most mist but must be ... a mast !

After a long period of bad weather, at last I received good news and pics from Luigi:

So now everything is ready for the trailering and the splash day is coming :-)

P.S. Just received from Ian: "It all looks excellent luigi! Let me know how it goes, and be sure to monitor saddles for any distortion. Should be okay however."

Rebel's deck

Luigi made a superb work finishing the floor deck in this way:the floor is covered in synthetic teak, a sort of plastic wood ... you can find more info here (unfortunately the English version seems broken): http://www.alternativeteqk.com/galleria.htm

We wish you all a happy Christmas, if this is the case with your religion, and a happy new year, if your calendar is so engineered, and all the best in any case !

inside Rebel

No posts in a year and then 2 in a row ! Here is how Luigi is arranging his F22 to stay inside:

As soon as the rain stops, we'll see a special kind of finish in the cockpit that still needs a little sanding ... CIAO !

More news from Luigi

Just received these fine pictures from Luigi ! He's almost there :-)

What a workmanship ... way to go, Luigi ! And now the scoop: a thin and long package is coming from Sparcfraft to Luigi doorstep in a couple of months ... guess what's inside ???

ciao !

P.S. my F22 project has been put on hold ... seeking a better logistic and financial situation in the future.

Luigi has painted !

If you stand up in the middle of the cockpit you see this:

Main hull is finished:

Guess what ? A fine gray bow tip !

Here is a scoop: and the rudder is ... an aluminium profile ! Maybe you have seen these profiles before, in racing multihulls. Construction time was very low, Luigi said, just two cuts, eh eh eh.

Remember, this is not my F22, which is still on hold. That's all folks, bye !

Luigi is painting

This year will see more F22 splashes, so it seems time to discuss color schemes. Luigi (in Reggio Emilia, ITALY) and his friend (a pro) recently painted the floats; here is the painting room, for a better dust and temperature control:

The float bow is grey; this cuddy cabin F22 will primarily day sail and race:



Now, how would you paint the main hull ? White only ?
Same grey bow as the floats ?Or ... a "Ferrari racing" red bow ?
Please let us know your ideas in the comments below; this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance ! We wish you a great 2009. 

F-22 euro meeting

After a summer with very few days of rest due to my job (I was in Israel for almost a month, inside a factory in the middle of the desert, and it was HOT) we met with Tor and his beautiful family in vacation from Norway in my town Ravenna; then we reach Luigi in Reggio Emilia:
While they talked a lot about technical questions, I went crazy with the boat, walking on the cockpit, going inside the cuddy cabin, covering my pants with fairing dust while sitting with a fake rudder stick in my hand, playing just like a baby. I'm so far from the point of costruction reached by Luigi that it's hard to think about it, so better just to enjoy the view and the feeling.
Luigi is showing his daggerboard and an aluminium profile good for the rudder:
This is a "pro" tool; fairing is not a pleasure and one needs every possibile help from technology to complete this long and boring step. Then Luigi thinks to bring the hulls to a professional paint shop; in the end what other people see is the finishing of your boat, while you know all the internal; a pro painter will make everyone happy !
While my boat building is so slow and intermittent, thanks to Luigi I know that very soon I will be able to sail a F22, not mine but ... it's ok for now :-)

Then our families had a dinner in my home this evening and we all enjoyed to stay together, to tell stories and to taste local food. We learned a lot about Norway and exchanged experiences. Open minds and curiosity will save the world.

Quasi ZERO vacanze quest'estate (e 23 giorni di deserto in una fabbrica israeliana) e poi ecco che arriva Tor dalla Norvegia con la sua splendida famiglia ! Ieri pomeriggio siamo andati a trovare Luigi a Reggio Emilia in quello che credo sia stato il primo euro meeting di costruttori di F22. Mentre i due discutevano di tecnica, io ho fatto il bambino con la barca, su e giu, dentro e fuori, stringi e lasca ... son talmente indietro con la mia costruzione che ... meglio non pensarci, tanto presto un paio di bordi su un F22 me li faccio, grazie a Luigi. Stasera abbiamo mangiato insieme da noi ed è stato davvero bello, abbiamo parlato di tutto, tranne che di barche ! Menti aperte e curiosità salveranno il mondo.

P.S. found on bateau2.com forum, about SANDING:

BoH wrote:

I have discovered that one of the main uses for epoxy is polishing sandpaper to a nearly smooth surface.

Sounds like your paper's getting clogged, you may need to change it more frequently and not press as hard. Epoxy's not well-behaved like wood. It gets into a vicious cycle of paper-clogging. If you press hard, it generates heat. The heat softens the epoxy which makes it clog the paper. Because the clog reduces the sanding action, you press harder. That generates heat. The heat softens the epoxy...

Sharp paper with light pressure works best. That lets the grit cut the epoxy without excessive heat. When it stops cutting, get a new piece of paper. Paper quality counts, too. The junk they sell at the DYI stores loses its edge too quickly. Check out some of the on-line suppliers. They sell better stuff and it's cheaper to buy it in bulk.

