Thursday, February 21, 2008

Water Tank Installation and First Topside Panels

Because of the extras like the ice box and the water tank that are going into the port hull, which will house the galley, this hull is a couple of stages behind the starboard hull, but catching up fast. Here you can see the main bunk panels have been glued in and paint work is finished in the compartments below.

A big step was taken on the starboard hull with the addition of the upper hull topside panels. Below you can see how much bigger the hull looks now that these are on. The accuracy of James Wharram's plans became apparent as these panels were fitted. We had lofted and cut them in the first week of construction, and today the assembled panels aligned perfectly with the already built lower hull, needing no adjustment at the stem and stern posts as we had first assumed.

The 25-gallon water tank was fitted in the port hull on a raised support of glassed-in foam. This is to get it up high enough in the V of the hull so the corners can't touch the sides. It's still has enough vertical clearance to fit under the bunk nicely.

Here is the finished bed for the water tank, complete with fiddles to keep it firmly in position.

As soon as the topside panels were attached, filleting work began immediately, bonding the joints where the panels meet the upper sides of the bulkheads and filling the large cavities at the stem and stern posts.

The hulls are so much deeper now that ladders are necessary to get in position for working inside.

With all their recent experience in the lower hulls, the crew made quick work of the upper hullside filleting.

A view of the starboard hull profile, showing the strong sheer that is characteristic of Wharram designs. It is the blend of traditional Polynesian and Western lines that lend these simple canoe-form hulls their timeless appeal and set them apart from the crowd of modern spaceship-shaped plastic multihulls.

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