Tuesday, May 31, 2011

May

This month and next have some momentous events – daughters graduating from college and high school.

I flew with my parents in their plane to Santa Barbara, CA.  Clear weather with great flying and views.



A view of Shelter Bay where my parents live.



Olympic Mountains between Seattle and the Pacific.



Being vectored towards Santa Barbara International.



I enjoyed the week in the sun, then the family gathered for a happy day. A proud dad.  (I'll boast: an excellent college career – graduating in 3 years Magna cum laude with a degree in english.



Here's the forward deck to cabin join.  The battens were cut and epoxied to shape before planking.  I placed the cabin first and then marked and cut a curve that fit to the flat deck.



The plan has a template for a suggested shape to the cabin side-to-top angle. I wanted to be able to have the cabin top 3/4 inch foam on top, so I planked it first.  That meant that I had to fit the cabin side in between it and the already glassed gunwale.  This was a nuscence.  Next time I think I'll do the cabin side, then trim it to slip the cabin top in behind it.

What better plan than to put the Graduate to work helping hold foam while I attached it from below.



After taping the structural requirements for the aft beam mount I'm planning on extending the coaming aft to the mainsail track. Not sure I can picture how this is going to all fit in here right now, so I left a little extra foam to trim later.



The next step was determining where to put the high density inserts for all the deck hardware.  I mapped out the companionway and forward hatches, the mast step, jib track, mast rotation blocks, and extra glass laminations called for.  The rest is left to the builder.  I looked at other websites, went down to the marina and looked and some boats, and contacted Jim Mackenzie of 'Raise a Little Hull.'  All these were helpful.

In the end I was able to relax a little bit by deciding that I would plan for what I should and might want to do – and deal with reality as it develops. A oversized insert because of indecision now is not that much of a weight penalty.  I also placed inserts for several potential winch and rope clutch positions, line organizer, and two potential places for lifting points as I hope to be in a dry mast-up storage with a crane launch.  Also the forward cleat, chocks, and pulpit.

The flush cut blade on a multitool makes this easy.



I took pictures and measurements – hoping to find them later.



Vacuum tape (on previous peel ply) and stapling glass in place along sacrificial edge.  The blue tape is just a guide for cutting how much glass overlap I want. (Glad I'd learned a couple tricks before this vertical section.)