Extreme Makeover: Team RAF edition

Lots done since Thursday. Read on! Friday was spent out at the storage unit after classes sanding and prepping the boats and amas for paint. We also cut the aluminum tubes for the amas that will be used to lash the amas to the crossbeams and installed them.

Our storage unit is all encompassing as a workshop and even has its own paining booth! The primer went on very smoothly and we were on to color in no time. Don't ask why we chose these colors, we just like them...so there. We got one coat of paint on the hulls and amas that night and into the wee hours of the morning. We went with a 15 year ultra extreme weather proof latex house paint for the outer coat. It went on thick with brushes almost like a gel.

Also on Friday, we went over the GOPC to pick up some paddles to borrow for the weekend and some base layers to keep us warm. My mom (AKA SandyBottom) brought us some of her spray tops and fleece layers from "the stash" of paddling gear that lives in our garage.

Saturday we got somewhat of a later start, mostly due to the night before) and put a second coat of paint on the hulls and got the amas up to speed as well having primed them the night before. We also knocked out the foam supports for the crossbeam mounting blocks. We contact cemented the foam into the contour of the blocks to pad the connection. Also note the aluminum tube running through the hull under the beam. This tube will be used to lash the crossbeam to the hull in the same manner as the ama lashing. We plan to use old bike tubes for the lashing since they do not loosen over time and easy to come by. We got ours from All Star Bike shop in north Raleigh. The guys at the shop were very agreeable to us taking as many old tubes from their old tubes box as we wanted. Thanks guys.

The hatches look great and we added some waterproof sealing rubber commonly used for windows to the hatch rims to seal out the water. We have yet to install the hatch hold down hardware (or buy it for the matter) so tape will have to do for tomorrow. No news on the cockpit rims from hurricane kayaks other than that they are glad to help us out. We did not have time to make the field trip out to their factory in Warsaw, NC so the cockpit rims will have to wait till next week. No biggie. Hopefully by next week we will be sailing around with rudders, lee boards, sails, masts, and seats. Keep fingers crossed. But until then...

The plan tomorrow is to take the hulls out to lake wheeler in Raleigh and float them around while experimenting with their stability in different configurations and general handling. We are still rudderless and seat less so we will be kneeling and most likely having difficulty going straight but we aren't going for a 10 mile paddle. Just doing some playing around.

We unrolled the sails today only to find that they are awesome and we cannot wait to get then on the boat. Thanks to Brian Webber who is battling the flu at the moment. get well soon. Mike and I made some measurements and we think we can approach our 100sqft goal by extending out windsurfer masts by about 4 feet. That gives us a 12ft luff and a 12ft foot. The sail has a lot of leech curl to it so there is more there than just a straight triangle. We also plan to keep the sail shape in tack by only removing sail area from the foot of the sail upward. This way the sail will still have a good pocket and sail shape. We are not worried about having too much sail area because of our ability to reef the sail around the mast as much as we desire. Our rig is also unstayed giving us the ability to remove the entire rig entirely just in case. We have enough windsurfer mast material to make masts and booms for both boats so now we just have to DO IT.

Soon we will also be fiberglassing the lee boards but here is a sneak peak of what is in store. My dad came up to Raleigh today and dropped off the rudders as well as some more fiberglass for this job. His birthday was yesterday and my family came up to have dinner in Raleigh with me.

Speaking of birthdays!!! Our very own Matt and Chris Hazard also celebrated their birthdays this week with a nice dinner out with friends after some quality boat painting. Happy 21st guys!! So when are we going out the bar for drinks? Mikes buying!


Here is a pic of a rudder in its preferred location... neat the back of the boat. Hopefully being installed soon.



Stay tuned for pics from on the water with the team tomorrow. Very Exiting!

