the wing and pedistals this week and next. 

Production will take a break as I step into another milestone for me. Saturday May 17th, I am attempting and hopefully completing my first 50mile trail race. Training has gone well. I have eased off my miles this week and will continue to taper as the week goes on. I will take some time off of production heading into it as an effort to prepare for a big day of running. 

Cheers!

A three hour tour...5/9/14

Rob and I could not wait for tomorrow. We got started around 9:30 pm. We prepped the glass and smoothed it on last time before we started the process of wetting it out. First the bottom, the ends, and then the sides. The process went well, but Rob was basically in constant prep mode in mixing epoxy while I spread and scraped the excess epoxy. It will turn out well. I always love watching epoxy work into the opaque fiberglass and show the ply once more. 

In the meantime, I have started preparing for the wing and the pedistals. Check for an FAQ tomorrow explaining. 

More progress to come. 

Ready for fiberglass

The deck of the hull has been touched up with fillit by Tim and I have it sanded.  I also glued and sanded the stern cap on. I have prepped it for fiberglass and epoxy on the bottom and sides. I will lay out the fiberglass and trim it down to size so I can use the leftover on the deck. There are some blemishes, but nothing that will hold back the performance or strength. Stay tuned for more progress this weekend. 

Foredeck is glued

The foredeck glued together smooth. A bit of fairing is ahead of me, but fiberglass still is on schedule for Saturday.

The Deck is on and the workspace is clear

More progress the last few days. We scarfed and glued the deck on. I also plotted and cut the foredeck pieces so they are ready to be glued as well. 

After glueing the deck on, I dismantled the skeleton and router cut the excess from the deck. It still needs som sanding, and a round router along the deck, but I am happy with the results so far. 

In the meantime, Jerico is working on our pedal drives so that we will be set in that area as well. 

Dreaming of what's to come...

Off to work. 

Bulkheads in/hull weight now

Many things to add for the hull including: the deck, fiberglass around the exterior, seat pedistals, pedal drives, seats, and other gear. 

Right now it only weighs in at 48.5 pounds (20.78 kg).

More to come soon!

Third Wheel V16-9m hull

After a good day of work, we were able to assemble the hull, spread fillit, lay glass, and epoxy the inside. 

We are quite pleased with the result. When it is dry, we will place the foam bulkheads and start looking toward glassing the exterior.