October Update – Rear Steps

Posted on October 13, 2013 by SeeBeeZee

Starboard hull steps are complete, including the fancy inset for the boarding ladder.

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October Update – Galley

Posted on October 13, 2013 by SeeBeeZee
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Winter Update

Posted on August 13, 2013 by SeeBeeZee

I have neglected to update this blog for a few months. We have been working hard on the fitout inside, so there has been little to show or talk about. Progress is slow and fiddly compared to the fast progress you see with construction.

One hull is almost complete, and we have started the painting inside. As soon as that paint is finished, the deck is ready to go on, and then the turret roof on top of the saloon.

Days are short. Nights are cold. So fewer hours end get spent at the shed. Days are getting longer again, so more work will be completed over the next months.

I have added a couple of entries over the past two days, and promise to add a few more, too.

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Main Cabin Wardrobe

Posted on August 13, 2013 by SeeBeeZee

In the main cabin, the space forward of the forward bulkhead is turned into a wardrobe; a hanging locker with lots of pockets for storing small items. A deck hatch has been added, and the shelving has been gusseted to make it strong enough to climb.

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Motor Bought and Fitted

Posted on August 12, 2013 by SeeBeeZee

We have bought the main motor, made a 3000 km journey to collect it, and test fitted it to the hull.

I have been keen on asymmetric motor configuration since investigating the Yamaha Ft series motors at the start of this project. The FT series are the high-thrust four-stroke motors designed to make a big boat go slow, rather than a small boat go fast. They are designed with high-ratio gearboxes that spin the props at about one-third the engine RPM, rather than the roughly one-half ration on standard gearboxes.

Yamaha only make the FT series in three sizes; 9.9, 25 and 60hp. I feared that we would end up in trouble on a bar with a pair of 9.9s. And a pair of 25 is both expensive and heavy. Much lighter is the combination of a 9.9 and a 60.

This FT60 has been bought at about half the price of a new motor, but with only 30 hours on the clock. Hence the reason for the 3000 km return trip to collect it. The motor came of a 50′ proa, where the owner had only this one motor. He found that the one motor did not provide enough maneuverability for low speed docking, and has swapped it for a pair of electric motors. He did throw in the aluminium frame that it was mounted on, making the transport in the trailer really simple.

Now that we have done a test fit, the engine box and cockpit layout can continue. We just need the seat before gluing down the components in the cockpit.

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Cabin Floors

Posted on May 5, 2013 by SeeBeeZee

Our cabin floors are 12mm ply sheeting supported on framing. The framing generally runs longitudinally, and in high use areas it has been doubled. The floors are flat, and at a height so that they run right through to both ends of the hull without turning up.

The sheets were sanded, stained a deep red, and varnished, before being grooved with the router, and the grooves filled with epoxy to create the effect of separate boards. Another benefit of this grooving process is that the floor in each cabin can be made from a number of narrower pieces, with the groove hiding the join (if you are careful with the location of the joint).

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Forebeam Wiring

Posted on April 30, 2013 by SeeBeeZee

I have roughed in a power cable onto the forward edge of the forebeam. The intention for this is to have “headlights” on the forebeam striker, with the on/off switch at the helm. As shown in the photos, the cable is run through 20mm conduit. It runs along a hull stringer, under the forebeam and into the bow void, where it comes through the hull and along the beam.

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Bridgedeck Web

Posted on April 30, 2013 by SeeBeeZee

The bridgedeck joins the two hulls. The web is the curved front of the bridgedeck, forward of the beds in the two cabins. The web is used as a self draining locker for anchor chain and other large awkward items.

It is formed from 2 layers of 6mm ply curved around frames, internal separators to provide additional stiffness, with fibreglass cloth and epoxy layers on both surfaces.

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Navigation Station Fitout Commenced

Posted on April 30, 2013 by SeeBeeZee

The fitout of the cabins is a structural component of the completed hull. Shelves are glued and coved onto the hull stringers, adding considerable stiffness to the outside skin of the boat. We are going to varnish the benchtop and front surface with a fiddle rail along the front of the bench.

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Deck Commenced

Posted on March 25, 2013 by SeeBeeZee

As we worked forward, fitting out along the starboard side from back to front, the deck stringers became an issue.

Long lengths of the 43×19 stringers are required for the deck, and numerous short lengths are required for internal fitout. So, to make sure that the best timbers are retained for the deck, putting on the deck became the next job. The internal fitout can be completed with the offcuts.

The deck can’t be completed yet, because the fore decks have to go on the bow of each hull first, but those foredecks can’t go on until the forebeam that joins the bow is fitted, and that forebeam can’t go on because I have been waiting for stainless fittings that have to get glassed in. There is a long weekend coming up, and all the materials are now available.

Without Deck 3 weeks ago

Deck commenced yesterday

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