Exlex Minor – Page 9 – Simple habits, simple boat

November 9, 2018

AN EVENTFULL DAY

Today I have been working with the bronze plate from Lagermetall Örebro, bent to a fitting curvature by Wevik Maskin AB here in Västervik.

A lot of holes had to be drilled and some tapped. The plate is to big for my drillpress but by using a mighty sharp drill and get support from a box all went well with the holes and the tapping.

It turned out that the plate was heavier than anticipated 138 instead of 127. The extra kilos will do good rounding Cape Horn.

To get the plate in the right place some reshuffling had to be done. The boat had to be put upside down and rolled away, the heavy plate lifted up towards the cealing. The boat had to be rolled back and put in a very precise position below the plate. The finally the plate had to lowered.

All went very well except for the very last correction, then the boat fell over. A bad thing had happend. The bulkheads got damaged but can be fixed without to much weight gain I hope. No use cry over spilled milk. I continued.

To cheer me up the plate fitted itself in the most beatiful way. Only about 9 mm in the back was there a rather wide gap between the plate and the hull. I belive I can do something about it. We will see.

Below some pictures.

After I got a super sharp drill bit and used a box as support drilling went very well. More than 30 holes in the 12 mm thick phosphor bronze plate was done.

The plate with the holes. The two pad eyes are fastened with screws in tapped holes. Their purpose is to lift the plate and then when their job is done be remowed.

The plate on wheels being lifted. The boat on three dollies one forward two back. Everything rolled easily and everything was fine.Then suddenly all hell broke lose. I screamed as my boat fell over. No use the damage was done.

One moment all happiness, next disaster. The plate still hanging over the boat. The dollies in the back can bee seen.

The plate on the hull. A very satisfying fit. I am pleased.

This is the worst spot. Mostly the gap is not more than 3 millimeter or 1/8 of an inch.

Now the dollies are secured with clamps. Here the bow one

Here the the two aft dollies. They are now connected by plancks and more widely spaced. One mistake is not OK but can be repaired. Two would be very bad.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

October 30, 2018

THE BRONZE PLATE

About five weeks ago I ordered a heavy bronze plate as a sole for my boat. It is now here.

It will protect Exlex bottom when she is being beached and and handled on other hard surfaces. It will also act as ballast to give needed stability. The wheight is 127 kilos and thirdly bronze have antifouling propreties. Many of the contenders in the Golden Globe Race have serius problems with fouling by goose barnacles. On Exlex with a bronze plate and only 20 cm/ 8 inches draft that will not be a problem. Saddly bronze is wery expensive but it solves many problems. Fortunatly Lagermetall in Örebro have been giving me an very good prize, still this phosphor bronze plate is nearly ruining me so please, if you can afford it send me an contribution.

Wevik Maskin AB here in Västervik have kindly put a bend in the strong plate to make it fit the bottom of Exlex Minor. Tomorrow I try to organize a transport to my workshop. This bronze plate is nothing I can carry on my bike.

Below are two photos

Hans and Dennis at Wevik Maskin AB regarding the 2000 X 600 X 12 mm 127 kilo bronze plate that is now in their scilled hands to give a bend that matches Exlex bottom.

The bronze plate in the rollers. Very exciting. Much depends on this plate.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

October 29, 2018

TEXTILE HARDWARE AND A NUT

At the moment I am doing details. Details but details are important and time-consuming.

On Exlex I secured the lunch-box hatches by screws. Some people say that takes to long time. I say I dont mind spend ten secounds to obtain a well secured hatch. Pictures below show how I secured the 30 mm long M8 bronze nuts.

The nut is embedded in NM-epoxy and secured with 24 pieces of carbon rowing. A bolt clad in teflon-tejp is inserted in the nut to prevent the epoxy to get into the screw-threds.

The epoxying of the nut is done with the lid in place and the bolt in the nut. That guarantees that everything is aligmented.

The bolt is remowed. It have done its duty. Epoxy is all over the place but not in the screw-threads.

The epoxy is removed. The nut is countersunk. That helps the screw to find the threads.

This is the start of hardware for my safety-belt. A three strand polyester rope is wraped around a piece of Divinycell insulated with pastic film.

The polyester rope is saturated with NM-epoxy. Polyester fibers and epoxy love each other as you may have noter when you get a drip of epoxy on you clothes.

The picture shows an Idea for a textile padeye. It is extremely light. Weighs next to nothing and takes glue exelently. Its a good idea for a small boat and even for a bigger one.

The reverse side of the padeye. I use only the mantle of the polyester string to make it flatter. Spectra and Dynema does not take glue well. Those kind of fibers are very slippry and polyester is plenty strong. This padeye can be done with very simple tools. Here for the experiment I am using plywood Tufnol and carbon fibers can also be used. The knot is a Zeppelin knot. I think they look great.

This is a fitting I will use for securing the four 13,5 kilo batteries.

Some of the textile fittings. The ones at the bottom is for the safety belt.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

October 26, 2018

PIPEBENDING PROBLEM SOLVED

Yesterday was a succes in disguise. Luckily I did not succeed in bending the PVC-pipe. Without the setback I would not had this bright Idea that I found today.

Due to interference the ventilation system has to be situated in the sleeping room. Fresh air comes in above the sleeping room is ducted from port side to starboard and vice verse, descends to the floor and is piped through the aft bulkhead to the lunchroom aft which is a wet room.

After my disasterius pipe-bending experiment I put on my thinking cap and realised that the pipe did not have go through the bulkhead at 90°. In fact it would be much better if it did not. That would reduce the resistence as the airstream did not have to be bent so much. It would also save a bit of wheight as the distance would be shorter and also be far easier to produce. I simply bought a ready made bend and cut it.

