An excellent work session today, one of those when the mood is good and things just flow. I needed to be confident as I’d decided on another of those ‘heart in the mouth’ jobs i.e. cutting holes in the hull to take the portlights I purchased at Beaulieu the other weekend. I decided to go with the plans and put these portlights in the places shown on the drawings of the forecabins, There are two on the outboard sides of the hulls and one on the inboard sides so a great way to use the six I’d got. Although it’s a bit early to do this job I figured that with lots of work to do inside these cabins the extra light and ventilation afforded would be very welcome. After making up a hardboard template of the cutout needed I spent quite a bit of time measuring, marking and checking to avoid any disasters and then picked up the saw and went for it! I needn’t have worried, everything went swimmingly and I soon had all six in position, held by some temporary screws. It’s strange what a difference they’ve made to the hulls. I couldn’t help wondering what sights will be seen through these new openings on the world!

View of Port Forecabin from Starboard

Four In A Row

To keep up the momentum I then started construction of the deck section for the starboard hull. As always things went quicker and easier thanks to the practice gained making the first one. I’ve got the first layer of ply in place with all the transverse and longitudinal stringers glued into place. The photo below shows a cross section of the ply/polystyrene/ply sandwich I’ve been talking about (this was the piece I cutout to make the access hatch yesterday) hopefully this makes what I’ve been doing a little clearer.

Sandwich Construction

Its been ten months to the day since I clocked up my last work on the boat, I find it hard to comprehend. If anyone had told me at the start of this project that I’d make no progress on the boat for ten months I’d have ridiculed them, but it’s happened and now it’s history. It’s been a tough ten months but I’ve pushed through and now I’m back stronger than before and raring to get things moving, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!

Today I finished building the mould for the decks, check measured everything, spent a while reading the plans and instructions to get everything clear in my head again and then cracked on with construction of the first deck section. This is the one that covers the forward single berth cabin in the port hull. On the face of it, once the mould is constructed it should be a fairly simple process but care needs to be taken none the less. Firstly the mould is covered in polythene to stop anything sticking to it, then the first layer of 4mm ply is carefully positioned making sure that the centrelines are lined up. This first layer is made up of two pieces of ply so a joint has to be made. I’m using my Douglas Fir batten stock to form the transverse strengtheners as it’s just the right thickness to take the polystyrene and it’s flexible enough to take the radius bend. That said I did snap one piece as there’s a fair bit of stress involved. Anyway I’ve got the three strengtheners glued up so we’ll see what it looks like tomorrow.

Deck Mould Completed

1st Layer + Strengtheners

View of the Radius

You can see in the three photos the stages I completed today. Tomorrow I’ll get the longitudinal stringers in place and get the polystyrene glued in as well.

The epoxy should have gone off well by tomorrow as its been 20′C during the day today, the warmest it’s been for a while.

I also promised to show you the portlights I’d grabbed at the Boat Jumble. They’re pretty dirty with lots of old protective tape stuck everywhere but I cleaned one up a bit an it came up beautifully. As I said I’m thinking of putting them in the hullsides as shown in the photo. Two to each sleeping cabin and two in the heads/shower compartment.

Six Bargain Portlights

Something Like This

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!