Harrigami's progress 1
Newsletter from Rob Denney, 7-Sept-2001
| G'day, A few photos of harrigami included. Taken a week ago after 250 hours work, including about 20 hours of stuff ups, thinking and working on non boat bits. As of today, it is 280 hours, and the hulls are almost structurally complete, and the beams well under way. Won't be weighing them till they are finished, but the full list of materials (paulonia, ply, glass and epoxy) came to 380 kgs. There are a couple of sheets of ply left over, I will need a few more metres of glass, and maybe another 24 litres of resin. Allowing for wastage, 400 kgs should be in the ball park for the hulls and beams. Rig, rudders and trampoline will add another 150 or so. Cost of all the materials, including the strongback and the temporary frames was under $Aus5,000, should be under 6 by the time it is painted and the extra bits bought. Because I did not support the lee hull halves properly (hung them in 2 ropes from the roof, with sawhorses underneath), the lee hull halves were 100mm out of alignment!! Used a couple of levers and a packing strap to pull them into line around the bulkheads. Nothing cracked, and now they are near enough identical. The ends of the weather hull were also tricky as there were not enough frames to give the rocker shape. Bit (lots) of cutting and shutting required to get them pretty much the same. Despite the relative ease of moving the hulls, once joined they are very stiff. Fairing was looking like a major drama, needing lots of bog. Now it is almost in one piece, the amount of bog required looks much less. In fact, most of it is pretty fair, surprising given the number of shortcuts taken. The 4 big hollows (again, not enough frames, too much curvature) are taken out by the beams and a couple of windows. |
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2) End view showing how slim the lee hull is (500mm, just enough for me to get inside, which I have done numerous times since these were taken). The slots in the deck are for the rudder cassettes. A bulkhead goes over the cut off ends, then polystyrene foam and glass. (Thanks to Ted Lamont for the photos) |
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3) Side by side, showing the holes I had to cut to fit the bulkheads, after fitting them blind became too much effort for dubious return. 3 bulkheads go in each hole to support the beams and rudders, plus one at the centre of the boat for the mast. One of the bulkheads is on the floor. The glass flange on it was for the blind fit. It will now be used to bond the missing piece to when it is replaced. This is where the rest of the stuff ups time was lost. I have a far better technique for next time, although in retrospect, the hole in the side is not such a bad idea. From the bulkheads to the end is not joined. I will try squashing this vertically before joining, to fatten the bows a little. All the bulkheads are now in, along with additional reinforcing. There is also a permanent deck hatch between the mast and one of the beams. This is almost the full width of the hull, so is a structural worry. Any questions, please ask. Any criticisms, or faults, let me know. It is far easier to fix things now than later (Contact Rob). Harrigami is a folding proa based on what I learnt with Harry (Harry + folding = Harrigami), my 12m proa... |
