Beams & Posts

 There are a ton of roof beams, and supports that need to be made. In our case we decided over the winter months to make a mould to laminate strips of oak together, rather than cut each beam. The mould was cut based on the beam shapes in the plans, and was then pressed together with each strip being glued in place.

The result was a "glue" up of laminations to make up a beam. We used reclaimed oak strips for the beams. These are all the middle beams - we also need to make beams for the sides of the roofing using a different template.

This is the process that we used to make the beam form.

Here is how the middle roof beam turned out:

Cabin Posts

 While the weather was still cool out, complete the cabin framing for the port & starboard cabin sides.

Taping the seams!

Time to tape up all the seams. For this task we purchased 12oz biaxial tape from Gulf Stream Composites. This will later be feather and covered with another layer of glass.

Biaxial fiberglass is a type of non-woven fiberglass fabric. Instead of a conventional weave pattern, biaxial cloths two layers lie at a 45-degree fiber angle to each other. The two layers are stitched together with sturdy polyester yarn.

More progress. I have the joints taped and now will need to do the edge seams...I have not used bi-axial tape before but I really like it.

Biaxial Cloth

Sides & sealed!

 The next step is to get the sides made up and mounted onto the hull. This was a moment of truth, would things match up?

It wasn't easy to get the sides aligned with one person.. the use of "milk crate" jacks helped to get the sides hung. They are held in place with thickened epoxy and screws.

After the sides were mounted, then whole hull was sealed in a base coat of epoxy.

Bottom's UP!

 Completed cutting and placing the the rest of the bottom panels. The are "stitched" in on the angle by using blocks as a "butterfly" clamp to since the sides into the gap. They are permanently held in place by screws and thickened epoxy.

Once the bottom sides are attached, the wooden block clamps are removed, and the holes filled.

Fitting the bottom panels

Installed the bottom panels, screwing the curve down to the front frame.  Had to use a ratchet strap to pull down the front. Each of the screws was filled with epoxy.

Keel Laid

Keel Laid

Well, a little more progress.. got the bulkheads dry fitted, a few more framing pieces still need attaching and the bow and stern plates. - the bulkheads need to be faired and levelled.. - but she is coming along... soon the sides!