| Update: Dec 17,
2003 2100 EST |
|
| Fabrication of all 3 roof panels was completed efficiently. The Roof Mold works so well that my boat's builder has since utilized it to make 4 roof sections for other boats. 3" x 3/4" Nida-Core Valences were installed during the lay-up of the PilotHouse and Galley roof sections. These are typically screwed-on, during the finish-out stage, to provide shade for indirect lighting and to hide wires. By incorporating them into the roofs' laminations, additional stiffness is achieved. |  |
| The main cabin's side- and aft-walls are completed and ready to install. |  |
| Activity at Kit-Cat boats was hectic, last week, with the launching of "CatFish", a custom 39' Sports Fishing machine which began construction when I first arrived in Florida. Pictures and video clips are posted on the Kit-Cat web site. |  |
| Literally minutes after launching of the new boat, I was already rolling the hulls for SEDATION 4 out of the warehouse and into the assembly cradle. |  |
| Aligning the hulls to achieve precise parallel / level / perpendicular / plumb orientations is a rather time consuming chore. Utilizing a laser level, plumb bobs, my CAD layout, tape measures, a water level plus a plethora of blocks and shims, we finally achieved a front-to-rear level within ±1/16" at a side-to-side level within ±1/32" while maintaining ±1/8" between the hulls' centerlines within ±0.25º of vertical. Whew! Suffice it to say: this vessel is layed-up right. |  |
| Installation of the bridge deck, which connects the two hulls,
began immediately afterward. |
 |
| Capping the decks
of the two hulls is underway. 2 of 8 sections have been completed so
far. The patterns were cut from 3/4" R-Max insulation foam, using
the
ShopBot, and geometry from the 3D solid model simplified the task of
generating the pattern shapes. Ready-to-use surfaces are realized
by
laying-up the deck-cap panels on a flat formica mold surface. The
horizontal
inboard and slanted (4°) outboard surfaces are layed-up
simultaneously. A small gap was provided in the honeycomb core,
along
the hulls' centerlines, to permit flexing of the outer skin during
installation. These gaps will be filled when the caps are laminated to
the hulls' vertical extensions, so no stiffness is compromised.
Only 3
deck seams will require finishing per hull ... a significant
accomplishment for one-off custom yacht construction. Details
will be posted soon. |
 |
| Construction of the Mast
Tube is almost
complete. It should be ready to install by December 22. |
 |
| Oh yeah, the folks at ShopBot ran
a feature on
SEDATION 4 last
month. Cool huh? I have to move this weekend :( Seems that the wonderful beachfront space I've been occupying since June is pre-leased from January 01 - April 01 every year. My new unit (#47) is only 5 doors away but moving all my stuff is gonna be a royal PIA. Oh well ... soon I'll be moving aboard :}~ |
