The custom build continues; A photo update.

[triniswordfish]

ADVERTISE HERE

sounds good we are on the hard doing some maintenance before the season starts again for us
look forward to the next update

[Fortunate One]

Well here ya go triniswordfish.

I spent a couple of hours down at the shed with the project manager and then alone taking photos.

I hope you enjoy viewing these as much as I did taking them.

As far as an update the hull has been sanded smooth with a dual action sander in order to remove all cross-sanding marks left behind by the long board sanding process. The hull is so smooth that it feels like silk. There were only 3 small areas that needed another coat of high build primer and they'll be sanded in. The project manager said it's yacht quality and he means it.

The guys started to mock up the helm station and we finalized it today. It will be able to accommodate two 17" screens Navnet 3D 170C Monitor units slightly angled towards the helm chair. There will be a built in overhang to block sun glare. The MCU 001 control unit will be accommodated to my right hand side built into a box that will come off of the dodger side and be within reach as I sit in my Stidd helm seat. The wheel will sit on a modified Palm Beach style helm pod that will be much lower in profile that the rough mock up shown in the picture.

The engine room access stairs have been made but are not complete. The steps will be solid teak, the underside will be closed in flush with some plywood. The guys made gutters down both sides that will drain into the sink drain plumbing, which will be mounted in the left cabinet.

The native cherry with mahogany strip cabin floor was started but not finished because the person that built it and was installing it has been out for a few days. Damn bug is going around again. I'm told that the floor will be all installed this week. In a couple of the pictures you can see the bottom of the floor slabs leaning up against the hull sides. They were pre-assembled in the wood shop. There is only one coat of varnish on them and it doesn't do it justice. But wait until there finished.

The strut mock-ups have been done. The engine and shaft log alignment were so on the money that when the shafts were inserted they slid right into the engine couplers. That blows me away. I knew they took their time with the alignment but that's incredible.

Enough with the words, here are the pictures with some description.




Forward deck in 545 primer.
These two pictures were taken as the overhead gaslights were warming up.





I took these with the door opened.







Here's the beginning of the cabin floor installation. All of the bulkheads are ready to be installed. They are sitting in the wood shop.




Helm beck stairs are installed and the cabinet work has commenced in the wood shop. The stairs will be controlled with gas shocks. There will be a small flip down door built into the back of the stair to house a set of noise canceling head phones to be used if I have to enter the engine room white the beasts are breathing.

All of the bait prep work will take place to the left of the stairs. That top will be fit with a recessed sink and to the right of the sink will be a recessed area to keep the rigged baits. Below that will be a custom refrigerator to house flats of bait. There will be removable stainless steel grates that can be removed when I want to keep chum pails refrigerated. As I've described before there will be an upper cabinet cantilevered over the lower cabinet. That upper cabinet will have a removable lower and side face board and a drop in table will span over the stairs so I can have a decent fish cleaning station on board. Over to the right of the stairs the lower cabinet will have a fold out full size garbage draw and to the right of that will be a 2 door cabinet that will house a 6 man insulated valise life raft and ditch bag.

In order to keep it symmetrical there will be a set of cabinets installed over the lower cabinets on the right hand side also. Those cabinets will house fishing lures. And this will keep bait prep out fo the way of lure prep. There will be a 6'long pull out draw measuring about 2' wide x 1' high that will slide under the rod storage cabinet behind the helm seat. That will house spreader bars.




This is a picture from the helm deck looking back and yes the tuna door has been installed. The cockpit side needs to be finished but it’s hanging. The teak covering boards need to have a router run down the edges.



Silky smooth hull.


Got Wood yet?



Well if that doesn't do it for you, here's some solid Sapele mahogany stairs that have been cupped and yet to have the edges rounded with a router. These will lead into the cabin.



That's just water I wiped on them bringing out the grain. Wait until they build the Sapele helm pod and cabin hatch and coat them all with 10 coats of varnish.

[triniswordfish]

man this is the best thread on sfc.com no joke
thanks for the update it looks awesome
i can not get over the thought that goes into everything wow
i love the last set of wood pics should looks beautiful when installed
hopefully we are back in the water late next week or monday of the following week, give me two three days before christmas to fish and then tobago for after christmas see what the marlin are doing up that way.
nick

[CB&T]

Its coming along great. What a project. Cant wait to see the ending result. Ill be leaving the shop the end of the month. I had the starboard side of my boat sprayed again. There were a couple of areas I didnt like so they are resanding and shooting on wednesday. The painting has been the hardest part of the project. Youll see. Good luck.

