Roll Me over ( not like the last time )

Section 4 is ready to leave the garage , so need to make space outside . Removed section 2 of the hull from the rotate cradle and moved the cradle back round  the front yard  , rotated and positioned in place above Section 3 that has been sitting ready for it .

Time to rock and roll:

Bit by bit  , up she goes

Taking my time , slowely but surely

Balance point now  , time to move the chain from the pull side to the brake side

Now back down the other side ( nice and slowely ) . Chain has been attached to the reverse upper point on the cradle .

Almost there !

Phew !! , Down !! , and no crash this time !!

Now that this piece is the right side up , can now fit more of the internal structure , plywood bracing floors  added to the frames , internal structual keel and the false floor supports . As this is one of the middle sections of the hull , not much in the way of hull shape changes  , put plenty of space . This is the port hull , this section ( roughly  7 ft by 16 ft )  will contain a small workshop area , in the starboard hull it contains a utility room under the main kitchen area for processing of laundry etc  . There is more hull side to be added (  24 "  on the outer side ) , and it will end up with  6 ' 6 " of usable headroom . This side meets up with the 45 degree section of the wingdeck  , fully loaded  displacement waterline is approx 12" up from the chine .

ITS A BIG JOB ( messy too )

Plywood skinning of the stern section is now complete , so now adding the fiberglass outer layer .
Such a shame to cover up shaped plywood  , it looks so pretty , oh well , only the fish'es would have noticed anyway .

I,m still working on my own so have had to work out an appropriate sequence for the fiberglass operation , to start with I cut an appropriate length of glass ( 400g biaxial ) from the roll ( 5 meters in this case ) and roll it onto a length of pipe .  After mixing up a batch of resin/hardner ( 1.2 Liters )   , using a paint roller I  make an initial resin coverage of the plywood area to be fiberglassed  , I prefer the wet system of layup as it helps hold the cloth in place . Taking the  cut cloth I then proceed to roll it over the wet resin taking care to stretch and position it correctly , the resin easily holds it in place and this normally works out quite smoothly . Mixing up more resin I then continue to wet out the cloth fully ( but not too much resin as there is more to come ) .
Time for Lunch ( man has to eat )
Once the resin starts to get really sticky  , its time for the Peel ply to be added , I mark out the locations of each piece of peelply on the hull to make it easier to apply a thin coat of resin to the appropriate location , the peelply operation takes time so I do separate pieces rather than the entire section at once ,  Next job is to mix enough  resin for a couple of widths of peelply and  apply a thin coat to the marked out area's . During Lunch  ( got to be organised ! ) I have cut the peelply and also rolled it over a length of pipe , using this I apply the peelply , stretching it out as I go , then using some plastic flat edges I stretch out the peelply as much as possible , working out any excess resin ,then repeating this peelply operation until the entire area is complete .
Three or Four hours later when the resin has gotten hard , I then trim off any excess cloth etc , its better to do it now as its too damn hard when fully cured .
This is the external side  , did it first as it only has partial coverage ( split skin on this side ) and its easier as only 900 mm of cloth width its used , did this one yesterday so I've already removed the peelply .

Did the second side today , its larger and uses the full width of cloth ( 1.27m ) , its still got the peelply attached .

As you can see , its a bit tight in the garage ,should have built a bigger one !! ( garage that is  , the boats big enough as it is !! )

Next chance I get  , it will be fiberglassing the bottom of the boat , it will partially overlay the sides as well so we end up with two complete layers of cloth on the chine area .

Cheating with the Stern Section

I added a prop tunnel to jigsaw to minimize draft and give added protection to the Propeller , but the practicality of creating the tunnel in complex compound curves out of sheet plywood while possible , is not easy . Therefore I cheated !  .   The basic cutout in the hull is formed by flat layers of sheet plywood in a basic shape , thus creating the structural base of the entity , the final shape will be created later out of fiberglass and foam , much easier   in this  medium . I used a similar technique  on the conical bow sections but that was a single curve where this is a compound ( 2 directions ) curve therefore more flexibility was required.

As you can see we also have a much curvier hull shape compared to the earlier 2 sections ,  as the hull lines make their way back up to the stern ,nice to see as straight lines are so boring.

This is only the first skin layer , still another to add , the second skin covers the edge of the first so as to increase strength and minimize the exposed edge of the ply , still its all covered with layers of fiberglass later anyway .

In the first picture you can just make out a bolt emanating from the  front of this section , this is the keel height as taken from the previous section , by the time it reaches the tunnel and propeller position it will be almost 800 mm from the base of the tunnel , not inconsiderable .

