Two joined floats are better than one

While the chainplate laminating was drying, we took a drive out to the marina to check on our 19′ leaner. Lake levels have risen some, but it’s still very low. The drive there and back (about 45 min each way, plus walking the docks admiring other boats) gave us time to discuss various things about fit-out, options, and such. I’ll put more of what we decide later (maybe it just gave us more questions then answers anyway!) but for now, here’s what happened when we got back and things were dry enough to move.

The first thing that happened was putting both floats into the driveway to get some working room and cleanup room. I swear these get heavier each time they get moved, but are still surprisingly light for their size. The two of us can maneuver them just fine, and I’m not exactly close to being in shape.

There are some areas that will require a little extra attention with the microballoons and longboard, mostly in areas where the planking was not laying against the battens properly.

The surprising part (and somewhat funny to me, really) – was that once we started breaking down the form frames, things started to look just like they did a few months ago – some wood and no boat parts!

We left frames at the beam bulkhead areas and I decided the easiest thing to do with what we had to work with, was to make a mold place atop them and rest the floats. I cut two of the aft form frames to make the molds, braced with a 2×4 and put packing tape on top for a release surface

We then drilled 3/8″ holes in the mold to put the alignment dowels in. I’m hoping this will keep the floats somewhat still during the process of making the beam and deck flanges. The dowels have not been glued into the bulkheads at this point (and i’m not sure if they will be, since part of me really wants a boat with zero wood, even though it’s really inconsequential) 🙂

Still need to make two more mold plates, but just going to attach them with some cordage wrapped around the hull since they’re going to be “simple” compared to the beam bulkheads.

Here’s how everything sits right now

As an aside, I just sent an email to Ian for a few questions that we have on procedure with the exposed portion of the chainplate and the area where the bow-caps will be attached. Also ordering the float deck hardware this week, as we’re going to build the float decks soon.

Time spent: 2.5 hours (I’m not counting the cleaning and chatting)