'Triple Jack' rebuild...FU Irma!

[racinginparadise]

To keep the shape the whole structure is going to be lifted off, rafters and all.

Once the 2 biax laminates have cured on top I'll be adding the left over shapes from cutting out the rafters.

They will pin into their sisters below.

The rafters are only notched into the fore and aft bulkhead walls so they are ready to pop out and upwards.

It all sounds a bit complicated but pics will tell the tale soon enough!

 

[DtM]

This is such a great project.  Thank you for keeping us up to date and well done.

 

[racinginparadise]

One of those days today where the pictures don't show much progress...

Not true, we managed to come up with a plan to join the new curved coachroof to the flat foredeck 'ramps' that house the centerboard casing.

Initially we looked at removing the ramps completely but instead we have come up with a compromise that means building in a step with a short vertical wall.

It's a good place to have a step so transit from the foredeck aft is made easier.

A slight downside is this wall becoming a dam to waves that will sometimes meet it!

It was always going to be tricky but we are happy with the solution and it's going to be easy to install.

The decider was finding that the sound airex core we chopped out from the sides of the aft beam top can be used to make the step.

 

[racinginparadise]

Here's another post that, on the face of it, shows little work has been done.

Rubbish! The coachroof mock up and associated structures are now complete.

There's $5000 worth of core, Coosa board, Biax and marine ply at the port.

That's more than we paid for the boat!

A recent visitor to Nanny Cay was Larry and Amy Ketten on board their stunning Grainger TR40 'Morello'.

Oh my word, after spending half an hour looking around on board I was reduced to mumbling 'I am not worthy'.

21 years in the build with ridiculous attention to detail.

Larry also 'took a walk on the wild side' and visited the Triple Jack grind fest.

Not a bit of 'you don't want to do it like that' just plain encouragement from a master boatbuilder.

Steve and I gleaned so much from our short visits on board.

The top laminate of his forward beam is 7/8" of CARBON, I think he said 42 separate laminations.

Christ with that I'm surprised his front beams are not simply that alone, like a pair of leaf springs arcing down to the amas.

But no, they are just the top of a box section that rings like a drum.

There was us thinking that our 3/8" of 40yr old polyester was 'beefy'!

Hey ho, back on topic.

Our next step is to hang the 'top structure' fashioned today up and out of the way and then lay down the 3/4" H80 contoured divinycell, 14'x8'.

That's going to be interesting with 30kt tradewinds next Sunday, Christmas winds are here.

 

[Wess]

Amazing job you are doing @racinginparadise.

 

[Russell Brown]

My hat is way off to you for re-building this boat. I used to sail a bit on a tri named Chaak. It started life as a Searunner 40, then got chopped and turned in to a race boat, then it was wrecked off the Oregon coast and re-built as more of a race boat. I did a lot of the chopping and channeling and what you guys are doing makes me think of Chaak. It was the race winningest boat in local history for a number of years and well loved. Anyway, thank you guys for keeping it real for the rest of us. 

 

[Morello]

Triple Jack, yes you are worthy. Thank you for the kind words. It's people and boats like Triple Jack that have inspired me over the years to build our boat and chase a dream. Many boats with far less damage from Irma and Maria have been relegated to the trash heap yet you have decided to put her back together. I look forward to seeing her sailing and on the race course.

 

[racinginparadise]

Limited progress today due to continuing near gale force winds!

The corrugated roof stayed in place but all other shades had to be cut away as the exceptional winds got hold of them.

Add to that a blown mist of salt and spray, not ideal for laminating.

Still, the upper coachroof structure, that becomes its support when flipped, is finished.

The materials arrived from Merritt, as soon as the weather settles down we'll be 'putting the marigolds on' and laminating.

'Rocky' our old Pit Bull mix has taken an interest and even scaled the ladder to check for rats.

Next Saturday sees the 'Round Tortola Race', once a Triple Jack staple.

We held the record until 'Fujin' destroyed it last Spring regatta.

There should be 5 local tris and maybe Morello.

Winds are forecasted to be high teens out of the East,  should be good.

 

[racinginparadise]

Well, once again Sunday work was stifled by bad weather.

Squalls and a cold front passing thro from the Newfie 'bomb' way up North to be precise.

At least a full day of fun was had racing around Tortola on Saturday.

The full compliment of 6 BVI trimarans showed up to do battle.

Steve. Paul and I were crewing aboard F31 'Island Hops'.

We started in the last group and finished first overall but didn't manage to pull 7mins per hour on the 24's.

That didn't matter, it was a great day afloat in 14-18kts with similar boat speeds.

Today a huge swell rolled into the BVI behind the front, nicely overcast, light squalls...a family day with a bit of gardening.

Hey, ho, normal service resumes next Sunday when we hope to lay the core out and laminate the coachroof outer skin.

 

[Wess]

Well, once again Sunday work was stifled by bad weather.

