We advanced this project through the structural laminations and it came out nice and strong. The engine mounted up just fine, and titled up to the sailing position very well.

Once the motor was in place, Dad and I built a triangular wave-piercing shield for the motor leg, with the idea of protecting the vulnerable looking exposed transmission linkage (that you see 2/3 down the leg of almost all Japanese small & mid size outboards).

The diagonally cut slot lines up with the pull starter cord of the engine. I suppose it could actually be done from a launched dinghy but not very realistic to pull start this thing from on deck. We’ll stick a rubber plug in there until it ever/never is needed.
The final step was rigging the engine controls and a conduit tube from the cockpit through a corner of the aft cabin, the ceiling of the engine(less) room, through the emergency gear locker and out through the hull, forward of the beam far enough to make a gradual right hand turn to meet the motor. I like the controls here, in between the feet of the driver and not asking passengers to move their legs…

Now follow the conduit tube, made of Semi-flexible 1.5″ PVC “spa pipe”, from that corner by the Suzuki control box:

The black ‘Y’ inside the emergency gear locker will allow for a split in the rigging tunnel, with the gas line and battery wires heading forward in to the engine/equipment room and the shifter/throttle cables plus key start/electronics wires passing through to the cockpit. Outside the hull, there’s just enough flex in the white pipe to allow for the swinging of the whole engine bracket.
While that big white pipe is kind of ugly, it’ll be somewhat out of sight under the net and beam. Plus it will be a useful grab bar when approaching the grocery-loading chores thru the escape hatch from the dinghy.
Overall we’re very satisfied with how this all came out, especially since it’s a custom job taking inputs from various minds and boats. Thanks again Keith!

And today we got our heads around how to build the 8′ long bow sprit in carbon, instead of the sticker shock of “a grand” just to buy the carbon tube premade. Turns out it all starts with the concept of forming the new tube inside a mold pipe that has been split lengthwise, and blowing up a balloon bag from the inside once the materials are laid up in there and the pipe halves strapped together with clamps. This should be another interesting caper! Stay tuned for that one and meanwhile we’ll get back to the windshield tomorrow, making patterns for the acrylic window panels.

The shop closed at 3 today, just in time to get to the docks at Vallejo to crew for Charlie aboard F27 Tri Chi. It was like homecoming, as the boat was built just 2 months before Origami. We pounded thru BIG chop in San Pablo Bay, sailing fast to a nice 2nd place finish. Next time the chute goes up and the boat can win Vallejo beer cans! Nice driving Charlie :)

The wood mockup for sizing and positioning the engine has been measured and translated to structural parts. Everything is very light, except the solid hardwood actual “transom” piece cut from an old butcher block table. Sturdy and zero dollars – nice.

Here you can see the basic shape; the bracket makes an inset box shape to keep the motor as far forward as possible under the beam.

Getting the hinges on top securely attached seems a pretty big deal – do this wrong and the motor could fall in to the sea. So we’re doing lots of reinforcements underneath the foam triangle shaped cap.

This whole box shape is the structural part holding the motor. After it’s trial mounted later this week, we’ll add a wave-piercer / motor leg protector based on ideas from Keith Burrage’s lovely Skateaway tri back east. We all need to get a ride on that ship – the photos look fantastic!

The windshield frames are finally done and will get measured for the window inserts tomorrow. And the lazarette opening with a drip rail system went in today. More photos coming as those misc projects get finished. I was working on that main cabin skylight hatch base this afternoon when the Robin Williams news came over the radio. Seems like just a bit ago that Drew and I waved hello to him over burritos in Sausalito – so sad his torments ended a talented life at 63. Perhaps more sailing could have been a therapy :(

Oops, those custom hinge brackets to mount on the cross-beam turned out to place the hinge pin a couple of inches too far aft. So that’s two very strong but very useless parts for the bin. Took a new approach today tucking the hinge up under the net lashing tube, and building it all in place. The green piece is the G10 hinge tube, held in place by thick, fiberous epoxy putty.

The wood piece is a hardwood backing plate to help carry the motor’s force in to the beam. This new piece is adjoining the existing hardwood block that is the beam-to-hull anti compression pad.
Had to devise our own laminate schedule, so for the permanent record the hinge tube is held to the beam with two layers of 12oz uni glass, two layers of 12oz bidirectional and one layer of 45/45 double bias 17oz. All five layers wrap 48 inches long, reaching well out on the the beam fairing piece both top and bottom. Seems really comprehensive to me, but if any experienced builders reading this think otherwise, please holler. Thanks

The F36 plans call for a traditional inboard diesel engine and propeller shaft thru the bottom of the boat. We can’t do a sail drive because we want the boat to be able to sit on its hulls in zero water, as in the extreme tides of Baja or England. So… Here we go “off plan”, switching to an outboard engine on a swing-up mount on the back of the starboard beam. I’ve been thinking up an approach that is both temporary and long term; if we don’t like the outboard the entire mount can be easily removed with only 1lb of hinges left behind and the trampoline put back in the engine’s place. Or when a cost-effective electric pod drive solution becomes available we can switch over. Or if an inboard diesel is really the answer, that can be retrofitted at any future time.

The measurements for a Yamaha 25 long shaft were found online and we made a faux motor of Luan door skins to practice with placement. The net lashings tube almost looks like a motor mount hinge, but it’s not parallel to the waterline and it wasn’t built to the shear forces and weight of the motor. So we need to work around that feature, and not cut it off the boat. The rudder gudgeons seem like a good model for the motor mount hinges and we have some spare G10 tube and a 16″ piece of 1/2″ stainless steel rod that will make a nice hinge pin with the right bushings in place. First up is fabricating the hinges.

The funny shapes of the two pieces are what fit over the net lashing tubes on the beam. The other three will run on the top tab of the motor mount (yellow board is a stand in to see how this is going to work). I’m thinking the motor should be mounted as close to the hull as possible, as the hull shape curves away considerably down by the waterline. The weight should be tucked in close there, and things like the freezer and galley on the port side should counter balance this engine placement.

We’ll pick this project back up next week once the bushings are in hand so we can align all the hinges and permanently affix the two big ones to the beam (instead of that blue tape :)
Thinking we’ll want to wrap them at least 18″ around the beam in both directions with heavy weight uni-directional cloth.
PS – the mounting box will be made to push up against the big diagonal brace under the beam, so the motor forces are spread out on a couple of surfaces, not just the hinge pin.