Pictures below will illustrate.

A mock up showing the bend penetrating the bulkhead.

Some people say that the diameter of the pipe I use is to small. That it will not allow me to get enough air. I say that the diameter of my nostrils are even finer and the increase of flow is more than linear. For exampel in hemodynamics it is considerd that flow increases with the forth power of the blood vessel. Not directly applicable here but it might be interesting for you readers with an inquiring mind.

I have also been working on the lunch-box below pictures showing me sandpapering the coaming flat using a large sandpaper on a particle board. Particle boards are flat as there is no tension built into them.

Me showing the sandpaper stapled to a piece of particle board. The coaming to my right.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

October 25, 2018

DETAILS

I am working with details. One such is trying to bend a PVC-pipe 90° for the ventilation system. To inform myself I search the internet. It did seems that many person was not succesful. Full of confidence I reasoned this does not applay to me becouse I am smarter and I knew a few tricks. First I filled the pipe with sand and copressed it well, then I made a mould to guide the pipe. When the preparations was done I gently put som heat but just on the outside curvature. The result looked very good and I felt justified in being proud of myself as can be seen in the picture below. Click once or twice to enlarge. The lunch-box in the background on my right side with lid on. The hull of Exlex Minor will supply the missing lunch-box side.

Myself proud after having succesfully bent the PVC-pipe.

Unfortunately taking the bend out of the mould I saw that the inner radieus had a kink and the bend was for my purpose and all others useless. However I have not run out of ideas and will be back.

Also more work is being done on the lunch-box. The lunch-box will be situated in the aft part of the boat. Above is a hatch that in breaking seas can let in water. To prevent that water from enter the lunch-box I am making a labyrinth. Below a photo from my sketchbook.

The lunch-box with the labyrinth. I am holding the lid in my hand.

The lid will be scruwed down with two M8 scruws as was succesfully done on Exlex and tested during my 40 day voage from Ireland to Madeira earlier this year. It seems such a long time ago but I have not even been back for three months. The 30 mm long bronze nusts will be securely anchored in the lunch-box.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

October 21, 2018

SECURING THE WATER JUGS AND MYSELF

On Exlex I had a diameter 25 mm stainless steel pipe beside the bed to secure my seafety belt to. It was heavy. Exlex Minors middle name is now Light so here I will use a rope saturated with NM-epoxy attatched to Divinycell.

Here I am doing a mock up. Later the thing will be be laminated to give extre reenforcement where needed.

Below pictures.

A 15 mm rope is sawn on to a 20 mm H200 piece of divinycell using my sailmakers palm.

Saturated with NM-epoxy the rope becomes very stiff. Think of a frosen rope but even much more stiff.

This arrangement allows me to tie down the jerrycans and also in breaking seas get a safety belt attached. This is a mock up. The real thing will be reenforced with fibers, carbon fibers I belive.

Using textile instead of metall safes a lot of weight. This is in the interest of speed.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

October 17, 2018

MORE OF THE SAME

The stowage in the Captains cabin besides the water also contains the batteries. I have found a size of nearly the same with as the water jugs so now I have filleted the panels in place.

Big deep clamps holds the port panel in place while the fillets cure. Part of one battery can be seen behind the panel to the right of the picture.

Here a mock up of the saloon, the deck and the two aft windows. The windows have a diameter of 20 cm or 8 inches. Headroom is sufficient.

A cardboard mock up of the lunch box center of the picture in brown. Volyme about 45 liters. The picture shows the port one. There will be another one to the starboard side but not so wide.

The beginning of the real lunch box. I do as much as possible of the work on the bench, for convinience and for better results. Now the box is upside down. Doing filliting and tejping work later would have been extremely difficult.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

October 13, 2018

A BOOK AND MORE MOCK UP

I have done more mock up, now in the saloon. I now have a pretty good idea of the finished boat. Exlex Minor have turned out very roomy despite being only 4 cm longer and 19 cm vider than Exlex that was indeed very cramped. Exlex Minor have definitely place for two persons friendly persons to cruise long distances a boy and a girl.

Edition Paulsen did 11 of October publish a book titled 100 Marin. Its a selection of famous yachtsmen from the last 150 years including Jules Verne, Bernard Moitessier, Francis Chichester, Jack London, Naomi James plus 94 other equally famous person and me. Its a mystery how I got included, but I am proud to be included in that crowd.

Below are some pictures click on them once or twice to enlarge.

Me in the Captains Cabin flanked by water jugs batteries and other stuff.

The saloon. I am sitting on the anchor box containing anchors chains and rope about 15 cm high. On Exlex port side, to my right is a box containing food 38 cm high. Its counter is 35 cm wide and 54 cm long. On the starbord side is a smaller version. There will be windows aft and on on each side giving a good 180° vieuw.

There is also a place to sitt on the flour for a secound person or if you just feel like a change.

The book is big and heavy and comes in a box. It is also at 99 € very expensive.

The langueage is French but there is plenty of pictures.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

October 12, 2018

MOCK UP WATER & LAZARETT

The main bulkheads are in place. they are now also filleted and taped with carbon fiber +45°/-45°.

Next step is to do mock up of water storage. There is 12 five liter jerry cans. 6 on each side. Empty ones can be moved to leeward. I think I have found some AGM batteries with the same with 19 cm as the jerrycans.

Also in the stern a mock up for a lazarett is made. It will be the place for oilskins, diving flippers and mask. There will also be a snorkel although my lack of teath make the use of it difficult.

Below some pictures.