Morgan 43, Hull #65
"Kindred Spirit"
Layout - Design - Build
Summer / Fall / Winter 2005 - 2006
Completed April 2006
REVISED 4/19/2006
Hard Top CONSTRUCTION PAGE
Click on any picture to enlarge
PROJECT STARTS HERE!!
This is what the boat looks like with the existing Sunbrella bimini.
I will compare these with the hardtop pics in a year or two.
About Fiberglass Hardtops
I would like
to create a hardtop that satisfies all Michele's and my goals- it must look
great, function properly, and last a long, long time. The hardtop must be
designed to work with the lines of our boat. Instead of using square sides and
a flat top, which give the top a very "boxy" appearance, I will use angles and
curves that flow with the boat's lines. The result will be a top that looks
like it belongs on the boat instead of a generic shape that is suppose to fit on
every boat (but never does).
For strength, stiffness, and durability I am planning to use gelcoat, resins,
and foam that is available. The outer coating of gelcoat instead of painting
will give the part a tough finish that is easily repaired, lasts a very long
time. This will be done in a reverse mold. The swim platform was done not in a
mold, so the gelcoat had to be sprayed on at the last step. I want to produce a
top that is both stiff and reasonably lightweight. (we will see about that!) The
top will be held up by aluminum supports to match the arch and will be designed
AFTER the top is made.
Options for the hardtop that I may add on-
- Windshield & full enclosure
- Handrails
- Overhead window for sailhandling
- Built-in cockpit lights
- Anything else I can think of
The advantages of the hardtop-
- Durability: The top will be made out of the same material as the hull, so it will last as long as the boat.
- No fading colors or deteriorating Sunbrella.
- No leaking: Sick of having that annoying leaking bimini right over your head? The fiberglass hardtop eliminates all leaks. (unless I make it wrong!!!!)
- Aesthetically pleasing: A well designed top that works with the lines of the boat.
SO, HERE WE GO WITH ANOTHER PROJECT.
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This will take quite awhile to complete. If I rush it, I would be sailing all summer without side curtains.
Also I have another year, maybe two, with the existing Sunbrella bimini before it needs replacing.
Up dates will be done as I proceed.
MARCH 5, 2005
March 13, 2005 Snowed again yesterday!
I did a little fixing and sanding of the edges to make it somewhat smooth. (The final finishing will be done when the whole mold is made.) Then I clamped on a board to guide my router so that I could but a grove into my form. (Router bit is shown in the pic.) When it is fiberglassed it will leave a hump in the slot area. Remember this is a form and everything is opposite. (upside down!)
This ridge will keep the water from rolling off the rear of the hardtop and onto my neck! Thinking ahead!!
For those who know fiberglassing, yes the edges of the recess will be rounded over so that there are no shape edges to fiberglass over.
Well, it was time to move out of the basement, kick the car out of the garage and build me a table to frame this thing on. I built a table, 8' x 9' out of 2"x3" studs with corner braces and dolly wheels so the whole unit could be rolled around. As you can see it takes up a good section of the garage. I covered the table with 1/2" plywood to make everything neat and square.
Then I laid out the plaster rear mold at one end and started framing for the front mold at the other end. The front of the hardtop will dip down 1 1/2" but you can't see that in the pics. (dips up in pics.....upside down......I have to keep saying that so I don't screw up!) That area will also have the rounded corners the same as the bimini. You can see where I am laying this out in the last pic. Remember this is a mold so it is upside down. Along the edges you will notice the quick sweep up that matches the original bimini. I think this should make it look better even though it will take me hours longer to build. All the framing down the middle will be the same as the the pine one in the pics.
$70 in lumber and screw so far.
Laun would not bend up the curve so I used 2" strips ripped on the table saw.
It will make for more finishing and sanding of the mold but it works nicely.
Nothing is glued yet, but you get the picture.
Glued down the laun and the two inch strips. Screw holes will be filled when mold is smoothed out.
Forming the front shape of the bimini, including the front corner.
Front corners formed, window formed, starting to smooth out all seems to make a completely flat surface.
Fill-sand-fill-sand-fill-sand
1 2 3 4 5
A great tool (second pic above) that I am using that saves my vacuum is a window squeegee. It cleans the fine dust away in a swipe and I can see what I am sanding. Then I scoop the dust up instead of using the vacuum. The vac hates this fine dust.
