New Build, Caledonia Yawl

[Jlaup]

The Indian calls for 350 lbs of inside ballast. I put 450 lbs as I generally sail alone. The boat is remarkably stiff and has a very smooth heeling response to increases in wind and puffs. Also, it doesn't seem to notice if I am on the windward or leeward side. I wouldn't take any of the ballast out.

[TerryLL]

The last few days I've been working on the floorboards for the bow and stern compartments. There's always some moisture in these compartments, and getting your gear off the very bottom of the compartments helps keep things dry. Here's a pic of the patterns for the forward compartment floorboards.



And here's a pic of the aft compartment with the floorboards fitted and ready for finish. The boards are 3/8" sapele and bookmatched from 1" stock.

[jim_cricket]

That looks great Terry, I'm always amazed at the volume in that CY hull. You could fit two outboards back there. One for each side.
Cricket

[jsjpd1]

Neat idea, are you going to be able to get those floor boards out once the deck is on Terry?

Jim

[TerryLL]

Neat idea, are you going to be able to get those floor boards out once the deck is on Terry?

Jim

Yup. The floorboard section will be screwed together, but no glue. So for periodic maintenance the whole thing can be taken apart and pulled out through the bulkhead hatch.

There's enough room in the compartments so the full section can be slid toward the stem to sponge up any stray moisture in the very bottom. The sections will be held in place with a couple turn buttons.

[TerryLL]

Floorboard patterns nested on the stock. The wood I'm using here is ribbon sapele, 15/16 thick by 12 wide by about 13' long. Really nice wood that's 100% vertical grain, from Edensaw.



After cutting out the two pieces and cleaning up the cut edges on the belt sander, I split them on the bandsaw to get a bookmatched pair. A couple passes through the planer to bring them down to 3/8" and they're about ready for a final fit.

[PeterSibley]

A very good idea Terry , dry gear is GOOD !

[TerryLL]

The floorboards for the front and rear compartments are done and I've moved on to the bench seats. I decided to raise the height of the seats because my old arthritic knees just can't stand sitting for long periods on low seating. I mocked up various seating configurations and finally decided to make the side bench seat decking continuous with the decking of the end compartments. This gave a seating height of 16", which my knees say is just about right.

Here's a few pics:

Five sets of seat brackets and stringers being fitted for the facing.



McMullen gave me the idea of having some smallish storage compartments along the seat face. I ran with the idea and incorporated storage bins along the full length of the seat facing. The compartments will be self-draining and hold things like mooring lines, VHF, liquid refreshment, binocs, and the invariable what-not.