Kit E86: Rain Catchment Part 1

That sure is a lot of work. It will be interesting to see what operational outcome is achieved once you are on the briney.😀👍⛵️

Y’all are doing a great job, it is really getting exciting now! Can’t wait to see the top go on. The rain catchment system is a very clever idea!

Rain catchment looks good!

To maximise grip when walking along in foul weather you could sprinkle some coarse (rock) salt into a layer of epoxy just on that grip edge. So the roof is faired and smooth and ends up gel coated or painted or whatever, but that small vertical strip along the outside edge that the palm / fingers contact would be rough. Makes a big difference when wet, sailboards and foil boards and SUP's etc use that technique. Love what you are doing, great design innovation and a can-do attitude throughout.

Looks really good. It should be quite functional.

Looks a great job!!!

This is getting exciting

I knew you were going to have trouble with that tube. One thing some rocket guys do is they add two layers of polyethylene. First layer is straight strips running the full length of the tube plus some extra sticking out. On top of that is a spiral wrap which keeps epoxy off of the straight strips. After it cures, you can pull the straight strips out because there is no epoxy on them. Once they are out there is a gap, and the whole thing will slide off. The spiral wrap can then be pulled off from the inside. Just a thought! The other thing is, once the epoxy gels a bit, you can heat up the mandrel while it fully cures. After it is fully cured, let it cool down or even fill it with icewater and that may make it easier to get the fiberglass off.

you should install LED strips behind the water catch system. it can be nice to have around the boat.

Just FYI you can use a skill saw to cut slight curves like you have there will go faster and straighter cuts .

Great progress; fairing that gutter looks like is going to be a lot of work. Kind of testing the limits of the KISS principle.

Great progress! Next time you have a loan gentle curve like that try cutting it with a circular saw. I think you’ll find it goes much faster and you get fairer curves.

LOL about the fibreglass tube. :-) That because epoxy shrinks a little when cured. Have you seen any air bubbles when manipulating layers of wet glass along crafting water catch?

Rain catchment/hand hold; should have made a male tool, laid up and cut to fit then tabbed in.

Great progress! What will you be doing to protect the cabin top from UV damage while it's "stored" over the yacht?

I was thinking… if you were to add a triangle of fiberglass to the top between the cutouts, it might add just a little rise in the roof to divert the water to the cutouts. You could do triangles or a half circles or whatever shape you want. Maybe just 1 layer. Being so slight that with a little fairing, the would hardly be noticeable.

I sure hope this rain catchment system is worth the trouble!

It might be too late but put a spiral of thin but strong rope under the cortex the full length of pipe right against the pipe so you can pull one end and work it out for clearance to slide the assembly off. look at 3M 8424-8 Cold Shrink Connector Insulator for how I'm thinking your rope could pull out

Your rain catchment/handhold design looks very clever and functional. Question: are you hoping to avoid the need for a RO water maker, or are you just supplementing an RO system, or are just trying to control rain run-off?

I’m not sure I understand. Now that you’ve changed the design it seems that each of these are now separate rain catchment systems. I didn’t count them but there are several. Do you intend to somehow join each of these together to allow for just a couple of diversions for the water to flow to the tank? Or will each one have to be plumbed to the tank individually?