| The design, construction, and testing of this 12' Catamaran occurred over the past two summers, being my most involved marine project executed to the testing phase to date. I
began the project out of curiosity, desire and hope. I first wanted to test my own abilities and to see what marine design was, first hand. I wanted to experience the design process and to actually see my dreams. And I wanted to move my design process to the next level by testing and learning from one design to create better new visions.
The project began in the early days of the summer of 1995. I decided that I couldn’t wait any longer to realize my
dream of designing and actually building one of my concepts. I wanted to undertake an experimental project which was as interesting and as challenging as possible while still being feasible both in terms of economics and in terms of my limited summer vacation time. And I wanted to learn from implementing new design elements with new materials and to maximize my learning from the ability to thoroughly test and modify my final product. I wanted to experience all steps of
the actual building process myself so that I could begin to design with this knowledge in hand. After touring several established boat building companies to get a first hand look at the boat building process, including both Express and Douglas Skater, I began to design a realistic project, a 12' Pickle Fork Tunnel Hull. I developed a few concepts in the first weeks of the June, chose one based on economy of construction, available time, usability, and possibilities for
experimentation and modification, and then began to develop the concept. Before the first of July, I created rough working drawings and began to cut bulkheads from 3/4" OSB to be spaced at 9" intervals. After finishing the skin of the plug, I then began to construct the mold. I decided to experiment with a new molding rubber used widely for replication of architectural elements, statues, and the like, to adapt this material for the quick construction of a limited
use marine mold. This material, if the test proved successful, would allow me to create molds very rapidly, would allow some flexibility for such features as overhanging curvilinear sections of the hull and deck, and would be less expensive than an entirely fiberglass mold. It could provide a more attractive alternative to joined molded pieces without the cost and time-investment of multi-part molds, especially for limited production runs. With 10 gallons of Smooth-On, I
began my mold. I then reinforced the rubber with mat, roving, epoxy, and wood.
I
met my first serious obstacle when trying to separate the mold from the plug, for even though I had taken every precaution and thought that I had been more than liberal with wax, now even two jacks couldn’t lift the plug. After seeking advice on how to proceed, I first tried a series of wedges to break the vacuum effect caused by the rubber mold. Having no success, I then found the solution. I used the hydrodynamic force of water to "float" the plug out. Unfortunately, I found that my first attempt had resulted in the over-stretching of the rubber and even a tear. I was unable to start over because of limited financial resources and time, so I resolved to make the best of this first time mold and set my sights on getting a functional prototype before recreating a mold. After patching the imperfections in the mold, I began to lay-up fiberglass in the last weeks of August, working feverishly in the attempt to finish before the summer was over. During my last week of summer, I pulled my first hull from the mold. Though it had several imperfections from the flaws and distortions in the sides of the mold, the running surface was fairly precise, and the hull as a whole was workable. Over my Christmas vacation, I constructed a series of bulkheads and stringers to reinforce critical stress areas.
During the first month of the 1996 summer I began to fair the hull, which occupied my spare time for the better part of June. I then built a three-part deck from plywood with 1x and 2x supports between the bulkhead system, and covered this with fiberglass. To my extreme pleasure, I was able to do this without a single bubble or imperfection, having
learned from my experience of the past summer. I finished the hull with a durable epoxy finish. Finally, I modified an aluminum outboard bracket to create a lifting bracket to allow the fine-tuning of the outboard position since I knew that I could achieve better performance by taking advantage of a higher mounting position and the less disturbed water in the tunnel. Click here
to read about testing of the first prototype
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