Moving forward

Sometimes during the build when I would abruptly run head first into the learning curve, I would get a little discourage, feeling like I was doing two steps back for each step forward. Right now, I feel like good progress is being made and things are headed  in a good direction.

I chipped out all the burnt foam and prepped and primed the metal where the paint was burned off from welding on the super structure. This was a pretty tame job, which did not take much time and had me more convinced how easy foam is to deal with.

With all the metal now primed, I spent a morning patching in the framing and cleaning the boat to be ready for the foam crew. Once the foam job was ordered, we waited about a week for them to show up, and watched them blow through our job in about an hour.

The last big welding job on board is to weld the exhaust stack between the salon deck and the roof. I had to buy a sheet of 1/8", and some angle to build two access panels. I was tempted to not sand blast this last welding job, but I've blasted every piece of metal in this boat and there's no reason to start doing things wrong now. All the chimney parts are cut, fabricated, blasted and primed, waiting for me to weld them in the chimney. I'll post a blog on that job after I get it finished this weekend.

All the lumber to finish the ceilings is sitting in the barn ready to get primed. 4" bead board will be used for the master cabin and dressing room. 6" V groove will be used for the salon and wheel  house. The ceilings will go in before the wall material. The ceilings will get painted.

When I started on this build I did a lot of reading on what  trawler is, and what makes a trawler a go anywhere type boat. Naval architects use ratios to qualify their work, and one of the important ratios for me was the displacement to length ratio or the D/L. This ratio tells one what the heft of the boat is. How much fuel you can carry, how much water, food, parts, tools, toys, etc... can be put safely on board. For me having a go anywhere boat meant having a relatively heavy D/L. The D/L ratio has sort of been relegated to my brains back burner until the boat yard put a 38' Marine Trader next to me. True, I'm a 44' boat vs the 38 Marine Trader, but the difference in the D/L between the two vessels is stark.

This time next week, I should be full blown back in to wood working. Winter is sneaking up on us, and I'm looking forward to how easy it will be to keep the boat warm, and the sweet smells of the freshly milled Cherry lumber.

Cheers