Thursday, August 7, 2008

Float Stands

I've been slowly making progress on my trimaran. The weekend before last, I built rudimentary supports to hold up the amas (secondary hulls) while I detach them, and this last weekend I also procured an A-frame engine hoist via Craigslist for lifting the vaka (main hull).


Larboard ama partially raised on sawhorses.


The most poorly engineered hull supports in history!


Supports ready to be slid into place.


Supports in place.


Next step: disconnect the amas from the akas (cross beams or struts).

On top of everything else, this last Sunday, my friend Nyl brought up the plans from which the boat was built, along with a packet containing quotes and receipts from materials used in the original construction (it is amazing how much cheaper the materials were in 1968), an article written by the designer about boatbuilding on the cheap, a magazine article from 1968 about the controversy over multihull safety which cites the (then) recent disappearance of Arthur Piver, the man who designed my boat. Plus, a photo of my trimaran, in the water, back when it was new - sporting a cabin!



Sure enough, examining the schematics for the Piver Nugget revealed that it could be built in either a cabin or daysailer configuration. Finally knowing the name of the boat and its designer, I was able to locate numerous photos of other Nugget's on the web. It seems that most were built with the cabin configuration.

I'm now faced with two decisions:

  1. Am I going to build a cabin during this refit or wait for that as a follow-up project?

  2. How am I going to build the cabin? I'm kicking around the idea of building it from fiberglass in order to keep weight to a minimum.



I may or may not have to replace the aka beams, depending upon their structural condition, but I won't be able to accurately assess that until I've stripped the paint off of them. I know I'll have to rework the angle brackets (above the hinge mechanism) for locking them into place. The bolt holes don't properly align.

At any rate, I won't be able to do any glassing or painting until this Fall or Winter. Both require rather mild temperatures, and we've hit triple digits almost every day for the last few weeks here in central Texas.

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