Log of SV Free Spirit and ships company

The chronicles of the schooner Free Spirit and her crew, embarking on an open ended journey upon the great rolling heap. Free Spirit is currently pursuing humanitarian and commercial goals in the Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola. Working under the Ocean Reach USA and Paradigm Research banners, she is serving as logistics headquarters, workshop, and development laboratory for many ongoing projects. This is the log of her journey.....

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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The Fairing ~ Yep, She's A Beauty!

After Gina came to visit the first time, she promised that when she returned that she would take over the entire Fairing project.

After we sandblasted 2 years ago, the boat was covered in what is called pitting. Pitting is a small area (think a large scale orange peel) that remains after the pocket of rust is removed from the steel. Ours was not a structural issue, only aesthetic, and we knew that we would not have time to get it done before launch. It was a huge job, a lot of work and very time consuming.

Above, we get our first instruction from our good friend Hugo, who is the best in the area for this type of work.



OOPS! Missed a spot!! Hugo critiques the spot that we started the day before we got his help :-)



The first step in the whole process was the need for the entire boat to be sanded, and all the pitted areas had to be hand wire brushed very thoroughly. This was to ensure that the epoxy mixture could adhere to the amerlock already on the hull. Gina and Shep enjoyed their time on the scaffolding together!! This picture also shows how badly the pitting was.




Hugo puts on his first batch of putty - 2 part West System Epoxy, Cabosil (powdered glass),and Microballoons (miniscule glass spheres). Each batch was only about 3/4 of a cup, because if you mixed more, then it would cure and harden before you could get it applied. Essentially, the whole boat got 1 coat pulled on, 1 more coat over about 60% of the hull, and a third coat on about 25%.



In between each coat of epoxy mixture, it had to be sanded down totally smooth. Unfortunately sanding hardened epoxy mixed with lots of glass, is very tiring!!



Gina and I both had less endurance than the guys when it came to the sanding. Raoul and Shep, preparing for the next layer of epoxy.



Hugo's friend Aldolfo was a godsend for our project. He is a expert epoxy puller and not only taught Gina a lot about his methods, but helped us tremendously! Thanks, you are welcome on our boat anytime!!



Gotta push on!! Here we have Gina, Adolfo, Hugo and Dennis, burning the midnight oil. Notice the discoloration of the hull.... The yellowish areas are where there was a significant amount of pitting and became discolored as the epoxy cured. I became the expert mixer during this project. I estimate that we hand mixed up about 200 batches when all was said and done.



Here she is the starboard side spot painted with Amerlock over all the freshly sanded areas. There was about 5 coats of Amerlock on the hull when we started. Although, when some areas of epoxy were sanded, we hit bare metal. Those spots had to have u prime painted on, and 2 additional coats of Amerlock.



Same story, Port side.



NO MORE PITS!!! This is after the boat got one entire coat of Amerlock (after the patchwork), and the first coat of Almond colored Rustoleum topcoat was almost finished.



Gina, we owe it all to you, she is a beauty because of all your dedication, hard work, and love.

Thanks for everything!



1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let us know when all that work is done so we can come visit... LOL No really it looks like the work is coming along great We are so excited for you guys.
You guys are so awesome.
asiL & truK

5:00 PM  

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Introducing Propcalc 4.0

Use Propcalc to easily match your hull with your engine, transmission, and propeller
Put the known data in the top fields, then hit the Update button to get the answers.
Results, of course, should be verified by a Naval Architect or qualified surveyor.
Data is provided for three bladed propellers of average type
For two or four bladed props, use the modifiers shown below.

Fill out the fields as follows:

Vessel LWL (ft) = Waterline length
Vessel Disp (lbs) = Vessel displacement
(max) HP = Rated Engine Max HP
Engine RPM max = Engine RPM at Max HP
Engine RPM cruise = Desired or estimated cruise rpm
(Cruise or Max) Kts = Speed to work the calculations for
Slip = Propeller efficience. 45% is average for a displacement cruiser.
Gear ratio = 1: Gear ratio of transmission
SL Ratio Adj. = This value will be added (or subtracted, if a negative value) to the calculated S/L ratio.

Key information:

If the "hp required" is greater than the "cruse HP", you have your cruise RPM set too low for your engine parameters.
If the "hp required" is significantly less than the "cruse HP", you have your cruise RPM set too high for your engine parameters.
If the "hp required" is greater than the "Max HP", then your target speed is too high for your engine/hull parameters.
The S/L ratio is calculated automaticaly based on your input. It can be adjusted if necessary, but normally it should be left alone.
If the calculated S/L ratio exceeds S/L MAX, then the results are likely to be non-predictive. Try a lower speed requirement.
SL Ratios of 1.1 - 1.4 are typical of displacement hulls. Semiplaning or planing hulls can go higher.

Typical propeller slip values:

Sailing auxiliary, barges, etc less than 9 Kts............45%
Heavy powerboats, workboats 9 - 15 Kts....................26%
Powerboats, Lightweight Cruisers 15 - 30 Kts..............24%
High speed planing boats 30 - 45 Kts......................20%
V bottom race boats 45 - 90 Kts...........................10%


Note:

it is possible to get irrational answers by irrational input , I.E specifying excessive speed for hull type and length
Any attempt to exceed hull speed (1.34 times the square root of the waterline length in feet) with a displacement hull are likely
to fail unless the hull is extremely fine (multihull) or otherwise exceptional. In such cases, an S/L adjustment would be in order.

2 and 4 bladed props:


For two bladed propellers, multiply the diameter by 1.05, and the pitch by 1.01
For four bladed propellers, multiply the diameter by .94, and the pitch by .98


PROPCALC
  Inputs:
Vessel LWL (ft) =
Vessel Disp (lbs) =
  (max) HP =
  Engine RPM max =
  Engine RPM cruise =
  (Cruise or Max) Kts =
  Slip =
  Gear ratio = 1:
  SL Ratio Adj. =
   
    Solutions:
  Prop rpm max =
  Prop rpm cruise =
  Pitch =
  Diameter =
  Static Thrust =
  Cruise HP =
  Cruise HP% =
  SL Ratio =
  DL Ratio =
  SL Max =
  HP Required =