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[Circlip]

Cos Cascomite ain't available any more.


  Regards  Ian.

[DJW]

Haha..!  I do remember using Cascamite on my ever model boat build, a Sea Urchin, way back in the day...


I used Titebond 3 on my earlier Aquarama, its waterproof and I've probably just got used to it's flow, grip, drying time, what it's good at and not so good at.  It also mixes well with sawdust to bulk it as a filler.


Regards to all.
David.

[Martin (Admin)]

Cos Cascomite ain't available any more.


  Regards  Ian.

[SailorGreg]

Say "Cascamite" to any builder of full size wooden boats and just watch the expression on their face!  Let's just say it is not held in the highest regard. 

Greg

[DJW]

Evening All


Stern is coming along nicely, now planked and sanded. The Proxxon belt sander is really useful...








Feels like headway being made now with the hull. Over two years into this build...


Regards to all
David.

[T888]

Nice David 

[ChrisF]

Blimey, it doesn't seem like that long ago when you started!

Chris

[DJW]

Evening All


Quite a bit of progress made on the framework of the boat. At the stern I've got the rear hatch optimised and nicely flush with the frame that holds it in place. Cockpit area has been worked on, angled steps in front of the seats plus the panels  between cockpit and cabin are added. I've started shaping the bow frames that will define the forward deck shape, a work in progress right now. Adding filler here and there as required.




















The Belt sander is getting a workout. Working hard to ensure symmetry. I think the rear sun deck is going to get some attention from a large hole saw. It's quite heavy and doesn't need real strength.


Best regards to all..!
David.

[DJW]

Evening All

Had a  it of time to make some more progress with the build. I've got the chine rails attached and have done more sanding and shaping then checking with planks to see how they're going to lay.



And as of today









Also been fitting the exhaust stubs through the stern, and working out how the flanges are going to be shaped. I'm using the 3D Printer to get the shape right. The Aquarama flanges seem to have 5 holes for  screws, and the flange has to attach to the pipe at around 25 degrees. So I'm printing a guide to get the holes in the right place, and another mount that's going to hold the brass flange in the lathe at the correct angle to bore out the pipes 25mm diameter...  We'll have to see if it works..!



Here with a printed flange mock up



And the tool designs





I'll report back...
Best regards to all
David.

[DJW]

Evening All

Progress on a couple of fronts.  The exhaust flanges are now created in brass cut from 50mm bar stock on the little lathe:





And checking fit with the drill guide:



And parted off:





Used the 3D printed drilling guide to get the correct spacing of 2mm holes in the flanges:






Then used the cutting guide in the lathe to mount one flange at a time allowing boring out for the exhaust stub at a 25° angle, so it fits the sloped transom.





I need a good fit so the silver solder will flow nicely.





And when in place on the boat:






Need a little adjustment to get the flange mounting holes in the right place, but I'm pleased with the fit, next task is to silver solder, challenge there being to maintain the angle needed...  Then I'm thinking to use 2mm brass inserts in the hull, and I'll need some sort of gasket to seal.

In other news I've been using the hole saw to take out some wood where its not really needed, the floor of the seating area, also the aft sundeck:







That's it for now.
Great weekend to all.
David.

[Martin (Admin)]

 
Looking Good!   

[DJW]

Evening All

Thanks for that Martin..!

I've got the exhaust stubs silver soldered. Not plain sailing, the flanges were hard to hold in the correct position, maybe I should have wired them. Anyway  done now. A little more polishing and they'll look the part.



This is the port stub:



And Stbd:



Next task will be to drill through the flanges and insert M2 inserts for the bolts. Also planning to create gaskets from thin foam to ensure a seal.



On first attempt I managed to screw up the port stub as the flange holes weren't aligned properly.



Got there in the end. !

Best regards to all.
David.

[DJW]

M2 Brass inserts araldited and pushed in, tight fit so needed a small hammer..!



And the stubs bolted to the inserts.



