Word Gets Out

Friends stop by to check out the progress. 

Assembling the Parts - Center and Stern

We begin to skin the center section.

To keep the long thin shallow hull from sliding sideways, we installed a centerboard trunk under the forward double berth.

Skinning is underway on the starboard side.

 (An earlier shot of the stern section.)

The stern section of the hull folds forward over the cabin when the boat is loaded into the 20' shipping container. Unfolded, it acts as a back porch to the main cabin and offers plenty of room for lounging and storage.

The bulkhead is comprised of two matching parts, one that stays with the stern and one that stays with the center section. They are bolted together when the boat is fully unfolded.

The two 9.9 horsepower outboards are located just forward of the bulkhead.

Assembling the Parts - the Bow

The two sections of the bow are each quite narrow, and butt against each other along the midline of the boat. This shows the superstructure before skinning.

You can see the beginnings of the bulkheads for the cabin, aft.

We decided to build the boat right-side-up on a flat bottom, which had to be braced to the proper profile.

Completed starboard side bow section, with cabin bulkheads in the background, with main cabin door roughed-in.

A very elegant, sleek bow. The blue tape covers the seam where the two bow halves butt. 

At this point, the first thing people say when they walk into the barn is, "Wow!" 

Cutting Bottom Panels from the Lofting

3/4" thick, marine ply bottom panels are cut and laid out for the full length of the boat (port side only). To the left is half of the aft deck (the side deck that goes around the cabin.)

1/2" plywood bulkhead panels are cut and ready to go.

You can see lofting drawing for the cabin (on sheetrock),  showing to the left of the plywood bottom panels.

Lofting

Brad glued 4x8 sheets of sheetrock to  the concrete floor of the barn to use as a lofting surface.

We finally get an idea of how big this boat will really be. It pretty much fills Brad's 60' barn.

Drawings

Brad's development of Bob's original concept drawings. 

The forward folding mechanism required custom bronze hinges on port and starboard sides. The bow splits lengthwise and folds back against the center cabin section. The (two) bow sections have small storage areas built in for anchoring equipment. 

Custom bronze hingen will be made by a local artisan. 

Building a boat always requires a lot of discussion with neighbors, friends and various boat aficionados that happen to drop by.

Looking at the model brought up lots of questions that needed further study.

Brad's elegant little sketches of Frog Prince.