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

Boat arrived today 24-10-12

Had a great chat with Alan from Procharter on Friday as I drove home from Dublin,
Great news he has come across some fiberglass items that he said I may be interested in
and I certainly am,
4 sections 8ft x 4ft   reinforced decking for the Aft deck a complete dash for the wheelhouse some helm boxes and an engine box complete with lid,
I took the lot off his hands without hesitation and it will all be delivered with the boat next week,
Oh forgot to mention Kennedy transport put me off again so the boat is coming in on the 23rd of October instead of the 16th now,
Alan gave me a few more tips on fitting the decking and we wished each other a nice weekend,
Today I met with another interesting guy named Seamus Higgins,
I went to school with his son Niall Higgins so we found some common ground apart from having a great first name,
He is a boat builder by trade and we had an extensive conversation about boat building,
I am going to have him giving me advice on the fiber glassing through out the build on a consultancy basis,
So far I have Alan from Procharter, Paul from DP Marine (Engine guy) and now Seamus Higgins as my professional advisers,
Looks like someone is looking after my interests regarding the boat,
Guardian Angels,

My Stainless steel rails being delivered

Spoke with Jonathan from Kennedy haulage today and he has rescheduled the collection of the boat for the 16th of October,
I also spoke with Alan from Procharter and he gave me some good tips for constructing the compartments under deck, the wheelhouse bulkhead and the rear deck,
He gave me a complete explanation on how to work with Nidaplast which is the honey comb structure
the deck and bulkheads are made from,
We also discussed boat speed and fuel consumption and he maintains I will achieve 30-31 knots with the duo prop on my boat,
apparently with an engine with 100 hp more than mine you only get 2 knots extra but burn an extra 2 liters of diesel per mile,
So as it turns out my choice of 220HP Mercruiser  engine was a good choice, speed but low fuel consumption,
Alan recommended glassing the underdeck fitting the fuel tank constructing wheelhouse bulk head and then move on to fitting the engine and outdrive,
If we can get that much done before Christmas we will be doing well,

316 Stainless steel rails

Stainless Steel Pulpit and Pushpit being manufactured by Peter Lefbridge for my boat,