The hull is now on even keel. I know that the result of the operation might as planned because the hull was only fastened to the molds at the bottom. I did the lifting by the molds as can be seen in the first picture if you click to enlarge. I did shape the hull by eye to get a good shape did not follow the molds to closely.
In some places there is distances of several centimeters between hull and mold. The hull have to my eye nice harmonic shape. I liked to have a look inside before commiting myself. But it is not strong very wiggly. It will be strong later.
To get more controol and increase my chanches of a positive outcome I bought 2 more chainhoists. I now have six in total. 3 on each side. When I turn the boat left becomes right and I have to change attachment points. Now with 3 on each side I can take the load on the middle or the outer when I shift. The boat is now 2 meter longer and many times she will have to be turned around. It have never been soo easy as today. I good investment I think.
2 pictures below.
It is difficult to see the shape due to the many molds still in the hull.The idea of this picture is to show the space between the molds and the planking. The molds are only attached to the bottom of the hull. All went well. Still I do not know how close I was to dropping the hull.
Cleat maybee not but a device for securing a rope. It started as a handhold on Exlex but soon due to its increadible strenght was also often used as a device for securing ropes.
Now on the Exlex the Canoe Yawl it will replace the stainless fittings. Its a fraction of the cost, a fraction of the weighrt, takes a fraction of the time to make and it distributes more easily the forces over a wider area the basic idea of strenght.
Below a few pictures of how its made.
This is an enlargement of a bigger picture showing Exlex in Porto Santo MadeiraExlex in her workshop. The picture shows several handhold around the main hatch.How its made. First a rope in NM-epoxy. After its cured wrap a string around it and saturate with NM-epoxy. Pieces of carbon fiber anchors it strongly to where ever you like to have it.An even stronger cleat with four legs spread out. Very strong, very light, very cheap, very fast to make.
Things work well. The new molds are cut and are on the strongback. One side is scarfed and up. It was a good decision to change my mind. The new version is smaller and simpler. Much is gained by that. I also changer from schooner to yawl rig. The two forward side by side sails are each 3.6 square meter about the size of an Optimist dingy. The mizzen sail is 1.7 square meter.
I plan to have ballasted near vertical chinerunners 20° out and a bow centerboard like Amfibie Bris also a centerboard in the rudder.
During the time I was building the mock up of Exlex I had plenty of time to think. At first things went well but as time passed I realised that not only there would be an awful lot of gluing but that that would make the boat more heavy and decrease insulation.
An mock up is a very good thing. Having the boat on even keel and being able to move around in her made me realise that I could do very fine with much less boat. With much less boat I could also reduce the sail area from 12 square meter to 9. Three sails on three masts.
2011 I sailed a small boat 4.8 long with a beam of 1.3 meter to Martinique. Matt Layden had helped me to design her. She had chinerunners.
Now I had the idea of transforming her into a double ender as I had gotten them into my head.
Mentaly I mirrored her for part in her maximum beam. I made her bow a bit more boyant for big waves and to increase the wave creating lenght.
In the early sixties I spent a lot of time studiing mathematics. I learnt about transformations conformal mapping in the complex plane and such thing even if I did far from understand it fully I found it fascinating.
I also read On Growth and Form is a book by the Scottish mathematical biologist D’Archy Wentworth Thompson on transformation in nature.
I relised that almost anything caneasily be transformed.
So Exlex the Canoe Cruiser changed form with the help of the boat I sailed to Martininique.
Below are some illustrations.
With a transformation a circle can be transformed into an airfoilOne of the transformations in On growht and formThe drawings from 2007 Matt helped me to do. The boat ended up 4.8 meter instead of 5.0 meter. I had previusly 1997 sailed a lot on Matts Paradox by myself and with Matt. I had also later sailed on Enigma.
I will use frame
Stem, 450, 390, 330, 270, 210, 210, 210, 270, 330, 390, 450, stem. Spacing them 60 centimeters. Horizontal numbers will be reduced by multiplication by 0.8 to get a narrower boat. Vertical numbers are the same for the hull. Modifiying a bit as it pleases my eye.
The molds for my chinerunner of 2008.
The molds with Divinycell coreThe bow. Now there will be two such bows, one on each end.model scale 1:10Building model scale 1:5. In this scale I can better do the ends twisting the bottom panels with help of the horns.Fixing the shape with help of NM-epoxy and glassfibre.
Six beam long double ended plywood boat 7.2 X 1.2 are not common but, 1975 in New England I saw an International 110 designed 1939 – the same year I was born – by Ray Hunt. It was quite a succes and is still racing. My boat will not be a daysailer. It will have balanced lug rig and its lateral area will consists of near vertical, ballasted chinerunners complemented by a bow centerbord as on my Amphibie Bris of 4.8 long that I sailed to Newfoundland 1989. The two forward masts will be side by side as in my 2018 sail to Madeira. It was an excellent rig.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_110
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The mock up of Exlex the Canoe Cruiser is now on even keel and I have started mocking up the interior. When moving about inside the boat I realised that there is more space than I need. I thuse made an inner planking reducing the inside beam by about 7 cm on each side. I also moved the bulkheads closer. This is the glory of mockup. Like a writer doing a draft. There is nothing like mowing about in three dimensional space. Therefore I will reduce the size from 7.8 X 1.3 to 7.2 X 1.2 meters about.
Below are 3 pictures.
I am standing close to the planned saloonMe in the saloon. The bench to my left is for for and eating tools. The inner planking to reduce space can been seen behind my back and on the opposite side.Me in the bow. The brown shape represents the centerboard case. In the middle of the boat there will be some sort of ballasted near vertical chinerunners.
Today I fitted the last strip or plank to the mock up hull.
To celebrate I took a gulp of water from my bottle. It did not take me long to realize that I had taken the wrong bottle and that it was acetone. It was a mistake. I spit out most of it.
I do make mistakes, an other one was to use strip plank construction. Now after having worked with it for some time I do realize that it will be to much cutting up of the Divinycell and gluing. That will make the boat heavier and create bad insulation. I will go back to developed surfaces like Exlex minor. Strip planking worked well for my smaller boat 4.9 meter long and 0.96 meter beam and 3 cm Divinycell of the year 2003. The planned boat will be about 8 meter long and about 1.3 meter beam and the Divinycell 5 cm. Scale makes a difference.
Anyway yacht design is an iterating profession and the next part will be to explore the living arrangement and find out how to place centerboards masts etc. It will be instructive.
Below are some pictures.
Al the stripes or planks in positionThe water and the acetone bottle. The taste is different. The small boat 4.9 meter long and 0.96 meter beam. 3 cm Divinycell strip planking worked well.Exlex Minor under construction.The modell I used to create Exlex Minor. The lines of the planned boat will be similar but finer bow and and a double ender symmetrical fore and aft. Again I will use a moddel to get the lines.
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Friends been visiting 16 January 2021 bringing lead from Peter Ny and Epoxy from Nils Malmgren
Here are two videos Petter made one Captain Grahn made one. Captain Grahn and me sailed an old Abin Vega to Florida 2007 Captain was 19 at the start. We are still friends.
Progress has been strightforward so far but now I have reached the bilges and building speed is slowing down.
I have been clamping the stripes down and inward but for down I need longer clamps and its at a slant so they slip. I solve it by help contraptions it just getting a bit more interesting.
Before I made 1 stripe on each side every day now its one stripe on one side a day.
Soon I be over the bilge and then speeds pick up again.
