The Sea Class 17 build as requested
- Thread starter Tony H
- Start date
Now you can see half a boat. LOL the Sea Class 17 hull is now out of the mold and has the grid system installed. Next is hardware for the hull, Rear step handles, drain plug and front bow eye and then a good wiping down. Then will fill the foam chambers and cleam up the interior and gelcoat the areas behind the decoy curtains. The deck mold moves in tomorrow. Stay tuned.
The next 2 photos are after a rough trimming of the edges.
The next 2 photos are after a rough trimming of the edges.
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Okay The deck is complete. Put the core in today. Now its getting exciting, Once the deck is popped from the mold we will know we have a boat coming soon. Tomorrow I plan to foam the grid and maybe even pop the deck just so I can snap a photo of it for all to see. I know it wont be long and were going to have to upgrade or system for removing these larger parts. a ladder and come a long isnt going to get it long. LOL a electric hoist is in our future I am certain.
This layup consists of 20mil of gelcoat, 2 layers of 2oz CSM followed by a 24oz combo mat. Then we embedded core under another layer of 24oz combo mat. The 24oz material is some great stuff and a replacement to the old days boat cloth(1708 woven roven) This stuff is nice.
Anyway here is the deck complete and ready to be removed, trimmed up and interior sanded down and gelcoated for the interior color.
This layup consists of 20mil of gelcoat, 2 layers of 2oz CSM followed by a 24oz combo mat. Then we embedded core under another layer of 24oz combo mat. The 24oz material is some great stuff and a replacement to the old days boat cloth(1708 woven roven) This stuff is nice.
Anyway here is the deck complete and ready to be removed, trimmed up and interior sanded down and gelcoated for the interior color.
Capt. John O
Well-known member
Tony if you need a nice hoist system built I'm the guy to talk to. Nice 1 ton electric would do you well I think. Get away from that lever hoist lol
The core is there to prevent flex in the area's we expect people to potentially be standing on. And with the 14 Sea Class build and how much strength we created on that coming rails on that boat we dont feel the core is going to be required in this boat either. We are using a 3/8" thick gurit Gpet PVC structural core matieral and honestly that piece of core on the cockpit pad is probably over kill but we chose to place a section there because its a large flat surface and to keep the pad from becoming concaved and holding water over time. This is the first boat and were basically following the exact same production process that was done in Maine only using some different materials and I believe they will be as good or better in the aspect of materials and quality goes.
Ken Miller
Member
Fantastic engineering and build methodology; great job!
Negative the core on the lid is much lighter than the structural core. The cover we want light weight and every lb counts here so were using a 1lb density corefor that. It will have some flex but will be easily managed by 2 people. 1 if needed in an emergency. Anyone know when the decoy show is if we can have this boat done i may pull it up and hang out and let guys check it out in the parking lot. Maybe we could put it in the pool? Lol.
Keneth, thank you for the kind words but I cannot take credit for the engineering of the TDB. But we will take credit for the NEW TDB and how they will be built from now on. Everyone talks about how great the Maine built boats were and I plan to make everyone start talking about how great the Ohio built TDB's are starting now. Thank you again for the kind words and hope your enjoying the build process. Now is when it gets fun and interesting. Its the little things that will make our boats stand out above and beyond.
And just for you the Deck is now out of the mold although our lifting system is about 20 years behind the times. LOL none the less it works and the deck is now hanging on its own. One thing worth mentioning at this point is going back to the post about the core in the deck and cockpit railing. Notice there is very little bow in the deck and its only supported from the bow and stern. This comes from a couple things. Most importantly the design of the deck. But also the layup schedule and types of glass we use that creates great strength. If you look back you will see that the deck was not laid up with 1 long section of glass down the sides of the deck it was done in sections and overlapped. This gives us greater strength in the port and starboard sides of the deck. Okay enough of the boring stuff. here is a couple shots of the deck as soon as it was pulled from the mold.
