On this week's episode of Onboard Lifestyle, we make some progress on the hardtop for our 435 catamaran SV basik. The ladies team up to not only take care of...

Closed Captions (CC):
[Music]

[Music]

hey everyone welcome back to onboard

lifestyle

over the past few weeks we've been

working on our new hardtop on sv basic

let's get you caught up on our project

the first thing we did was to construct

a form that we could use to build the

hardtop on

the structure gave us an idea of how big

this project was going to be

[Music]

with the structure in place we can now

template the support posts that we are

subcontracting out to a local metal

fabricator

[Music]

at this point the form was only 75

complete

but we had to move it below the boat

before it became too heavy to move

now that the form was in its new

workshop it was time to make sure that

we retained the exact shape to do this

we double checked all of our

measurements and added strong backs

throughout

we received our shipment from carbon

core and cut the panels to lay out on

the form

the panel positions are important to

optimize for waste and at the same time

pin great detail to seam placement to

ensure

structural integrity

the form made joining the panel's easy

work for this we used west system epoxy

with a 406

colloidal silica filler

[Music]

multiple layers of 10-ounce glass cloth

was layered staggering the seams and

alternating the direction between each

fabric lamination

to avoid aiming blushing on the epoxy we

would carefully wash the cured surface

with soap and water between each

lamination

to keep the fiberglass seams from

telegraphing to the next layer

we sanded the surface and smoothed using

the system three

two part epoxy fairing compound

did i mention the sanding the glorious

glorious sanding

one of the most important elements of

this project is to keep the surface as

smooth as possible

and to do this we sand

now that you're up to speed let's take a

look at our project to see where we're

at

let's get to work

here's where we stand right now

we have three layers now down of

10 ounce cloth total of 30 ounces of

cloth

feels pretty good from this side but

this top is huge so it's still

going to feel a little flimsy when we

pick it up we're not going to start

getting the strength till we get the

laminations on the other side

and we'll be flipping this top here

today and start those

you know we've been sticking to a strict

lamination schedule to make sure all our

seams

are offset from each other and we're

trying to stagger those

with at least a foot of variance

actually let's go over those right now

will help illustrate

our fabric and lamination schedule

this was our original panels we cut them

to stagger them in a brick formation and

the first layer of lamination

[Music]

was offset so none of the seams were

even close

to those first panels

the second lamination we turned 90

degrees to the

first and again paying attention to the

underlying

seams the third lamination

we went 90 degrees again and offset

those

to the first lamination and we're going

to continue that

to the fourth lamination

[Music]

as you can see there's not

one layer that lines up with one

previous to it

that's going to give us the most

strength and making sure that we don't

line up

any two seams in any lamination

throughout the schedule it's time to

release the top from the mold and flip

it over

[Music]

um

okay what i'm doing is blocking this up

now

so we can use the same form i've taken

my measurements off here so i know how

far

to flex the top to get it into the

same position as it was on the reverse

side then we can start laying glass

we're getting close

the next step we have to do now that

we've flipped it

and posted up it's nice and stable i

need to locate

all of the posts

i don't want to bolt straight through

that honeycomb the honeycomb actually

will dimple slightly as you tighten up a

bolt

so i don't want to crush it in any

places so i want to inlay a more durable

material that handles compression much

better and we're going to use pvc sheets

for that

i have 3 8 inch pvc sheets so we'll

double it up

and put a nice 6x6 backer we need to

inlay those into the top

so i've taken all of my measurements

[Music]

and laid it out

[Music]

we'll have to cut in and inlay these

down in there

i'll set these with epoxy and bring the

level straight up

to the core level then we can start our

lamination schedule

so let's do that next

the first thing i do is just score the

surface

my layout now i'll take my oscillating

saw

and plunge and be real careful not to go

all the way through because i want to

just dish it out right to the skin that

i put on the other side

[Music]

and you could feel it in there

so

and that's how i do it

[Music]

