I'm building a boat to a design by Paul Fisher of Selway Fisher Design in the UK. The design is called "Able" and her vital statistics are: overall length 4.88m (16ft), beam 2m (6ft 6in) and design weight is 360kg (790lbs). You can read more about this design at http://www.selway-fisher.com/OtherDB.htm#KANE.

I intend to procede more slowly with this boat than I did with either of my other boat building projects (see links below on the right). This is, after all, a hobby and there are other things to do. So, updates to this blog might happen once every week or two. Come back and see.

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Monday, 24 June 2013

Floor Panels and Ballast Tank Tops

 
I am installing two removable floor panels aft of the centreboard case and two forward of it. These panels are supported by rails around the edges and will be held in place by the catches that I described in an earlier post. The first photo shows the aft panel on the port side. The finger holes allow it to be lifted. The outer edge will be held down by the rim of the inspection hatch and by a small wood block in the aft corner (not yet fitted).
 

Here are the two aft panels in place.


There are six ballast tank tops either side of the centreboard case. These are made from a different ply with a browner colour than the removable floor panels. There are holes in the forward panels for inspection hatches to be fitted so that the centreboard pivot bolt can be accessed if necessary in the future.


The last photo shows the air vent for the ballast tanks on the port side, there is a similar vent on the starboard side. When the boat is launched the black plug can be left in place; this will prevent air leaving the ballast tank and so not much water (if any) will enter through the open port in the bottom of the ballast tank. If the plug is removed water will enter through the bottom of the tank and push the air out until the tank is full. Putting the plug back in will stop the water running out. When retrieving the boat onto its trailer the plug is removed and the ballast tanks drain as the boat leaves the water.

 
At this stage the ballast tank tops are loose. Tomorrow the inside of the tanks will be given multiple coats of epoxy to seal them and then bedded down in thickened epoxy to fix them permanently in place.
 
June 26th, 2013. Here is an update to June 24th's post. Yesterday was a cold day and the epoxy was slow to go off so I didn't get as far as expected. I also realised that it would be sensible to install the centreboard while I still had full access for fitting the pivot bolt. The result is that the tanks are still open.
 
Here is another photo of the vent pipe. it is made up from 15mm PVC pipe and fittings. From left to right: a threaded end fitting with all but 9mm of the thread cut off, pipe, 90 degree elbow, 45 degree elbow, threaded female fitting and a black threaded plug.
 
 
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