Hull removed from frames

As mentioned in last post, it was time to remove the main hull from the frames. I've been both excited and nervous about this step - excited for obvious reasons, and nervous since I didn't have a really good plan in mind for how I would accomplish this. I decided to use my tent frame as a lifting point, although I wasn't sure if it would be strong enough (certainly the tent manufacturer does not support this type of use!). Lacking any other plans, I reluctantly decided to go ahead.

Fortunately one of my neighbors was willing to help me out, and he already had the necessary lifting equipment. Thanks a ton Sean - I couldn't have done this without you. (He was also much calmer than I was, since I had visions of fallen\smashed boat dancing in my head most of the time.)

Without further ado, here's some pictures; this is a lift strap tied around the hull:

We used an electric hoist for the rearward lifting strap; the hoist is chained to the bottom rail of the tent; the two wood braces are to minimize the bowing of the tent walls:

After achieving lift-off with just one strap (located at the rear main cabin bulkhead), we got busy removing form frames starting from the transom moving forward. The battens were cut away piece-meal from below using a cutoff tool, then were broken off as needed until each frame could be removed:

In the picture above, the boat is indeed being supported from above, but the clearance above the battens is quite minimal (we didn't have a lot of lifting room due to the low clearance at the top of the tent).

After removing up to about form frame 5 or 6, we attached another lift strap at FF #5, and picked up the remainder of the boat. For this we used a chainfall tied to the bottom support rail of the tent:

Hey look! It's a side-ways flying boat:

After that we rigged a couple of more straps under the boat, attached to the mid-height tent support poles. Suspending the boat like that gave us enough slack to be able to turn the boat over:

Damn but this is a nice looking boat (but I'm biased):

I had picked up some cheap used baby mattresses from the local thrift store to use as padding under the side of the boat. Should have gotten more though, since I didn't feel comfortable laying the gunwale down without any padding. So we left the boat semi-suspended for the night:

I made another shopping trip this evening for more mattresses. Tomorrow we'll finish laying the boat down on its gunwale, and then I'll get busy fairing the rest of the bottom hull half and preparing it for lamination.

Starboard settee and rudder mount

Last year when I installed the daggerboard case support web, I only taped the upper portion, thinking I'd wait to do the bottom until after I had rolled the boat to a more helpful position. I changed my mind on that and taped it upside down - lots of fun. Glad I wore glasses and a hat.

Next was the starboard settee; here it is set into position so I can tape the backside:

After all taping was done:

Here's the foam bed for the rudder mount:

I've decided to double the foam thickness after of the transom\aft-cabin, per the option described in the plans. I'm a big guy and I'd like the boat to be as strong as possible. Here I'm taping over a extra layer of foam that I glued to the lower portion of the transom:

I'll be glueing the rest of the double-layer later on. Also you can see the cutouts for the rudder mount in the picture above.

Trial-fitting the mount:

My levelling strategy worked great and was easy to adjust.

I first tacked the mount into position with a heavy layer of bog on the bottom of the mount, then let that cure (didn't want to risk it moving around while I was taping). Here's some of the mount taping:

I guess I could have done a neater job of taping, huh?

Finally, here's the rear deck all closed up and taped:

Doesn't seem like much for two days work, but I am really glad the rudder mount is in. I've also removed 90% of the remaining screws holding the hull to the battens. I'll finish that up tomorrow, but I think I'm now ready to remove the hull from the frames.

Fwd bunktop taped

Last two days seemed to fly by. Great weather, but this means it gets warm in the tent (90+ deg F, easy). Call it my sauna weight loss program.

I made a mold plate for the fwd bunktop, out of scrap wood:

Here it is installed with all of the the taping done:

You can also see from the above picture that I've got my anchor well hatch cut out. Really makes things easier when you can stick stuff thru that hole.

Here's the fresh flanges\tape after the mold plate was removed:

The fwd bunktop glued and clamped in place:

The anchor well hatch makes it easy to setup for taping:

All taped and peelplyed:

Finally, I got up early this morning so I could laminate the lower port hull half. Tried to do it myself, but I haven't figured out a good way to manage the roll of glass as I'm working my way down the hull. Fortunately my daughter was home and helped my out - thx Cindy!

Almost done:

I plan to wait to laminate the bow until after I have the hull upright.

View from aft (glass is kinda moving up and down due to my difficulties in managing it, until I got my daughter to help):

Best of all, no bubbles! On the downside, I had planned to peelply the glass but it was warm enough that we just didn't have time.

What's this - actual boat work?

Finally got out to the tent today. First I finally got my bow web glued in place; for some reason I forgot to take pictures of this - wait til tomorrow. Also taped in the upper (port) side of the bow web, along with glassing the inside of the upper bow nose. That's not a fun area to work in, very tight and I keep slipping down the gunwale.

Then I started fitting my daggerboard into the case. Here's the (not yet fully faired) board sticking out the top:

No sticking points anywhere, though the board feels a little bit sloppy (just a little) in the case. I'd rather live with that than a stuck board.

Here's the "A" daggerboard section traced out on the bottom of the case:

I then jigsawed out the bulk of the waste. First chunk comes out:

The poured-insert turned out pretty thick. All of the chopped glass I added to the mix settled to the bottom of the insert though.

Getting closer:

The hole turned out to be too small (I was worried it'd be too big), and I had to gradually enlarge it. I tried various tools but finally settled on a round rat-tail file. This was good for increasing the opening while keeping the curves nice and even. To be honest, there's not much left of the insert by the time you get to this point:

It looks like a nice fit, but I need to finish fairing, priming, and painting the board, then re-check the fit, before I can declare it done.

Lame excuse for an update

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. I have been working 6+ days week, 12+ hour days, for at least a couple of months now. Obviously my boat, along with most of my life, has come to a halt. But never mind my whining; here's some good news to ponder:

• My folding system has just been shipped from Precourt; looking fwd to finally having that piece of gear.
• Ian emailed me to tell me that I am now #5 in line on my beam order. Maybe by end of summer? Not that I need it right now...but I want these critical parts to be sitting safe in my living room, ready to go.
• Roger Bonnot had an extra mast step fabricated and welded, and I managed to get first dibs on it; he sent mail today saying it was in the mail. Woot! It looks nice. I am very relieved that this opportunity came up, because I wasn't looking forward to finding a local fabrication shop and dealing with all that. Thank you Roger.
• I am about two weeks away from a five week vacation. I will be visiting some distant family for a little while during part of that break, but otherwise this will be a 100% boatbuilding vacation. Time to get the show back on the road.

I still need to do some research on local anodizing shops; I know I toyed with the idea of getting my own anodizing kit, but decided I won't go that route unless the shop price is excessive.

I watched a movie with my wife the other night, but in retrospect that wasn't a good decision (although I loved it); I got lots of worried looks and comments like "are you sure you want to do this??". (Remember we haven't done any sailing before.) I need a counter-charm...anyone know a good movie that features calm seas, relaxed trimaran sailing, mai-tai sipping, etc?

The only boat work I've been able to squeeze in has been very minor, mainly getting the bow eye wrapped up in the extra layers of glass. It's not an easy part to wrap and I had to grind out some bubbles and re-do some parts a couple of times...maybe I should have tried bagging it. Anyway, it is just about ready to mount in the hull. I think I will be at work again this weekend so I will get to it when I get to it.

Where's Jay?

Jay's been busy working - a lot. Hopefully I get to come up for air soon - bear with me. I *will* finish this boat and go sailing someday. :-)