First signs of weathering.

By Dermot Tynan, almost 11 years ago.

In order to test the spiffy, new Wind Direction Indicator mentioned in The Marvel of 3D Printing..., I assembled the mechanical components (without the potentiometers) and mounted it outside. As we live in a wind-swept area, with a high concentration of sea salt in the air, it was a useful test of how the system would perform. What I couldn't test was the effect of high temperature/humidity in a salt-water environment. To do that, I'd have to move to the Caribbean (which seems like a good idea, given the Irish summer we've had so far!).

• June 19, 2013
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Mission 001 - Galway Bay

By Dermot Tynan, almost 11 years ago.

As the hull is now watertight, and we're mere weeks away from having a sealed hull with keel and rig, it's OK to start looking at actually getting this thing to sail.

Up until now, I've been somewhat obsessed with getting the physical aspects of the boat to a certain juncture. The reasoning is simple; until there's a boat, all of this other stuff is just a waste of time. Well, now there's a boat...

• June 7, 2013
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Almost There...

By Dermot Tynan, almost 11 years ago.

After a lot of sanding, fibreglassing and applying resin, the hull is looking like it is ready for salt water. As you can see from an earlier post (Hull 001 is almost ready for fibreglass), the hull is formed by gluing thin balsa strips to the plywood bulkheads. These strips give the hull its shape, and also provide a modicum of structural integrity. On the outside of this balsa, are 3 layers of 300g chopped-strand matt, finished with a layer of fibreglass tissue. Each layer is impregnated with polyester resin. Likewise, the inside of the hull is coated with two layers of 300g CSM. Ultimately, all of the balsa wood is covered with at least two layers of fibreglass, which is a good idea because fibreglass on its own isn't that strong, and is susceptible to rotting, particularly in warm, humid waters.

• June 3, 2013
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The Marvel of 3D Printing...

By Dermot Tynan, almost 11 years ago.

So, while debating the different merits (or otherwise) of various mounting solutions, someone suggested using a 3D printer to actually print the housing for the masthead wind direction indicator. The more I thought about that plan, the better I liked it. As it happens, 091 Labs in Galway have a working 3D printer, from the Mendel90 family. What's more, they are trying to get a 3D printing service off the ground! I wasn't customer number one, but I was probably pretty close.

• May 30, 2013
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I love it when a Plan comes together...

By Dermot Tynan, almost 11 years ago.

The new ALIX board has arrived. It's to the left of the picture, sitting on top of a copy of the Lyon's Notes (which is appropriate). It's running my custom version of NanoBSD quite nicely, and can see the GPS without any difficulty. The GPS unit is a BU-353 unit (the USB version) which is out of the shot. It's attached to the window, and gazing at the man-made stars. To give a breakdown of what's in that photograph, the ALIX is on the left. In the USB port is the GPS, the RS-232 cable at the top of the board is communicating with my development machine (running FreeBSD). The red CAT5 cable is connecting the board to the "house network." The Atheros CM9 radio is a miniPCI card mounted on the underside of the board. It works on 5.8GHz and on 2.4GHz. In this case, I'm using 5.8GHz because (apparently) it has better cross-water characteristics and the band isn't as crowded. The mini coax cable is at the top-left of the picture, connected to a short, 9dBi antenna. You can also see a 12v cable with barrel plug. At the top-right of the picture is a WRAP board, also developed by PC Engines. It was being used as a testbed for the operating system, but that is no longer needed thanks to the ALIX.

• May 16, 2013
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