I need to check whether the flanges use cross head or flat heads. Allen heads are what i had available and just to check the fit.

Also started the forward planking on the hull. 2mm x 10mm bass wood.







Best regards to all.
David.

[DJW]

Evening All

Making progress with the hull planking. Gone about as far as I can for the moment, I want to add some epoxy on the inside to the areas that will become sealed when fully planked. Also need to find a way to build in a fan, but temporarily seal it from all the wood dust that's going to be coming it's way...







I think planking is one of those things where if you ask 10 people how they do it, you get 10 different answers.

My approach for this first layer is to cut the plank appropriately to size, clamp it into place. Mark it up and trim it as required for a good fit, and do this with its pair on the other side. Then drill where the plank crosses a frame using a small hand drill, while making sure the plank is firmly pushed against the previous plank. Drilled same size as the brass pins, and about 3/4 the length of the pins. Aim is to firmly hold the plank and not split it.
Then I glue up the hull to take the plank and hammer the pins home. I use small clamps between frames to make sure the new plank lays alongside the previous packs also larger clamps to apply pressure to keep the planks tight together along the glue line.





Leave it for about an hour for the Titebond to cure, then repeat...

Best regards to all.
David.

[DJW]

Afternoon All


Haven't posted for a while, but have been making progress.


I paused the planking to install some ducting and also to apply some thinned resin to the interior of the planks while accessible.  This is the ducting installed, it takes air from under the cabin floor slats / grid to the motor bay.  Plan is to then extract the introduced air out of the exhausts to give a positive cooling airflow, and a nod to a real 'exhaust'.





This is the fan:





And the grid that will cover it:





I used a 3D printer to give me the grid layout then glued some mahogany veneer to the top and used the 3D printed grid as a cutting guide.


This is the underside:





And this is the layout, you can see the cutout above the keel at lower centre, and the two holes leading aft either side of the keel.  The fan sits in that cutout, and the ducts go off to the motor bay at top in the pic below:





Then the planking has progressed:





Each plank is 10 x 2mm Lime.  Glued and pinned to the frames.





And the result:





This sequence shows the modified flatter chine that I think this boat needs as a model to get the spray out and away, and provide lift at the bow:

















And today I've been adding sealing resin to the rest of the planks from the inside, plus some of the other areas that'll be hard to reach in a while.





On a related note, I saw that MarkT had made up a neat plank vice to help with planing and shaping when it's needed, and this is my version that I made up for this build:





I add spare planks to the bottom of the vice so the plates remain square when gripping at the top edge, useful when working on two planks at a time that need same shape.





Final part of todays update, I've been a bit concerned about my LiPos and best way to store them, the 8,000mAh 6S packs for this build are animals...  Saw a chap using Ammo boxes and thought it was a good way to go.  Scouting online seems it's an accepted approach, important mod is that the lids need drilling to allow outgassing if worst happens.  I've also lined them with 5mm 'Aquapanel' basically the thinnest plasterboard I could find, and lined that with woven fibreglass matt, from an old fire blanket.  Hope it's overkill, and hope I never have to find out the hard way.











That's it for now...  Sorry it's a bit of a long post, all up to date now..!
Best regards
David.

[SteamboatPhil]

Coming along nicely congratulations 

[DJW]

Hi Phil. Thanks for that.


Not had the time I'd have liked to get much done. But isn't that always the way. I've made some progress getting the battery bay sorted out. The motor LiPos will sit on some 5mm neoprene mounted on 3mm panels, about as low as I can get them in the hull. Then I've printed a cover for these LiPos that uses a little more neoprene to hold the LiPos in place, and on the top of that cover is a mount location for the third LiPo that will power everything else on the boat.














Also used some more thinned finishing resin to seal the battery compartment.


I've also been reprinting some of the earlier 3D parts that were in PLA as I've a new printer that can handle ABS. And specifically some eSun ABS Max filament that's fire retardant while being more water resistant than PLA.


Looking forward to Wicksteed and will be taking my 1/10th Riva for an outing..!


