Building The Vera Cruise

[billy c]

Carl
Once again beautiful design.
Those lines fit so well with the hull shape!
Are the glassed in areas going to be venting?
It looks like one pane could slide past the other?
Billy

[mrintense]

Thanks Jim, Bill E, Steve, Matt, Bill J, Neel, and Billy C, I much appreciate the compliments and approval.

Carl, that looks great! Is that with the extra cabin height you were going for before? If so the proportions look great.

It does include a small cabin increase in height of approximately 2 inches, however the floor of the cabin is also raised about two inches so it's a wash. If there roof were flat, it would come to chest level on my 6 foot body. Since it will actually be arched, I will gain a bit more head room in the center. But I'll never be able to stand up fully (unless I stand in the area where the gull wing doors might be).

Carl
Once again beautiful design. Those lines fit so well with the hull shape! Are the glassed in areas going to be venting? It looks like one pane could slide past the other?

Billy, if you mean by venting is the cabin going to be airy, yes. If I don't go with the curved front windows, the front windows will be hinged to open upwards. The back of the cabin is open to the outside. For the side windows, I would like to make them sliding, but unsure of the mechanics of that just yet. I want them to be glass and I want them to be sealed to keep out rain. Finally, if I go with the gull wing doors on the roof, then there will be plenty of ventilation.

Oh yeah, forgot about the front deck hatch.

[mrintense]

Yesterday was mostly about work, but I had a little bit of time to go out and experiment with placing the wedges between the carlings and the cabin side templates. It looks like it will work fine, but I want to get the other template made an in place before making a final decision.

One interesting outcome of yesterday's session was an epiphany on what I might do with the interior cabin above the seat boxes. This area is angled fairly severely as it transitions to the boat sides from the bow . I had planned on putting planking in this area but was never really sure about it. At the fore end it's fairly shall and any planking would be just below the inboard edge of frame 5. But at frame 4, the depth is about 6 inches and I was thinking that planking in this area would look weird with the big frame 4 sticking out.

I've been delaying the decision until I get more of the cabin in place. But with the cabin side template in place, it all of a sudden became obvious what to do. I can angle the planking out towards the frame edge, effectively creating a space behind the planking which I might be able to make use of. I've only given this a little bit of thought, so I will be spending more time in the thinking chair, but I fell this will at least solve the problem of the unsightly frame in the cabin.

As soon as I have some diagrams or photos showing this, I'll post them.

[BillJ]

Carl,

With the added complexity of having a cabin, especially one you've probably never have been in before, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of decisions you'll be making as assembly moves forward.

BillJ

[Bill Edmundson]

BillJ

You said that right!

Bill

[mrintense]

Just a short update today. I've been mostly encapsulating the seat box extensions again, but should be wrapping that up by tomorrow. I've started making the other cabin side template. Still have to sand it to final shape. At first I thought maybe I didn't need to make two templates, but I realized I want to make sure that the cabin roof is level and all make any adjustments in the templates before cutting the final parts.

I won't be making the final parts probably until September because I have to drive to Houston to get the plywood and am still saving up for that expense.

Hotter than heck here!

[mrintense]

I got the other cabin side template made and tested it with the other one on the boat. It appears to be level across the boat everywhere I tested it. Sure wish these were the final parts, I'd very much like to install them. But that will have to wait for awhile until I can get the materials.

Next up I need to put in the wedges and then recheck everything. In these photos the wedges have not been put in yet.

[DrBryanJ]

Carl: I like the look. Very cool.

[Jimbob]

Carl, I really like that design. It's gonna look great!
JIm

[Milhouse]

Carl - Really cool!

[hoodman]

Nice work, Carl. You have a lot of parts and pieces coming together!

[mrintense]

Thanks Bryan, Jim, Jim, and Matt. It does look pretty cool. Sometimes I have to pinch myself because I am building this. So cool having this opportunity.

Matt, you're correct, lots of parts waiting to be installed. The plan is to do some thinking about the cabin sides and make plans and notes for the real thing. In the meantime, I'll be doing additional work on the interior until I have enough money to buy the plywood for the cabin sides and deck.

I've worked out a rough idea for making the windows slide, but still need to do some experimenting. As for the gull wing doors, still not sure yet. I think I am going to have to wait until I start making the roof beams or at least mocking them up.Still having trouble visualizing the structure right now.

[mrintense]

Starting on mounting the hinges to the seat box flip up extensions. The extensions will be mounted to the overhanging board, but the board will not be mounted to the seat box frame just yet. I'll wait until after the frames are installed before doing that.

And in case anyone is wondering, I have aluminum angles to add underneath the overhang for additional strength. Those arrive on Thursday and will be installed then.

Eventually, there will be fold down legs under neath to support this.

[Milhouse]

Lots of pieces to epoxy and fit together! Looks good

[JimmY]

Outstanding craftsmanship, as usual.