Update:  March 07, 2004 0430 EST
The Miami Boat Show trip was a blast (as always) and I'm deluged with requested information, daily, from the multitude of vendors contacted during the trip.  Visiting with friends, old and new, is always a treat and this year's Miami show seemed like a big yachting-family reunion.  I'm already looking forward to next year's ... guess I'll fly-in from wherever :)
Meanwhile, back in Merritt Island, construction of SEDATION 4 resumed after everyone returned from Miami.  I hitched a ride back early, with the friendly crews of East Coast Sailing Association, aboard their charted tour bus from Port Canaveral, so had time to tinker with design nuances.  I revised the boom completely and am much happier with the new configuration.
Following extensive laminations of the hull-to-deck panels, we installed the Main Cabin Walls.  After this milestone, the visual rate of progress is astounding.  If you've viewed this page before,  just scroll down to the bottom for recent developments.  Categorizing images by "subject" is becoming more difficult as panels are joined to serve multiple functions.
The massive Main Bulkhead, which spans athwartship from the Mast Tube, was installed in half the anticipated time.  This closes-off the forward end of the pilothouse and becomes the aft walls of the staterooms.  Considerable effort was expended to assure perfect fit with optimized laminations, as this is THE most highly-loaded structure of the vessel's design.
My assembly program was revised, slightly, as we realized benefits from concurrent fabrication and installation of various sub-components.  Last-minute changes to lamination-schedules of bulkheads which intersect the Mast Tube resulted in substantial increases of structural integrity.  By initially  wrapping the Mast Tube in a continuous lamination of co-planar panels, considerable increases in stiffness were achieved.  Slightly more bi-axial fiberglass fabric was utilized but the results justify the effort.
Installing to Aft Roof section was a breeze.  Everything fit perfectly ... within ±.063" of nominal design values.  This panel, made in my Roof Mold, is somewhat heavy but geometrically precise so no secondary trim-and-fit operations were necessary.  I've created a new page just to document installation of the three roofs.
On-site fabrication on the staterooms' forward bulkhead resulted in a 60% reduction of projected time and expense vs assembly from individual 4' x 8' sheets of Nida-Core.  This huge panel was built in less than 2 days and fit perfectly, with no secondary operations required, when set in-place.  The panel is clamped along a huge I-beam to assure straightness during assembly.  Once laminated in-place to the bridgedeck, center wall and hulls, the pre-molded bedroom roof will be installed.
Here is a bird's eye view of the guest stateroom sleeping area showing the back side of the one-piece forward bulkhead.  At the intersection with the sloped center wall, there is almost 5' of vertical clearance.  There's no excuse for bumping your head in bed aboard SEDATION 4.  3.5" minimum clearance is provided around the queen size mattresses to facilitate making the beds without scraping knuckles :)
Numerous photos of all the various construction details exist but I just don't have time to organize and post them.  If you'd like to see a particular view, just e-mail me and I will post it accordingly.  ShopBot cut-files need tweaking before I cut the respective components and sleep would definitely be beneficial, so I'm going to wrap-up this update with an invitation to the "white hull" launching  on April 1, 2004.  SEDATION 4 will not be "finished-out" then (it's intended to be a perpetual work-in-progress anyway) but she'll float!  I'm excited about moving aboard and having a workshop/lab/office again!  Cocoa Beach is wonderful but I'm ready to be back on the water.  RSVP if you can make the launching.
Mini-update:  March 08, 2004  0400 EST I worked all weekend since the weather was so perfect for laminating.  A cold front is due, this morning, which will slow curing of the vinylester resin significantly.  The one-piece forward stateroom bulkhead is now installed.  I will pop the bedroom roof panel from the mold this morning and wash the mold-release agent off during the relatively warm (~70°) afternoon.  The roof will need trimming around the mast tube before installation.  I should have a bedroom by tomorrow!
Numerous little details are wrapped-up too. The overhead junctions between the side walls and decks were given a generous radius for extra headroom above the stairs.  This is also stronger than the original 90° corners.  The starboard side is shown at right.
Fabrication of the molded forward deck sections commences this morning.  Constructing the transom panels is my next big project.  The aft deck visible at right (protected by cardboard) will soon be obscured by the transom span.  It will be nice to have real steps instead of crawling-up those 47" sides  :)
David mailed a CD with QuickTime movies of his 3D rendering.  Wow!  IF you have the bandwidth ... download the file (35.1 Mb) and enjoy a photorealistic treat.     sed4_2.mov