Best regards to all.
David.

[T888]

Hi David,


She coming long very nicely, I like the planking work 


The battery holders are you going to have a quick release ?

[DJW]

Hmm, I like that idea.  At the moment I'd have to fully remove the 4 bolts then relocate them to put the cover back.  I could maybe build in a 'slide' action, so just back off the bolt a turn, then slide the cover to a larger 'bolt hole' that clears the bolt head.  I'll have a go at that, thanks..!

[T888]

Hi David,




I await how you solve this 

[Stuw]

 Still love seeing this build come along. Wow, just wow! Serious battery storage options but good idea as lithium battery fires are not forgiving!

[DJW]

Hey Stuw. Good to hear from you, pleased you like the Ammo boxes..!


And @David. Here's the QR version of the LiPo cover.






I think that will do the job and make access smoother. I'm re printing the cover now in ABS and making some clips that will retain the top, third battery. Initial plan was elastic bands but I think this approach will be a little more elegant and functional. Pictures to follow.


Also been busy today with the lathe, I've made up two solid couplings to make sure the motors and shafts are lined up.








6mm motor end and 5mm shaft.


Also done some more work to the exhaust manifolds. Mounted the extraction fans and ducted them to the manifolds.








Best regards to all.
David.

[T888]

Hi David,


Simple engineering solution 




Nice to see your method /tool for shaft / motor alignment. 👍👍👍 I also use this same method for my motor /shaft alignments.

[DJW]

Afternoon All


Think I'm finished with the battery holder / cover now.  Added some neoprene padding here and there to prevent movement of the batteries or chafing.





And made up a couple of clips that snap into place to hold that top battery.





So the finished article with quick release slots and the clips in place.





Have started to look at how to position and mount the little M400 Micropump.  Printed up a mount with cutouts for pipes to make it easier to mount it to the keel as a start point.  It needs to be as low as possible to help with priming, so it's going under the ESC box to the port side with the water inlet in similar position through the hull on the stbd side.











And a while ago the current build weight was mentioned...  Right at the beginning of the build the scale weight was worked out to be somewhere between 24kg and 32kg, depending on whether the full size Aquarama tips the scales at 3,000kg or 4,000kg...  And I think it's closer to 4,000kg...


Well, at the moment this is the situation with the hull probably 2/3 built in terms of the weight of the wood used.  Also with motors and mounts added, ESCs and most of the electronics in their cases, and the batteries all in place...











So about 15kg so far.  I think I have headroom for another 10kg without too much concern regards the waterline and performance.  We shall see.


Best regards to all.
David.

[DJW]

Afternoon All

A progress update...

I've been working to get work done that's easier before planking continues.  Mainly getting holes drilled out for conduits handing cable and water routing.  I'm printing conduit to allow the multiplex connectors to pass through, and to try to keep the eventual cabling neat.  Also thinking that by building in conduit I can pass cables more easily between inaccessible areas of the boat at a later date.  Just finished getting the parts ready, so all dry fit at the moment.



The top conduit (at top right above) is for speaker and docking light cabling, and runs all the way up to the bow on either side.









In the pic above the lowest conduit takes the power cables to the port motor, the short conduit above that is for coolant tubes in and out of the port motor bay.  Same for starboard.

Also been working to getting the water pump mounted and water pipes routed, so I've drilled through the stringers in a few places:





This will all be covered up by the ESC box.  Water comes in via the inlet fitting, via the pump then around the ESC box, then into a brass T to split and sent to each motor plate.  Then back to and out of the exhaust stubs.

Also been sealing the planking in a few areas before they become inaccessible:



The cabin grating is also ready to seal and finish, I think I need to stain the light wood underneath as the fan cut out is a bit obvious at the moment...






Finally for todays update, I've been playing with Mahogany infused 3D filament.  I think it could be a useful approach to a few intricate parts, this is the magazine holders that go on the back of the driver and passenger seats:



I intend to play around with staining and see what can be done.

Very best regards to all.
David.