AT17

AT17
The blog will now be devoted not to boat building but to my 82-year-old Vertue, Sally II, now undergoing a well needed refit at Johnson & Loftus in Ullapool (and gliding...)

Thursday 3 April 2014

Day 30. Back Broken?

After a long day today and the day before, and... I reckon the back's broken - unfortunate phrase perhaps. So much more to do, but at least the hull is finished, and the foredeck fitted. And the whole lot primed with International two-part clear sealer.


The foredeck  is a departure from the design (how did you guess?). The level has been taken down a strake or so, and the deck now stops at station 2.

The higher deck as drawn made no sense to us. The owner insisted on stowage. so there's access through the bulkhead and via a hatch. The deck as drawn, however, is too high to perch on safely, and had not much more useable space unless you fitted shelving, like a fridge. And that double mast box (sloop or yawl rig mast positions) was just a fiddle.


This lower  foredeck now makes a nice, safe area for kids to sit, protected by the higher topsides. Ah, but how are you going to support the unstayed mast now that you have lowered the deck and done away with the mast box? Well, a mast thwart will be fitted bridging station 2, but a wide one, with sweeping curves that will support the mast when sloop rigged on its aft face, and on its front face the mast in its forward position when the yawl rig is being used. The thwart will be at gunwale level, and therefore really supportive of the mast. And the scalloped mast thwart will provide a comfy back rest for the occupamts of the "play pen".


We'll see. The aft deck will be pretty much standard. 




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