project 2013: #124 - the very last HPR 233

[ManuelW]

@ Jason: May look beefy as hell but as said weight was an important thing. One drive fully assembled is less than a pound.

Last job done on the boat was a pretty tricky one:

conversion to "Mystic-Style" Tail

As already shown in a previous post I cut off the tail of the HPR 233 to make a HPR 229 out of it and to convert it to a rudder in the "Mystic-Style". So with the already done GFK parts and the new aluminium parts for the rudder which finally arrived it looks like this:





Next step was to mark some additional cut-outs necessary for the rudder. Nothing special, just needs some careful measuring, marking and cutting.

[ManuelW]

Also from inside quite some sanding and preperation was necessary. Important thing, that the shape of the tail was not 100% rectangular straights but pretty rounded so I had to get it to a rengular shape of the opening.



Next step was to prepare the stack of GFK sheets and start the adjusting inside the tail.







Alignment was absolutely cricital and one of the biggest challenges/fears. Because that stack has to be aligned 100% perfect, there is no chance to correct that afterwards. So if its misaligned then it would cause strange running behaviour. So I spent quite some time on adjusting, a big help was a 3 feet and 10mm thick absolutely straight brass tubes. It had a tight fit in the bores for the rudder axxis. So I had a good option to adjust and my preperations seemed to pretty accurate as I just had to do very minor adjustment, just from installing it was almost perfect.

[ManuelW]

And thats how it looks from inside, then I fixed it with a few drops of instant adhesive and removed the aluminium parts:





Next step was to build some kind of casing as there were still quite big open holes where I needed even surfaces. Took some rest material of GFK and CFK sheets, cut them to the right dimensions and fixed them with a few drops of CY. For sealing all the edges I prefer to use modeling clay, sometimes a little tricky to remove but works excellent and flexible in use.





Then everything was carefully cleaned and prepered for laminating it in. I did also prepere some cuts of medium weighed glass fibre weave and some carbon fibre weave with a 45° cut-line for the experts

[ManuelW]

I did not make much photos during the laminating work but you also dont need to know every single steps. Need to keep some tricks for my own. Anyway here the result from inside 20 minutes later. Overall it did just take 30g of resin there, so also looking for a diet.



Photo was taken when it was still wet, now after it cured expect the different type and 45° cut you could hardly distinguish that this was an aftermarket modification. It almost looks like it was intented that way.

After removing the casing and a first cleaning here some photos. Please excuse the photo quality, just taken with my cellphone. Will add more pictures when carefully cleaned and preperations.







So far I'm VERY satisfied, I honestly didnt expect that it comes out that good. Alignment is excellent and the surfaces on the outside of the laminating have an excellent surface, hardly any filler and sanding necessary. Strength is also cool, its like a monocoque.

regards,
Manuel

[bruiser77]

Beautiful craftsmanship and design work Manuel. Very inspiring creations.

[Chrisg81983]

Looks great buddy. I was just thinking if I would ever have the nuts to cut my hpr apart lol

[H2OCamel]

As always Manuel I love your works of art!

[graill]

Any epoxy holding the front surface against the hull or just the Cyno tack ins and the fiberglass and CF backing?

[ManuelW]

Hi James,

i used some special higher strength epoxy (over 40€ for 2 less than 2 pounds) which has a viscositiy like water. This means with my casing and filling it up from the top that resin could fill the smallest gap within the construction. So for example the complete side surfaces of the stacket sheets now are glued to the hull which creates some serious bonding area, almost 2" x 1.5" on each side. And with the CF backing the complete area now is very rigid so also no flexing/bending which would cause cracks or stress cracks at the connections. So I am confident that this almost impossible to shear out again. The Cyano tacks were just to fix it and prevent misalignment, it has no structural purpose at all.

regards,
Manuel

[graill]

Nice. Just had me wondering. Grin.

[ManuelW]

Got reminded that I'll have to post some updates here.

First thing is, I got all the hardware parts back from having them anodized. Came out pretty nice, I wanted them in that matt look and not glossy.

regards,
Manuel

[ManuelW]

[RandyatBBY]

Monstrous hardware!

[graill]

Very nice hardware Manuel...now the important question, how did your hand get that nasty cut? Looks pretty healed up.

[Chrisg81983]

Looks awesome dude !!! Just out of curiosity what are the measurements of the rudder blade