Cutting the frames

6 hours of work today, to complete the "flat out table" and to cut the frames.Here is the half completed table;

and here it is completed, with Cinzia already trying to keep it clean.

Then we traced the bulkhead shapes from the fullsize patters and cut them using a small circular saw. The amas bulkheads were cut two at a time from two stacked plywood sheets.

Here I am with the first couple of frames (the amas transoms):

And here is the complete set of frames

Next time we'll start to work on the hull panels.

Total work time to date: 9 hours

Building the "flat out table"

Well, back from a sailing week in Greece, now it looks like we're ready to go. The first sawdust was produced in the morning of October 19th, 2013. Not much: we worked about 3 hours on the "flat out table" which is not yet complete... Here's a view of the "shipyard" minutes before the real start:

On the left is the plywood stack; on the far left there are the particle board sheets and the sawhorses, on the far right, on the floor,  are some 2-by-4 (4.5x9 cm) planks, each 15' (4.5 m) long.
Here I am sawing to length one of the planks which will be butt blocked to a full length one to make the 20' (6m) girders for the flat out table.

Total work time to date: 3 hours

Plywood is here!

Press stop: 22 sheets of marine okoumé plywood, 2.50m x 1.22m, in thicknesses fron 6 to 19mm, for a total weight of 230 kg, have been delivered today.

Prologue

The Seaclipper 20 is a beautiful plywood trimaran designed by Jim Brown and John Marples (www.searunner.com). After reading everything available on it on the web (especially on www.smalltrimarans.com: thanks to Joe Farinaccio, the keeper of the flame for small trimarans!), I concluded that this is the best boat for my needs: relatively simple to build and rig, capable of a good turn of speed, able to carry a few friends for a sail, trailerable and beachable.
I've been sailing small multihulls for several years (ranging from the common beach cats to the Supernova trimaran up to a Nacra Formula 18 catamaran) and I am convinced that they are far superior to monohulls, but being almost 55 I start to find sailing the F18 a bit too demanding. So, the Seaclipper 20 seems to be the ideal solution if one wants a spirited boat without the need of going out on the trapeze if the wind is more than 10 knots.
I then ordered a set of plans from John Marples which I received on August 6th: our sail number is 50. The plans are very clear and comprehensive (luckily enough I'm confident with the feet-inch-eighths notation!) and come with a detailed construction manual.
Plywood, as well as the material to build the so-called "flat out table", has been ordered and should arrive at the end of the month. I already have a good experience with plywood/epoxy boat construction, and already have all necessary tools.
I'll be building this boat in association with my long time friend and colleague Cinzia, who is an experienced J24 tailer and has been my crew on the F18 for a few years; other friends have promised to help. The boat will actually be built in Cinzia's garage. Actual construction will start  as soon as raw materials arrive. Stay tuned!