Thought I’d do another update bringing my project into the new year and news from The Man Shed.

New Name - Goals
I will be changing the name to TMS Composites. I’m in the process of doing the legal paperwork now. Currently the website is still themanshed.net . I’m doing this as I bring the project more into line as a business. My goal is to have the TMS-20 finished and in the water in 2010. The doc has released me on my shoulder and I’m feeling much better still sore at times but I suspect that is something that I’ll have for years to come. I bought a bowflex to put in the shop to work my shoulder out with, as it gets stiff if I do not work it every few days, and god knows I could easily use to drop 50 or more pounds. So those are my goals for the year.

TMS 20
I’ve finally fared out the hull enough to my liking. I’m starting to work on building the bowsprit mold and will be cutting foam strip for the second half of the hull as soon as it warms up. I’ll post a few pictures of the fared out hull then move on.

Composite Tubing
I am going to make the mold for the bowsprit out of PVC pipe. I’ll cut the pipe in half the glue on a flat section to make two pieces that are ½ round then flat on the bottom. I’ll wrap several layers of cloth around the curve and on the flat surface but not joined to form a complete semicircle. That way I can peel it back some to remove the PVC. Once the two sides are formed and dry I’ll glass the flat sides together and lay some glass in the middle to form a circle with a flange in the middle that will be the length of the tube. When that is dry I will have a composite tube that I can wrap glass around to build up my thickness. To “bag” the outside wrap I’ll use the plastic heat shrink tubing to compress the lay-up. I feel that by doing it this way I do not have to worry about removing the lay-up from a mold or core and I’ll have a nice flange the length of the tube for stiffness. The bowsprit is 6' long if this works well I'll use the same method for the beams they will be 17' long.

Beer Hammer
X-Mas gift from my son picture says it all! I guess you never have too many tools.