I
have returned fully motivated after a winter's work away in Germany.
Janice & I have just taken a week's holiday to go ski mountaineering in
Austria but now it is all systems go!
The
task this summer is to complete the hull plating, fit all the remaining
internal structures ie. the main back-bone (stem) and ladder (girders), fuel
and water tanks. Then weld the complete hull before turning it up the
right way. Quite a goal.
The plating
comprises of 4 layers or levels, each level consisting of 3 plates to
starboard and 3 to port. The 1st layer (the deck level) is 5mm thick.
All the remaining plates are 6mm thick.
I left the yacht
last Autumn as a rigid skeleton. Now I start the task of fixing the
skin. As the month of May has progressed the curved nature of the
shape is becoming apparent.
Once the 1st
layer was complete the entire hull was stiff enough to be raised 500mm above
the wooden base and the yacht now sits on 2 stands at the stern and
amidships plus a single stand at the bow. (See left picture)
(Right: anti-distortion strips plus the clamping
system used when fitting plates together)
The hull is level
to 2mm and exactly on centre. By the end of the month I have half of
the 2nd layer fitted. The large centre plates are measuring 6m x 1.25m
with a lot of curvature in all planes. These each take over 3 days to
fit. (Right: a dog and wedge used to force contact between the
anti-distortion strip and the hull plate)