well this is not how we planned today's

project but you know we just have to go

with the flow

uh teal is now up in our stateroom down

for the count

a lot of you don't know but uh in his

youth

he was a little reckless and he broke

his back and his neck on two different

occasions

so every now and again about one or two

times a year

he will actually tweak his back a little

bit

which means that he can't really do

anything except to just lay and heal

and so it's going to be me today working

on some projects because we still have

to stay on schedule

and i don't really have a choice emma's

going to help me today

and we're going to do some epoxy work so

let's get to work

looking for me teal before his back went

out was able to cut these all out

all emma and i have to do at this point

is we're going to scuff these up

so then the epoxy would adhere to this a

lot better than if it was just a slick

surface

and we have 16 to do so i'm going to

call her down here and we can get

started on this

we're also going to put a weight on top

so when it does cure

it's going to cure in a flat plane and

that will

cut down on our sanding before we lay

the cloth onto this

usually my mom is my dad's a foxy girl

but today

it's me

i always think it's kind of funny

because this looks like honey and this

is a

honeycomb composite so i thought that

was kind of hilarious

okay day three how's the patient

actually okay can i just say compass has

been so sweet

he's been guarding teal ever since

just take advantage of a warm body to

sit on

uh day three usually doesn't last this

long usually it's just a day or two but

man you want to talk about how this

happened

i do but first how's it going down there

it's fine don't worry about it

i do worry about it i'm doing

fine i'm going to be doing some thick

and epoxy today

great too bad i can't uh continue my

game while

i'm doing this you have the notes i gave

you right i don't need

notes who needs notes

you need notes come on talk about your

injury

when i was must have been 15 i think it

was

i actually fractured a vertebrae in my

neck and tore some muscles

on a water slide of all things then two

years later

i crushed a disc in my lower back

i was 17 screwing 16 17 yeah

no i wasn't screaming in gymnastics and

i did it on a mini trampoline

and ever since then

i'll get a little backache once in a

while backache

i know it's actually okay

so just back up a little bit because

teal used to have these um episodes

these episodes we used to call them uh

about once a month wasn't it it was once

a month

his back would he throws back out

and we end up in the hospital

and ever since we started sailing the

the episodes got fewer and far between

to the point where it's

uh so much more manageable it's about

once or twice a year

yeah um i think it's because you know

you're a lot more active

so you know that's huge points for

sailing right i know it's

but when it hits me well you're a baby i

know i'm a baby

it hurts it hurts real bad

i actually am very sympathetic i know

you do i just think it's funny when you

whine

wine it's not normal

and here's compass hanging out he's

never too far from teal

when he's hurt i'm gonna come down and

check out what's going on

not if you can't move no i forbid it

okay just suck it up tell me tell me you

got it

i got it okay i trust you i know i mean

what's worse case i

sand everything off yep

don't make me laugh all right we'll let

you rest

i'll go back to work now

this is now the moment of truth to see

how well emma and i did

it's so nerve-wracking

i think we did so good

there is it's a little high right in the

middle but

really nothing epoxy can't fix

right

okay so this epoxy game

is not as fun as it normally is when

teal does this because

i don't get to just be a participant and

just kind of watch

i actually have to do this

not the same

but hey the sooner teal gets better

the sooner he can take over this job

and we can resume status quo

okay so that is it i did all eight

of our post down points and we

did epoxy work on all the seams i feel

pretty good about it

yeah but you know he's just he's gonna

come down and check all this stuff yes

we know teal's gonna come down and check

it out he just can't

help himself but you know watching him

over the years emma and i

have been able to pick up a lot of his

tips and tricks

so i'm pretty proud of ourselves on this

project so far

yeah anyways guys if you like this

episode don't forget to leave a like and

subscribe to our channel big thanks to

our patrons

you we are very thankful for you guys

happy thanksgiving and come back next

week see you then

bye

[Music]

you