But you must put curves into a flat panel to get a hull. It's all in the manner of which you bend that curve. How much can you put a curve into an infused panel is the paramount question? How much can a technique be applied to different cabin shapes is where I start to examine what's amenable.

Bob,

  Forgive me if someone else has responded to this -- I flagged the post when it came in last week, but now there are so many follow-ups that it's tough to keep track.

Quick answer: 

  That's true, but that said, you'll save an incredible amount of time if you just curve around one axis for the entire panel/section.

Long answer:

  The flat wrap is an impressive piece of origami, but I personally don't think I could be happy with the results.

  I do like the original strip-planked harryproas, and if you want that look, strip-planking with kiri or with foam is probably the best way to get those nice curves.

  The current harryproas have their own sets of curves which have grown on me, particularly with the solitarry,  bucket list, and the various Ex40 versions in progress. 

  The nice thing about this generation of designs is that the curves tend to be gentle and in a single axis, so you can bend the flat panels around a CNC-cut form and get very consistent results.  There won't be any extended fairing or torture-boarding to get a good showroom finish if that's what you want, and even less work if you're not looking for perfection.

  I'm currently five years into a 400-hour project to build a 26' plywood dory (house construction has created most of the delay), and I have to say I'm still surprised at how tough it is to get a fair surface.  I keep thinking I'm there, I pull out the light at night and shine it across the surface, and then I see the flaws.  The good news is that it will actually be a workboat, so it doesn't need any quality.

  The flat wrap looks like it will indeed allow for compound curves, which is pretty cool.  But even if you have many layers of ultra-smooth forms for those bends, I have a feeling you'll still end up seeing a lot of those joints in the finished product, particularly where two sections join. 

  I could be completely happy with a well-executed Ex40, even though I'm partial to the older curves. 

  And while I like the flat-wrap, the only way I could enjoy the finished product is if it were perfectly-executed, ultra-smooth, with no visible joints.  (unless it were redesigned to emphasize the joints, I suppose).  If I saw lines in the final product, I'd be bummed -- that's a lot of work and expense to go through only to later see the seams.

  Just as important as the surface is the general time saved.  It's hard to comprehend.  If you haven't yet seen the Solitarry construction video, take a look:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfhdRfBTt8o

  For me, an assembly process like that will save a boatload of time and money, which means I get a less expensive boat and/or get to spend my time on little details with the interior, autopilots, or other small stuff that can eat up months of time.

  But that's just me.  I have limited time and funding, and I also don't enjoy sanding and fairing, particularly with epoxies because that means making sure no skin gets exposed to the dust (that's only fun at exactly the right temp, were I'm not sweating inside the tyvek suit and my mask isn't fogging up).  The dust doesn't bother most people at first, but I know guys who ignored the warnings and now start to break out in a rash if they get too close to a building where sanding was taking place.
 
   If I liked sanding, and had years with which to build the boat, and/or many extra dollars to pay someone else for those years, then I might consider compound curves.

  Or more likely, I'd probably rather spend those years sailing.

        - Mike

 

Ok, as you pointed out the material dictates the design. SIP construction as a method is not readily amenable to curved shapes. I gave the wrong impression in my admiring the component nature of the panels and how they fit together. The method in which they were bonded, the fiberglass cloth are outside the comparison with Infused Panels and the way the get bonded. I get that. 

But you must put curves into a flat panel to get a hull. It's all in the manner of which you bend that curve. How much can you put a curve into an infused panel is the paramount question? How much can a technique be applied to different cabin shapes is where I start to examine what's amenable.

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Posted by: Mike Crawford <mcrawf@nuomo.com>

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