I had toyed with the idea of a propeller strut instead of a full keel but stuck with it as it gives more protection and at the design cruising speed of 6 knots shouldn't affect the propeller efficiency too much .

HouseBoat or Boat Boat

Have been fine tuning the overall look of jigsaw , and made some changes to the upper structure design . Have edged the design away from it being just a Houseboat to more of a conventional boat in the overall look .

 Propulsion system is also changed , is now a hybrid of solar , battery , diesel and electric motors .
Sounds complex but due to the large solar arrays on the top of the boat it should make for  more economical operation .
Am currently working on the prop tunnel in the last section of the first hull ( pictures soon ) .
Interior layout has also changed , large workshop at the rear is now replaced with an open deck , a smaller workshop has been placed into the port hull under the Dining area . Side Decks now surround the entire lower portion  . My own little ( relatively ) Mini Superyacht !

Section 3 , Ready for the daylight

Section 3 is ready to see the light of day , actually has been for 3 weeks but i needed to get myself re-organised with  sections 1 and 2 so i had the available space .
Moved Section 1 round the back yard and created some stands to keep it upright .

This free'd up the rotate jig so this was moved back round the front and inserted over hull section 2 , bolted it up and rotated it back to a more normal orientation . This came with a bit of drama as we had an issue with the braking line , the weight came on too fast and my daughter wasn't able to hold the hull so the first 90 degree's happened in 10 minutes and the second  in 3 seconds ( OUCH ) .
Boat ended up with a cracked frame and a daughter with rope burns on her hands ( More OUCH ) .
( sorry  , no pictures , was far too stressed ) .

Time to move section 3

Out it comes into the daylight .

Fully out now , time to do a bit of a tidy up , still have to remove the " Frames +1 " and clean up
the unpainted surfaces . The additional frame can be seen at the back of the hull section , its actually the first frame of the next stern section , we continue the Longitudinal stingers to this additional frame so the hull sections will be fair when they are joined . We cut it off now as its  required to build the next section .

The keel runs flat from the mid-section of the boat so as you can see here ,it starts to protrude more as the hull curves back up towards the stern .
Originally i had set a timetable of 4 months for each hull section and 6 months for the bow , its taken more than this for the first 2 pieces , but at last we are getting closer to schedule , excluding the hull re-organisation , this section was basically done in the allotted time frame .



 

 

This is the inboard side so the second skin goes all the way . When we add the underdeck between the two hulls a 45 degree section at the edges meets up with this edge and is connected with a fiberglass "butt block" on both sides of the skin .

Have removed the "frames+1" and tidied up the exposed surfaces , will store this piece here until we are ready to frame up the stern section , when that happens we reposition this section back in front of the garage and connect up the two sets of frames to ensure a nice fair hull .
Back to building more frames now , stern section is slightly different as has 2 structual bulkheads , frame 17 is the separation between section 3 and the engine room and frame 20 is essentially the stern of the boat , there is also a frame 21 , but that is much smaller and is part of the step down stern platform . Need to order some more timber ( wallet opening time , OUCH )

Oh No ! Not Again !!

Time to remove Section 2 from the Garage , Need to make room to start on the next Piece of the puzzle !

Something seems familiar about this issue ??

Luckily this section isn't as tall as the first so I was able to lower it  ( get down to the ground ) to enable for it to be removed successfully .

Time to start building the next set of Frames , one Bulkhead and four open timber frames .

Roll me Over , Roll me Over

Roll Me over and Do it again !

With Hull Section 2 complete I need to get Section 1 out of the way , this involves moving and rolling it over . To do this I have Built a Stonger Boat Cradle than would normally be required and to go with it ,  two semi - circular steel additions . Here's my boy Matthew helping  by cleaning up the welds .

Next job was to roll it over , now where's that boat gone  , must be around here somewhere ?

Moved the Hull Section 1 into the upside down cradle and started the turning process .

 

 

 

 

Bit by bit and Slowely it rolls over

 

 

 

 

 

So thats what it looks like from underneath , havn't seen that side of it before !

 

 







 

 

Half  Way now , if anything goes wrong with this I will not be Happy !

 

 

 

 

 

The Inside ( or under side ) , or What ever you want to call it

 

 

 

 

 

Now we are on the Downward slope , glad its a Big Strong Chain !   .

 

 

 

 

 

While I'm on the Chain My Daughter Sam is on the Safety lines , thanks Sam

 

 

 

 

 

 Phew , Finally over and as the Sun sets I can finally Relax

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just enough light to do a Titanic ( I'm Flying ) on the Bow ( Kids !! )