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mock up

Ex Lex is now laminated on the inside and i have started the delicate compromise of of dividing the space. There is a bedroom in the middle and in front of that a waterproof bulkhead with a door leading to a foreward compartment where from a hatch I can handle the sails and leeboards.

Behind the bedroom is a similar arrangement. From that hatch I will scull the boat and do a bit of observations and enjoy nature.

The hole in the foreward compartment seams to be more than ample. I probably reduce its size.

So far thing are working very well.

Tomorrow I cut the hole in the back bulkhead.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

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EX LEX RIGHT SIDE UP

Ex Lex is now lifted off the moulds.

Below are some pictures.

Knocking down the front mould.

Lifting her

Stern viuw.

First look inside

First time inside

4.48 long with a beam of 1.04 and a high prismatic she should give me enough space and at the same time be easy to handle.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

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SCREWING THE BRONZE PLATE

The bronze plate is there to protect the boat when beach landing and act as ballast to give stability.

Phosphor bronze has excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance. Their spring qualities are also fatigue resistance very good.

I believe in belt and suspenders so in addition to gluing I have screwed the plates with silicon bronze screws. I do not like to use stainless steel below the waterline.

Silicon bronze is just a bit nobler than phosphor bronze and that is as it should be because their surface is smaller.

The scarifying metal will be the phosphor bronze.

Below, part of the galvanic series:

Graphite

Palladium

Platinum

Gold

Silver

Titanium

Stainless steel 316 (passive)

Stainless Steel 304 (passive)

Silicon bronze

Stainless Steel 316 (active)

Monel 400

Phosphor bronze

Admiralty brass

Cupronickel

Molybdenum

Red brass

Brass plating

Yellow brass

Naval brass 464

The screws are set in NM-epoxy. When drilling the holes I pendeled the the drill creating a conical hollow in the Divinycell below the plate and glassfibre into that hollow i injected epoxy.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

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GLUING PHOSPHOR BRONZE

To protect Ex Lex bottom and increase her stability I am adding two 4 mm thick phosphor bronze plates. Together they are 2 meter by 0,6. The high cupper content makes them antifouling.

Thomas and me checking if they can take the bottom curve.

Petter is helping to glue them.

The bronze surface is prepared by wetsanding it in NM-epoxy to make sure no oxygen will oxidise the surface.

In addition to gluing they will when the glue have set be scruwed.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

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HAPPY LAMINATORS

The outside of Yrvind Ex Lex hull is now succesfully laminated. She got twelve layers of 450 gram glassfiber in the bottom for beachlanding in NM 275 epoxy.

The hullsides got 2 layers. The last layer is peelply.

From left to right Jonas, Thomas, Matthias, Oskar, Maya, me i the foreground. Petter and Jerker are hiding.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind.

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LET ME EXPLAIN

Some people still do not understand how misleading it is to measure boats of different shapes by length. Let me explain. Physical objects, besides weight and inertia extend in three dimensions.

My anchor rode is 50 meter long, but I can coil it and put it in a locker in my boat so surely it is not bigger than my boat.

A scull weighs typically 14 kg and is around 8.2m long. A child can see that it’s smaller than Testas 12 foot Acrohc Australis and Spiess 10 foot Yankee Girl.

1956 Hannes Lindemann sailed a 17-foot Klepper folding kayak from the Canary Islands to St. Martin in the Carebian. His boat was 5.2 meter long, the weight was 25 kilos. With food and Hannes, 90 kilo heavy,  it displaced 300 kilos.

Testas 3.55 m boat displaced 800 kilo, Spiess 3.05 m boat 1000 kilos.

To any rational mind Lindemanns boat was the smallest.

I like to add that I think that Testa and Spiess made very interesting boats and voyages. I have read their books several times and enjoyed and learned a lot.

They did go their own way, so will I.

Regards Yrvind

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YRVIND TEN WAS A STEPPING STONE

Changing course has lead people to criticize me because they think I am wasting other people’s time and money. That critic would have been fair if Yrvind Ten had lead to nothing. That is not the case. Valuable knowledge has been gained. Much progress has been made that can be used on other small boats.

Serge Testas, Acrohc Australis was not twelve feet. In the back end she had a big outboard engine and in the forward part a bowsprit. Although these things no doubt could be removed, they were permanent.

This is not against common practice, and it’s the duty of o person trying to brake records to try to stretch the rules and to find loop-holes. Tax layers do that all the time as do people involved in for example Am Cup.

I mention earlier the “Hula” that added unmeasured buoyancy to New Zeeland’s Am Cup boat. On a ten feet boat you could add huge twin buoyant rudders, then locking them making it into an twenty feet trimaran and still sail within the ten feet rule.

Hugo Vilens April Fool was not a healthy boat either. Not before he added an outboard engine could he get offshore. Gerry Spiess and Serge Testa also had to use engines. I believe a small boat should be able to manage with an oar.

I realized that if I did not bend the rule some other designer would, but when I started I did not realize how much the rules could be bend. Size cannot be determined by only length.

Living with Yrvind Ten for tree years did teach me to think small. She was a stepping-stone to a much smaller and saner boat, Yrvind Ex Lex 4.5 x 1x 0.2 meter displacing 500 kilos a third of Yrvind Ten.

I have talked this over with my sponsors and friends and they are willing to continue to support me. In fact some of them think it’s a very good idea.

Quite a few of my supporters are turning up here in Västervik Saturday 16 of May to help me to laminate the new hull.  First I will give a public illustrated talk at Bankens Dag 13:00 in Biostaden together with Captain Thomas Grahn. Everyone is welcome to the talk.

Below the 4 cm thick Divinycell core of Ex Lex ready to recive the NM-epoxy lamination.

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind

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A TIP

Here is a suggestion for other old small boat sailors getting tired in the neck when planning voyages in the southern ocean due to bending the neck into an unnatural position when looking on the globe.

Get rid of the suppliead stand and use a wise instead. In that way a more convinient looking angle can be obtained.

Regards Yrvind

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GLUING THE BOTTOM TO THE SIDES

I would not have the time to glue such a big piece singelhanded. I therefore bevelled the edges. Put the pice in position and used small vedges to glue it together.

The three following pictures hopefully explains the procedure.

From the front

from the back

To be continued…

Regards Yrvind