AF4  
By Mike Russon - Lehi, Utah - USA

Second Update

First Post
- First Update

I wanted to send another batch of images showing some updates on my AF4.

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These images show some work I did with carbon fiber along the chines. A friend of mine kindly donated this carbon fiber he had left over from a project. They use large rolls of carbon fiber to wrap interstate pillars and other structures in order to reinforce them for earthquakes.

 
These pieces were 50 feet long and about a foot wide. I figured carbon set in epoxy would take one doozy of an impact without structural damage. I would have liked to use more fiber, but it was so heavy that it eats far too much liquid gold (epoxy).

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click to enlarge

These images show work on the bottom and close up images of the fiber. You can easily see the weave of the fiber after the first wet out with epoxy. After a few more coats it smooths nicely. I used the carbon along the entire perimeter of the bottom.

 
I intended to cover the skegs as well, but thought it would better to make them a bit more sacrificial in nature. I also applied fillets along all the edges of the skegs and coated the entire bottom in epoxy as well.

click to enlarge

 
click to enlarge

I actually had a layer of fiberglass tape applied to the chines before the fiber was donated to me, so it really has fiber over glass which is another layer for impact protection.

 
I was careful to wrap the fiber as nicely around corners to eliminate sanding later. Did i mention sanding stinks? Anyway, I hope someone can use these images as a reference.

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click to enlarge

The boat is actually painted with it's first coat of paint as of this writing, and i will send more updated images later.

Mike Russon

SAILS

EPOXY

GEAR