Building a Lightweight Composite Door: A Complex-Geometry Lamination Story We work on high-end race boats and large performance multihulls, and that work takes us all over the world. When we’re not on a client’s boat, this is home — sailing, exploring, and steadily upgrading our Catana 42. Being composite professionals means a lot of what […]
Engineering a Lightweight Door: The Value of 350 Grams Read More »
Widening Structural Doorways Beside a Chainplate — and a Watertight Forward Hatch Two genuinely different projects came together this week: a new watertight hatch for the bow, and a structural modification most people shouldn’t attempt without a proper engineering background — widening doorways immediately next to a chainplate-bearing bulkhead. A Watertight Forward Hatch, Built Like
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Building Carbon Stanchion Sockets Stanchion sockets aren’t the kind of thing anyone gets excited about — until you’ve spent years kicking your toes on stainless steel bases bolted proud of the deck, catching lines on them, watching them collect salt and grime in every corner. The fix on Paikea was to move away from that
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Stanchion Socket Installation Details & The Material Science Behind Pultruded Spigots A few questions came in after the first stanchion socket video that deserved proper answers rather than a quick comment reply — how the drains actually perform in practice, whether the stanchions need mechanical securing, and the material science behind why a pultruded
Stanchion Socket Installation Details & The Material Science Behind Pultruded Spigots Read More »
Daggerboard Crash Box: Building a Watertight Safety Compartment Why We’re Building a Crash Box With the floors already out and the boat this far stripped down, adding a crash box behind the daggerboard case made sense. It’s a genuine safety upgrade — secondary flood protection in case the daggerboard case is breached. The concept is
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Daggerboard Load Paths: Why Bulkhead Position Matters More Than Size Two genuinely different problems came up working around Paikea’s daggerboard case this week: how to support a floor over geometry you can’t physically reach to laminate, and why a bulkhead’s position matters more than how much material is in it. The Problem: A Floor With
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