Hull joined!

When trial fitting the hull-halves I noticed some gaps, especially in the bow section (ranging from a few mm to app. 1,5 cm). Maybe the upper half distorted a bit because I was not able to support it much (as I had to lift it out of the way), or maybe this will always happen a bit in the areas where there is some tension in the foam and the marine ply insert (because of all the bending).

Luckily this didn't turn out to be a problem. To be sure of a very tight join, and for ease of mind, I thought out a way to clamp the halves together. Here is what I did:

On the outside of the upper half I screwed a batten along the whole joint, held in place with scrap piece of wood which overlap the joint. See the picture below. In the bow section I couldn't use woodblocks, so I only used screws (the joint is not flat in this area). Picture of the extra batten on the outside.
The preparation took about one hour (taking it easy mode) and was well worth it. After putting some putty on the joint it was simply a matter of clamping the battens together - 2 meters at a time, starting from the bow - and correcting any misalignment by screweing some extra blocks to the outside batten to pull the battens in line. See the picture below. By the way: this part had a gap, and needed more clamps than usual.
After aligning and clamping the battens together, I fixed them with some screws and went on clamping the next two meters. The whole process only took about one hour (taking it easy mode).
Result: an IMO very nice joint.

We 2 are almost 1

Trial fit of the two hull-halves. A plunge bob is used to put the halves straight on top of each other. I used the beam-bulkheads at gunwale level as a reference point, as they are by far the most accurately placed parts in the hull halfs.
Impression of joined hull (rotated, of course). Looks quite roomy for a relatively small boat.

Bow web - part 2

Laminating the bow web. I did the first layer with one piece of DB. Not a very good idea (duh), just too much curves and overlaps to wrap it nicely this way. No pictures of the rest of the laminating. Let's just say 'wrapping' is not my favourite work. For the last layer I worked with several pieces of bi-axial tape (15 cm wide, I cut it in half for taping bulkheads etc.) and this went much better than the first layer. This tape is really bendable and doesn't fall apart the moment you cut it (unlike the DB cloth I used for the first layer).I screwed a piece of scrap foam to the bow and 'surformed' it level, to make a nice fitting foam insert to place the bow web on top.
I bedded the foam-insert in glue, then glued the bow web on top and used the squeezed out glue to more-or-less form a fillet on the inside. After that I taped on the inside in the still wet fillet, thinking this would give a better bond than waiting for the glue to set and trying to sand in this difficult to reach area.

I wasn't really pleased with the way the bow web looked, as it was a bit chunky and messy because of all the glass overlaps and carbon-tapes. However, after fitting the bow web it became clear how little of it will ever be visible again. Of course I knew that by reading the plan, but somehow it's different to see it right before your eyes in stead of on a piece of paper. The front of the bow web is the only 'messy' place visible. I'll tidy it up after glassing the outside of the hull.

Bow web - part 1

I can't work further on the main hull because I didn't finish the bow web in time.
Ian sent me the G10-tubing necessary for making the web. Wow, those tubes are............expensive. I guess the mechanical properties of the tubes justify their price.
I left the foam of the bow web a bit oversize to hold the G10-tube in place. After filling I'll cut it back to the correct size.
Filling complete. I only have to fill the HD-insert for the bow pole before I can laminate the web.

lamination almost complete

Last few days I've laminated the gunwale area and the cabin side, planked the deck and laminated the deck. I glued the deck-foam with putty instead of PU-glue and this worked much better (see earlier post about glueing the deck of the first hull half).
Although I worked really hard to get it right, there were still some bad spots and bubbles in the laminate. I know, it's not a big deal to patch them but it was still very frustrating. I thougth I should by now be able to make a flawless laminate. I suspect using the peelply might be part of the problem, as I was sure the laminate was perfect before I put it on. Maybe the laminate has shifted/lifted while I was putting the peel ply on. For the future (outer skin) I'm going to try to laminate the large areas without peelply.

Picture of the aft beam bulkhead, held in place with a jig (see the posts about building the first hull half).

Now I'll only have to fix the front beam bulkhead and make and fit the bow web before I can join the two halves. Looking forward to that.....

bit of progress

I know, last few posts show the same sort of pictures of a half build half-hull over and over again. In case people are interested in the progress I'll post them anyway.

gunwale area + cabin side plankedcloth cut prior to laminating

I ran out of cloth (again!), while I thought I now had ordered plenty to finish the whole project. GRRRR have to use precious time to get a few meters of 400 gr cloth.
Maybe I'll try to laminate the gunwale + cabinside this evening (or maybe I'll stay at home for a change).

lower hull half laminated

Lower hull half has been laminated with the help of my brother. Temperature is dropping in Hollland. I have to use three small heaters to keep the workshop the recommended minimum of 24 hours at minium of approximately 18 degrees C.
I'll plank and laminate this hull half in three steps: first the lower part (done), then the gunwale area and cabin side (in progress) and finally the deck. This will result in one extra glass-overlap compared to the 'two-step' I did on my first hull half, but it's much easier when working alone (better access and smaller areas to laminate).