Finally, keep your paper dry. Store it in an airtight container with a dessicant pack. Once I figured out all this stuff for myself, I was able to turn a day-long sanding job into just a couple of hours.

Laszlo

More news from Luigi (RE-ITA)

We met Luigi and his wife in Punta Marina Terme, last week; they were here for a week long vacation in Lido di Classe. We had a nice supper and talked a lot about everything, F-22 included. She's a complicated, sophisticated boat, he said, lots of details. But anyway Luigi has reached a quite advanced state of the built: he's fairing the main hull. Here's a visual update:



The green and pink fairing compounds make me thing about a kind of metamorphoses: a butterfly is emerging from its chrysalis ! About my own F-22 build ... well, let's talk about it in another post :-(

Abbiamo incontrato Luigi e consorte la settimana scorsa, qui a Punta Marina Terme; sono stati a Lido di Classe per una settimana di ferie; bella cenetta, abbiamo parlato di tutto, F-22 incluso; Luigi dice che è una barca complicata, sofisticata, con una marea di dettagli. In ogni caso è molto avanti nella costruzione e sta stuccando lo scafo principale, come si vede dalle foto qui sopra. Lo stucco rosa e verde mi fa pensare ad una specie di metamorfosi: una farfalla che emerge dalla sua crisalide ! Riguardo il my F-22 ... riparliamone più avanti. Ciao !

always in late ... (alitalia)

This is a long due post, but my real job is taking all my time. I've a deadline May 8th and ... I'm in late ! Here is what I'd like to post at fools' day, April 1st:

You can see the rudder's halves, almost shaped. The large flat part underneath is a couple of cockpit seats' fronts, with peelply still on. In the following image all other flat parts are shown.

I'm slowly inching forward. I hope to restart my work on F-22 more seriously in June. Bye !

Ecco la foto che avrei voluto pubblicare il primo d'aprile, ma ... non c'ho mai tempo !!! Si vedono le due metà del timone, quasi sagomate, con sotto i frontali dei sedili del pozzetto, ancora col peelPly su. L'altra foto mostra altre parti piatte. Sto avanzando lentamente e spero di ripartire più seriamente in Giugno. Ciao !

DIY fiberglass quasitube (P10 vs G10)

Sanding the half rudder blade is a pain; it's taking too much time and sweat; in the meantime I experimented on the chainplate, where the "well-known" G10 tube makes its first apparition. I'm half way, just before lamination, and quite happy:
Here you can see my DIY quasitube, glued on the foam; I say quasi-tube because it was born as an "open" surface which looks like the letter P if you look at its section:
You transform it in a tube glueing the inner faces of the P legs; you need a long knitting needle (I mean that iron rod used by your grandmother to weave wool spun) to shape a perfect nanofillet inside.
To build the quasitube I put 3 C glass pieces between 2 peelply pieces and tightly wrapped this sandwich (once resin impregnated) around a 9mm steel rod; then I used a wood piece to block everything on the table and let it cure (in the following picture the sandwich is open for you to see):
I think this is the only way to be able to remove the steel rod, putting some wedges between the P legs so to enlarge the thing, and hammering the rod away. It was difficult to remove the inner peelply, however. Next time (bow web) I'll put an adesive tape piece in a strategic position, between peelply and glass ...

This "P10" is not a precision tube (and costs waaay less), but I think it's OK for its role, that is to isolate and keep the carbon UNI where it should stay, nothing more. Do you think I'm cutting corners ?

Ciao !

Scartavetrare la mezza lama del timone è una cosa atroce, ci vuole un sacco di tempo e di sudore; nel frattempo ho sperimentato un po' con le lande, dove il ben noto tubo G10 fa la sua prima comparsa. Sono a metà e sono piuttosto contento.

Qui potete vedere il mio quasitubo fatto in casa; dico quasi-tubo perchè è nato come una superficie aperta che ricorda la lettera P, se lo guardi in sezione:

Lo trosformi in tubo incollando le facce interne delle gambine della P; ti serve un ferro da calza per sagomare un perfetto nanofiletto interno.

Ho messo 3 pezzi di vetro C tra 2 pezzi di peelPly e poi ho avvolto strettamente questo sandwich intorno ad un tubo di acciaio da 9mm; poi ho usato un pezzo di legno per bloccare tutto sul tavolo e l'ho lasciato indurire (nella foto il sandwich è aperto in modo che si possa vedere dentro).

Credo che questo sia l'unico modo per riuscire a togliere il tubo d'acciaio; si mettono dei cunei tra le gambine della P e si martella via il tubo. Comunque è stata dura togliere il pellPly interno. La prossima volta (web di prua) metterò un pezzo di nastro adesvo in posizione strategica, tra il peelPly e il vetro ...

Questo P10 non è certo un tubo di precisione (e costa mooolto meno) ma penso che sia giusto per il lavoro che deve fare, cioè isolare e tenere a posto il carbonio UNI, niente di più. Non è che sto prendendo delle scorciatoie ?

Ciao !