Ron, in Sydney Australia, turned his hull over on 13 December 2006. He visited me in February 2007. We had some pleasant yarns, and he provided a host of photographs of which follows a small selection. The words are my own, taken from what I remember him saying at the time. So Ron, if there are any discrepencies, let me know!
Richard
Like Bob in Portland, Ron attached the ballast while the hull was still upside down. Hence the elaborate tackle to restrain it during the turning.
He also fitted the station 2, 6 and 8 bulkheads before the planking. Fortunately his work shed has an earth floor, so he was able to dig a hole the accomodate the top of the cabin bulkhead as the hull rotated!
The plywood is vusa, a Fijian timber. The lighter red in the keel is jarrah, while the darker is an unidentified red hardwood that Ron acquired secondhand. The colour contrasts are very pleasing. The whole vessel will be finished with Deks Olje (a synthetic oil that I will use in places on Skerry). Here the outside has been finished with the #2 (gloss) option.
That's a very solid looking keel!
Ron has meticulously glued (Bote Cote epoxy) thin strips of wood along the edge of each plank, and so cover the end grain of the cross laminations of the plywood. You can just see the slightly darker colour of the strips in this shot.
Good job that hole is there!
Over she goes.
The hull was braced across to take the strain.
This shot also shows how Ron has extended the design to include laminated frames at each station, not just 3 and 4.
Almost there.
And what a great looking hull. And it's comforting to know that the Deks Olje finish can be touched up really easily and so kept looking that good. (The pleasing timber colour contrast is reminiscent of that on Grebe, my Tammie Norrie, the outer surface of which is also finished in DeksOlje #2.)
And here's Ron putting a hard surface under a bogged trolley wheel.
You can see the lead ballast, which he cast himself.
Ron launched his boat on Saturday 14 March 2009. Here are his words...
My boat hit the water last saturday at Canada Bay on Sydney harbour, handled well, didn't get
the mainsail up pleased with how responsive it was. The diesel motor pushed it along quite well
My motor is further back than on Ibis straddling the bulkhead, plus the propeller looks as if it
might be further back.
And here are the photos...
Here's a detail of the steps for climbing into the cockpit.