Wintry Mix in Raleigh

More work done on the hulls. The crossbeam mounting blocks are attached and curing at the shop after a long night of work to get the storage unit up to a better temperature since our space heaters conked out on us when we tripped a breaker but all is well. We ended up partitioning the room in half with tarps and adding more insulation which did the trick. We are up to a toasty 68 degrees on the side where the boats are. The schedule calls for final sealing to be done tomorrow on the hulls in preparation for primer and paint on Friday. Meanwhile, the Amas might be transported back to campus for painting in the spray booth at the NCSU design shop. The goal is to have everything painted by Friday night (wouldn't that be nice). We hope to take the boats out for a float on Sunday on Jordan Lake. Keep fingers crossed.


Great Outdoor Provision Co. will be providing us with base layers and paddles that we will pick up tomorrow depending on the weather. Raleigh is expected to see some ice and or snow tomorrow morning and early afternoon so any accumulation could make for setbacks in the plan but lets hope not. Stay tuned. It might even be more fun than watching paint dry. Well...maybe.

Hatches and Homework

We managed to get over to the shop today and get the hatch rims glued in. We spent some time insulating the storage unit so that the space heaters we bought (and will return soon) won't be so useless. We got the room up in the high 50's at the farthest point from the garage doors which is good enough to epoxy. Note the space heater in the background. We did not get to the crossbeam mounting blocks tonight so that will wait until tomorrow. Chris also picked up a can of primer paint for the amas and hulls this morning which we hope to be using by the end of the day tomorrow with any luck.

We will also be heading over to Great Outdoor Provision Co. sometime tomorrow to pick up some Thermion base layers courtesy of GOPC. In case you had not heard, GOPC is helping us get to the starting line for the Everglades Challenge with all the necessary equipment and then some.

Finally, after getting some boat work done, Mike, Matt and I hit the books. I thought I would let everyone in on the everyday world of an aerospace engineer at NC State University. That's right folks, if you thought that we were building two awesome sailing canoes like it was a full time job (moms and dads) you are mistaken. We are actually secretly learning stuff by day. Tonight's aerodynamics homework was a simple exercise really...

We started off by using a binomial expansion to show that that when dealing with isentropic, one dimensional, subsonic flows, where the mach number is much less than one, you can prove that the stagnation pressure definition reduces to Bernoulli's equation of course.

In between problems, Mike chose to sort his M&M's by color and arrange them in a nifty pattern while I slaved over paper and pencil and nearly lost a finger in a freak interpolation accident. In general, the average aerospace engineering students future is described by an equation that we got a kick out of the other day which reads:

The limit as GPA goes to zero of aerospace engineer from freshmen to infinity approaches business major". Good thing we are not average aerospace engineers.

Work Hard, Play Hard.

Five days till launch

Team RAF would like to announce a new sponsor, Great Outdoor Provision Co. of North Carolina. GOPC is one of the best outdoor clothing and outdoor sport outfitters on the east coast with an extensive line of name brand products at great prices. When we contacted GOPC about the Everglades Challenge they responded with excitement and have been working with us to get us geared up and ready for race day. With spray skirts, PFD's, paddles, base layers, as well as a generous discount for all of the other items on our wish list.
We are really glad to support our local outfitter and they are glad that we are out there doing the stuff that they are all about. A great big thanks to Chuck Millsaps who has been great in helping us get what we need for our first water trials this weekend.

Today, Mike and I were over at the GOPC store in Raleigh to check out some spray skirts and cockpit rims for the boats. We are thinking about using a prefab cockpit rim from Hurricane kayaks that GOPC is helping is obtain. This would cut down on the build time for the cockpits considerably. After borrowing a cockpit sizing form, we headed over to the shop and cut out all of the hatches on both boats.

After that we bought some insulation and space heaters so we can heat the shop and do some epoxy work tomorrow. We finished up with some dry assembly of the crossbeams and amas on the hull. They sure look good. Make note that the cockpits are not to their final shape yet but are instead the size of the inside hatch rims. We cut the hatch rims out of the cockpit locations to save wood and since they already had the approximate curve in them.

This also let us make some measurements on the inside width where the seats will go so that my dad can start working on the seats. Here are the hulls all full of holes. It was nice to see the inside of the boats again. Soon we will be gluing on the crossbeam supports and finishing the hatches. In other news, my dad took some time today to pick up the hobie rudders that we will use from Vlad (AKA Crazy Russian). He drove up to deliver the rudders to us. We really appreciate his help.

