Wouter's PH18 Namibia

[Wouter]

Thanks Jacques,

Got a long weekend coming up, looking forward to gettingsome work done!

[antoniekruger]

Yip, same here - pay weekend for the construction industry - Friday and Monday off.

[antoniekruger]

Hi Wouter,
A quick heads up. I've just visited AMT's shop in Jo'burg. They are discontinuing SP106. Apparently the supplier is putting up the price by 10Euro's/kilo. I took the last 20kg in 5kg containers they had. I would suggest to look at an alternative like the Ampreg 21. I used this before on some drone wings with vacuum bagging - not on the biax fabric. Evan gave me another kilo as a demo to try and give feedback. I'll be taping stringers this weekend somewhere - I'll give him feedback then. The biggest difference that comes to mind now is that SP106's viscosity is lower and the wetting out happens faster. SP106 needs less cleaning after curing for secondary bond than 21. I'll dig up the data sheets and compare from a structural side as well.
Maybe have a chat with Brian the Lion with help for an alternative. I will dearly miss SP106 - from production and financial perspective.
Oh the gloves are not neoprene. They are called NeoGloves.

[Wouter]

Hi all,

Been a productive long weekend and I got a lot done! Transom panels are cut out and ready for lamination, also did the bottom and side panels. So pretty much all the wood work is now done for now and everything is ready to be put together.

Thanx Antonie for the heads up on the SP106 resin, I've contacted AMT to find out what alternative they would suggest. But have done some digging and found Harvey's Composites, they carry the WEST Systems products, I'm awaiting the price list (thinking it would probably be pretty expensive). Also found Ivory again, they now fall under Flowcrete and also carry various epoxy products. I've used their products before and was satisfied with the qaulity etc, they are also fairly competitively priced, similar to AMT's. But, they are not sure if they can export to me yet, so need to sort that out with them.

Either way, i need to sort this out and get some products here, I'm itching to start putting things together!

Here's a quick pic of the Transom mock up.

[Wouter]

Hi All,

Update time! Got a big parcel delivered on my B-day! A big batch of epoxy and Fiberglass!! Nice pressie, even if it was self bought



As I hadn't worked with the particular epoxy before I spent a few days testing it out to get a feel for the sticky stuff again. I made a test block for the fillets (I know I'm getting ahead of myself but couldn't resist) at first I struggled a bit to get it right but tweeking the mix got me on track and it came out pretty nice, also now have a nice self made tool for doing the fillets, should be much easier now.



Spent some time on the transom, got it laminated, drilled the holes for the through hull fittings and filled them with epoxy. Thought it would be easier to do lying flat on the work bench, came out nice!





Had to get a little creative when laminating the transom cause I ran out of clamps, came up with this idea. Did the job! I'm almost certian i'll use them again at some point during this build



Stringers also got butt joined and a final sanding, they now fit nicely in the bulkheads and I have hot glued them in place. Now there's a nice solid and true base for the bottom and side panels to go on







One bottom Panel is butt joined and looks good, now got to finish the other one and the sides in the week and hopefully I can get started at fitting the bottom and side panels next weekend!

Building on!

[Walkers Run]

Your off to a great start. I love the PH 18

[antoniekruger]

Jaaaaa, chom - dis nou mos pap en vleis Looks brilliant, bud. Off to a great start. So did you go with AMT?

[Wouter]

Thanx Walkers Run!

Hi Antonie, dankie! Jips, went with AMT. Using their Ampreg 21 as epoxy, works very well! I got the slow hardener and with the cold of the last few weeks it's taking a while to kick and cure, but it gives a long working period that I like. Think it will be nice when doing the big fiberglass pieces! I will order some fast hardener for some other applications.

Also been using the cotton flock and sillica, I just love the silica! Makes it very easy to get the batch to the consistency I want for a application. Very happy with the Ampreg.

[Wouter]

Dry fitted the bottom panels this morning, fits pretty good!

[flyfishingmonk]

I am looking forward to watching your build.

Casey