Glueing updside down and our keel stepped mast

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

So today I wanted to tell you about one of CAI's techniques. He has an abundant "toolbox" of various techniques that make building this boat possible.  In this case it's about gluing or bonding. Gluing is a very common process in the build out of AtLast.  Nearly everything is glued and screwed together, unless it's fiberglassed into place.  When pieces are both glued and screwed together it prevents these mating parts from creating unpleasant creaking noises when the boat is moving on the water.

When using glue, pieces are clamped together while the glue cures.  For an example, see the photo below when CAI was bonding the slats to the top of the companionway hatch:

CAI adds clamps to the companionway hatch while the slats are being glued in place.

But it's not always so easy.

Recently CAI was gluing reinforcements to the inside surface of the cabin top in the location where the mast will be.  Masts are either keel stepped or deck stepped.  Keel stepped boats have a mast which goes down through the deck (cabin top) and to a mast step at the keel in the hull.  This design is the classical way and the most secure way to install the mast.  But when using this approach, the mast protrudes through the cabin top or deck and that hole is a vulnerable location of the boat.  To strengthen that area, CAI glued additional pieces of marine plywood to the underside of the cabin top.

In this next picture, you can see the 4 pieces of marine plywood glued to the underside of the cabin top.  This is an AFTER picture, after the job was completed. 

Looking UP at the mast boot support. 
The mast will stand in this location, just aft of the forepeak.

So you can imagine it's impossible to use traditional clamps to apply pressure to the plywood.  We are gluing upside down here so we can't load the parts under bags of sand or lead either.  So CAI's solution was to place several 4x1's underneath each piece of plywood and they exerted upwards pressure to compress the plywood against the cabin top.  

The forepeak was off-limits for a day or two while this was going on. 

The Beginning of our Galley (our kitchen).

Here's a preview of the galley.  It's one of CAI's many projects on the boat these days.  I'm helping out with details but he's the master mind behind it.

Here are a few features of the galley.   When you climb down into AtLast from the cockpit, the galley will be on your immediate left, at the bottom of the stairs.  CAI put it here to make it convenient to directly hand hot food to the captain or whoever is on deck.  In rough seas, this is a real advantage as you will not have to walk and manage a plate of food when the boat is being tossed around.

I have to say, I read these words as I type and I am really NOT looking forward to dealing with this kind of weather.  But I'm confident that we will have a boat designed and built to deal with it.

OK, more about the galley....

AtLast will have a refrigerator.  This is a real luxury on a low budget cruising boat, which ours definitely is.   We will have solar panels and a wind generator to help supply power for the fridge.  It's a real power hog.

The stove is a "Force 10" brand and it is gimbaled.  That means it will stay level even when the boat heels to the side. CAI has to allow space for the stove to "swing" when he installs it.

When the stove is not in use, there will be a shelf that can be pulled out over the stove to provide more counter space.

We will have a shelf for a microwave.  This is another  luxury and we will use it when we have access to AC "shore" power.  So we probably won't use it much while we are underway.

DOUBLE CLICK on photo to enlarge it for a closer look.

CAI and Jackie's galley.

A side view of the galley.

Any guesses?

Any guesses what this might be?  

This picture is looking up from inside at the cabin "ceiling."

Here's the view from outside on top of the cabin and deck:

It's our "hi-tech" winter fresh air circulation system, a 250W box heater.

You see, it's getting pretty cold outside.  The highs are in the 30's and it's definitely freezing overnight.  We are continuing to work with some pretty smelly and dangerous chemicals.  Of course we need to circulate in fresh air to dissipate the chemicals.  But who wants to blow in cold air?  So, instead, we set up a simple routine to keep the air in the boat warm and fresh.

First we try to paint or epoxy at the end of the day.  Then we let the heater continue to run all night, pushing in warm clean air.  By the morning the fumes are pretty well cleared out.

The Engine Today

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!  We are thankful for so many things, the least of which is the opportunity to follow our dream of building AtLast and getting underway.

Today, just a short post about our engine.  A couple years ago I posted CAI's successful installation of our engine, a 38 HP Beta Marine. This is a link to that older post:  The Engine Is In

You can see that CAI has built the boat up around the engine.  The stairs of the companionway descend right over it.  The stairs are removable so this means we have very easy access to the engine.

CAI shows how he can access the engine for maintenance. 
It is designed with all maintenance points on the front side.
Someone was thinking!
(APPLAUSE!!!!!)

 

Flashback to 2012

For those of you who like to see before and after, check out the photo above from 2012.   CAI is standing in the same location as the engine sits now.   Note the engine mounts and compare them to the photo from today.

Our Propane Locker

This post is about storing propane.  It seems a bit mundane but it's really important.