Have a Krispy Kreme Day!

Saturday morning, Mike and I joined the 1,380 doughnut lovers at the NC State belltower for the Krispy Kreme Challenge. (Left: Mike, Alan, Adam) Mike and I both finished in under an hour (Mike: 44:41), (Alan: 48:36). See official results here. All said and done, the race raised $10,300 for the NC children's hospital! The event was a huge success and a great time was had by all. The fastest time was an incredible 24:32 which just blows our minds.

The physical and mental challenge of running, eating and entire dozen doughnuts and running again was too much for some competitors as you can see. To give you an idea of how unique this event was, instead of water stations for the runners on the return trip that you might find on a normal running event all that could be found were doughnut stations where all you could get was a hot glazed doughnut.

I am glad to report however that Mike and I held down the full dozen like the real men we are. Thats 2400 calories, 120 grams of sugar, and 48 grams of trans fat. MMMMmmm good. We then proceeded to sleep late into the afternoon. We will definitely be back next year when the event will undoubtedly be even bigger.

Make yourself at home

We are all moved into our new storage unit as of today thanks to Ample Storage on Bush Street in North Raleigh. A huge thanks to Loretta and Jeff for making this happen. We really appreciate it. The unit has been donated to the team for the entire month of February.

If ever you find yourself wishing you has that extra space or wish you could keep your car in the garage again, then consider Ample Storage. The best deal for storage space around!
Mike and Chris and I spent the evening today cleaning the floor and doing some organizing. This is where we will finish construction of the boats and store them while training. The space is 25' x 25' with outlets all around and a single door so we don't let all the heat out. Ooooo Ahhhhhh!

The space was previously occupied by a mechanic who left some nice spots of grease on the floor. Scrub scrub scrub. Now that we have a space to work we will finish the cockpits, install the seats, get the rudders knocked out and glue on all the crossbeam supports. After that it will be time for paint and the we hit the water for some paddling.

Thanks again to Brian Weber (daBiscuit) for donating over 400sqft of sailcloth in the form of two C-scow sails for us to use. Visit his website at.... http://www.peakcamp.com/ and also at Captain of the "O" dark 30. The sails look awesome! We hope to be using them soon.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Space...the final frontier

Tomorrow, we will head up to the Ample storage in north Raleigh to pick out our shiny new storage lot (SWEEEET) that is being donated to the team for us to use during the month of February. Finally we have a place to call home again. Add some space heaters, knock out a wall or two and add in a kitchen and bath and it will be just like Charlotte.

In other news, the sails are in, the rudders are on their way thanks to Vlad (AKA Crazy Russian), and the Duckworks order my dad made a few days back just arrived in the mail back in Chapel Thrill so the seats are well on their way. Look for some real work in the next few days as we wrap up the boats and gear up for a day on the lake.

Have you heard of the Krispy Kreme Challenge??? well its an annual race in Raleigh right on campus to support the children's hospital. This is "officially" the 2nd annual KKC. Last year there were 140 registrants. This year there are OVER 1000!. Including Mike and myself. This amazing race requires challengers to run two miles from the NCSU Belltower (on campus) to the Krispy Kreme factroy downtown upon which you will consume one dozen fresh hot doughnuts as fast as possible before running the two miles back. Oh yeah, the time limit is 1 hour. Look for updates on how we did later this weekend. Wish us luck. After the race...you guessed it, back to boat building and a flight test on Sunday.

Are we wet yet?

Well, no. Not quite but we are darn close.

Big things are happening behind the scenes for team RAF. It looks as though our persistent phone calls and e-mails might soon equate to some new gear for the whole team! Gosh we hope so. But I will keep you on the seat of your pants again until all the details are worked out. We are pretty exited.

Hey, also check out www.sailinanarchy.com who just posted an article we wrote about the EC and our team. Thanks Scot, for helping us get the word out.