Pic's 3,4&5 show how I taped off for the coating of resin that I added to the mold to make a non-skid pattern. I put down a very thin layer of putty resin and rolled over it with a dry paint roller, leaving a nice non-skid pattern in the mold. See below for a view of the pattern.
Non-skid applied to mold, right pic has resin still wet on left side....different color.
So why is it I am doing this mold? If I had to do this over again, I would not build a finished mold. I would build a right side up, rough form, that I could lay-up the bimini over. Then I would be sanding and finishing the real part. I have spent too many hours making the mold perfect.
Well, the mold is ready for waxing.
The mold is black so that when I put on white gelcoat I will know that I have an even thick coat.
Next steps:
* 4 coats of Carnauba TR Mold Release wax
* 1 coat of PVA mold release
* Spray Gel coat onto mold (non wax)
* Lay coat of polyester resin (non wax)
* Lay out 1 1/2 oz chopped stranded mat
* Lay out 17 oz Biaxial cloth (knytex style BDM 1708 double bias stitched to a
3/4 ounce mat layer, fibers aligned 45 deg)
* Lay out 1/2" end-grained Balsa core (Baltek CK100 Contourkore) set in
polyester putty premixed
* Lay coat of polyester resin onto Balsa core (non wax
* Lay out 1 1/2 oz chopped stranded mat
* Lay out 17 oz Biaxial cloth (knytex style BDM 1708 double bias stitched to a
3/4 ounce mat layer, fibers aligned 45 deg)
* Lay coat of polyester resin (with wax)
* Feather out with hull & deck putty (non-sagging polyester putty premixed)
* Spray Gel coat onto bimini underside (with wax)
Tools Needed:
*catalyst dispensing bottle (a must have)
*aluminum laminating rollers (6" straight & 1/4" corner roller)
*mixing pots
*squeeges
*gloves
*respirator
*rollers and brushes
*tape & rags
Purchased materials at Merton's Fiberglass & Marine Supply
1 800 333-0314
www.mertons.com
314 Rocus Street, Springfield, MA 01104
Quantities used:
2 gal hull & deck putty
1 can mold TR wax
25 qrt cups
3 yds 12"wide 1 1/2 oz mat
12 yds 50"wide 1 1/2" oz mat
6 yds 12" wide 1708
12 yds 50" wide 1708
1 qt white gelcoat
1 qt PVA
1/4" corner lam roller
1x6" lam roller
6 sheets 1/2" x2'x4' Balsa Core
2-5gal can polyester resin
$38/ea
$12
$.26/ea
$1.15/yd
$4.00/yd
$2.65/yd
$8.00/yd
$18.00
$10.00
$8.10
$11.00
$22.00/sht
$98.00
$76.00
$12.00
$6.50
$3.45
$48.00
$15.90
$96.00
$18.00
$10.00
$8.10
$11.00
$132.00
$196.00
$632.95 plus $32 tax approx $670.00
I am not complaining, I am enjoying this project!
Fiberglass FINALLY!
So, here is the top with the gelcoat sprayed on. I had to add a second quart that I had left over from the transum. (See below, for this was a start of a problem!) The 2nd pic is with the 1 1/2 oz chopped stranded mat laid in. The 4th is with the 17 oz Biaxial cloth (knytex style BDM 1708 double bias stitched to a 3/4 ounce mat layer, fibers aligned 45 deg) laid on and wetted out. That spot that I am trying to flatten out was a problem area where I saw white gelcoat mixing with the resin, through the cloth. Not a good sign but I must press on! Pic #7 is me, with my finest slippers on my feet, trying to press the balsa core into the bedding compound (thickened resin). This was 2 hours after the fiberglass resin had set up. I took the day off and tried to do the fiberglassing and balsa core before the resin had to be sanded to bond. I had 2 days before that would happen. Remember it is sailing season, so I sail on the weekends - NO BOAT WORK ALLOWED. Now that all the balsa core was covering most of the fiberglass, I only had to sand the outside edges before proceding in a week or so. The next photos show how I added reinforcing around the edges and where the support poles will be mounted. OH, and lets not forget the 3 overhead lights! It is for my boat so I can spend extra time and not have to pay for labor for such things.
