The Form Frames

I used MDF fot the form frames. They are much easier to work with than plywood IMO. I ran into some problems though because I was not paying attention. I bought a few 3/4" 4x8 MDF at Home Depot (of course) and had them cut to the size (41"x23ish). Little did I know that the HD saw machine was totally out of calibration. They are nice clean edges though. Somthing hard to get from a jigsaw done at home. So back at home I proceeded to trace them with carbon paper (use multiple 8x11 sheets) on the MDF, form-frame pattern on top and tracing paper on top of that and using a pencil to transfer the pattern. Of course the edges have to be lined with the form-frame and the pattern first and clips to hold them in place.

Using a jigsaw I cut out the patterns. Yes, I'll be using battens so that batten thickness needs to be taken into consideration. All cut and ready for mounting on the strongback.

The Strong Back was level. I proceeded to mount the form frames and that's when I saw the problem. The out-of-calibration HD saw has cut some of the form frames about 1/16th to 1/8th off of each other. Some were short and some were taller. By then I had mounted all of the form-frames and I was ready to break it all up and start again. I reached out to Ian and he said it should be fine. I couldn't deal with it. I took them down took it back to HD for recut but they wouldn't do anything less than 6". So came back and mounted them again. Only this time I used shims to hold them level and them screwed them into 2x4 cross pieces. It's kind of level now.

Building The Strong Back

Now that the garage space is cleared up (sort of), it's time to do the Home Depot runs for lumber. All lumber laid out and ready for assembly.I'm usng 2x6 for the frames and 2x4 for the cross sections.

And movng along:

And moving along some more:

And finally there:

The top of the Strong Back is raised as recommended by Ian to save me from back aches later.

To space required to build the hull in my estimate would need to be about 38-40 feet long, at least 14 feet wide and 10' high at least. The F-32AX is 32' (close to) long and 9'6" wide. I do not have that kind of space in my garage and have to put up a shelter in the backyard which in my county requires a permit. Anything that's not taken down in the night is not a temporary structure they say. So until I figure what to do about that I'll be building the floats in my garage for which the strongback needs to be a minimum 27'3" and the float length would be 28'10". This fits in my garage diagonally corner to corner. The strongback is 28' with a few inches to spare on both sides so I should be good. Except I'll have to do the monkey business to get from one side to the other once the form frames are setup. I have a plan for that.

Vacuum Bagging / Work table

I also built a 4'x8' work table for vacuum bagging and other uses. Used some 2x4s and a 4x8 plywood. I wanted a smooth surface and was thinking about gluing a formica sheet but the 1" melamine board from Home Depot for $36 seemed cheaper than buying the sheet and the glue not to mention the messy work. The end result of that is here:

And with the 1" Melamine board screwed in:

So many projects before the actual project starts! Ian says the F-32 crossed hull #100 so that's a good sign. The kinks and bug have been worked out? I think Ian gives you the comfort and trust factor. Add to that the number of F-boats and their record it just can't get better.

Clearing Up The Garage

I have parked my car once in my garage till today. Like most other people I use my garage primarily for storage. And I have a lot of junk. As more free space is a must for the Strong Back and to store the materials I had to move the yard tools and equipment to it's own residence so I had to build a shed.

Above picture was taken right after i finished building it. Below is how this section looks now. Much more presentable. Notice the baby bunny at the bottom right?

And I did build this 40'x20' multi-level deck as well a few years ago. All single handed. So I'm hoping the F32AX shouldn't give me too much head-scratching times.

The underside of my deck is a nature preserve.  There are rabbits, cats, turtle and god knows what else living throughout the year.I think they even use my wi-fi.

Rigging a Vacuum Pump

After going thru Bill Quigg and Jay's website plus some research I was able to rig up a nice little vacuum system with a kit and pump I purchased from http://www.veneersupplies.com/ . The instructions are fantastic and I think the kit is worth more than what it costs. I strongly recommend buying from him as he is very helpful and the price is so reasonable. I left the small air reservoir as designed but added a Sears 5 gl air tank instead of the 2 4" PVC vacuum reservoirs. The tank was cheaper and easier to rig up. I also added a relief valve as Bill suggests. It made sense as you would have to manually release the vacuum sometimes to adjust wrinkles etc.  The pump works great and pulls about 26hg which would be more than sufficient from what I read and understand. Most of all it holds the pressure very well. The end result is below.

And here's a side view.

F-32AX Hull Number 99

It's been about one year since I purchased the F-9AX plans from Paul who lives across the pond. The way things were going during that year gave me the feeling that I might have to do the same thing Paul did. Sell it!

After the long lull and the what seemed like an endless winter I decided to get moving. I hope to be dedicated and sincere towards this and complete it quickly so I can go sailing (in my own boat). Does a couple of years sound like enough time?

I won't go into when and how it all started as I don't really recall. All I remember is that I was looking to build a 26 ft Maine Lobster power boat and gas prices drove me towards a sailboat and I hit pay-dirt with the F-Boats. I was drawn towards the F-33 and the F-36 but one was a production boat and the other was just too big for trailering comfortably. I was deciding on the F-32 when the F-9 #383 plans came up for sale and after comparing the F-9 and F-32 it seemed like the same boat. So, I bought the F-9 plans. Little did I know they were so much different that what was described. The changes I wanted to make to the layout etc were either not possible or feasible. I kept coming back to the F-32AX as that seemed to acomodate my requirements. So I bit the bullet and upgraded my plans to the F-32AX in April 2009.

I'll be building the hulls out of Core-cell foam and probably will begin with Mas or Silvertip resin. I'll also be vacuum bagging some if not all of the parts. The bulkheads will definitely be vacuum bagged and decide on the floats and the hull once I figure out the the amount of work and headache involved.