Squalls and a cold front passing thro from the Newfie 'bomb' way up North to be precise.

At least a full day of fun was had racing around Tortola on Saturday.

The full compliment of 6 BVI trimarans showed up to do battle.

Steve. Paul and I were crewing aboard F31 'Island Hops'.

We started in the last group and finished first overall but didn't manage to pull 7mins per hour on the 24's.

That didn't matter, it was a great day afloat in 14-18kts with similar boat speeds.

Today a huge swell rolled into the BVI behind the front, nicely overcast, light squalls...a family day with a bit of gardening.

Hey, ho, normal service resumes next Sunday when we hope to lay the core out and laminate the coachroof outer skin.

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Go F27!! 

PS - Sorry, prior F27 owner... love those boats!!

 

[racinginparadise]

Damn.

Another rained out Sunday in the BVI's

OK, so without the gales, but no laminating possible despite having a full team ready and willing.

It was interesting to lay some core out on the plug. The imperfections became very apparent with the score lines telling all.

So, we did some plywood fairing, covered the roof with plastic and then abandoned ship as the rain came in hard from the SW.

That's the third Sunday in a row and to make it worse this weather is sticking around until mid week.

Question. Where can we get our hands on a Yanmar SD20 saildrive base molding? We are not planning on an engine install this time but we plan to set up the new central hull floor stringers so an engine install would be possible at some point by just grafting in a saildrive base part. I found a few pics on line but can't seem to find the part for sale, maybe it is just an OEM part? I'm kicking myself because post Irma there were plenty of 'parts' , I just wasn't in the right place at the right time! Most wrecks have gone now. We have a Yanmar 3GM30F with SD20 saildrive ready to go, 20yrs old but that combination was very reliable.

Any leads appreciated.,

 

[Morello]

Contact Mack Boring and see if they have a mechanical drawing for the saildrive molding. As far as I know it is a OEM part.

 

[Rasputin22]

I have a 3d cad model of that saildrive base that you could use perhaps to configure your longitudinals and such for now.

 

[racinginparadise]

Sounds good Ras.

For now I'm going to leave a 3' wide by 5' long space for engine/saildrive and space around to work, that should do it.

Putting an engine in doesn't fit with our 'add less weight' programme, but one day I can see it being handy.

Just drop 3 crew eh?

 

[Wess]

Sounds good Ras.

For now I'm going to leave a 3' wide by 5' long space for engine/saildrive and space around to work, that should do it.

Putting an engine in doesn't fit with our 'add less weight' programme, but one day I can see it being handy.

Just drop 3 crew eh?

Why not an outboard?

 

[racinginparadise]

We have an outboard bracket but it spends a lot of time either airborne or under when in any kind of seaway and it is a PITA to operate.

We have never used it during a regatta, it just looks wrong!

We did get pretty good sailing in and out of crowded anchorages.

 

[Wess]

We have an outboard bracket but it spends a lot of time either airborne or under when in any kind of seaway and it is a PITA to operate.

We have never used it during a regatta, it just looks wrong!

We did get pretty good sailing in and out of crowded anchorages.

Yea only mention it because I figured you did not need the range or weight of the diesel and since you were in the middle of a rebuild you might be able to address the bracket issue.  You are likely aware but Yamaha now makes a 25 with an extra long shaft.  No vested interest.  We got one on our boat and love it.  Good luck and love what you folks are up to.  Really enjoying following the rebuild.

 

[racinginparadise]

Perfect laminating weather today, dry as a chip.

It was worth waiting for.

The new coachroof now has 2 solid laminations of 1708 biax, the first one squwooged onto a bedding of epoxy thickened with colloidal and some fibres.

Ultra slow for that and the first two lams, then slow for the final two followed by the peel ply and a very satisfactory result.

4 of us on the case working flat out for about 5 hours.

The Ultra slow will take about 7 days to cure fully, we rarely use it for that reason but in this application it is perfect.

Mid week we will bond on the top frame ready for roof removal next Sunday.

Back on track!

Just for interests' sake here's a shot of TJ's seriously dodgy looking transom shortly after we took her on about 30yrs. ago.

The tiller had been cut to allow room for that hideous aft berth 'turret'.

At that time she had hydraulic wheel steering which was awful.

There is an equally awful side mounted outboard bracket that simply 'stunned' waves up and over the helm!

 

[racinginparadise]

A quick session this evening saw the peel ply pulled off and the 'cradle' pulled back up and into place.

Now it's just a case of tabbing the 48 nodes of the cradle to the roof with scraps of biax, some putty where the bearers are not meeting the roof perfectly and on Sunday the whole lot will be pulled up and away.

We also marked out the 7 degree sheeting angles from the stem. That will allow us to place the purpleheart stringers and reinforcements under the tracks.

Tonight's prize goes to the first who can identify the 3 other competitors in the start pic.

Can't wait to get back there!

 

[guysmiley]

Phaedo 3, Flow and Fujin?