Fitting Plywood to the Superstructure
I’m sealing the shape of Ikaroa’s lower hulls, and fitting these large plywood panels has been the most stressful part of the build so far. The last central panel is finally fixed, so I’m taking a week away before returning to finish the hull sides and laminate them.
Well, I wonder if you know what is THE MOST STRESSFUL moment when you are building your boat?
For me, it is THIS. Putting plywood on the superstructure we built over the months. Until now, any mistake could be rectified quite easily, but making an error now would be a disaster. Each of the panels here have at least half a square meter, some close to one square meter of epoxy bonding. If one of these central ones is twisted a degree it will cause the ends of the other two to miss the backbone completely. And rectifying it would be extremely difficult, time-consuming and expensive.
Not to mention that now we are sealing the shape of the lower hulls. If I'd make a mistake fitting a bulkhead or a stringer - I could easily fix it. After fitting hull sides it is done. Just some filler, laminate and a hardwood shoe and that's the end product.
No wonder it took me several weeks and tormenting Hanneke with calls and emails (sorry!) since at the start I have twisted one of the middle panels and despite checking absolutely EVERYTHING couldn't find a reason for other panels not fitting the hull AT ALL. Well, it was stressful in the extreme. Now I have fixed the last of the central panels and it is done. Tomorrow we go to Scotland for a week, Adam to work but for me, it is a holiday. No boat, no boatbuilding, just rest and resetting before coming back to finish fixing the hull sides, laminating it and turning over. And after that it is just pleasure - essentially doing the same work again, nothing scary ;)
#TIKI38 #IKAROA #THESEANATION #BUILDINGAWHARRAM #allelectricboat
Monika Matis Adam Beret Mańczuk
The Sea Nation
