From the files of “the things they don’t tell you when setting out to build a boat”, here’s an example of where lots of hours get chewed up. The other day I posted the photo of the beam-sleeve installed in the float. Truth is, there was still a finishing step to do – installing a stiffening stringer on each side (in front of the bulkhead, and aft of the bulkhead ). So here’s that same view, now with the stringer ‘shelf’ completed. That’s three hours of making vacuum-formed shelves, cutting it to fit, bedding it in the bonding putty, then finishing top and bottom sides with all the angle-strapping fiberglass. All done inside very awkward spaces. So it was 3 hours times 4 stringers = 12 hours in the past three days for these insignificant looking, but structurally crucial parts. And we’ll do it all over again next month on the port side float :)

Ted, Jim and Drew are wondering about the canted floats; go back and look at the photo taken from right alongside the rear corner – the design presents a clean vertical face on the outside of the hull, making that a good face for docking. When heeled under sail, the inboard side shape will give nice buoyancy. The deck at the docks will be quite sloped, and I noticed this comment addresses by Farrier in 2004 as he offered a ‘flat deck platform’ modification to the F39 plans. I’ll be handling it by locating the nets attachment rail fairly far inboard on the deck, and fairing it in as a good foothold. That’s the plan, anyway!
(And yes, Dad, our actual shape looks just like the photos online of the completed f36s)

Here’s a close up look at how the beam has a snug fit into its sleeve, and the sleeve goes in thru the deck of the float hull. All those gaps will get filled in with high density epoxy ‘putty’.

<

Last night the sleeves were bonded in to the float hull. Each bulkhead (one seen below) has a large notch cut so the sleeve straddles it, and gets glued and glassed from both sides. Spending an hour or so inside the float this week reminds me just how big these caverns are; they would easily fit bunks and bikes and way too much accumulated treasure on long journeys!
These steps are going quickly, so the beam fairing structures should get mocked up by the weekend.

Step one this weekend was pulling the floats put of the shop so the main hull could slide to the left wall, making enough room to mount the beams and starboard float for the first time.
Griffin and I are reminded how big the finished boat will be when we take these 35 footers out for a walk…

First we mounted the beams and their diagonal supports. It was a big job as they are much heavier than at the trial fitting months ago, and with the requisite protective brackets in the beam receiving pockets, they no longer fit vertically. The plans warn that some grinding may be necessary. Yep, a big mess with carbon dust sent flying in the shop. Then we jacked the boat up a few inches so the float would slide under the beam ends.

After a lunch break, I spent the afternoon with various blocks and a big automotive floor jack getting the float in to position so the beam sleeves can be bonded in to the float bulkheads inside. Everything is lining up as it should, but it surprising to see how canted inboard the floats will be. We got used to seeing them perfectly level on deck in their cradles, but the decks will slant in on the water. Seems safer, and more buoyant on the leeward side underway.

Evenings this week will hopefully see the structure all built inside the floats to secure the beams in place.

Now that the big beams are structurally complete, the outer ends serve as the molds for making receptacle ‘sleeves’ that will be mounted inside the floats. Since these sleeves are built exactly to the shapes of the individual beams, I now see how the beams get a perfect fit into the outer ends of the boat. Sounds easy, but the first sleeve-making was a nasty failure. Didn’t do enough mold-release prep, and the whole new 26″ long sleeve seized up around its beam and would not slide off. Ended up sawing it all away and damaging the beam finish. VERY frustrating and a loss of a couple days work.
So tonight was a happy moment when the second attempt version slid off as planned!

After the sawzall job, advice came in to test the slippery tape I had used – the cheap HarborFreight stuff turned out to ‘catch’ the epoxy, while some 3M tape had a better release. Lesson learned. Next up was adding a lot of mold release wax over the slippery tape. Helped a lot, but I’ll do another layer for the other sleeves. Third note was to glass on some blocks to the slides for hammer blows. Emotionally satisfying to smash away, but ineffective in causing the sleeve to actually budge. What worked was the brilliantly simple idea from IanF to lever off of the beam bolt. In the photo you see a nut and washer between the beam and a metal lever bar. The bar was temporarily glassed to the sleeve, but not the beam. It took about five full revs of the nut, and the whole sleeve finally released. I might be the last person on the planet to make F36 beams, but if any other builders read this, I’d warn that this lever idea is the only way to actually get these things to budge unless your beams are PERFECTLY shaped and faired. The compound curve and length of the forward sleeves is too much for simply sliding off the beam.
Anyway – it finally worked and what a huge relief!
The four fairings are built now, and after finishing up these sleeves, it’s time to put the whole thing together, starboard side first.

(These photos show sleeve 1 with only the initial two glass layers. Will move to the workbench to add two more glass layers, beef up the end and bed the heavy duty beam bolt washer, and grind away the temporary lever strap and pounding blocks)