Laminating the stringers bearers and bulkheads

Here are some videos of Boris and Pavol laminating the boats stringers and bulkheads and constructing the engine bearers from treated wood and high density foam,

2nd stage of the build,

So November began with Pavol and Boris cutting out the stringers from foam and laminating them to the hull with 3 layers of chopped strand matting,

This took one week to complete, sanding and filling more sanding and preparation for the flow coat which will be going on next week,

We also cut out the transom bulkhead from the marine ply and bonded that to the hull,
51-54 mm thickness was required for the Mercruiser Bravo 3 out drive,

See photos in the last post of how this was achieved without any gaps in between sheets,
We propped the bulkhead off the stringers and let the resin go off, the marine ply bulkhead was laminated to the hull 2 layers of glass matting and 3 on the corners,

The complete bulkhead was then sanded and prepared for flow coating also next week,

Next the out drive  opening needed to be cut out and the Bravo 3  fitted so we made up a template out of ply wood and bolted that on to the transom and got the cut out really exact,
Thanks to Sylvester's keen eye, note that  he also made the template for this job,
He is a man of many hidden talents,

So far we joined up all the stringers from the stern of the boat to the first bulkhead fitted transverse stringer for the fuel tank to be fitted on and fitted the transom bulkhead,
With everything laminated and sanded prepared for gel washing with flow coat,
Boris is certainly an expert in this field and that really shows in his workmanship,

Next we bolted the out drive to the back of the boat and carefully placed in the Mercruiser 4,2 litre
engine in order to take measurements for the engine bearers.

The forklift came in very handy for this procedure where millimetre precision was required,
This called for professional forklift driving and a cool head from our man Pavol Cerva,
Pavol manoeuvred the engine and myself and Boris guided the engine in,
I don't know why but the moment the engine is in the boat is always a special occasion
where a milestone has been reached and the excitement between the three of us really showed that too,
We then further constructed the gantry to hold the block and tackle to allow easy raising and lowering of the engine to take measurements etc,

I also met with a David Campbell last week in Mayo, David has a Procharter P3 too she is  10.5 meters and holds a P5 certificate which allows carriage of 12 paying passengers 30 miles off shore,
I went to visit him after Alan from procharter recommended I do,
Alan said you may see some thing on his boat you would like to do or some things he did you wouldn't like or may leave out,
He certainly has a fine boat with everything where it should be,
Including internal seating and an outdoor toilet which is a great idea,
He had Procharter build his boat in 2007 I remember reading about it with envy in a fishing magazine back then,
We discussed boats for a couple of hours and he gave me a lot of information and some useful tips,
He recommended that I apply for the P3 certificate for my boat and printed me off the application form,

I have filled out the form and ready to send off this week to the department of transport,
Most of the things recommended to do I was going to do anyway but some of the fire safety equipment and general safety will be extra to what I had planned but will be well worth it,

I had planned to fit the 350 litre tank I got from Arthur Hailday but the department recommend stainless steel only so that is what I'm gonna fit in the boat,
So next  I called to Galway stainless and asked them to quote me for a 1 meter x 1 meter x 520mm 316 stainless fuel tank with sipper tube, return tube,  air vent and screw on filling cap,
Brona from Galway stainless called me back yesterday and recommended I have a brandy before she told me the price,
Brona was not wrong the stainless steel tank will cost 4 times as much as the plastic one but will be a lifelong investment,
This tank will hold 520 Liters which may also be of benefit should I ever want to got to Crookhaven in West Cork,

So next job is aligning the engine with the out drive and I have ordered the Mercruiser alignment tool from the UK and that should be here in the next couple of days too,
This is needed to achieve exact alignment between the engine and out drive,

I also ordered the Stainless bollards for the stern and the bow from Gary Ghio in Northern Ireland
It seem this is becoming a cross border project as I am buying half the stuff up north,
Engine from Paul, tank from Arthur and the bollards from Gary all from Northern Ireland
I suppose their economy can do with the cash and they are offering real value at the moment,
The stern bollards are 3mm stainless 76mm wide and the bow bollard is 105mm wide,
They are currently being manufactured and should be arriving any day now,

We achieved a lot in November and I am very happy with the progress so far,

Well done lads,

So that's it  for now keep posted for more details,

Laminating the stringers and fitting the transom bulkhead

1st Stage of the build,

This week we set about the 1st stage of the build,
And everyone is  still very excited (thank god)

Firstly we put a structure inside the wheelhouse to straighten it up and leveled the boat,
Then we built a tower each side of the boat out of pallets and 4 - 9" x 2"'s
This needed to be strong enough to hold the 550kg engine when we lower it in to the boat
in order to make some calculations regarding the height and location of the bearers,
Pavol got a 40mm steel bar from his previous employer and I have ordered a 1000kg block and tackle
from Bannor motors, This will allow us to raise and lower the engine and also roll it from side to side,
to insure accurate measurement of the engine location,

The bronze sea cock and bronze scoop strainer arrived this week with the Vetus fuel tank sipper tube kit from ASAP supplies UK and the 350 liter fuel tank from Arthur in Sure clean Northern Ireland and VDO doppler tank gauge will be arriving Monday,

We have had a few site meetings with boat builder Seamus Higgins, then one with Paddy and his buddy Chris who has offered to help with the wiring and he really knows his stuff when it come to 12 volt systems,
Then another with the latest addition to the team Boris who is a Polish guy who worked for 4 years in a boatyard in Poland building fiberglass boats,
He knows everything there is to know about laying up fiberglass and said he would be delighted to come on board,
He is a friend of Pavols and yet again Pavol is showing his talent as the guy who always know a guy
who can do something better than all of us, he always comes up with a specialist,

The main content of the meetings were regarding the structure of the boat, where to locate the engine
bearers and the engine room walls etc,
what material to use marine ply,red deal or just fiberglass and Nidaplas, Questions,Questions,
After careful consideration the decision is to have one 8 inch bearer across taking the weight of the engine and make it from marine play laminated with fiberglass and resin,

Also the sheets of Nidaplast ( that's the honeycomb structure that the bulkheads will be made from)
are also due to arrive on Monday,
I got the Mercruiser template from David Crawford Marine in the UK he was referred to me by Paul in Coastal rides where I bought the Volvo Penta outdrive for my last boat,
He said call David Crawfords he should have the template,
I got talking to one of his guys who gladly gave me some good advice on transom angles and thickness of the transom etc, a very helpful chap I must say,
So the next stage will be to cut out the hole for the outdrive with my template from Crawfords, lower the engine into the boat to measure for the engine bearer height, construct the bulkheads with the help of Boris, fit the fuel tank and bulkheads,

so that's the plan for the month of November,

It would be safe to say we have enough to do to get all that completed by the end of the month,

Check in again for more progress and don't forget to comment if you have any ideas,

Planning measuring more planning and more measuring