Let the planking begin!

 We prepared all of the planking for the port-side deck of the main hull today.  The forward deck can be formed as a single piece due to the minimal curvature in this area.  We still need to form and join the planks to the form frame.

Similar to the forward deck, the coaming just aft of the main cabin (lower left in photo) is also formed from a single piece of foam.  The deck is slightly thicker than the lower hull, but still forms easily.  Once laminated, it should make a strong surface to support the crew while they shake out a reef on a brisk sail.

Deck form frame

 We finished installing fairing strips to form the deck of the main hull.  You might notice the fold in the deck just aft of the third form frame where the cabin top meets the foredeck.  The cockpit area aft of the ninth form frame is built with flat plates cut from full size patterns, therefore no fairing strips are needed.  We will pre-glass these plates on the vac table soon.  The deck includes much less area than the hull below the gunwale, so we should be able to form the core and glass it quickly.

Here is a view of the deck form frame from the aft end.  The board laying on the gunwale is what I walked on to attach some of the fairing strips to the frame.  I will need to work on the inside when forming the foam core as well, so this board will come in handy to distribute my weight without damaging the incomplete hull.  The lack of easy access to the work surface is the trickiest part of building this section.

Thar be monsters here ...  This creepy bug was hanging out on my foam core.  It's about the size of a small dog ... well maybe a little smaller than that, but not much.  I decided to let it stay rather than risk screaming like a little girl when it jumps on me for touching its foam core!

Up to our glass in epoxy!

 Fear not loyal readers, we have returned at last with new and exciting reports of our trimaran construction adventures!  Its been about two months since our last update, and I wish I could say the hiatus was due to fantastic sailing in exotic locales, but alas we were just busy with other things.  Between vacations, and softball games, and getting the old monohull ready for the sailing season, and the occasional head cold, progress on the tri slowed to the pace of a ferroconcrete sloop on a windless morning.  Nonetheless, we did make some progress up to today, including filling and sanding the interior surface of the port side of the main hull in preparation for laminating.

Today was the "Big Day" when Dawna and I finally recommitted ourselves to transforming this construction from a work of modern art to a wind-driven hot rod worthy of Nereus's admiration.  So today was the first of four remaining glassing marathons leading to the completion of this boat.

Friday I sanded the entire surface with 80-grit to smooth the filler in the various screw holes, gaps, and other blemishes.  The filler was well cured, having sat untouched for about a month.  The surface was already nearly perfectly fair, thanks to my expert planking skills (I am sure Napoleon Dynamite would be envious of my skills).  Yesterday I precut all of the glass, including various reinforcements.  This morning I did some final blemish blending with epoxy filler prior to glassing.  Then Dawna and I started laminating.  As you can see in the photos, five hours later we had a beautiful .. . er, pool slide?!  Yeah, kinda looks like a water slide from this perspective, but in actuality it is the lower port side of the main hull.

I like the way this view accentuates the complex curves of the hull.  This inward bulge in the hull will eventually cradle the port float when folded, keeping the boat street legal when trailered, while still a speed demon on the water!  Next we will finish planking the upper section of the hull, including the deck and cockpit.  Then a little more laminating (more like a 10-km bike race than a 26-mile marathon), and we will be ready to add bulkheads.  More fun yet to come ...