The whole build process! Follow along as Olly learns how to build a foam/carbon pumpboard. If you want to see more details watch the first part of the build here https://youtu.be/qa98eXUYKn8 Olly wan

We're having a look at our doors in more detail - these are custom made and built for purpose. Depending on the job the door has to do would depend on the build construction and locking mechanisms we

POV When you get carried away with making something cool and then realise you have just managed to make life hard for yourself. This week we are working on doors and rewiring cables through the main

14 year old Olly has been collecting scraps of foam and carbon from our Paikea refit and has decided the time has come to make his own carbon pump board. The skills he has been learning helping with the modifications on Paikea means that he is already familiar with materials and processes so this is the logical next step for him. He has done a fantastic job filming the process so you can all follow along with the build.... and listen as Shayne gives guidance throughout this very cool project. Tune in next week to see the next steps Materials used for this project can be found at Easy Composites EU @easycompositestv MATERIALS LIST PVC CLOSE CELL FOAM https://www.easycomposites.eu/easycell75-closed-cell-pvc-foam EL2 EPOXY LAMINATING RESIN WITH BOTH SLOW AND FAST HARDENERS https://www.easycomposites.eu/el2-epoxy-laminating-resin CARBON FIBRE CLOTH 200G https://www.easycomposites.eu/200g-black-stuff-22-twill-3k-carbon-fibre-cloth *we are still experimenting with this - it may be worth going a heavier cloth as we have flex in the board BREATHER FABRIC https://www.easycomposites.eu/breather-fabric VAC BAG https://www.easycomposites.eu/vb160-vacuum-bagging-film PEEL PLY https://www.easycomposites.eu/pp180-peel-ply TACKY TAPE https://www.easycomposites.eu/vacuum-bagging-sealant-tape PERFORATED RELEASE FILM https://www.easycomposites.eu/r120-perforated-release-film MORE INFORMATION can be found on our website https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

Unless you are a composites engineer yourself then this episode is not one we recommend you try at home. This week we are widening the doorway through the bulkhead - but this bulkhead has a carbon fibre chainplate built into it and we are going to cut super close. Why? We want to open up the space to make Paikea's narrow hulls more accessible and easier to walk through, but it is more than just taking the jigsaw to it. This area sees some serious load and by cutting into this space we need to know what we are doing. There is always a great deal of thought and calculations that go into each of our projects. Shayne makes it look easy but he has done this stuff a million times before (gotta admit it still makes me nervous looking how close we go to the chainplate!). As you may have already figured, we are not the average DIY boatbuilder on YouTube. Hopefully our videos will inspire others but we absolutely recommend talking to a composites engineer before you tackle anything as serious as what we are up to here. That being said, the end product looks fabulous and the bulkhead now has unidirectional fibre running along the entire doorway with edge capping to finish it off. Happy days. If you are interested to see the lamination of the doorframe in more detail an explanation of our methodology can be seen on our videos on re -engineering the doorframe - see the links below https://youtu.be/YoHUB7iZU4g https://youtu.be/Pvfkim9rvIY We tried filming some of this with our new insta360 but some footage came out a bit wonky so apologies everyone. We're learning as we are doing on the filming side of things. For the bulkhead edge capping we used vinlyester resin from Easy Composites @easycompositestv More info as always on our website https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

Following on from our video on composite stanchion sockets, we are exploring what material is best for each job in your lifeline system. We built carbon fibre sockets but kept our stainless steel stanchions, which seems like a low tech solution considering we have made a living working with composites. So what was the thought process behind this decision? We had a lot of questions last week after the release of our building stanchion sockets video so this week we are trying to cover the bits we missed out. The drainage setup for internal sockets, how are we going to secure the stanchions in place and why you should be really careful about using carbon fibre in an application. Many people assume that carbon is better than steel but they are very different materials and behave in very different ways. For those of you who enjoy the tech side of sailing, here is another thought provoking video on choosing the right materials for lifelines. Check out more at https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

