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Sorry, it's been a while since I updated on our build project... Blame a summer of hectic travel. The project progresses but it's been too slow. Supply chains have been awful, with prices rising. We lost our work yard and had to adjust locations. Then a hurricane hit the Caribbean, then...

"Floorboards" might be a misleadingly grand term, as we'll only have a low-slung panel over the center-most section in the main cabin area, but it will create a nice even surface, protect water ballast tubing etc., and help manage drainage a bit.  Not as comfy as the old Pogos, but...

Maximum headroom will be about 6'6", or 1.98m, standing on the flooring we install over the stringers.  Functional headroom throughout most of the main cabin will be at least 6'4" (which, not coincidentally, is the height of my teenager).

The early Class 40s were designed for cruising, but as the class has become more successful, the interiors have become much less spacious even as the scow hulls became larger.  My idea has always been to make the most of the vast space of the Class 40 interior in a sort of 'minimalist cruiser'...

Early on, we chose to build the nose cone out of pure glass and epoxy in order to make it strong and accommodate the complex shape.  Now that we've installed the forward watertight hatch, we have a lovely glow-light when the sun is right.  Makes it nicer to work in the dusty interior.  ...

As we finish the joining of deck and hull, we'll be turning back to the foils, which, at this point, means doing the pre-fab building of our keel box for installation in the next week or two.  Other than the design and engineering of the mast, there's probably nothing I've thought about as hard...

Beginning the process of welding the deck and coachhouse to the hull.  It's just fun to see it start to look like a full boat.  

A bit cleaner and better?:

We've finished the final laminations of the underside of the deck and cockpit, and prepped the transom, bulkheads. and other internal reinforcements.  So, finally, next week, we get to join the deck and hull and will then have something that looks quite a bit like a boat.   The panels and...

A little update for those following: We've had a month of delays involving delivery of materials.  Sometimes I think the hardest part of this project is not the construction and engineering, but the supply chain management.   This week, after occupying ourselves for a month with piece-projects...

Small update.   Since we’re still waiting on some supplies, we did our composite chainplates this week.   The chainplates are high strength Teflon tubes, wrapped-round with unidirectional E-glass strips which are laminated directly into the hull composite.  The tensile strength of these plates...

Good point, Jethrow.  This concern was discussed.  After a decent cure time, our plan is then to 'pre-bake' the mold thoroughly -- heating it in advance and keeping it hot until such a time as the lead is poured.  This involves making a sort of heat pit for the mold.  Among other advantages...

For those following the project:  The last two weeks have mostly been about 1) supply chain troubles, and 2) constructing the keel bulb.  Typically, keels and bulbs are built toward the end of a project, but because we're waiting on some supplies, we attacked the bulb, which we'll fabricate in...

All good ideas.  4mm double braid, yes.  A couple times, over morning coffee, I've noodled on what the 'breakaway' strength of a cinch line should be by measuring it against, for example, max torque force on rudders, or max compression force of composite, etc.  In the end, I've decided on a...

Thanks, bushsailor.  I've studied photos of the OCD system but never had a chance to examine one in person.  There seems to be a 'cinch' line at the bottom of the post that runs through gaskets (I think?) into the transom.  Do you happen to know how these lines are rigged and controlled?

Thanks, furler!  It somehow helps to know others are interested in our little adventure.

For those following the project:  The last 10 days have been about installing bulkheads and stringers.  Our process was to deconstruct our male mold a section at a time, vacuuming interior lamination and installing at least some of the reinforcements in that section before moving to the...

For those who asked to follow our self-build:  After finishing outer laminations, we flipped the hull, which in our case means flipping the whole male mold.  We don't have a suspension lift, so we managed with a good number of brace lines, purchase systems and a single forklift -- with...

You're selling #39?

I was told by one of the Class 40 mast manufacturers that the move back to double spreaders was a function of teams prepping for the upcoming Race Around -- just wanting something more stout for the rigors of the long miles.  That company no longer offered single spreader rigs.