The schedule has us in the water by the end of next week. In regards to the boat we need to (as we like to say) DOOO IIIT! We are working hard to finish up the crossbeam mounting points, cockpits, and seats but in order to do this we need to get the boat out from under the terrible tarp which means getting a storage unit pronto. We are patiently awaiting the word from our friendly neighborhood storage unit manager who is really a nice guy and is doing his best to locate something for us free of charge for the month of Feb. Keep fingers crossed.
After painting; rudders, hatches and leeboards will have to wait until after the first sea trials (lake trials). I was messing around a bit in paint and I think I got a little carried away but these two pictures do demonstrate some of the design changes that we made to the "stock" Wa'apa.











Notice that the crossbeam location has been shifted 4 feet forward essentially which allowed for better distancing between sailors and will help with stability in the long run. The Ama's are also a bit shapelier. Rudders with footpedal control will be used for hands free steering. The top of the hull is also fully decked with "kayak" style cockpits that will use conventional sprayskirts. The mainsail is also different. We would ideally like to use a roller reefing sail design in which the mainsail rolls up around the unstayed mast. This allows the mainsail to be continuously reefable and it also keeps the deck clean when the sail is fully furled. We are also toying with the idea of a jib and we would definitely like to have a spinnaker for downwind legs. For this we would probably employ a temporary backstay that went from the top of the mast to the crossbeams.

Here is a picture of the second leeboard. The first one is already finished. It will be shaped this way front and back for a symmetrical cross section. Since Mike, Matt and I are Aerospace engineers after all, there was much discussion about how the leeboard should be shaped for maximum lift through the water. In the end we decided that simple was best and so symmetrical it is. We also were thinking about using dual leeboards (one on each side) but again realized that we can add another one later if we want to. Right now we just need to get on the water.

Stay tuned for more updates and keep an eye on www.sailinganarchy.com if you don't already.

Thanks for checking in.

Crossbeams, leeboards, and outriggers galore!

After yesterday's long night, we stumbled back into the lab around noon. Chris was busy with studio work all day, so our crew consisted of Mike, Alan, and me. With crossbeams cut to length (4 10 foot pieces), we aimed to complete the attachment points on the outriggers and the main hulls. On the outrigger side of things, we needed to construct a sort of pylon to rise and meet the crossbeam, which, depending on our actual waterline, will probably be about 15 inches above the water. Since we are using foam outriggers, we decided to go with foam pylons. Using some of the stronger blue foam, we made 5 inch blocks that matched the contour of the outrigger on bottom. We left them flat on top ; they'll also get a 1.5 inch layer of foam rubber we salvaged from some shipping pallets. This squishy foam will take the shape of the crossbeam nicely, while ensuring that nothing slips around unintentionally. To complete the joint, we'll embed a wooden dowel or aluminum tube through the pylon, to serve as a lashing point. We added some wooden reinforcing disks (cut on the lathe) to spread the load throughout the foam. The whole assembly (minus the softer foam) was fiberglassed to the amas. The blended joint should be just as strong as the rest of the outrigger.
















On the main hulls, we decided on a set of contoured laminated plywood blocks. The bottom of these pieces will be glued to the side and deck of the hull; the top will receive the streamlined crossbeam sections, with a thinner strip of the shock-absorbing foam in between. The blocks themselves were constructed out of laminated 1" thick spruce plywood, also part of the same shipping pallets. You never know what someone might throw away! We suspect the whole vibration-isolated pallet must have carried some sensitive scientific equipment, like a new mass-spec for the chemistry department. We finished all the rear brackets today, the rest will have to wait until the Design School shop opens back up on Monday afternoon.

We started work on the leeboards, cutting out the rough shapes. These will be made out of the same salvaged plywood, perhaps with fiberglass reinforcement if necessary. We spent a while discussing the possible hydrodynamic and structural costs and benefits of a pair of asymmetric leeboards versus a single symmetric leeboard (we are engineers, after all), and finally just went with the simplest option - a symmetric profile with a streamlined shape. They still look pretty rough, so pictures will have to wait until they get some more attention.

