Saturday, June 20, 2020

Aka system completed

Just one hour today, to assemble the aka system. Here it is in all its glory


We also checked the forestay attachment


Total work time to date: 709 hours

Monday, June 15, 2020

Attaching the crush plates

Three hours of work today: we attached all the 16 crush plates to the akas.
Those are square pieces of 75 mm sided, 6 mm thick aluminum, whose task is that of spreading the load of the bolts connecting the various beams of the akas to the hulls. 4 of the crush plates are on the outboard side of the swing arms to support the amas and are for 12 mm bolts; the remaining 12 are for 10 mm bolts. Each crush plate is attached to the beams using two 5 mm SS self tapping screws on a diagonal of the square.
We pre-bored for all self-tapping screws using a 2.5 mm bit and we filled each hole with clear epoxy. Then we cleaned the bottom of each crush plate with alcohol, and spread a thin layer of sealant on each. Finally, putting the right bolts trough the holes in the beams and the crush plate to maintain alignment, we fastened each self tapping screw and cleaned everything.


In this picture the whole aka system is shown.The two heavy beams at the far right will be installed permanently of the main hull (vaka); the four swing arms will pivot on the ouboard bolts of these central beams. The total weight of the assembly is very significant (we estimated about 80 kg in total), with the advantage of a very simple construction.

Total work time to date: 708 hours

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Slow and steady wins the race

After an incredible year, including a COVID19 lockdown which has been particularly strict in Italy, here we are again. As an icebreaker, we tidied up the shop and started to work on the akas:we have to install all the 16 aluminum crush plates. That's why we opened the milestone beer...


Total work time to date: 705 hours

Friday, December 27, 2019

Happy Holidays

Hyia all! We have not given up even if thing have slowed down a lot due to a lot of reasons. Looking forward to restarting as soon as we can, we have purchased the eye bolts specified for the boat, which are impossible to find in Italy. I had to order them from a British company which only ships to UK and Ireland, so I had them shipped to my son who lives in Scotland and then he carried those home when visiting for the christmas holidays.




Saturday, August 31, 2019

Painting the second ama and the daggerboard

Two hours of work today: after giving the hull a light sanding with 240 grit, we gave it the second coat of one-part polyurethane paint, thinned 10%.


We also gave the daggerboard the third coat of paint (one side only):


Total work time to date: 704 hours

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Second ama, first paint coat

Two hours on tuesday to give the second ama, after the primer, a light sanding with 240 grit followed by a first coat of paint (Boero Altura TC + 10% thinner). Here's the freshly painted hull.


Total work time to date: 702 hours

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Primer coating the second ama

We are finally back from a crazy working period and the well deserved summer vacations. Last thursday we went back to the shop and swapped the amas to paint the second one.


Yesterday we cleaned the surface and gave two coats of primer (Boero Giano, 10% thinner). Here's Cinzia  starting at it


and here's the final result


Total work time to date: 700 hours (!)