Breaking the mold

This weekend I tried out a plywood mold and two-part foam for building AMOS hulls. Everything went well for a while: I had the shed / playhouse heated at the right temperature (about 25 deg C), and got 5 or 6 batches of the foam properly mixed and poured into the mold. The foam expanded similar to what I had seen on the Internet beforehand, and there seemed to be a sufficient number of vent holes to relieve pressure from the expanding foam. Then I tried to take the mold apart. The interior had been lined with plastic wrap, in order to prevent the foam from sticking to the wood. Except it didn't work. The foam somehow tended to get underneath the wrap, and in some cases seemed to melt it and mix with it. I tried to hack and cut away at the wooden exterior of the mold, but only succeeded in breaking everything, including the foam pontoons. Here are some pics of the carnage:

So, yes we will be exploring some better alternatives for hull construction soon!

On a more positive note, I got some great drone footage from Yves Bernard last week. You can see a nice high definition video at this link on our website: https://www.innaturerobotics.com/videos

Or you can view the YouTube standard definition version here: 

It really showcases the capability of AMOS in shallow water!