By the way, the weather in the area has been horrible this weekend. The 'wintry mix' of rain, sleet, snow, and more rain has been a real pain. Of course, we wouldn't have gotten nearly as much work done if our Aerial Robotics flight test wasn't cancelled, but that's neither here nor there. This has been a productive weekend, and we're knocking out tasks left and right.

Alan added a new feature to our sidebar, a map that displays the rough location of each of our individual blog visitors. We've gotten hits from all over the world!

Enough for now, leave us some comments if you get the chance.

Matt

Weekend Warriors

A day truly devoted to the challenge. Here we see the Mike (AKA MikeMike or Kotzebue) in this natural habitat surfing around on the WaterTribe forums and planning our route through ten thousand islands in the background.
The team fell back into the groove today and got some great work done. Read on.

Yesterday we got the final word on the unused project rooms on the west side of campus that we were hoping to move into for a couple of weeks...or just a week.... or hey how about just ONE weekend! The answer...."NO". What a bummer. So it was back to the Aerial Robotics Lab (Oh yeah, that's what Mike, Matt and I do when we are not building boats, we build UAV's) for workspace while the boats sit outside in the cold under a tarp and will no doubt be covered in about a quarter inch of ice by tomorrow evening.

We are pursuing a storage unit which may be donated to us until the start of the challenge which would at least give us a big place to store all of our gear and stuff between training days and a place to sprawl out and unload all of this boat building tools that I have been hauling around in my truck for the last 3 weeks.

On a brighter note, I finally got in touch with (by e-mail) a potential sponsor (not telling yet) who we hope with come through for us in a big way. More details to come I hope.

My dad came over to Raleigh and Mike, Chris and I helped him use the Vacu-form machine in the design school workshop to make a plexiglass mold of my mom's Dreamcatcher seat. My dad has offered to build four fiberglass seats for us to use in the Wa'apas. THANKS DAD! I guess you could say that "He's got our backs" (backsides in this case).

After saying goodbye to the clear plastic butt bucket as it came to be known, the team got to work on some of the major "TO DO" items like...the akas. We are using extruded aluminum mast sections from two long since departed hobie 14's that my good friend, occasional business partner, and Nacra 20 racing teammate gave to us free of charge. Thanks Trey.

If you get a chance, check out www.velocitysailing.com, this is the Velocity Sailing homepage that documents team Velocity (See the team Bio for names) and their quest to become pro catamaran sailors. If you ever are in need of sailboat parts, rigging or equipment at a good price give Trey a call.

We got to work cutting the akas using a chopsaw with a metal cutting blade which was very satisfying. After making a final decision on where the crossbeams should go (at least initially) we started working on the ama pylons that will lower the amas down from their high perch on the straight akas. These blocks are made of dense blue foam and will be fiberglassed over with multiple layers of fiberglass tape. A dowel rod will run through the pylon and a chunk of squishy foam will cap the pylons and the aka will be lashed to this top surface with bicycle tube. Very exiting. We will do the fiberglassing tomorrow.

Also on our plates for tomorrow are the leeboards which will be made out of 1" think 8ply plywood that we found outside in the dumpster, SCORE!! As well as the thick aka mounting blocks which will be glued to the side and deck of the hull to support the aka above each side of the boat. Since the decks are curved and the akas are straight this piece will be very important and will be very strong. Look for more updates tomorrow.

And now some much needed Thanks:

A big thanks to Brian (AKA Capitan of the "O" Dark 30) for his unwavering support. He has graciously sent us two C-scow sails (over 200sqft each) that we will be able to use to construct any size sails that we like. SWEET! Thanks again Brian. Check out Brians Blog (Captain of the "O" Dark 30) its a good one.

Thanks also to Stan Hanson for lending us his EPIRB to use on the challenge since the CG pushed their new regulations forward on everyone. What a HUGE time and money saver for us. Thank you, Stan.

One more thank you to Vlad (AKA Crazy Russian) for shipping us two hobie rudders to use on the boats. We will have foot pedal control of the rudders from the aft sailor in the canoe similar to a regular double kayak. Thanks again, Vlad.