A little winter job that doesn’t involve thermal underwear or personal discomfort is sorting
out the moment calculations. It would be so embarrassing to launch the boat only to find
the bow or stern pointing ridiculously up in the air. The professionals weigh absolutely
everything that goes into the construction and its distance from a known point, but I have
taken some guesses particularly with the structure, on the grounds that e.g. the skin of
the boat is pretty much evenly distributed. Now that I am doing the interior joinery it is
important that I should know where the water tanks and batteries are going, and this has
to be decided with reference to the expected centre of gravity. So far it seems that things
are very close (within about 60mm) to what I was aiming for, and the total weight looks near
to the target 2.5 tonnes. Grouping heavy items towards the centre reduces their effect
considerably, as well as minimising pitching and hobby-horsing. Doing the spreadsheet
also gives an opportunity to see the effect that stowing a lot of stuff in a bow might have. I
Interior of pod before glassing have included many items, such as anchors, chain, tools, food, tender and outboard, and
even 4 crew standing in the cockpit, that would not be included in the unladen weight of
the boat, because I do not know of any boat that sails without them, and they do need to
Engine mounting issues
be accounted for. It is reassuring that the all-up weight looks like it will not be excessive.
The original plans showed a simple ladder-
There are, sadly, tales of boats where a little extra ‘beefing-up’ here and there has led to
type arrangement mounted on the back of
a finished craft so overweight that it could not hope to perform to the expected levels. A
the aft beam. There are several problems
heavier cruising boat puts greater strain on the structure and has less ability to carry crew
with this: how to prevent the outboard
equipment.
being doused in sea-water without having a
permanently-lowered fairing (or an ultra-
OK, festivities over! Back to the cold workshop! No rest for the nutters!
ultra-ultra-long leg); how to tilt the leg while
Simon Tytherleigh 2008.
still keeping the engine close to the beam;
and how to prevent the whole arrangement
from fouling the tiller bar. I could not make
this work on my model (using straws and
pins), so opted for the underslung pods.
One big plus is that the weight of the
engines is brought much further forward
away from the ends of the boat. About
100kg shifted forward by a whole metre.
The engine heads will be accessible by
simply removing the cockpit seat above
them. Still to be fixed is the location of
the engine controls. This will be partly
determined by the runs for the connecting
cables, and is likely to be somewhere on the
back of the main cabin bulkhead.
Another item that has to avoid clashing
with the tiller arms is the Duogen. It is
mounted on a C-shaped swivel support,
and I had decided that the back beam was
the right place for it. I taped a tiller and bar
temporarily in position and worked out the
stand-off required. In the end it seemed
easiest to construct a box, which doubles
as liferaft storage. The Duogen will hinge
off the back of this. The box is accessible
from top or bottom just by undoing or
cutting some lashings, in case it becomes
necessary to release the liferaft with the
boat inverted. (Plan for the worst, but
hope for the best! It is important to give
detailed consideration to preparations for
an emergency in order to make it more
survivable.)
The mainsail was delivered in December – I
left it up to the sailmakers to fit my job in
where convenient, so as to get it at the most
advantageous price. It looks so good, and
so enormous! It is also comforting to think
that I have now bought almost all the things
necessary to finish the boat and make it go.
I did not want to leave the sail until last, and
perhaps be forced to save money on it, thus
compromising the most important part of
the boat. I would rather have a decent sail
and no electronics onboard.
Glassed and reinforced bearings on engine pod
20  MULTIHULL REVIEW : JANUARY 2009
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