Quick update from the “boatyard”… A lot more interior production welding has been completed and side longitudinals are in place. The hull shape is completely defined now, and we should be getting started on the side shell plating this week. I have been working on the fuel system fill and supply manifolds and tracking down more of the bits and pieces we will need in the coming weeks. There is still a lot of fabrication to be done for the propulsion and steering systems. I’ll probably be sending out the rudder and prop shafts next week for final machine work. For engine cooling, we are using a set of Fernstrum keel coolers that I bought second hand from a local salvage boat operator a while back. Using one of the keel coolers would have been fine here in the bay area with our cooler water temps, but may have been a little undersized for the tropics so, per the recommendations from the good folks at Fernstrum, we are using both of them in series. This should give us more than enough cooling capacity in all conditions. We pulled them out of storage over the weekend and gave them a thorough cleaning and pressure test for leaks. They checked out fine and are still in excellent shape despite their age. Fernstrum makes a really solid product and their customer support is excellent.
Our former neighbor, good friend, and all around renaissance man, Peter Bailey, was kind enough to work over our sailing rig and come up with a really nice Chinese lug rig for the boat that should allow us to sail the boat with a maximum of efficiency and a minimum of effort. It is similar to the rig on his current boat, The Berti (which he built here in Sausalito). I think it really fits the lines of the boat well. Junk rigs like these are much simpler and inexpensive to build and operate, and put much less stress on the rigging (and crew) than the more typical rigs you see on modern sailboats. More about the rig to come… -PB
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