[alex n]

That boat is coming out beautifully, details make the difference on a boat like that ,I love the cupped stairs. The mahogany walls in the interior that are actually the inside of the hull are beautiful the way they are, they look to be epoxy coated, are you going to cover them or leave them the way they are?

[Fortunate One]

CB, we're figuring on a multiple coat build up. The first few will be done in the shed and the last will be done in a fancy spray booth down the road.

We want to build a deep base. I suspect during that process we'll catch anything that the guys missed.

Upon a real close inspection they only found 3 pinholes so we know we're going to be applying paint from a real good starting point.

The boys really rubbed some money into this one. She's going to shine like a Hinckley when they are done.

Twinswordfish, I'm glad to see you're enjoying the build. I'm really looking forward to the next couple of months. It's time to order the dry risers. That will just about do it for the engine room except for some minor items.

Alex the frames and mahogany on the hull will only be exposed in the forward cabin. It's all epoxied sealed.

Between the head, galley cabinets and the over/under berths next to the stairs we don't have much left for exposed wall space, but you can bet I'll enjoy the exposed look in my suite.

Everything on the boat was done in the same manor and well documented in pictures.

[iguana1]

Fortunate One,

Question on the shaft alignment process. I have heard different things about this from different sources (and spent way too many hours doing it on a past boat after a repower). I have been told that alignment changes after a boat is splashed as the hull has some flex when wet vs on the hard. I have been told some builders wait on final alignment until the boat is wet using adjustable mounts. From your perspective is there any truth to this?

[Fortunate One]

Originally Posted by iguana1

Fortunate One,

Question on the shaft alignment process. I have heard different things about this from different sources (and spent way too many hours doing it on a past boat after a repower). I have been told that alignment changes after a boat is splashed as the hull has some flex when wet vs on the hard. I have been told some builders wait on final alignment until the boat is wet using adjustable mounts. From your perspective is there any truth to this?

Iguana1,

We're not putting the final coat of paint on the boat until maybe after the first season since we want to see how much movement we get.

We sheathed it upside down and when we rolled it over she barely creaked. So we're not expecting as much movement as some of the other composite boats.

This hull has very deep full length stringers and a keelson along with full frames laterally supported.

The architect for this project has recently worked on a repair of a jig built boat that had so much flex that the stringers and bulkheads broke loose. A real “Flexiable Flyer”

He was telling me about the repair and he said that in comparison to my boat he thinks that my boat won’t move at all. But then again it doesn’t take much to put an engine out of alignment.

I was talking to a highly respected and well known charter boat captain / magazine scribe from my area last night. He’s seen this boat up close and personal. He has reviewed boats for various magazines and he’s told me that this hull is going to be rigid piece. So the long and short of it is I’ll let you know after we launch and sea trial.

But I would be interested in learning what others have experienced.

[Fortunate One]

We received our share of snow today and after I finished clearing the vehicles and walkways around the house and dealing with the mess that the plows left behind I decided to head down to the shed to see what the crew had been working on.

So I went into the shed and saw that the boat was a work in progress again. Nobody bothered to tidy up much. Tools left where the people finished off for the day, extension cords running all over and staging set up all around the boat.

As I was waiting for the lights to warm up in the room with the boat I noticed that they lined the back of the stairs leading to the helm deck and made a provision for the engine room head sets that will be accessed when the stairs have been lifted up. A nice little feature.



The transom has been sanded out and the edges are being faired in. Cool!




As I climbed up the stairs to enter the cockpit, much to my surprise I saw louver frames being installed.





Once I entered the cockpit I was surprised to see the tackle locker cabinets being made.





So I though that’s progress. It's nice to see it taking shape.

They are getting the cockpit ready for the teak to be installed. They applied some fairing compound.


So I looked at the cabin passageway and noticed that there was plastic covering the opening. I knew that the flooring was scheduled to be installed this week but I didn't know how far they got with Margery being ill last week. So I carefully pulled back the plastic and it was like seeing a ray of sunshine. The floors look beautiful. All of a sudden the cold and snow were the furthest thing from my mind.

[triniswordfish]

Fortunateone, we need an up date at least I do. We launched just before Christmas and had a wonderful time in Tobago. Off to Grenada on Friday for their billfish tournament. I need my fix. I know it was the holidays but come on
Nick