Akas (4)

Two hours of work yesterday during which we started to bevel the esposed  edges of the aka planks.
Here's how we're doing it, using the power plane first, cutting a 45° bevel

and then finishing with power planer, rasp, Surforms and sandpaper

Total work time to date: 521 hours

Akas (3)

Four more hours during the week end. Yesteday we drilled all holes for the swing-wing aka structure which seems to work properly.

Today Cinzia fiberglassed the other side of the false transom with the same schedule. 

Total work time to date: 519 hours

Akas (2)

Six hours of work between yesterday and today. We completed the initial akas installation, making sure they're as square as possible to the centerline as well as parallel as possible to each other. It takes a certain number of measurements, tiny adjustements, "splitting the difference", and so on. At the end, the installation looks accurate to +/- 5 mm (about 1/4 inch).

At the end, we drilled all necessary holes with a 10 mm bit and made sure that the swing arms do swing. This is a video but it does not play in my browser...

This is a front view of the forward ama with the swing arms installed, which gives an idea of the size of the boat. The aka "doubler" is not yet glued on. Those akas are HEAVY. We'll see how they behave at sea.

It's getting colder now so after the sunset we went inside to fiberglass one side of the false transom with two layers af 160 g/sq.m. cloth and epoxy.

Total work time to date: 515 hours

Akas! (1)

Two hours today in which we started working on the akas. First thing was drilling the holes in the mounting blocks. We used a 10 mm bit, and a drill support the keep the hole vertical. No big deal really. We then drew the centerline on the forward aka, centered it on the blocks, aligned it square with respect to the centerline, and pinned the position of the bolt hole from underneath trough the bolt hole just drilled int he mounting block.

Total work time to date: 509 hours

Blades ready for paint; false transom

Two hours today. We sanded both blades with the power sander (120 grit) taking down epoxy drips, FG edges and so on. They look good, I think. The pics give a good idea of the size. Here's the rudder

and here's the daggerboard (quite heavy!)

We also prepared the (basculating) false transom for fiberglassing. Here it is

Total work time to date: 507 hours

Glassing the blades (3)

Two more hours today to glass the other side of both blades with the same procedure used before.

Total work time to date: 505 hours

Glassing the blades, and more (2)

Two more hours today to check the results of yesterday's work. This pic gives an idea of what we did to make sure that the akas rest on a flat surface to avoid stresses. You can easily see the varying thickness of the resin due to the non zero inclination of the pad top with respect to the deck. This has been done for all 4 aka supports.

and here's a pic of the blades after fairing the FG cloth edges.

Total work time to date: 503 hours