A bite from the bow ?

There was some courage needed to cut a temporary hole in the bow. I decided to do that for an easier mounting of the bow pole bulkhead and the bow pole tube. And there is some more work to do inside this difficult to reach bow area. Click in the picture to open the bow pole photo gallery.

More updates and new photo’s in the sterntube and mainhull external laminate gallery.

Boatbuilding with the mind to infinity.

Before laying up the external laminate, various “small” other jobs has to be done. Every time it is amazing how a relatively small job takes much more time than expected. For example the beam recess on the outside of the beam bulkhead.

For cutting this recess area to size and removing superfluous foam hull parts I needed all the cutting and sanding tools I have, jig saw, reciprocal saw, multicutter tool, dremel tool, powerfile, belt sander, angle grinder, powerplane and the handtools like chisels, grater, hammer, file, multiknife, sandpaper, etc. and this all within 5 square ft . The four beam recesses took me two days with a lot of itch (from the glass dust) as a result. Then some foam fill pieces, which took another whole day, one day for the UD reinforcements and another four (?!) days for rebating the foam and preparing the whole area for further laminations.  Everything is taking at least three times longer then expected …..

In the mean time I’m playing with the RTM-Worx software, on the one side to make the 3D model (that’s fun) and on the other hand filling the model with material qualities like resin viscosity and fabric permeability (that’s just a puzzle to translate in a lot of data)

Port and Starboard are joined for ever.

Im my post of August 12 I announced the engagement of Port and Starboard main hull halves. This trial fit was necessary to get the beam bulkheads on the right place. Since then there was still a lot of work to do, especially in making and fitting the lower folding strut hull anchors which took a lot of time. Last holiday I carried out the last things before joining the halves, like designing and mounting the sterntube with skeg, but also the preparations for a second carbon chainplate in the bow area.  This is placed at the front of the anchor well and is intended for a heavy weather jib or storm jib. Since this is not a design feature, I’ve created my own solution.

 

It was my goal to join the couple in matrimony before the end of my holiday, so today January 2 was a long day to get it done and it worked. Another milestone.

Under Construction ……

Most part of the building project is mainly a matter of forming foam into hulls, laminating (ok, better said infusing) and mounting bulkheads into position. It is like glueing a boat together, but not constructing something. However, mounting the beam bulkheads and lower hull strut anchors with the accompanying reinforcements is much different from that and gives me the feeling of a constructing work. On the down side, there are a lot of critical details in this area which need a meticulous way of working. And this takes time, lots of time, without seeing much progress …… But the end is in sight now. Click in the photo below for the latest details.

A milestone, Starboard meets Port.

Both main hull halves are engaged today. After the beam bulkheads and the carbon bowsprit anchor are put down the wedding  follows and then they will be forever linked together.

By the way, the previous photo gallery has been updated too.

Now the correct folding anchors installed.

Abrading solid glassfibres causes a lot of itch ….. but it is done now. It took three days (and four vacuum bags) to be able to mount the now correct lower folding strut anchor assemblies.

In the mean time I also infused the aft cabin bulkhead. Not yet recovered from the shock of a few days ago, I forgot this time a brush that was trapped in the vacuum bag ……

“They” say that the epoxy fumes damage your brain. Would that be true ?

Carbon lower folding strut anchors.

When working on the starboard half I made all the carbon lower folding strut anchors, but not the complete anchor assembly for this port side. So, before putting in these carbon anchors, I first had to do some unfinished business on the carbon anchors. Cook them in the oven (this time not the one in the kitchen) and making the total anchor assembly.

To speed up the curing (I want to do the lamination too today) the anchor assembly is being heated by a 1500W infra red lamp. Perhaps the standard that holds up the lamp is a bit oversized ….. Click in the photo to see the photo galery.

By the way, the infusion photo galery and infusion video in the previous posts has been updated too.

More work done on interior

This galley top thing turned out to be an annoying piece of work. The mold didn’t survive and the result is still moderate but finally it has been placed into the hull, still needing the finishing touch.

Photos of making these starboard interior parts including the dieseltank below the settee are here or click the photo below.

Starboard interior parts.

I finally decided about the layout of the interior. The biggest change compared to the standard aft cabin layout is the galley on starboard instead of port. Main reason for this is that I still like “the office” on board, which lead to a rather conventional layout, in particular in combination with a quarter berth. Because of the galley on starboard the settee in front of this is now shorter, but still useable as a (sea) bunk with the feet through an opening in the cabin bulkhead. Above that the diesel oven is situated. Galley top can be extended by folding down the backside of the settee back. The dinette is now two meters wide and can be converted into a large spare double bunk. Also the shower is a little wider. Without rebuilding the interior this can accommodate six (with table down eight and with spare bunks in the floats even ten) Cooking is on a ceramic diesel stove and in addition to this a fully gimbaled single cylinder burner, positioned in a dedicated housing and well ventilated outside. Photos of making starboard interior parts including the dieseltank below the settee are here.

Finishing the bulkheads and cockpit area.

The finishing of this first main hull half with all the structural bulkheads and the making of the cockpit coaming, emergency escape hatch and the safety compartment.

Also a video of the infusion of the escape hatch coaming.