Week 4: 1st hull--deck beams, bunk boards and cabin tops

(Updated 6-7-2019)

After taking the winter off, we've been back at work since June 1. Job #1 was to turn the hull over, which happened so quickly we didn't even get photos of the process. We had a few inflatable bags left over from another project, so used them as cushions to roll the hull over. Hopefully we'll get photos when we turn over hull #2. Despite progress being disrupted this past week with a couple urgent electrical and water issues, we managed to cut and dry fit the deck beams, bunk boards and all four cabin tops (2 for each hull). The second hull isn't built yet, but since the cabin tops are all the same we decided to build them all at the same time. Now that those parts are dry fitted we plan to get started today on epoxying them together.

This is the test piece of MDO we showed in the "Miscellaneous Photos From The Shop" page. Over the winter it was submerged in water for 5 full months. Right after we pulled it out of the water we stood on as before to test the strength. It didn't flex or come apart, so appeared to still be at full strength. Although it's a bit discolored, there's no delamination.	A refinement of using the small ply blocks and deck screws in place of wood clamps is to put a nut or washer under the screw head. Otherwise, the screw head tends to get buried in the ply as it's tightened, making it difficult to get the screw out without breaking the ply block.
First hull turned over and ready for deck and cabin work.	Bunk boards in place. Under the boards is storage for water and provisions.
Aft mast step	1-1/2" x 1-1/2" deck beams and supports dry fitted.
Determining the best compromise between cabin headroom and aesthetics. We're going with a 14" cabin height which gives 38-1/2" of headroom over the bunk boards.