Kaimusailing

The message was that it was confusing that all the recent blog posts about building a proa are labeled “tortured ply main hull”, yet a lot of them are about building the wave piercer main hull. Probably I should have used the title “proa main hull”, but that might be confusing as well. The objective is to build a proa with interchangeable main hulls to explore the differences between a sharpie bottomed hull that has inverted bows and a more normal vee shaped bottom with conventional bows.
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The forecast was for another monsoon, so we continued flowing epoxy. The tortured ply hull was propped up and vertical sticks were spring clamped at the ends of the hull. They were marked at 6” above the chine at the ends and a string was stretched between the marks. Bulkheads 1 and 3 were marked level with the bows. The string and sticks were removed and a batten was used to mark the bulkheads with a fair curve. The curve was cut, this will be the curve of the crowned deck.
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The bulkhead #2 was marked using a french curve. The picture is of the curves in a fair line from the bulkheads down to the holes predrilled to form the corners of the open space above the wae. The lines were cut with the multitool and a straight spade blade. It could not conform to the sharper part of the curve, so the cut was made outside the line and the final shape was made with the angle grinder with a flap disk. The square edges of the cutout were rounded off with the edge trimmer router and where it couldn't reach the flap disk was used freehand. The result was acceptable.
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The wave piercer hull still had its bulkhead #2 intact, but the temptation was there to cut it out also. A french curve could not be used, but a pattern was made with a scrap of ply and the bulkhead marked in a similar curve as the tortured ply bulkhead. After cutting it out and rounding off the edges, one more task was to cut a couple of short pieces of wood to strengthen the upper edges of bulkheads 1 and 3. These were epoxied into place and the inside hull bottom painted with epoxy. The hull was turned over and epoxied on the hull bottom exterior. This way both epoxied surfaces were horizontal, minimizing runs and drips.
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Back on the tortured ply hull, the copper wire twists were clipped off and the exposed nubs were ground off with the flap disk. The hull was then covered with a tarp. The copper wires would have punctured and ripped the tarp. There was a chance of rain overnight. The other hull, the wave piercer, was now epoxied and would be sealed from rainwater.