Forestay Bridle Attachments

So..... I came up with this idea on how to attach the forestay bridles without bolting thru the hull skins and also insure a strong watertight fitting. The forward end of this bolt will be held by a small mini bulkhead with G10 discs on either side for the bolt pass thru and glassed with biaxial.

The main part is a heavy duty Danish made 3/4" stainless thimble. Over this is some nylon reinforced PVC hose with a piece of 10mm poly rope to hold the shape. This will allow a number or bridle options: a 10mm Spectra bridle, a wire bridle with spectra strops only a short distance from the hull, lashing looped thru the tubing, etc. It's all mocked up to a screw on the floor the approximate center of the future seagull striker to get the angle set right for when I fit the hull side and pour the cavity with resin.


The tubing will be cut down and the throat area glassed around on the hull outside. It will hopefully look super cool and was made from materials I had on hand. The tubing and fiberglass wrapping will ensure a watertight tunnel and the area the thimble sits in in the bows will be filled with a epoxy and wood shaving mixture.


I wrapped it all up with glass tape under tension to compress the hose into the approximate shape it will take when the bridle is attached. I wrapped it in electrical tape to smush it all down while the epoxy cured.


This is the inner bow hull side piece. I needed to test out my Ebay Pink peel-ply material. Worked great and was a super deal. Notice how well my 13 oz biaxial wets out under the peel-ply. My hope is this is how the hull sides will look when glassed!

Bottoms Up!

What's a site about a British designed boat without a few cheeky puns?

I scarfed up the bottom panel into one 34' piece and stuck it one in one piece oversize to prevent too much twisting. I've also rough cut the chine curves and cut the bottom curve after the resin set on the bottom plank.

For $37 a sheet this ended up being really nice stuff and the entire bottom took just over one sheet. there will be a second layer put on after the bilge panels are fitted.

The Pointy End

I've been plugging away the since the last update. I've just about got both sides entirely planked. I've refined my technique a bit, but all the cleanup an filleting on each panels bulkhead and stringer junctions takes quite a bit of time.





This picture shows the 2 amidships panels on the outboard side. Since each panel here is around 4.5' high a joint is required to reach to the sheer. Richard suggests filling the entire space between the top stringer and gunwale with a large butt block; which is what I did. In addition, this will give this area a bit more strength for going up against pilings, etc. So figure 2 full days to get it all laid out then finally glued and filleted per 8' of hull length.







I jointed the inboard panels at the bridgedeck stringer which made all the panels a bit easier to manage. The last panels forward share the large stringer to sheer butt block.






The stem has required quite a bit of shaping which I started today. I plan to add an additional 1 by 4 to the front. I also need to work out the forestay bridle attachments. Richard recommends bolting on a sizeable stainless padeye, but the lack of future access to the area down low near the waterline causes me some concerns. I've tossed around a few ideas including a composite chainplate or a glassed in tube to thread a spectra loop thru. I think I may go with the tube and loop idea. More to come on this as I still need to finish up the stem shaping, breasthooks, cut the chine curve, etc. I may start on the bottom planking for a change of pace and give me some more time to think of how best to close up the bow and attach that bridle.