On 30 Apr 2004 04:22:27 -0700, (Snowman)
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:
remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Fascinating! I thought of this idea years ago...and as usual did stuff
all about it!

But my idea relied on triangulation. Was that not the geodesic idea?

Other than that, talk to the designers.

BUT, UNABLE TO SHUT HIS FINGERS UP, HE OPINED:

damn!

Has anyone noticed that although the "a" is nowhere the "e" on the
keyboard, "then" frequently becomes "than"? I have seen it in several
posts. it's NOT just me!

OK.

TMM, rather than wrapping, you need to create a mould for the boat,
then use formers (of foam etc) in place of the wood frames, and not
build "tubes" but glass the frames in place. This is not a new idea.
The filler of frames and even skin separators in lightweight boats has
included foam, balsa, paper rolled up, wood, etc etc.

I am not sure what you mean about "foam strips wrapped in Kevlar tape
and epoxy".

If you mean wrap dry and then place and then wet in, you will have
problems wetting the concealed part of the tubes at the skin side. not
good.

The usual method is to lay up the outside skin, then lay the various
frames (of some really flexible material, like rolled paper, foam,
checked balsa etc) , then lay glass (tape or more skin) over those to
provide the stiffening. The idea is to simply use the _glass_ as the
stiffening beams, with the fillers as a method of shaping the glass.

Look at a modern shed. Most of it is very thin steel, laid out to be
stiff and light. Replace the steel with glass/resin (hard and dense)
and the air in the beans with some crap lightweight filler to hold the
glass inplace until the filler will.


But this relies heavily on the fact that the beams are flanged and
strongly attached to the main skin.

I'm looking at building a Geodesic Airolite Boat, (see www.gaboats.com
by Platt Monfort) but I'm considering an interesting idea and I'm
wondering what you all might think. Instead of using wood strips to
form the geodesic structure I am thinking about using foam strips
wrapped in Kevlar tape and epoxy.

I have been reading about the construction of these boats and found
that some people have trouble with bending the ribs to shape without
breaking, (and this is with better quality wood that I am able to
source). I'm thinking I can bend foam cores easily to shape and then
once assembled in a frame start wrapping it all in Kevlar tape,
forming a makeshift Kevlar tube frame.

I'm still considering using wood for the stringers and gunwales as I
can form those with little or no problem. Having the stringers and
gunwales constructed out of wood would also make forming the foam ribs
much easier as it would give me something solid to work the foam
inside.

-Does anyone foresee a problem with pursuing this type of
construction?
-How will Kevlar wrapped foam compare to the equivalent
cross-sectional wood piece in strength?

Thanks
Jordan Richardson

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