Sunday, November 28, 2010

Beam Blocks and Cockpit

This photo shows the mounting cradles we have made to hold the aft tramp beam. This block will be attached to the deck with epoxy and then finished off with gelcoat to match the deck. You can also see the beam lashing pad glued to the deck flange. The bolts are just clamps for now. we will permanently install the bolts when we bond the decks to the hulls.The raw spot at the very end of the deck is where we have ground off a bit for rudder clearance. This will get a bit of gelcoat as well. Also visible are the rudder lashing holes.

 Here is the cockpit. This view is from the starboard side. We have changed the cockpit this time by making the seat "wings" removable. This will keep the width to 7' 6" and will facilitate easier storage in a shipping container. This owner plans to ship the boat to different locations with a dedicated container. The flanges that the seat wings will attach to are visible at each side of the cockpit.
 
 Here are the two companionway ladders.

 These boats will have the standard Wharram sliding companionway hatches.Here we have drilled the holes for the slide tube.
 A picture of the interior ceiling staving.
 These are the rudder heads. We again went with the kick-up rudders. The reasons are much easier tacking and much easier to un-ground. When you drive the boat up on a sand bar the skegs and rudder tend to dig in and make it much more difficult to back off. The rudder load is also minimized. These aren't quite as bulletproof  or as simple as the stock design but everything is a compromise.

 Here are the rudder blades. They are made of foam core and fiberglass and have lead weights in the bottom of the blade to make for easier operation.