Ramp

What can you say about the ramp that goes at the stern, between hulls? It will make it easy to get on and off the boat, of course, and it will be absolutely wonderful for going swimming in the ocean. The warm ocean. On warm days. And now we have a ramp, more or less, though not yet the ladder and netting that goes between the sections.

We are missing the warm ocean and warm days.

Something to tie to

Any Anne of Green Gables fans out there? One of the characters in one of the books had a lovely expression -- if you could really rely on something, she'd explain it and add, "And that's something you can tie to!"

We now have something to tie to, in the shape of two purpleheart lashing strakes.  

What's a lashing strake? Well, we're using the Tiki upgrades to make this Narai, and that means the beams and the two hulls will ultimately be lashed together. The beams are lashed to blocks on the side of the hull, and the lashing strake is a single long piece of wood that connects the blocks. The astute observer will realize immediately that this means the ropes don't actually go around the lashing strake. Instead, it's what keeps the ropes from popping off the blocks. So technically it isn't something you could tie to. We will be able to tie dinghies, ladders or whatever to the lashing strake itself, though, so it seems to be within the meaning. 

Here it is, on the port side, with our beam mock-up and bit of string in position to show how it all works. (You can see two of the real beams in the picture too -- they're the white pieces at the bottom of the hull.) At this point it's just dry fit and bolted into place. It won't be finally attached until we've painted the hull, and we won't be painting the hull until the weather warms up.

Pre-strake, there was some work to be done on the workshop. We bought lovely purpleheart for this project, once again from West Wind, and it came in 17 foot lengths. Lovely! Except that the shop is 20 feet long, and it just wasn't going to go through the bandsaw. Lots of discussion ensued, and finally a customized solution was achieved.

The shop now has three new windows -- one strategically placed to allow sawing of long pieces on the band saw, and two to allow the same pieces to work their way through the jointer/planer. It all works beautifully. And the tools, from Grizzly, did a wonderful job on the purpleheart. 

An additional benefit -- should they so choose, Ziggy and his friends will now be able to look in the workshop from their meadow.

Deck! No, really, deck!

... or at least the deck jigsaw for the starboard hull is completed! And in truly exciting news, we're into the second bundle of plywood!

This step is really exciting -- definitely worth all four exclamation points.

Beam troughs

The beams that hold the catamaran together rest in beam troughs as they pass over the top of each hull. The beams are ultimately lashed to the hull; there will be lots of posts upcoming about the various bits and pieces that the beams rest on and are lashed to.

For the moment, here are the beam troughs. All four are now glassed and faired and look lovely -- lovelier to those who know what a painstaking process it is, of course!

One of the most exciting days was when Trevor cut the openings on the hull sides where the beams will emerge. Definitely a "beginning to look  lot more like a boat" moment.

Then came much sanding...

... and glassing.

We're delighted to get this done before the weather gets colder. It's all cured now, and lots more sanding has occurred.

Since we have cold cure hardener, we are able to glue things using epoxy during cooler weather. Glassing at low temperatures feels a bit stressful, though. Somehow the thought of "What if it doesn't..." creeps in! All cured now, so no panic.

More deck supports

One week on, and more deck structure has appeared. This part goes fast!

From the stern,  you can see the aft hatch opening.
Looking over the bow, you can see the palm trees...  you do need a fairly good imagination.

Deck!

Well, deck supports, really. Yesterday we arrived home from an afternoon spent working with friends in the Gabriola Commons garden, and discovered that Trevor had built the deck supports over the forward berth.

From above. Hard to see in the picture,  but essentially there are boards going from one side of the boat to the other (the deck support beams), crossed by pieces going between the bulkheads (the deck stringers). The spaces between deck stringers are filled in with packing pieces. The wood is beautiful Douglas fir. All will be glued with expoxy, and screwed with bronze screws. 

Looking forward from inside the chart room. This looks mostly like a picture of a much-used clamp collection and is Much Less Exciting than the actual sight.

Interiors

In 1978, Woody Allen released a movie called Interiors. 

I don't remember the plot; all I remember is that things moved slowly, and everything was painted white.

Catamarans are sort of like that. Trevor and Robbie are working away on the interior of the starboard hull. Many of the pieces are in place. We have a companionway, a chart table with three shelves underneath, lovely little triangular shelves for holding glasses in each of the berths, berth supports... 

The head is still under construction (it's going in the aft compartment) and there will be some shelves and possibly a small workbench in the forward compartment. All in all, though, the interior is coming along beautifully. 

And it isn't all painted white. The interiors of the bilges are indeed a very bright white. They're intended for storage and are covered up with sole panels, and we thought the brighter the better when it comes time to look for things. Above the sole all interior spaces will be Hatteras off-white -- an Interlux Brightside polyurethane paint. Two coats of primer, two coats of top coat, with time to dry between each coat... this is not the quick part. 

Beam support blocks. They support the beam ends in their troughs,
and connect to the lashing strakes outside.

The companionway. Boots by Aldo. Maybe.

Looking down into the bright white bilge. This section is under a berth.
Resemblance to an enamelled bathtub is coincidental.

Looking aft, through the chart room into the aft berth.
Easy to see the contrast between bright white and Hatteras off-white. 

Shelves at the end of the berth. These will be painted -- wait for it! -- Hatteras off-white...
but edged with oiled Douglas Fir. These shelf edges (in three berths) will be the only
unpainted wood in the interior. The goal is to launch rather than varnish.

Dreaming of the tropics... though once the deck is on
the berth won't be quite this bright...

The chart table, dry fit, with coffee cup already installed.