How big is it?

Our visitor's first question after seeing the project is "how big is it going to be?"  Well, it started at 28 feet and now is 30 feet.

Masonite trial 

Longitudinals are finished.

Starboard longitudinals.

Tool of the day:  Lever punch

Weep holes (little notches) in longitudinals made with lever punch.  In case water gets inside hull, it can drain down to bilge and be pumped.

Yippee!!! A new tool!

Last week we drove up to Dade City to look at a tool for sale on Craigslist.  It was a Large Radius three Roller pipe bender and it is now ours.  It came with three metal rollers - two of which can be seen on the right.  Aluminum needs a gentler roller so John called Alro Plastics and ordered a Delrin cylinder and quickly made two more sets of rollers.  The two white rollers to the right are for 2" square tubing.   The rollers on the machine have a groove to bend 90 degree angle aluminum.  The vertical part sits in the groove on the roller. Life is good if you own your own lathe.

New tool - side view

Did I mention that this is a manual bender?  John's arms were a little tired by the end of the day.

Finished product with just the right curve for the roof of the  boat

A bittersweet week

On Wednesday we said goodbye to Clyde, the Eagle Trawler that John owned for 22 years.  The new owners are wonderful people who plan to use her as she should be used.

Clyde, us and the new owners.

Building the new boat was put on the back burner for a few weeks as we unloaded 22 years of gear and tools from Clyde.  John is back at work happily welding the roof in place.

The forward cabin.

The view of the forward cabin roof looking aft.

A look at the forward cabin roof looking forward.

On

Back to work

After a great weekend away, John is back at work on the boat.  With the help of a friend, the forward cabin roof was installed for a trial fit.

Cabin roof

This shows the "knees" that support the beams.

Aluminum boat building is both science and art!

Too cold to get much done.

You can't weld when it is cold out and we are chilly again this week.

The v-berth area (or forward stateroom in yacht talk) now has deck beams.  The round uprights mark the opening to the sleeping area.  I climbed up and it is going to be very comfortable. There will be an overhead hatch to climb out to the bow for anchoring and catching lines.  The front cabin windows will be forward of the opening (doorway)  with the cabin roof about two feet higher than the front deck.  The top of the opening will be cut back so that you can stand in the v-berth area.  Very ingenious. 

Sleeping/storage area will have berths on each side. 

Here's another shot looking from the stern through the whole boat.  

The trawler is now officially for sale and listed with Orion Wholean, at Best Boat Salesman | ISELLBOATS.COM.  Now John has to finish this new boat.

Out for a ride

The boat came out of the shop Saturday to be turned around in the yard.  She is looking more like a boat every day.   

How do the lines look?

We are finally getting an idea of how part of the boat will actually look.  It takes a lot of c-clamps to test the frame.  Fortunately we have a Harbor Freight store near by.

Here you see the cross beams for the cockpit deck.
 Part of the motor and exhaust will be in a box on the deck. 

Checking our the sheer line using aluminum bar.

And for the bird watchers - here is an anhinga enjoying the wagon that John left on the dock to keep birds from using the dock.  I just missed getting a shot of a great blue heron watching the anhinga.  Now we have a wagon full of bird poop instead of just a splats on the dock.