Stuff!

The store room is getting a bit full! Have also (mostly) decided on a tiller only boat and purchased 2 6' sections of 1.5" pipe schedule 160. Also happened upon this nice rudder head. A very common style that seems to be very hard to find now. There may be one more new one at a store in Jacksonville and will check next week. otherwise I'm sure one will turn up. Otherwise can get one machined up near the launch if need be. could make one myself if I had a lathe. Maybe a project for NZ if the first tuesday in November indicates an additional trip is necessary. Also note the 2" tube material tht just fits over the 1 7/8" OD pipe. Quite easy to find a set of 2" delrin bushing for 2" rudders,but very hard to find 2" heavy wall tube? Anyway, makes for a perfect fit in the rudder head.

Progress

Some good work has been completed in the last few weeks. Weather has been getting more pleasant, but still really humid. Have 3 hull panels on and will try to preglass 2 more tommorow. May try to due inside the house as glass is a very fine weave and temp changes seem to cause a problem with air bubbles under the glass. Did not have such a problem last winter but this higher temps seems to be problematic.

More Bulkheads!

Been working on the stringers this week. Decided to add the bulkhead 1A in this hull as will have one less stringer than the starboard hull due to all the bulkheads in the aft part of the hull. The starboard hull has one extra than designed due to the (I felt) wide bulkhead spacing. Also did all the sail locker floor framing as it was a hassle to do after the planking was on.

Got my 22 sheets of Joubert yesterday and it even didn't rain yesterday afternoon so I could get it all inside dry. I ended up putting it inside the house with some of my other ply to keep the moisture content down. We have been getting tons of rain the last several weeks, but things should be drying out in the next month or so.

Square 2

Look familiar? The second hull actually has 2 more bulkheads to help partition off the head and shower. I've yet to have a truly proper shower in a boat yet so I was willing to put the extra effort in the hopes that a truly great shower can be created.
It really makes a big difference when living aboard at anchor whilst also needing to conduct business ashore and a cockpit shower isn't a great option in cold weather or a crowded area.



Also ordered 22 more sheets of plywood today. Decided to go with 1088 Joubert this time as the Noahs "1088" was not fantastic although did pass boil tests on the cutoffs from various sheets I tested. This brings my total ply buy to 82 sheets which should be within 10 sheets of what I need. There's no materials list for the Vardo as yet as well as deck, cabin, rig plans, etc.

Coming Out

It's been over 2 weeks ago we moved the first hull outside. All went pretty smoothly, but will need something stronger than PVC to roll the completed hull on.

On a Roll

I was really surprised how easily the hull rolls on some PVC pipe.

Just for fun I poked the bow out. Getting outside will be no problem. Just need to work on shifting over the 4.4m need to reach the driveway for storage. Then also roughly lined up to roll back inside when the other wall is cut away in a few months. Need to sort out my cover framework in the next few days before taking all the way out.

"Keep Up With the Joneses"

I'd been planning a post in this regard for some time, but the prospect of moving the first hull outside has me a bit concerned about the neighbors. As I plan to finish the cabin outside in the driveway, I figure having one hull outside for 3 months will be a good test of how things go over.

My neighbor, Mr Jones has a pretty nice house

It had been on the market for $2,500,000 but I guess they've now decided to keep it a while longer. He specifically told me "You won't have a problem with me" when I started the boat, but I didn't really mention the full scope of the project.

I was also in the city office the other day checking what rules might pertain to having a 34' catamaran parked up in your yard for several months. When I said I had a few boats and just want to "make sure I was OK" they said they were surprised I hadn't had any complaints from my neighbors already.

And I only have a 13' Whaler and a Trac 14 at the moment. The Vardo will take up all the space from the house walls to the back of the cars in this picture.