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Fiberglassed the inside and tried to remove from mold. Pictures show the wooden wedges I was using but it would not break loose. So, I had heard that you can float it loose by adding water between the loose areas. The mold release is water soluble so it should work great.
Was able to add about five gallons before it started leaking out of the mold.
THEN I SAY SOME WATER COMING THROUGH THE FIBERGLASS IN TWO SPOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is not supposed to happen. In fact it is not possible, I thought.
At this point I went to the big pry bar to get this sucker out of the mold and out of the water.
BAD NEWS #1: The water was coming up through the fiberglass and the balsa core.
BAD NEWS #2: The mold was so stuck to the fiberglass that if pulled the mold surface off.
Mold is ruined
You will note in the pics
below that I have removed some of the fiberglass in the wet areas to dry out the
core.
I have a water meter. It showed right where the water was.
I have not flipped over the hardtop yet so I can't tell what the problem was. My best guess is that the fiberglass did not dry against the gel coat in the 3 areas that bubbled up when I made it.
Just a small, well maybe a big set back! So depressing.
On a positive note, the edges around the top came out real nice. See pics below.
Pic #1 Wedges in mold
The dry looking cloth pealed back in the pic is PEELPLY which you put over fiberglass to get a smooth surface. It peels off like if you had covered it with wax paper, which is another trick of the trade. PEELPLY also seals the surface to allow laminating resin to dry so it can be sanded instead of adding wax.
Pic #2 Out of mold hanging from ceiling
Pic #3 Ruined mold
Pic #4 Surface of mold stuck to top
Pic #6 Mold stuff does peal off
Cut out fiberglass to dry balsa core
Front edge and side edge........top still upside down
So now I find out what I did wrong!!!!!!
I boiled the gelcoat, and it was the second can of gelcoat that I got form my basement that was a year old.
Bad gelcoat and too much heat produced in the fiber glassing process.
From
internet:
Gelcoat fault – WRINKLING, this is caused by the heat released by the
following laminate immediately attacking an undercured thin gelcoat.
OPPS!!!!!
Gelcoat fault - INTERNAL DRY PATCHES,
areas where resin has not penetrated.
OPPS AGAIN, I had three small areas like this. That was from working on the
large project alone! You should have a second person to be mixing while you are
spreading.
Water penetrated the laminate by seeping along pathways created by the dry fibers of the reinforcement and followed the splits in the balsa core and the tracks for the electric wires.
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Added 3 layers of thin fiberglass after grinding and filling
A little more filling and sanding and it will be gelcoat time again
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Hi all
A few of you showed interest in a second hardtop off my mold or the mold itself.
SORRY but the mold got
ruined. It stuck to the hardtop. Good news is that after some
grinding and finishing, the hardtop is looking good.
I guess the start of all my problems was that I did the gelcoat and two layers
of fiberglass on one nice day off from work. Hey, I took the day off to do the
job, so I did it all in one day. The gel coat went on so nice but was only
half covered with the quart I had. So I went to the basement and used up the
gelcoat that was a year old from the aft end project. That quart made me make
the gelcoat too thick in some spots. That started the problems. The gelcoat
seemed to dry after two hours so I started fiberglassing. As I glassed the
first coat, I did find a problem in one spot with the gelcoat pulling up off
the mold. I figured I would have a small problem but fixable later. So on went
the 18oz second layer. What I did not know was that the heat built up from the
2 layers boiled the gelcoat in many areas which led to a breakdown in the mold
release and the wax causing the top to stick to the mold. Two hours later, on
the same day, I started laying in the balsa core. That covered any signs that
I might have seen if I looked. I was on a roll and everything was going fine.
So 2 weeks later and I was ready to fiberglass the inside over the balsa core.
At this point the top is still in the mold. Took a half day off from work to
do this. Remember it is sailing season so I sail on the weekends!!!! I laid,
in one shot, the two layers of fiberglass after wetting out the balsa core.
All went great and it set up in an hour. Had my coffee and decided that it was
time to pop this sucker out of the mold. It came loose nicely around the two
sides so I inserted wooden wedges to get some pressure. Nothing was happening.