Propane can be very dangerous on a boat. Why? Because propane is heavier than air.  If there is a leak, it will settle at the lowest point that it can, and this could be the bottom of the bilge.  If there is a spark or flame, then it can cause a fire.  And fire is one of the absolute worst things that can happen to your boat.

That is why the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) has specific regulations to ensure the propane is stored safely.  They say that your propane locker should ....

• have an air tight lid
• be dedicated only for propane and fuel storage
• have a bottom drain so any leaking gas will drain OUTSIDE of the boat.

'Seems pretty smart to me.

So this week, CAI cut and installed the floor of our propane locker.  It is located at the very back, in the last locker on the boat.

Once he installed the floor of the locker he filled the gaps between the floor and the hull with expandable foam.  The excess foam has to be trimmed away.  You need to achieve a smooth, curved shape so that you can fiberglass over the seam.  This makes the locker rigid and secure.

This kind of trimming task is a common task on AtLast. We have used various tools.  This week CAI tried using hole saw.  He said it worked great!

CAI peaks out from inside our propane locker.

Trimming in action:

Power

Sometimes it's all about the power, in this case, electrical power on the boat.

Electrical power on AtLast will be provided by a "house bank" of batteries that CAI installed in the bilge of the boat in October.

AtLast will have a seven-battery system that will supply 12V DC. There will be one starter battery rated at 90 amp-hrs and six batteries in the house bank with a capacity of 600 amp-hrs. For comparison car battery capacity is typically 35-50 amp-hrs. All together our batteries should allow us to run our electrical devices for 2-3 days without recharging.

Our batteries are flooded lead acid, deep cycle golf cart batteries. Here's why....

• They are inexpensive
• They can be tipped without damage when the boat heels.
• They are available worldwide so we can easily replace them.

We will be careful to discharge our batteries only to 50% and then we will recharge them.  This extends the life of the batteries by 4x to 6x compared to if we discharged them all the way each time.  That's a HUGE difference.

Flashback to 2011: 

2011:  CAI is pointing down into the bilge where the future
location of our batteries, water and other storage will be. 
Notice the jackhammer. 
He removed the old bulky ballast and replaced it with lead to increase storage capacity.

September 2016:

October 2016:

Each pair of batteries is easily accessed by removing two screws in the lid.

Forepeak - Stiffening the hull

This post is about the forepeak where we have been adding stiffeners to the hull. Stiffening the hull will
make the boat more rigid and therefore stronger and quieter.  I think most people can imagine continuous creaking sounds that boats make.  We want to minimize that.
CAI also warns me that when the bow of a boat hits large waves the hull can ring almost like a gong. The stiffening will reduce those effects too.  Fortunately storms and weather that produce big waves should be the exception, not the rule.

Flashback to 2013: 

2013: In this ooooold picture of the forepeak, CAI has attached paneling onto the forward bulkhead.
He has also built and installed the overhead beams which will support the deck/cabin top. 

October 2016:

2016:  In this recent picture, the forepeak is almost all enclosed.
The bulkhead and cabin top are both completed and storage compartments are built up.
But there were no stiffeners on the hull yet.

Here's an overview of the forepeak:



Last week I built the stiffeners, or ribs, on the hull sides in the forepeak.  The completed installation looks like this:

New ribs or stiffeners are shown here on the starboard side of the forepeak.

Here's a summary of the construction method for the ribs:

To prep the hull I sand it and then clean it with acetone.

Then I build pillars with 4-inch blocks that CAI made.
The bottom-most block has to be shaped to match the contour of the lid of the storage compartment below.
Once everything was fitted OK, I epoxied the blocks onto the hull of the boat.  It's an overnight cure.

Next I cut the fiberglass that reinforces each tower of blocks.
I cut it in batches, 3 pieces per rib, and numbered them to keep them organized.

Then I applied the fiberglass, layering 3 pieces per rib,using epoxy to adhere each piece to the hull.

 I demonstrate the fiberglassing technique in the video below: 

The epoxy that we use with the fiberglass will "go off" in your cup if you don't use it up quickly enough.
It gets really hot, smoking and smoldering like a little cauldron.  It will melt your cup.  You learn to move fast!

The next step is to add insulation in the spaces between the ribs. More on that later.

Back in the saddle again.

OK, ok, ok.  It has been over two years since I have added to this blog.  During this time CAI had knee surgery and shoulder surgery and I was working a lot and traveling too.

CAI has recovered from his surgeries and we are both working on the boat now.

So I'm going to make more frequent posts, once a week if things work out.  So here we go!

Our high tech propeller.

This is our new "Autoprop" propeller.  It automatically changes configuration depending on the boat propulsion: motoring forward, motoring in reverse or sailing with the engine off.    CAI explains in the video below.