I got the GPO-3 fiberglass sheet from Online Metals dot com. I hoped to substitute it for the more expensive G-10. Looks like it worked. It is smooth like G-10 though in the picture above it looks rough.
This 2 foot by 2 foot sheet was $10. Picked it up myself. Compare to same size G-10 at McMaster Carr at $47 plus some $20 shipping.
The red probably means it is phenolic. Both of these are fire resistant.
The panel looks like it was made with chopper gun, but it will be used for low load applications, so no worry.
They did used to be a friendly neighborhood supplier. They have been bought by Thyssen Krupp and have a new corporate bureaucracy feel now. Good prices though.
I got that great opportunity to see my Alii Nui side by side with a Constant Camber 65 last week. It was great to see the differences. Again, both were built by the same yard. Alii Nui is foam/glass and the CC 65 is constant camber. Except for butting all the plywood sheets instead of scarphs, and bagging the ply to a true mold, instead of itself, this boat’s hulls were built exactly like the CM system that I have been using for 30 years and that CC has been criticizing for almost as long. Cool. Oriented ply sheets. Stringers instead of mass. Thinner hull skin. Cool.
Alii Nui is 36′ wide. I cannot find the CC 65 data online, but I’m guessing it is 30′ or even 32′ wide. That makes a smaller playpen. First the Alii Nui. Both from the same distance on the dock.
I get all my needed and possible fiberglass products here at McMaster-Carr. http://www.mcmaster.com/#
I mostly buy G-10 fiberglass sheets to fabricate into door flanges, winch bases and the like. My friends at CSR Marine buy reams of the stuff.
Here is a non Facebook link to be able to track the voyage of the KHSD 50 something cruising cat. Follow the Sailboat by satellite. When the map appears, if you click on the boat and each dot behind them you can get the location, direction, and speed.
We finally get to see some pictures of Chris Anderson’s cat that he designed and is building. This is going on in New Zealand. North Island I think. This is a CM (cylinder molded) developed plywood vessel. Chris goes away back on the process. In fact he is in the original CM video.
If I may throw in a bit of bio: Chris led the team that designed the fly-by-wire controls for the Boeing 777. I’m surprised he has not also been interviewed by Wolf Blitzer this week.
Being from the antipodes, Chris did not know about Autocad, so he designed and used his own 3D modeling CADD software.
This unit will have 6 unstayed masts. I recall seeing the rig arrangement fastened to the top of his car; he was conducting tests.
