25 & 26th Feb 2008


Monday rained on and off, but I managed to get the port side forward walkway welded in place, As the back one was in the right place, this one fitted good at the bow end but not so good at the back end, I had to force out a frame or two 5mm or so to correctly position it.
One side down one to go.




Pic shows a mis alignment of FR12 due to the fact that we had to move it.

During today (tuesday) we attacked the starboard side front walkway.
OUCH!
fitted fine at the back but 12mm under shaped at the bow. Looking at it it meant that Frames 9,10 &11 needed to be moved out 5mm thus giving us the 12 at the bow.

This morning we built the following structure to apply 20 tons of pressure at the same time to the 3 frames, bit by bit out it went. no welds cracked as it gently went out.


Scaffold and 8 ton jacks.


there it is all good,
Note the bow piece is just laid in, it has to come out to finish a few bits.




Dad comes to see progress.


Tonite, I tacked bits of scrap to help carry the tops of the aft cabin, They are ready for welding, just to get help with them.



Busy couple of days, its really comming together now. 1 weeks time will make a huge difference.

24th Feb 2008


OK ... I was a little hasty on saturday saying what would happen next.
Sunday (all day) was spent lining up side sheets that were only roughly tacked to the frames.
In order to set the top shape of the boat I had to re-position the whole left hand side of the boat top sheets. It took a while but worth the effort.



RHS getting the upper frames to hold the wheelhouse sides


Busy day...
LHS back walkway fitting perfect with some pushing etc.

23-Feb 2008

WEBCAM Back up and running!!!!

Spent most of today lining up the Gunnels, some tidying had to be done as this is now the final shape of the side of the boat.



The next thing fitted is the lower frame bits to take the side of the saloon (wheelhouse)
Tomorrow I will fit the other side gunnels and then the boat has its final shape.

22-Feb 2008

Beautiful mild day here in Ireland, not too much done but with much heavy lifting form the guys here, we managed or at least they managed to get the bow deck piece (aptly named the "Titanic Piece") and the side gunnells or deck plates.
These are only laid in for now to set and check the frames against them as they will set the final shape of the boat at that level.

Some things need a push and a pull so with the drawings tomorrow I will sort the little problems

Anyone with nothing to do tomorrow SAT 23rd please come and hold the tape measure..!!!



I'll take better pics tomorrow.

lots to line up before tacking in the parts.

21st Feb 2008


With the front upper sides up, we had the whole day at it today,






First of the 2 bow pieces fitted


Both sides nearly complete




Frame 15 gets fitted and forces the correct shape for the front bow piece

This was supposed to be a really hard bit as everything meets here, any mis-alignment will show up.

Because I spent 2 days straightning the lower side sheets to be as perfect as they could, it has paid off big time.


last frame frame in place.

Finally a complete tacked together main hull.







Tomorrow and the weekend will hopefully see the start of the main salon and foredeck

maybe it will be finished by march after all...?





Adam (3) looking for dad, he also wants me to build him a smaller boat he can play with as this one is just too big.!..

Ta Daa!!!!!

19th Feb 2008

Spent the day at the boat today, RESULT!
spent all morning lining up the lower side sheets so that they lined up and met the spray rail.
at the boys came back and we started the upper sides. 1.5 hours a side and up they went.
Everything lined up perfect. All the hard work lining up the other sheets paid off big time.




Better pics tomorrow.


Today was a race as the lighting stands go to work holding up lights in a panto for 3 weeks statrting tomorrow.
Dont need them now... happy days!

18th Feb 2008

Here we go again, fustration at having to work all the time,
I had hoped to be further on in the build, but i am getting back at it again with a "No prisioners" attitude.
Over the weekend I put in the floors of the forward cabins and over the engine room, they are just in temproary as they will come out for finishing the hull and installing the engine and tanks.

As you can see from the above pic, the side sheets didn't line up and the fun began.

I would like to thank the faithfull followers of this blog from all over the world, who have stayed looking and are waiting patiently for progress.

I Will put the camera on again soon.





Dara has new freedom gaining more access to the boat.






Finally lined up.


Span sets pulling the sides in.