Friday 12 March 2021

A pile of updates...

Looking at the blog-page and comparing it with my latest pictures I became aware of a substantial "gap". In my idea the progress wasn't so big but after all I did quite some things. So here we go:


Firs of all I wasn't very satisfied with the companion way hatch. It turned out to be skewed a bit and that bothered me. With aluminum the solution is: cut it off and weld it again (and then straight).

So that is what I did. I ended up with a shorter hatch but that was still within the limits to be rain-proof.

Probably I'll do some rain-test and decide if I have to install a small water-strip on the back-side. With heavy rains the water should drain into the garage instead of the cabin.

The new front welded in a backward angle, in line with the back wall of the cabin for aesthetics and the "old" handel in place again.

As Erik (my collegue) pointed out that the hole of the centreboard-line would wear out the rope I had to install some solution. This is a piece of 10mm alu rod cut in half and tooled to smooth.










Probably overdone but I thought it would be wise to install a Bilge pump. This one is situated in the port seat bunk. 

Also installed: Battery, switch panel, main switch and led lighting.


It took a while before I knew how I wanted to "upholster" the cockpit. It took another 3 months to get the materials from China 😏. This is the result:

 

In the next pictures you see the tabernacle welded in place. As this is from 10mm aluminum and the cabin wall is 3mm this could be a tricky weld (differences in heath dissipation). With some preproseccing and beveling the welds succeeded very well however.

Behind the tabernacle you also see the 30 Watts solar panel in place.



And the last pictures of this post: some wet testing and trying out the modifcations of the trailer.
These modifications didn't turn out to be very useful. I had quite some difficulty to get the boat on the trailer again. More on that issue in a later post.





























It also wouldn't get off the trailer easy...
But with some "encouragement", wet feet and some help of a friendly neighbour it did...



9 comments:

  1. Hello again!

    Beautiful as always! It makes me happy to see the boat become so "smart" with the solar panel, led lights and panel, and to see it float once more! You might just make it for this summer ;)

    What are your plans for the sails? Local or abroad?

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    1. Hi Ricky, probably starting local. The Wadden is one of my next favorites. I used to kayk there as well.

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  2. Hi Arjen! Your Pocketship is looking great! I'm considering building something similar. I haven't previously welded though. There is 5086 marine aluminum sheet here (USA) that comes in 20ft (6 m), so that would likely reduce welding. Did you MIG weld most of your sailboat (or TIG certain spots), and about how many hours does it take you to make a 16 foot (5 m) weld (full boat length) on a 4mm hull seam?
    Thank you!

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    1. Hi Karl! That is exact the sheets I used for the bottom and sides. And it works fine indeed.
      As you can read in the first post of this blog I also never welded before!
      I signed up for a evening course 😉. First TIG because it produces cleaner welds but later switched to MIG which is by far the most popular method for this kind of work. Please read my posts on this subject. MIG welding is also much faster than TIG welding. A bit depending on your skills and settings but you can calculate between between 6-8 inches per minute. You could start with reading a book about MIG welding (which I did). It gives you lots of answers.

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    2. Oh Karl, forgot: When you seriously consider building the PS in aluminum, i’ll be glad to help you with a “ton” of tips and experiences 😉

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  3. Hi Arjen! Thank you so much for the offer of tips and experiences! I'm still only in the considering and planning phase. I have looked into local aluminum MIG welding instructions. I'm considering melding plans from an aluminium 9'6" (3m-) Happy II designed for an around the world attempt and a 16' Pocketship to build a relatively unsinkable shallow-draft self-righting modified Pocketship .

    I like the Netherlands, and lived in Amsterdam on Rebrandtsplein while managing projects at chello.

    I look forward to seeing your completion. Best wishes!

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  4. Wat een gaaf en inspirerend project! Lijkt me super voor op de Waddenzee. Ik vroeg me af wat er aan het ontwerp verandert qua gewichtsverdeling en balast als je hout vervangt door aluminium? Is het mogelijk om jouw scheepje een keer te bezichtigen als ik in Friesland ben?

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  5. Hi Franc,

    Qua gewichtsverdeling verandert er niet merkbaar iets.
    Verdeling van materiaal is ongeveer gelijk. Je hebt over de hele boot wat minder constructie in de vlakverbindingen nodig. Totaalgewicht is vermoedelijk vergelijkbaar of misschien iets zwaarder.

    En als je in Friesland bent, dan ben je van harte welkom!

    Ik moet overigens mijn blog stevig bijwerken want de boot is inmiddels klaar

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    Replies
    1. Top interessant zeg! Hoe kan ik je contacteren bijvoorbeeld DM?

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