| Each side deck has two planar
surfaces; the inboard surfaces are horizontal while the outboard surfaces
are inclined at 4° to promote drainage. Inside the main cabin all
horizontal surfaces will be covered with Formica laminate for beauty and
durability. The 4° slant begins just 2.5" outboard of the side
walls. Fabricating these decks from individual 4' x 8' sheets of Nida-Core
would be a formidable task requiring excessive fairing and finishing effort.
I decided to mold them in 4 long sections per-side for efficiency. |
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Two side deck spans along
each hull have long unsupported areas which would result in flexible "spongy"
decks without additional reinforcement. We added several longitudinal
"hat section" stiffeners, during the lay-up process, accordingly. This
cross section view illustrates the construction. Honeycomb core is
eliminated where the inner- and outer-surface are joined and additional layers
of fiberglass are added for strength. Notice the transition between
the horizontal and slanted 4° surfaces too. A small gap is left
in the honeycomb at this location during lay-up. We cut the inner laminate
after removal from the mold then let gravity pull the outer deck down to
the desired slope. After attachment to the hulls and bulkheads, a single
layer of fiberglass is laminated over this gap.
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| The side decks' geometry was
exported from the 3D solid model and converted to a format suitable for generating
ShopBot cut files. At right is the flat inboard deck surface divided
into four 95" long sections. Notice the cut-out for head clearance
above the stairways into each hull. These areas are not covered with
gel coat, honeycomb or fiberglass during lay-up, resulting in savings of
time and material. |
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The slanted 4° outboard
deck surface was also converted to four CAD sections. A total of 8
templates were CNC-cut out or 3/4" R-max foam insulation then placed atop
each hull to assure proper fit. The stairway cut-out was aligned with
respective bulkheads, on either side of the stairs, and everything else fit
as designed. We then joined the flat- and 4°-surface templates
for each 95" section of deck and used them as patterns when masking the mold
surface for fabrication of each deck panel.
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The port deck panel which
covers the laundry room, stairway and guest shower is shown, here, being
masked-off. Notice the template in the background.
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White gel coat is then sprayed
onto the masked-off mold surface.
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The first layer of fiberglass
cloth is applied once the gel coat has dried. This is a critical operation
in achieving good surface finish since any air bubbles between the gel coat
and this layer's resin will induce subsequent flaws.
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The honeycomb layer is added
next, followed by another layer (or 2 depending on the panel) of fiberglass
cloth. For this panel, two "hat sections" are added to the long unsupported
span above the laundry room. The small tab adjacent to the stairway
cut-out is the guest shower ceiling and the larger tab will form the galley
countertop above the refrigerator. These deck areas are well supported
so no additional reinforcement is required.
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The deck panel's geometry,
relative to supporting bulkheads, is evident after installation. Notice
the angled seam extending from the forward shower bulkhead to the aft head
bulkhead. The sawn gap at the transition between flat- and 4°-deck
surfaces is also apparent. The two "hat sections" spanning the long
laundry room ceiling are visible on the right.
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In this view, 3 of the 4 port
side deck panels have been installed. You need to look closely to see
the seams between these individual pieces. The exterior surfaces will
be painted with an anti-slip compound and the interior surfaces covered with
formica, so these seams are insignificant in the finishing process.
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