Preparing for Hull Turning

The internal welds on the frames showed on the outer side of the topside plates. It is a veri superficial distortion that we hope we can manage

The problems on the bottom plates are perfectly solved

We finished the welds on the rub rail and sheer line.

And started preparing the cradle to be used after turning

Welding Welding Welding...

Now I understand when Brian was saying that.
You are almost there, looking forward to turning the hull, but there is still something to be welded.
The sheer tube inside and outside, the rub rail. Only the rub rail 12.70 meter times 2 times 2 sides = 50 meters to be chain welded moving back and forth on the side of the boat not always in a comfortable position!

And the polish the welds

And still they will need another pass with Scotch Brite.

But now we have decided that January 4th we shall turn the hull.

Sheer Tube

We did a little test on how to polish the external welds

Then we placed the last piece of sheer tube (50x5) that was missing

Bottom Plates Distortion

After completing the outside weld the was a distortion due to plate elongation.

We tried co adjust it by placing 1500 kg of lead.

Pushing from inside

But finally we decided to cut to release the tension and weld again

It worked pefectly!

Salon Nautic Paris 2011

A visit to Paris before Christmas is always pleasant. A nice plateau of oysters with a good Sancerre!
The nautic expo is a good excuse. By the way it is the only place in Europe where you can see aluminium boats from Allure and Alubat.

Allure has acquired Garcia. They are making this strange combination of aluminium hull with plastic deck and interior. The tecnique reduces costs and allows to create a deck with a look more attractive to modern sailors.

But I would never trust this rail!

I am now looking more at construction details than at appearance. Forepeak of the 45". Clean a little bit "light" construction.

 Nice mast support.

Good finish

Also the 445 Ovni has some interesting ideas

The air conduct for the engine

The rollbar with the tender lift copied from Jean Pierre Brouns idea on the GT40

A solution for the anchor

 But wood is still wood!

BackChipping

Before completing the outside seams we need do do backchipping

Removing the Strongbacks

The internal seam have been welded. The effect of the strongbacks was very positive. The retraction on the weld pulled the strongbacks toward the inside and as a matter of fact generated a compound curvature in the longitudinal direction.

The welding of the outside will complete the work

Meanwhile we positioned the forepeak deck

Rudder Shaft

Meanwhile we completed the rudder shaft

Welding the seams: INSIDE

Before stating to weld we positioned an aspiration device

Then we started welding. I had a lot of thinking on where to start, transversal or longitudinal.
On Robert instructions it said transversal according to Kasten paper on metal boat builing.
But Kasten in his paper says longitudinal first. The topside plates against the radius seams have already a perfect fit and they do not need to bend. If we weld the transversal first they might move and it would be difficult to bring them back in position. And they are in the final position now.
So longitudinal first and let's hope for the best!

Then the transversal radius

And when possible bilateral!

Ballast

While preparing for welding the ballast was delivered.

5500 kg, 5.5 tons millions of shots that were collects in driving ranges.

We shall see if we will be able to use them as they are or if we shall need to melt them.

Preparing for Welding

Tack welding is finished. Everything is in place, I hope.

Now we prepare for real welding by placing the strongbacks on the transversal seams.

We also spend some time looking for instrument needed to obtain a nice finish, like this one from 3M for going around pipes

Sheer

We had some discussion about the sheer line. There are many possibilities according to personal taste and purpose. Ar the end we choose to use the 50x5mm tube as proposed by Robert Christinger.

So this is how it looks like

 or

Side Deck

After placing the rub rail that halps to keep the shape, we went back to the deck.

The plates needed some cutting, few mm, with a "modified", by Pietro, plasma cutter.

Then we lifted the, clamped and pushed in proper position

Fine adjustment

To obtain a perfect fit