Bits and Bobs #1

 There's not a lot to report right now.  Work is definitely happening (a lot in fact), but not a lot to show.

Bit #1

The ring frames are assembled, epoxied, filled, and mostly sanded.  They pretty much look the same as they have for a while.  I still have some parts to rout, sand and otherwise finish, but they're pretty much done.

Bit #2

The most interesting part to see right now is the strongback.  We've slightly rearranged the shop to make for a little more room now that many of the parts are assembled together.  They are larger, but they generally take up less "volume" so we needed to restack everything and place the strongbacks where they're going to be throughout assembly.  I was thinking I'd put wheels on mine.  I was also going to put height adjusters on mine to account for unevenness of the floor.  After some thought, I decided I'd just shim it around so it sits evenly and relatively flat on the floor.  I used a sharpie and drew around the corners so I know if it moves.  I can install the wheels and/or adjusters anytime I want in the future if it becomes necessary.  Once the strongback is stable, I need to make marks on it that will be "perfect" to the world, and take the unevenness of the frame and floor out of the equation.  I did this by picking a spot on the top of the bottom frame of the strongback (doesn't matter what point).  I drew a horizontal line 100mm above that.  Next, I drew a centerline on the aft member of the strongback, and another on the vertical bow member of the strongback.  Then, I aligned the laser longitudinally with the centerline of the strongback, and vertically with the 100mm line.  The laser puts out a horizontal line intersecting all of the vertical members of the stongback, and a vertical line that intersects all of the crossmembers of the strongback.  I mark all of these points with a pencil so I can see them without the laser.  All of the dimensions for the boat are taken from the top of the strongback.  Now I can just take the 100mm off of these dimensions, I can just measure from the laser marks, and the hull has a really accurate "datum" to be measured from instead of the relatively uneven datum of the top of the strongback.  If the strongback needs to be moved, I can erase/paint over all of the marks and reestablish them with the laser.  I'm a pain for symmetry and alignment.  This seems to me to be the best way to have a symmetrical and even boat.  FYI, the laser I used is about a $40 version on Amazon.  If I'm going to spend a ton of time making a boat, a laser seems a cheap way to get some really accurate lines to make a really accurate layout for a boat.  We'll see if I'm good enough to build the boat accurately to the really good layout.

Bit #3

I received the stainless steel kit from China.  We're required to buy this to conform to the class rules.  This ensures that everyone has the same parts, and has the same strength of parts and that they're built to a minimum standard of quality.  It wouldn't be good to have some guy build a rudder bracket out of 22 gauge stainless and have it blow up 3 miles into a 3000 mile trip on a one design boat.  The kit includes many of the critical parts, like the pintle and gudgeon brackets for the rudder, chainplates, forestay fitting/bowsprit mount, and lots of other parts that are important to be strong.

Bit #4

My hatches from Cule (NZ) were shipped yesterday, and I should have them in a couple of weeks.  I'm getting to the point that I need to cut some holes in parts and make mating parts to mount them.  Luckily, if I really need them, Hull 79 has his in the shop and I can use those as templates if I need to cut my bulkheads before I get the hatches.

Bit #5

I also found a pretty nice ladder on Ebay.  It's a mass produced version from China.  I'm going to fab another rung and screw it on at the hinge fittings on the ladder.  This will save a couple of holes in the transom by consolidating a handle into the existing ladder brackets.  Pics to follow.

Bit #6

I'm spending a fair bit of time working on the equipment lists from the Globe 5.80 website, and trying to work out what is necessary, what isn't, and what the long lead time items are.  I'm surfing Craigslist and Ebay and Amazon and West Marine and every other website I can think of to source those things.

Bit #7

Hull 79 painted both of our keels with some really nice and good quality (but on clearance at West Marine) blister barrier coat bottom epoxy and they look fantastic.  With sprayed on zinc galvanizing and good epoxy barrier coat, these should be pretty bulletproof for a long time.

There are no Bobs in this update.  Sorry.