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    • Home/Contact
    • Front Bridgedeck
    • Bulkheads
    • Cabin Top
    • Bridgedeck
    • Second Hull
    • The First Hull
    • First Hull Continued
    • Tender - Covid Project
    • Shed, Supplies & Frame
  • Home/Contact
  • Front Bridgedeck
  • Bulkheads
  • Cabin Top
  • Bridgedeck
  • Second Hull
  • The First Hull
  • First Hull Continued
  • Tender - Covid Project
  • Shed, Supplies & Frame

50ft Chamberlin Catamaran Build

50ft Chamberlin Catamaran Build50ft Chamberlin Catamaran Build50ft Chamberlin Catamaran Build

1. The Foam Lay-Up

Sunday 31/3/19 - Joined Foam Sheets. Fibreglassed one side with 415gm Unidirectional.  This will be on the inside and will help support the hull when taking it off the mould.

Sunday 7/4/19 - All framework edges taped to stop planks from adhering to it.  Hopefully this will make it easier to remove the completed hull from framework when the time comes.

Cutting the foam in the strips for planking.  What a task that was - feeding the length of 3+ sheets through the saw. Started planking out the straight sides.

Sunday 14/4/19 - Continued planking, staggering the foam boards.  Bow cut to shape, glued & clamped.  The Keel has a fibreglasses reinforcing insert.

Monday 22/4/19 - Glueing and screwing more foam planks in place

Wednesday 24/4/19 - More foam sheets joined and fibreglassed with 415 Unidirectional. A template has been traced of the bow so that we get the next one the same. 😄

Thursday 25/4/19 - More planks cut.   Thank you to our helpers - got them knocked out a lot quicker.  

Friday 26/4/19 - Cut out the pieces that make the flared out section and glued and screwed more planks to the bottom of the hull.

Sunday 28/4/19 - Completed the bottom of the hull.  You will notice the strips going down the sides.  They were put between the mould frames to pull the planks into line while the glue dried.   Fitted the flared sections, removed screws, bogged the holes and sanded the curve of the hull to smooth the joins.

8 days over 4 weeks to get the hull to this stage.

2. Fast Forward to May 2023 - 4 Years Later

Preparing More Planking for the Second Hull

Sunday 14/5/23 - Here we are back making more planks it's a bit like de ja vu.  We did a couple of these so will only bore you with one video.  We wet up the foam, laid out the 415gm unidirectional, wet that up, rolled to remove any air bubbles and covered with peel ply.

Friday 19/5 - Cutting out planks to finish both hulls.  The first hull still has a section to be added that creates the curve for the bridge deck.  If you look on the home page at the plans, on the right you can see the engine - to the right of that is the curvy section.  This is added to the side and forms part of each hull.    If you look at the video above you can see two little holes spaced out the length of the boat - the framework for the curve slots into those holes.  You will see that added after the hull is faired.

Sunday 21/5 - Cutting out planks for the second hull.  First the wide pieces and then measuring and cutting the flare pieces.  Hindsight says the shed was probably wide enough that we could have possibly built the two hulls at the same time. Oh well!

3. Fibreglassing Of All Edges

Tuesday 6/6/23 - Fibreglassed the Bow, Keel Edges & V Section at the Back

Sunday 11/6/23 - First Side Rail Sanded and Fibreglassed

Monday 12/6/23 - Second Side Fibreglassed

All Edges Completed & Sanded Ready to Run the 1150gm Triaxial Fibreglass Along the Sides.

4. 1150gm Triaxial Fibreglassing

All Sections Completed

Tuesday 20th, Wednesday 21st, Friday 23rd, Sunday 25th, Monday 26th & Wednesday 28th June 2023 - Time to do the straight sections with the 1150gm triaxial fibreglass.  This is quite a thick fibreglass and took a bit to wet out.  The process was the same on all sections - wet out the foam, saturate the back of the fibreglass and adhere to the foam, wet out the front, roll out the air bubbles, overlay with peel ply, make sure there are no air bubbles again & Bob's your uncle :)


We also Fibreglassed the back section again and the side rails with Double Bias after the 1150 triaxial went on but the video wasn't that great.

5. Fairing the Hull

Started 6/7/23 with first layer of fairing compound and completed 1/8/23. This is just a snippet of what we have done to fair this hull (removing the highs and lows to make surface level).  A number of layers of the fairing compound are applied and you sand in between each layer.  Slowly getting to the point where it's just little patches that need a bit of filling.

The Woes of Amine Blush

We experienced something called Amine Blush.  In all the times we have fibreglassed we have never experienced this.  When we have used peel ply on the fibreglassed sections, the peel ply takes that amine blush off when you remove it.  When we haven't used the peel ply as in the case of the fairing compound and the epoxy resin coating that followed, we have had it big time. 

Amine Blush is caused when the conditions are cool and the air has moisture in it.

The remedy is to wash the entire area with warm soapy water thoroughly using a scotch brite pad,  then drying it off with paper towels.  The amine blush is water soluble, thank goodness.

6. Making the Cradles

Making the Cradles

  • 7/8/23 to 8/8/23 - Cut down frames & welded wheels on ready to make cradles for the hull when complete.  Made Fibreglassed Sections over the boat.
  • 9/8/23 - Lifted Frames onto the Fibreglassed section on top of the boat and welded side brackets to them.  Then fibreglassed the frame to the moulded fibreglass cradles.  
  • Trev removed those on the 10/8/23, sanded where welding sparks hit the boat, vacuumed everything ready to put second layers of epoxy on. 

7. Epoxy Layers & Preparing Lifting Points

Epoxy Layers on the Hull

2/8/23 - First we did one coat & sanded. Took a break and made the cradles.  

10/8/23 -Three consecutive coats wet on wet were applied the second round and then sanded.  Amine Blush was once again evident.  We started to prepare the hull for lifting off the framework, Trev doesn't fit down the centre of the framework, so it was my job to crawl in and do the cut outs for the timber boards to pass through as well as cut the steel pieces in that area that run down the centre of the framework.  It was a bit claustrophobic. Not in a hurry to go in there again.

8. Cove to the Bridge Deck

  • 16/8/23 - Cove Frames put in. 
  • 17/8/23 - Started Planking. 
  • 20/8/23 Completed Foam Planking, Screws Out & Holes Filled.  
  • 22/8/23 - Spent 6 Solid Hours Fibreglassing the Cove. 
  • 28/8 23 - Injected Bubbles with Epoxy. 
  • 29/8/23 - First Fairing Layer. 
  • 30/8/23 - Sanded Cove. 
  • 31/8/23 - 2nd Layer of Fairing Compound.  
  • 5/9/23 - Sanded 2nd Layer. 
  • 7/9/23 - Washed Down Hull - Prep for Epoxy Layers over Hull and Cove.


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