Bird clamp

Here's "Tang" being a clamp.

bird shadow

The sun casts a strange shadow on the starboard side hull. That's "Tang" on my shoulder.

test drive

I took the inner starboard side hull section out for a test drive today.

shell game

Realizing that I had gotten ahead of myself, and that I need to consolidate all these hull sections, I decided that I should finish the exterior lamination of the port side hull. Hidden from view on the left, the inner port side hull section is complete and awating removal from the mold.

So......here is a recap of my shell game:

1) built port side outer hull ( seen here)
2) re moved deck/cabin portion of port side mold and reconfigured it to produce starboard inner hull section
3) flipped stations around on strongback to build inner port side

my next step will be:


4) re-attach deck/cabin portion to inner port side mold thereby reconfiguring it to produce starboard outer section
5) fit starboard inner section to starboard outer section while it is resting in it's mold.
6)disassemble mold form and use four station molds to cradle the port side outer hull so that I can then fit and bond the inner port side hull section to the outer port side section.
7) reposition the strongback to the center of the shop and set up to build the bridgdeck.

port side boarding deck

The port side boarding deck is bonded in place with a mixture of epoxy and aero ( fumed silica) . To do this, I lay in a triangular fillet stringer of core cell foam along the inside corner and then glass the joint with 6 inch wide strip of triaxial GSM tape. Then I work the fillet smooth with a plastic spreader and peel ply.

curved shadows

Sunlight casts curved shadows across the port side inner hull half as it rests in the mold. A few final details such as the forward water line and lower deck hull stiffeners are shown here.