A month after the plywood arrived I have finished cutting all of the bulkheads and have them stacked up against the wall of the garage. Allowing that the thickness ranges from 36 mm on parts of the transom to 9 mm for the lightest frame the full pack of bulkheads occupies very little room. So thin is the pack of frames that it is deceptive that this will expand out to a 12 metre yacht.
Now it is wrong to say that the bulkheads are finished as I still have to attach all the timber cleats to which the longitudinal structure will be fixed and that needs a delivery of timber and a lot of cutting. On the plus side I have marked all the frames with the location of these timber cleats so that the process of completing them should be quite straight forward.
One of the advantages of building a similar yacht is that I have good photographs from the first build and can recall the parts of the construction that were difficult. Perhaps difficult is not the right word. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that having done it one way I can see a better way the second time. I am taking more time to fair cut lines to exactly the design mark as I have more confidence it will be exactly correct. It also helps that the Naval Architect is providing very precise drawings with more detail that enables more precise location of the stringers. As well the PDFs can be exploded and unknown dimensions checked to a very close tolerance. The combination of the lines plans and the hull and deck lines gives a very accurate location of all the construction lines.
Unfortunately there will be very little to show for the next few weeks of finishing the bulkheads and cutting the strongback and stringers. Add to that the anticipation that we will be more mobile and able to return to active sailing rather than just daydreaming about it while cutting frames progress is likely to slow a little.
And while progress might slow as life returns to normal I will be able to look back at the lockdown and reflect on how it crystallized my ideas for a new yacht, engaged a Naval Architect and progressed the plans fast enough for me to cut a full set of bulkheads.
