That's my boat.

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Took the doors off the shop today.....this is the first time I could see the whole boat.  The boat hauling people are supposed to meet me for a preliminary visit tomorrow to scope out the scene. 

centerboard caps

Here's a look at the starboard side centerboard case.  I'm just now adding the "caps" or the top portion of the cases.  I am told that at speed, hydrodynamic pressure can build up inside these cases which could make for a wet ride.  To prevent water from splashing up out of these cases, I resin infused two covers

and lined the top edges of the cases with a high density closed cell "weather" stripping.  I will screw these covers down with plenty of screws.

starboard side centerboard case.

centerboard case cover

Board control pulleys;

starboard side looking towards the stern.

a walk through

click here to see a walk through

finishing touches on the centerboard cases.

I wanted to launch with the centerboards in place so that reminded me that I hadn't drilled the holes for the guide pulleys and the 1 inch stop bolt.

Drilling extra long holes required extra long drill bits so I had to use the TIG welder to add on to the shanks of the bits.

Here's the centerboard control block that contains the guide pulleys for the lines that control the boards.

drilled the holes....

now the 1 inch diameter stainless steel bolt that provides a stop for the boards

since it's a cat........I had to do the other side.

starboard side work area looking forward

running the halyards

West Marine store had 30% off all ropes so it became time to order lines.  25  "boat bucks" later ( one boat buck = $100 )  and I have my sheets and halyards. .....and that's with the 30% off; mind you. Halyards are 1/2 inch Technora , Sheets are 1/2 inch endura.

white with colored flecks for my halyards

corresponding solid colors for my sheets

seemed to make sense to me.....

I used my nylon "messenger" lines to run the halyards "up" the mast

Halyard inspector Tang. ( He's actually sitting on the topping lift line )

Snaking the Messenger strings

To get the halyard and topping lift lines into the mast, I got a 20 ft section of 1 inch PVC pipe and ripped it three times with the table saw.  This set me back three bucks and produced three twenty foot plastic sections that approximated the characteristics of a tape measure.  I taped them end for end to create a "snake".  This allowed me to tape a length of nylon string to the tip of it and push it all the way into the mast from base to tip.  I then used a bent welding rod to fish the ends of the line through the sheeve boxes.  When I get my lines, I'll use the messenger string to pull all the internal halyards in place.

I'm not sure how they do it at the spar builders shop, but this worked like a champ.

messenger strings

PVC pipe "tape"

stern view

Tang on the port side boarding steps.

one foot forward

In order for the boat mover to get a trailer under this cat,  I needed to move the boat forward about 20 ft.  To do this, I built four cradles with casters.  Each caster is rated for one thousand lbs so this gives me a safety factor of a little less than 2.

With the cradles in place, three people were able to easily move the boat forward one ft. I did this just to test out this method of moving the boat.  It worked.

the skids

port side aft cradle

port side forward cradle

port side forward cradle

Airhead composting toilets

I chose to use Airhead composing toilets ( http://www.airheadtoilet.com/ ) both port and starboard.  These units are well made and are completely self contained.

Special note:  after finding that I was missing a vent fitting, I contacted Geof from Airhead and they quickly mailed me the fitting without question.  Customer support is outstanding for the Airhead product.

Here is the external vent for the electric air circulating fan  This component did not come with the Airhead package but I found this nice vent cover while visiting Australia.  It is Sea Bird vent item # RWB 125 from R W Basham pty ltd Australia

 a close up

This is a rather blurry photo of the fitting that houses the small fan

Here is the final install of the forward starboard side composting toilet.

360 gallons of epoxy

When cleaning out the shop, I needed to get rid of my empty epoxy containers so I put them on my flat bed trailer to count.  In addition to the containers seen here, I also used two 55 gallon drums of resin making it a total of 360 gallons of resin in the boat.

ethical delima

So the boat is 23ft. 1 inch wide and my shop door is 22ft. 6 inches.   That means I need to chop about 18 inches off the door jam.  However, a bird made it's nest in the tin around the door and in order to widen the door, I would have to evict three baby birds.

 

The beam of the boat is wider than my shop door.......
















Baby birds in the tin siding. 

Locating a safe place for the Propane tank

For safety sake, I chose to locate the propane tank on the outside cabin bulkhead.  I fastened a bracket to support the base of the tank along with four eye bolts to strap the tank in place.  This provides a safe and secure location for the tank.

Down side up

I painted the flat portions of the underside of the boat with a safety orange paint mixed with non skid granules.  My thinking is that in the event of a capsize, this would help increase visibility from the air if we ever face the need of an air rescue. The non-skid feature should help provide a safe place to hang out in case we find ourselves upside down........or in this case, down side up.

Coating the boom

Rather than paint the raw aluminum spars, I elected to use a product called Nyalic.   This stuff is said to provide a UV coating that is superior to conventional  paint and it can be applied and touched up with relative ease.

http://www.nyalic.com/

 the coating

end result

Mast track install

The installation of Harken CB mast track required the drilling and tapping of 160 holes in the tailing edge of the mast.   With the help of a pneumatic drill and a couple of brand new taps, this went faster than I expected.

lower section of the mast near where the boom attaches

base of mast

tapping tools

looking down from the top of the mast.

Chain stopper

at anchor,  a chain stopper is usually used to keep from loading the windlass. This is a big beefy model that is mounted in place with a big aluminum backing plate atop a block of solid expanded PVC to keep it in line with the path of the chain.

Bedding in the mast base plate

here is the stainless steel plate and mast receiver

here is the mast base fitting with socket insert

since the mast base insert is made of epoxy saturated end grain white oak, I didn't want to ever have to worry about a remote possibility of rot so where the screws attach the plate, I over drilled holes in the wood and filled the voids with epoxy and cabosil.  after this cures, I will drill holes for the screws and fasten the base plate to the mast base structure. This way, any water that makes it's way past the fasteners will never be in contact with wood. 

here's the finished bonded mast base. I bedded it in place with a thickened mixture of cabosil and epoxy. To insure a neat edge, I rubbed the seam with peel ply.  When it cures, I'll rip the peel ply off and it should reveal a clean edge seam.

Harken roller furling in the works

Here are the components of the Harken roller furler,