So I started the wedges at all edges and had a nice space going but no POP
out of the mold. All the reading I did said that if you apply water between
the two then it will wet the mold release (which is water soluble) What a
great idea!!!!!!!!! NOT!!!! It took 5 gallons of water to fill the
space I had created with the wedges before it started overflowing the mold. So
NOW it should POP out! Well, I tried but while I stared at it hoping to
see it POP, I found a puddle of water in the middle of the top. I must
have splashed! Dried it off and before I knew it, there were two puddles.
WATER DOES NOT travel through fiberglass. Then I saw water coming out of the
electric wires for the lights.
SOMETHING WAS WRONG! At this point I found the largest crow bar that I had and POPPED the top loose. With a nice POP it did come out, mold pieces and all. Now, as I had it sitting on a dry surface, I could see the new fiberglass that I had just done separating from the balsa core. Guess it was still green underneath. I took the skill saw and removed 1/3 of the new glass that got water under it. I drilled 1 1/2" holes in the "glass only" to dry all the other areas that were showing wet with my water meter. (Great thing to have). Never made it to work that day!
So what went wrong? I guess I used bad gelcoat and then the heat boiled a few areas and left dry or resin areas that never dried to allow water through under pressure. I found 4 areas that this happened to. Water travels through the splits in the balsa core very easily and through the electric wire channels.
From
internet:
Gelcoat fault – WRINKLING, this is caused by the heat released by the
following laminate immediately attacking an undercured thin gelcoat.
OPPS!!!!!
Gelcoat fault - INTERNAL DRY PATCHES,
areas where resin has not penetrated.
OPPS AGAIN, I had three small areas like this. That was from working on the
large project alone! You should have a second person to be mixing while you are
spreading.
Water penetrated the laminate by seeping along pathways created by the dry fibers of the reinforcement and followed the splits in the balsa core and the tracks for the electric wires.
That was two weeks ago. That is how long it has taken to redo the surfaces on the top that were supposed to be finished out of the mold. Last night I flipped it upside down and refiberglassed all the areas that had dried out nicely. No wet spots left!
What's left is to smooth off the inside and paint the complete top. Yes I said paint. I decided to go with PPG Auto paint Acrylic Urethane. This is a two part paint equal to the boat paints. I decided that paint may go on better than gelcoat when I have to do such a big area.
Taped and anti skid applied (thickened resin rolled on)
Tape removed
Flipped and refiberglassed dried areas
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Top - Ready for PAINT Spray gun setup and two part Acrylic Urethane undercoat paint ready.
One quart of under coat has 8 oz of hardener and 8oz of thinner added. I can't believe how nicely it sprays out of the gun with a 1.5 nozzle and 45 lbs of air pressure.
The high fill under coat dries in two hours ready to sand. It will show all the imperfections and pin holes. Not many there so it will be easy to get ready to spray final white color. Just need some warm weather.
Pic #2
Grey Undercoat applied Pic #2 shows close up of the none skid
Handrails and Hatch set in place
The hatch is a change from my original plan of fixed Plexiglas. I found a hatch on EBay that I could not resist.
If I am stupid enough to sail with it open - then I guess I will someday loose it. Asking for trouble but it will let in air when I am motoring.
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Al's art work! Took about three coats with this spray gun to get real good coverage.
All three coats done in one hour.
I sprayed the nonskid with the top tilted up and then but it back on the table to do the edges and the last coat on the center. It is hard to reach when on the table. Got a few runs on the edges only. The will buff out later.
Top side FINISHED, just need to mount hardware!
That shine on the above pic is real shine, not wet!
Taped off for hatch, caulked and installed.
Supported on temporary wood frame.
Mocked up some bars out of PVC to show the welder.
Welder finished corner bars. All fit nicely.
Green lines show what I vision for side movement supports for the front bars.
The rear bars will only have the lower 45 deg angle.
Welder made the starboard side with tack welds only. I am to try it out on the boat before he welds it up.
BUT, I am sick and it will have to wait. :(
The bar in the background is the port side with the PVC pipe attached.
The closest bar is the starboard that he made from the starboard template.
Top is COMPLETE!
For final pictures of the support bars installed
CLICK HERE!
Next step is the curtains.
Nautical Needles will complete this task by launch day!