Positioning the frames

in their places makes one appreciate the size of the Belhaven. 

Because of the planned modifications, temporary frames take the place of the bulkheads. Which turns out to be a good thing because the geometry of the hull after the "butterfly" is opened needs a tweak here and there to make them fit. Stitch and glue is cumbrous and unwieldy for such a large boat.

If-I-knew-then-what-I-know-now:  Should have made well-secured, external cradles at each of the bulkhead stations to help keep all the panels aligned. Too much time is spent checking, leveling, fine-tuning the components that it takes away a lot from actual building. And this has to be repeated before and after every session to make sure no errors get built in.

By end of October 2012:  With a little coaxing all the seams butt neatly and the copper wire stitches are drawn tight.

Encouraged by the the hull going 3D, a lot of work gets done at this time.

The temporary transom frame as situated in the plans straightens out the side panels.

Fitting temporary frames at Bulkhead stations 1 and 2.  Hull interior looks cavernous because the sides are 8 to 10 in. taller than original plan to allow for cutting room should I decide to increase the freeboard.








Bulkhead 3 (with quarter-berth cutout) in position. Original freeboard height is indicated by the horizontal members of the temporary frames.

View of the bow end.

















The new transom temporary frame at is positioned 21 ft. with an 18 deg. rake.

By early November filleting and taping of the keel and chines are done. First, fiberglass cloth tapes are cut diagonally from stock under close monitoring by the supervisors doing night duty.

Then masking tape is applied to the outside seams so filleting goo doesn't leak to the floor and stitching wire ends are capped with foam after drawing blood enough times.

The webbing around the hull is hooked up to a chain block at the rafters; the hull can be raised if the keel stitches need to be manipulated.

Finally filleting the inner corners of the joints with a mixture of equal parts fumed silica and wood flour added to epoxy until it's stiff enough not to run. The fillet is then taped over with three layers of fiberglass.

The car batteries are to hold down a slight hump that formed at the junction of the 6mm-9mm scarf when the "butterfly" was unfolded.