Got underway Sunday past. Now tied up at the Museum at Great Bridge, VA. Moving south again tomorrow. Big blow coming. We will likely anchor in the North River, let the blow move through.
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Update Continued
So we did get to Maryland and our dock early 2020 but no real cruising since. However we did install the extra solar on the new hard top. Now 1920 watts. Scotty got on board for a bunch of mechanical stuff. We did a major electronics upgrade and luckil…
Major Update
The Covid years really messed us up. In Dec 2019 Sylken Sea was in Trinidad. We purchased and took possession of a cottage in Maryland site unseen, but with help from friends in Pocomoke. Big draw was a deep water dock with good weather protection and …
Back Cruising
Ok. I did not have much success with earlier Blogger apps on the phone. Probably me. Anyway thought I would reinstall and try again.
January 26 to April 19, 2020
Our InReach track from January 26th to April 19th, 2020. Chaguramas Trinidad & Tobago to Pocomoke City, MD.We were very fortunate with the weather this year.
January 26 to April 19, 2020
Our InReach track from January 26th to April 19th, 2020. Chaguramas Trinidad & Tobago to Pocomoke City, MD.
We were very fortunate with the weather this year.
Heading North
Well after 6 seasons in the South East Caribbean we decide it is time to move back north. We purchased a property in Maryland on the Pocomoke River. Riverbend Cottage is just that, a nice little cottage with a great garage/workshop, and a freshwater do…
Hadtop Project Part 9
The top is nearing completion, just need to remove it, fair it, prime, paint and do the final install.Above: attaching and fairing the supports to the top.Below: Kirby prepping for paint. He will put down 2 coats of Epoxy Primer and 2 coats of Awlcraft…
Hard Top Project, Part 8
Moving along nicely, I think Paul has nailed it! The top comes out of the mold.Below: Paul says “if you own a Henderson 30 and break that nice carbon mast, don’t throw it out, one day it may come in handy” This is our Steelhead Davit with a Henderson m…
Hardtop Project, Part 7
Lay Up Begins!
While the previous post the work happened over 4-5 days in this post the work was done in about 5-6 hours. Even with the extra slow hardener (West Systems) the team has to work very quickly.
The technique is referred to as “Wet Preg”. All the cloth is precut, wetted in a bath then run between two rollers saturating the fabric and squeezing out the excess resin. The cloth is then layed out between 2 thin sheets of plastic, this allows the cloth to be handled, cut and trimmed as needed. To apply the cloth the plastic is removed from one side then the cloth is laid by hand and formed into place. Once in position the top layer of plastic is removed. Once the lay up including coring is completed the entire structure is vacuum bagged which squeezes all the layers together and pulls out any air and excess resin. The technique was first developed in New Zealand and is now a fairly common technique.
Below: Paul laying down a strip of Wet Preg carbon cloth into one of the ribs. The plastic film has been removed from the underside of the cloth but not the topside……yet.
The center “beam”. This channel is hollow for solar and light wiring.
Wetting out the Corcell® coring.
Below: Bagging the entire structure.
Under vacuum!
Below: You can see the excess epoxy being pulled up into the bleed cloth. Pauls says the pressure is approximately 9 pounds per square inch, over a ton of pressure on this structure.
