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Old 30-01-2014, 08:26   #106
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Re: Hull Extensions for Catamaran

Wow Colemj, beautiful work and an artful design! And 44CC, I took the wonderful advice of some on this site and intead bought a bigger cat and removed the solar panels, radar, life raft, wind generator, inflatable and outboard, life sling, stern anchor and roller, etc......... Only kidding. Due to various time constraints including a protracted death by a member of the family, I still have not built mine but anticipate doing so in the next year.

My extensions will be much less elaborate than yours Colemj - really, a bit longer but akin to what thinwater has done on his PDQ. For what it is worth, instead of battens I intend to follow thinwaters lead - although rather than aluminum sheet, which may buckle/dent, I plan on using readily available frp sheet, screwed into the hulls in order to make a female mould and then lay up the exterior laminate directly inside the mould and onto the lower portion of the exisiting transoms. Once the mould is removed, I will grind down the gelcoat on the trailing edge of the hulls and the leading edge of the extensions and tab (and I do plan on using epoxy resin). My hulls are symmetrical, so I am hoping that I can use one mould for both extensions, but we'll see.

I'll keep you posted when I get to it, but in the interim thanks so much for the imput from those who have already undertaken their own hull extensions!

Brad
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Old 30-01-2014, 10:12   #107
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Re: Hull Extensions for Catamaran

Colemj,

Now I know what you meant a few weeks back when I said that I would offer to wax your boat and you said it may be a bit longer by the time I arrived. I had no idea you were going to extend her sterns.

I will still come down and wax her, but only the first 40 feet. 42 feet is just too much waxing, unless I can stay for two weeks instead of one.

You do really nice glass work. Have you done this kind of glass work in a prior life?

Glad to see your passing your skillset to the locals as they are a crafty bunch and really need a good marine trade.
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Old 30-01-2014, 11:59   #108
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Re: Hull Extensions for Catamaran

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Originally Posted by smj View Post
A friend of mine is trying to find someone to do extensions on his Seawind 1000.
There is a Seawind 1000 here and the owners came over to look at our build. They are also considering extending theirs. I looked at it and it looks very simple to extend. The owners here want to change their staircase arrangement, which will be more complicated. If your friend simply wants to lengthen the hull without other changes, it will be easy on that boat.

Doesn't Seawind do this for owners? I thought they made a mold of their production extension and make sterns for people with 1000's? If so, what resin/glass do they use to attach them?

Mark
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Old 30-01-2014, 12:08   #109
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Re: Hull Extensions for Catamaran

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Have you done this kind of glass work in a prior life?
I have owned a couple of old boats that needed new decks and other work. Not really a past life, though - more like a continuation of a lifetime of insanity.

BTW, here is how I first learned to fiberglass: I had an old boat in Michigan that I put in a barn at a small boatyard to do some work on it. This was my first boat larger than a sunfish, and I was terrified of needing to grind into it and do fiberglass work. I sat there for two days with an angle grinder and cans of West epoxy and glass and didn't do a thing due to paralysis.

One afternoon two guys came in the barn and introduced themselves as Jan and Meade and asked what I was planning to do to the boat. I told them what needed to be repaired and that I was terrified of starting the work because I hadn't done anything like it before.

They said they were on their way to a race in their boat and the bad weather made them pull into the marina for the next couple of days, but that they had done some of this type of work before and would lend me a hand.

So for an entire day, they showed me how to cut into the boat, grind proper bevels, cut and lay glass schedules, work with the epoxy and fillers, etc. We got a good deal of the work done, and by the end of the day I was pumped with confidence.

It wasn't until many weeks later that I found out their last names were Gougeon.

Mark
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Old 30-01-2014, 14:12   #110
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Re: Hull Extensions for Catamaran

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Originally Posted by colemj View Post
There is a Seawind 1000 here and the owners came over to look at our build. They are also considering extending theirs. I looked at it and it looks very simple to extend. The owners here want to change their staircase arrangement, which will be more complicated. If your friend simply wants to lengthen the hull without other changes, it will be easy on that boat.

Doesn't Seawind do this for owners? I thought they made a mold of their production extension and make sterns for people with 1000's? If so, what resin/glass do they use to attach them?

Mark
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Old 30-01-2014, 14:39   #111
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Re: Hull Extensions for Catamaran

colemj

Great story. I am surprised that Jan and Meade Gougeon did not tip you off as to who they were by saying what a great product that West Systems epoxy was that you were using.

What kind of white gel coat do you put on epoxy?
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Old 30-01-2014, 16:06   #112
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Re: Hull Extensions for Catamaran

They did ask me how I liked using it at the end of the day, and watched me do stuff they taught me, etc. So I guess they got some good marketing info - but no, they did not go on about their epoxy or say they were involved with it.

This was in 1986 and I was new to the whole fiberglass thing, so didn't know anything about the product or the people involved with it. Others would have recognized them immediately, I'm sure.

I have never had problems putting gel coat over epoxy. You do have to clean and key the epoxy well, and I don't like using West System epoxy if I am going to gelcoat it. I know everyone "knows" it can't be done, but I have many examples where there has never been a problem and nothing has gone wrong with the gelcoat/epoxy bond for decades.

It is a moot point with our sterns because the only epoxy I used is a bit of taping inside the build and below the waterline on the outside. Everything else is done in polyester.

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Old 30-01-2014, 17:27   #113
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Quote:
Originally Posted by colemj View Post

There is a Seawind 1000 here and the owners came over to look at our build. They are also considering extending theirs. I looked at it and it looks very simple to extend. The owners here want to change their staircase arrangement, which will be more complicated. If your friend simply wants to lengthen the hull without other changes, it will be easy on that boat.

Doesn't Seawind do this for owners? I thought they made a mold of their production extension and make sterns for people with 1000's? If so, what resin/glass do they use to attach them?

Mark
There were some molds made by a Florida builder that eventually made it to California. On our first Seawind we added 4'. We had a friend of mine who I had worked for before do the job. He built custom catamarans in the Florida Keys and was absolutely meticulous with his work. It's been awhile, but we used 1/2" Klegecell with I believe two layers of biax and West System epoxy for the whole job. He refused to use anything but epoxy for secondary bonds. He built quite a few of the charter cats in the Keys, which really take a beating, but he had no structural failures at all. I guess that's where I get my views on epoxy and secondary bonds.
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Old 30-01-2014, 18:06   #114
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Re: Hull Extensions for Catamaran

There must be much more material on hand in the rio than there was 10 years ago. I knew I guy who spent a few days riding chicken buses just to find enough hose clamps to complete an engine install.
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Old 30-01-2014, 18:19   #115
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Re: Hull Extensions for Catamaran

There is an actual West Marine store here now! Three other marine supply stores, and several places with random marine(ish) parts. And you can ship in anything you want cheaply and easily by ocean freight.

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