A top four man Goss Composites team built Pink Lady, overseen by Build Manager, Gary Venning, and Production Manager, Keith Fennell. The main structure of the boat is a carbon fibre / foam core sandwich. The boat is built in four separate components that were finally joined together in the final stages of construction.



These components were:
1. the 10 meter hull
2. the forward cabin roof
3. the aft cabin roof
4. the rowing bay

STEP 1 - Build a plug

The first step was to build a wooden 'plug' for the rowing boat. The plug started as a series of laser cut lateral wooden frames. Wooden 'stringers' running the length of the frame were then attached.

A series MDF (thin, flexible wood panels) layers, known as cold moulding, were glued and screwed to the stringers. This provided the ideal surface for the build team to fair (sand) to produce the finished shape of the component, for instance, the hull or cabin roof.

It was important that before carbon fibre was layed onto the plug, we ensured that it would not stick to the plug itself, so that the final component would be easy to remove from the plug.

To do this, we layed a thin film of 'ptfe' onto the plug. Ptfe is a 'teflon' type material which is extremely non-stick and stable when cooked at high temperatures.

Once all the ptfe was on the plug, a vacuum system was set up. The object of this exercise was to see if the plug leaked air. We used a very powerful vacuum that exerted pressure on the plug.

STEP 3 - Laying the first layer of carbon fibre

The carbon fibre was pre-impregnated with exactly the right amount of epoxy resin (glue) for building boats.
Our supplier, Advanced Composites, delivered the carbon fibre in large frozen rolls. Just like any frozen food, our carbon fibre had a 'use by date' once thawed out, and so it was stored in a freezer at the factory until needed.

Once thawed, the carbon was unrolled and cut to size on a cutting table. It was then laid over the ptfe on the boat's plug. After each layer, the vacuum process described in Step two was applied to ensure that the carbon formed to the shape of the plug. Two layers of carbon fibre were layed to complete the inner skin of the component.