A deep dive into stanchion sockets, stanchions and preferred materials. This week we are looking at everything you need to know (or at least giving you a good nudge to investigate further) about lifelines, stanchions and how to connect it all correctly and SAFELY to your boat. Stanchions are a safety feature so its not a matter of finding the cheapest solution - this one is finding the safest and most reliable. We hope this information will help those of you wanting to some techy info on what you should be looking for. Heaps of information on this one and we will be adding more to our website https://youngbarnacles.com/making-composite-stanchion-sockets/ and some good stuff on our members page www.youngbarnacles.com if you want to dig deeper into the topic. We used carbon tube, release wax and resins from @easycompositestv European division. https://www.easycomposites.eu/ References https://www.sailing.org https://www.iso.org/standards.html ISO 15085:2024(en) Small craft - Protection from falling overboard and means of reboarding Fred Barrett Yacht Design https://fb-yd.com/ Brett Van Munster https://vanmunsterboats.com/ Matthew Smith https://csparnz.com/ More information on our stanchions can be found on our website below https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

In this episode we are putting in the last piece of the new floor in Olly's room, covering over the newly created crash box behind the daggerboard case (I called it a wet box in the video so well done to those of you who noticed my mistake. A wet box stays wet whereas the crash box is designed to hold water if the part its protecting fails). We are now on to installing new fuel tanks as the stainless steel ones we originally had have corroded and are now starting leaking. It seems Paikea knows we are fixing things and is determined to add her own desired upgrades to our list! There's a whole lot of information in this one including our preferred composite materials supplier here in Europe - A BIG shout out to Easy Composites Europe for all your good work. (Full disclosure - we don't get any sponsorship deals but they do give us the regular trade discount). We have been struggling to find reliable suppliers here in Spain. Most places want you to purchase in bulk or just can't supply the materials we are after so it has been so good to find someone who can assist with our needs and do it so quickly and efficiently. They also have a great YouTube channel which we have featured on our website as we do think they are a valuable resource for anyone looking for good composite advice. You can check them out on our resources page or go straight to their website here ?https://www.easycomposites.eu/ ? We've got a heap of tech stuff in this installment so get your coffee and tell the kids to be quiet - Shayne is going to tell you WHY we are infusing all these parts for Paikea rather than hand laminating everything. Is it worth the extra hassle? We think so and in this video we'll tell you why. Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

While we have the old floors out and are upgrading the bulkhead next to the keel, Shayne has decided to increase the safety margins around our daggerboards by adding a crash box behind the daggerboard case. This is a safety feature just in case we hit something with our daggerboards, and it breaks the case and lets in water. It just seems like a sensible thing to do since we are rebuilding everything else around this area. It's taken a while to sort this piece out as it is fiddly and in a difficult position, but we are feeling much better about the structural integrity around the daggerboard case now. And now we can finally start gluing the new floors in! www.easycomposites.eu Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

Lots of information on daggerboard case loads and how we are improving load distribution in Paikea. Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

We're right in the middle of floor replacement. 345kg lighter and we have got into the groove of replacing floors. Template, cut, infuse and repeat is the mantra as we continue to remove all the old timber on Paikea and replace it with stronger light weight composites. 1200g skins either side of a 20mm foam core is super strong and once laminated into place will improve the structural integrity of the hull. No need for fancy carbon fibre here - it's all about pairing the right material to the right job. The problem now is, our temporary infusion table is not handling the intense workload so we have decided to make a lamination table worthy of the job. Once we've finished laminating the flat panels we can cut this table into our new salon table. Perfect. Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

Welcome back to the upgrade zone! We're neck deep in floor replacement this week on Paikea. We are almost halfway through removing the old timber floors and putting in nice new lightweight foam and glass flooring. Kids are removing floors, prepping the bilge and floor cleats, templating the new floor and marking the template onto the new foam. Next is to mark out and infuse the hatch then Shayne can infuse the entire floor. You can see in this video the lip for the hatch has been integrated into the new floor keeping a very clean and simple solution to the floor-hatch integration. Then we glue and laminate the new floor into place. AND.... rinse and repeat for all the flooring sections. We have some complex geometry to overcome for the daggerboard cases and there are some half bulkheads that need to be replaced but other than that things are ticking along nicley. We are using 20mm foam with 1200gram quadraxial fibreglass. Vinylester infusion resin for the infusion and polyster for glueing and handlamination work. We will have a more detailed description on materials used on the floors on our website. Big shout out to the guys are Easy Composites here in Europe. THEY ARE AMAZING in both the materials they can supply us and in their customer support areas. So good to finally find a reliable supplier for our refit here in Spain. If you are playing with composites here in Europe these guys should be on your radar https://www.easycomposites.eu/ Kinda love that they put stuff on their YouTube channel too. If you haven't seen them before we have links on our website to some of their composites tutorials. https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

