Cabin Top Mould Supports

I’m very pleased to say that my business venture is beginning to gain some momentum but as a consequence build time is being squeezed yet again. I’ve learned not to get too stressed though as I now consider my business activities to be as much a part of the project as the actual building. This is a concept that’s taken some time to get to grips with after so many years of treating work as a hindrance! I’m finalising plans to bring the two things together on the web as well. I’ve had a coupe of false starts with ‘Affiliate Afloat’ and ‘Dream To Sail’ but I’m going to make it third time lucky and hopefully find a way of passing on my experiences of the project as a whole to those that are interested without detracting from the build journal itself. Watch this space.

Cabin Front Template Sitting (Very) Roughly In Place

Actually today was a bit of a struggle as I felt distinctly under the weather as I was suffering with a thick head and a lack of energy and no, I  hadn’t been drinking! In hindsight it was probably not the best thing to set myself the task of getting my head round the construction of the cabin tops but I did OK. I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to make the same mistake I made with the tumblehomes i.e. try and fit the sides before their was really anything to fit them to, namely the cabin roof section. This time I’m going to make the curved cabin tops first so that I can get them in position, adjust the heights to suit (as Jacques mentioned a few weeks ago he lowered the tops slightly as he didn’t need the headroom) and then make the cabin sides to fit. That said I made a hardboard template of the cabin front section just to get a feel for things and to allow me to test the radius measurements for the cabin tops. The plans call for a curve based on a radius of 2 metres which allows the tops to overhang the cabin sides all round. I used my template to reposition and fix the timbers to the barn floor that will support the new mould I need to make.

I’m quite excited to be moving to this new phase after spending so much time working on those piggin tumblehomes. I’m going to try and squeeze as much build time in as I can these next few months because the weather is already beginning to turn and I’m determined to get these hulls enclosed before Autumn sets in.

I was in the mood for building today, things always go so much easier when you’re in the right frame of mind don’t they? Anyway the first job was to gently prise off the second large cabin roof section and then spend some time with the grinding disc knocking off excess blobs of epoxy and generally cleaning it up a bit, then I hoofed it up on top of the starboard hull to see how it sat. as before there was a pleasing glow of satisfaction to see that it will only need minor adjustment to get it sitting pretty.

Having had that little boost I motored on with constructing the last two narrow sections of roof that sit at the stern end of the cabins, with all the practice I’ve had with the previous four big sections these seemed easy. I utilised both ends of the mould so that I could do the two together and also combined two steps into one by also gluing in the polystyrene. They’re all weighted up now and need only the last layer of ply glued on. I plan to squeeze that in tomorrow.

Glued and Ready For Weighting

Both Sections Weighted

The last two weeks have been two of the most intense weeks I’ve experienced in a long time but at the same time they’ve been incredibly satisfying because the intensity has been entirely self driven and that’s something I’ve rarely experienced. I was determined to regain ground after our fantastic holiday in Portugal and so I’ve been entirely focused on my business. As always I have pangs of conscience that I’m not making progress with the build but then, as always, I remind myself that I’m still working on the project and without the business there will be no boat. That said I’m coming round to the idea that I should schedule a minimum of build time in every week and stick to it, not only will I feel easier about building progress but the enforced change will probably make me more productive at my desk. Despite these niggles though I am happier than at any time since I started the project and supremely confident about the future. Don’t forget that I’ll  be sharing more about my thoughts and actions away from the build on my new site at Dream To Sail.com so please check it out.

Today I started construction of the second large section of main cabin roof and also spent a bit of time playing with the fit of the completed one over the starboard main cabin. Pleasingly it dropped into place really well and it was immensely satisfying to see how well the curved deck section married up to the curved top of the main bulkhead I fitted so many months ago.

Roof Section In Place Over Starboard Cabin

After a bit more research and a review of the information I already had I decided to go with the easy option of using 25mm construction polystyrene as the sandwich material for the cabin tops. The decision was made easier by Jacques comment a while back 

‘If I had known before, I would have gone for regular white insulation polystyrene foam (just put a lot of glue). It worked well for Ann and Neville for 5 years and I also have seen it at a shipyard in Brittany. I would have saved a 1000$ (I used balsa) and surely some weight.’

So today I’ve been and fetched 8 sheets of polystyrene and a couple more sheets of ply for the mould and I’ve ordered up the copper nails I need for delivery this week. Tomorrow I’ll make a start finishing the mould and then the fun will start!

My Landy came into it’s own transporting my purchases back to the barn with no effort!

Boat Jumble

Landy Roof Loaded

We had a great trip to the Boat Jumble at the weekend and I landed a few bargains.

Best buy was 6 brand new fixed port lights that will fit beautifully in the hullsides, two for each sleeping cabin and two for the heads/shower compartment. I consider £10 each a good deal! (I’ll post some photos tomorrow)

Next year I will be on the lookout for deck fittings!