Today was a productive day. On Jeremy's boat the bulkheads were fabricated. To do this templates were created to fit inside the ring frames and were then used to cut out bulkheads from a carbon-foam panel. The process of actually fitting the bulkheads was quite labor intensive. Afterwards, a flange was put around the bulkhead to provide a greater bonding surface to the hull. For my boat the oven was finished up, and we began to form our core material. Hopefully that will be finished in the next few days to be able to lay up a part. Stay tuned for updates.
fitting the bulkheads
forming the foam, out of the oven then under pressure
foam going in the oven, heated to 240 degrees
both bulkheads in the part, beginning to come together!
A quick way of getting bulkhead templates: cut a piece of cheap plywood to the rough shape of the bulkhead and put a bunch of ~1/8" notches along the perimeter for filler to adhere to. On the hull skin, lay down two layers of clear packing tape where the bulkhead goes, both to protect the skin and to provide a thickness offset for glue. Mix up automotive bondo and place a nice bead atop the tape layer and squish the ply bulkhead into the spooey. Let cure for 10 minutes, then pop out the bulkhead. Block sand the bondo on the bulkhead face side only, essentially removing the fillet. Now you have a 100% perfect bulkhead template to transfer to the carbon sheets!
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