We have been busy again this week. The kids are starting to take on projects of their own on Paikea which is awesome and it means it frees Shayne up to concentrate on the more tricky aspects of the upgrade. Ayden is pushing forward on templating and preparing floors panels for infusion, and Harry is finishing off his own very special carbon/nomex floor. Meanwhile Olly is powering through a lot of the sanding jobs. So far we have managed to replace 4 sections of flooring and judging by the weight saving so far we are guessing we should save more than 150kg just with new floors. Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

Shayne is continuing to cut bigger holes in the bulkheads. It looks fabulous and gives us more space to navigate through the boat BUT you can't just cut a hole in a load bearing surface and walk away. Remember us talking earlier about how to correctly cut a hole in a bulkhead? Well the same principles apply whether it is a small hole in which to run services such as water and electrical cables as it is to make a door to walk through. In this video we are all about creating a ring frame to distribute the load around the doorway opening we have cut. It is pretty close to the deck and other major bits so we need to make sure the bulkhead can handle the stress caused by removing the material. Plus Ayden is hard at work keeping the floor progress moving forward as he templates, cuts and drills holes in preparation for more infusion. Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

Our current refit on Paikea is focussed on reducing the weight. We are removing all the timber floor and furniture and replacing it all with composite construction of foam and eglass. BUT are we making Paikea too light? Can that be a problem?? Join us for the latest step in our upgrades and a discussion on how light can you go on your catamaran. Oh and I bought Shayne a new tyvek suit so we don't have to film his tatty bum in the next vid Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

Carrying on with our refit on Paikea this week and the boys are improving on their composite skills. We have a new floor for Harry's cabin. This one we managed to get half as light as the original composite floor that was there originally. It was once a bathroom and we are now making it into part of the forward port cabin. New floor, remove old timber bunk, remove the half bulkhead under the bed and install the new sections of composite bunk. There is a lot of work condensed into less than 20 minutes of timelapse. Good news is the bows on Paikea as definitely sitting higher in the water right now. Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

A lot going on this week as we showcase how our boys help out on Paikea. Once home school is finished, its time to ditch the school books and donn the dreaded white suits as they help Dad with boat work. Ayden is working on the floor next to Harry's cabin, while Olly and Harry and finishing off the sanding of his room in the forward Port Hull. Shayne has upgraded his resin system and is now working with infusion vinylester. His infusion setup is a lot more complicated as he is confident he can get some great results with a more appropriate resin. Get ready to get your boat geek on as we dive head first into some advanced infusion techniques! If you are part of our membership site then please have a look at our latest video where we go into further detail on resin systems and some more advanced techniques for vacuum bagged infusion. Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

Finally, we have the floor infused with moulded hatches ready to install in our aft cabin. The floor is a quarter of the weight of the original plywood version and we couldn't be happier. It is also incredibly stiff and strong and will be laminated into place so that the floor is now a structural part of Paikea. Shayne has also sick of tripping over the lower part of the doorway into our cabin so that was cut out too. It makes for a seamless entry/exit into the aft cabin. We will have to reinforce the bit we cut out - remember Shayne's talk on penetrations through load bearing surfaces? Well a doorway counts so we have made yet more work for ourselves there. On the whole, though the space is looking much bigger and feels better already. Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

It's cold and rainy and Shayne's infusion of the floor has not gone to plan. Apart from losing my saloon table to the Paikea reit process, the boys will have to repair the uninfused parts with a secondary infusion. This means Shayne will have to remove the bag and rerun the tubes to get the bits that we missed. There's a lot of work required to get the desired result but in the end the floor looks great and we are ready to fit it in the cabin. Feel like supporting us? Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://youngbarnacles.com MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/

After a heavy dose of tech talk in our last episode on Bunk Gussets, this week we are embracing the beauty of timelapse footage and music - well mostly. The two main areas we are working on are finishing off the bilge in our stateroom and Harry's cabin. We need to get the bilge ready so that we can put in the new composite floor. This means making a new half bulkhead complete with the return flange Shayne has mentioned in previous videos and putting primer and top coat. Ayden has been helping Shayne with infusion prep and process while Harrison and Oliver have begun the monumentous task of sanding Harry's foward cabin. It's a brutal job as the bog has been left on too long and is super hard to sand. Added to that is the fact that their father is a perfectionist and is making them sand it to the highest quality finish. Will we still have teenage sons by the end of this process? Their enthusiasm is quickly dwindling..... https://youngbarnacles.com Buy us some carbon - we'll put it to good use https://donate.stripe.com/eVacO78u64nf9YQ9AA MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/