Building the walk through cockpit version of Harrigami.

Reports: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Week 17: Monday 24th Mar - Friday 27th Mar 2003

If you are wondering what this boat will look like once completed then look at the CAD images in the Walk through cockpit version of Harrigami Gallery.

Getting close to the end now. The main projects of the week were building the boom and fairing the leeward hull.

The boom is basiclly a plywood and stringer box with a hole for the mast. Like last week we made our own fittings. These included three upright double blocks for jib uphaul/downhaul, cunningham and main outhaul. They were made by laying a number of laminates of epoxy saturated glass on a smooth surface from which the block cheeks are shaped. Sheeves are then inserted onto a stainless steel shaft and the fitting glued into the boom. This is a very simple and quick method to make quite substantial hardware savings. By the end of the week the boom was finished and bogged ready for final sanding.

The leeward hull was also faired this week. We chose the bead method of fairing as the hull is very long and narrow with a few areas where the strip planking 'wandered' slightly. A notched trowel is used to lay a series of 'beads'. When cured these beads are faired with a longboad and then filled. Beads are used because they are easier to sand than a fully bogged surface would be. The bows were also shaped out of foam ready for glassing.

We expect that next week will be the last. Final fairing of the leeward hull, and a number of last minute details will see the project finished. A trailer has been ordered and a cradle is to be made before the boat is trailered up to Brisbane to be put into a 40' container and shipped to the United States. The client has requested the boat be delivered unpainted to meet the shipping date, in time for the northern hemisphere summer.

hours : 1425

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