Also this may be the first ever 1 color 17 Sea Class. LOL and I love the looks of it without the camo. We will offer it in a few combinations. This Color TDB Olive, Olive camo, Open water grey and grey camo.
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Back at it today. The sea class 17 that is. Today we sanded and gelcoated the interior of the hull and filled the foam holes. Gelcoating the interior is one of those small things but this gives a clean look to the interior as this area will be where the bottom decoy storage area will be. And one that we feel will make a difference to the consumer. A nice clean finished product. Stay tuned getting closer everyday now.
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Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Tony~
Looks great!
Question: I always thought gel coat had to cure in an air-free environment (hence spraying it onto the inside of a female mould before adding the laminations). Do they make a gel coat that cures in air? Does it have wax?
All the best,
SJS
Looks great!
Question: I always thought gel coat had to cure in an air-free environment (hence spraying it onto the inside of a female mould before adding the laminations). Do they make a gel coat that cures in air? Does it have wax?
All the best,
SJS
Steve its much safer to brush gelcoat than to spray it. Gelcoat will dry with a slight tackiness to it for the layup. You must put a laminate over this surface to complete the cycle of the gelcoat curing. Finish coats for areas like we done today have wax and this wax cuts off the oxygen and allows the gelcoat to cure properly and without stickinesss. The wax cuts off the oxygen from the air to cure properly to a non sticky finish.
So your correct but adding wax in the gelcoat allows the wax seals off oxygen to allow it to cure. They make several different kinds of gelcoat and we spray for the layup and only because on a freshly waxed set of molds it would never cover properly and would fisheye. But on finish area's we add a small amount of wax to the final layer of gelcoat to get a non sticky finish. I would much rather brush my gelcoat if we could because spraying resins and gelcoats is very very bad for you. We hand lay all of our glass. No resins are sprayed at all. Only gelcoat for the molds.
I hope this solves the mystery.
So your correct but adding wax in the gelcoat allows the wax seals off oxygen to allow it to cure. They make several different kinds of gelcoat and we spray for the layup and only because on a freshly waxed set of molds it would never cover properly and would fisheye. But on finish area's we add a small amount of wax to the final layer of gelcoat to get a non sticky finish. I would much rather brush my gelcoat if we could because spraying resins and gelcoats is very very bad for you. We hand lay all of our glass. No resins are sprayed at all. Only gelcoat for the molds.
I hope this solves the mystery.
Gary Tanner
Active member
You guys are going to think I'm crazy, but here goes (this is related to air dry gelcoat). I had to redo a bathroom in a friend's rental apartments. Because of a variety of issues, I HAD to use a 32" one-piece shower stall (separate base) that had already been purchased. It has to go into a second floor apt. with a REALLY narrow stairway and landing leading up to it. Not even close getting it up there. What to do? Well, I have some background in fiberglass construction (built repro's of 1935 Auburn Speedsters in my mis-spent youth), so I just dove in and sawed the thing in half...up and down as you face it. Got the two pieces up the stairs, into the bathroom, did some fiberglass layup to get the two pieces back together, a little sanding, then I applied Evercoat Marine One Step Finish Premium Gel-Kote with a little roller (it's white, like the shower). Dried nice and shiny and smooth and hard...you could hardly tell the work had ever been done. So, long story short, there is a gel-coat that dries in an air environment, doesn't need wax, either. This stuff should not be applied over epoxy, says the can.
Someday I'll get to build a duckboat.
Gary
Someday I'll get to build a duckboat.
Gary
Gary thats partly why I was a little sceptical with answering the question about gelcoat because now days there are several different options and you can buy gelcoat that will cure without being sealed and or using wax. Technology continues to advance and thats a great thing as 20 years ago the products guys were building boats with were much more dangerous to there health than today and we continue to make them better and better and thats a great thing. So essentially i was waiting for someont to correct me and tell me how i was wrong. LOL