News on the Shell

Last night I telephoned the UK and had a very informative conversation with our shell builder Tim Tyler, and found him a most informative and pleasant fellow.  He had previously contacted Ben Harp, our boat builder, recommending we consider adding an additional foot to the foredeck.  The purpose of my call was to establish why this had arisen.  Tim was able to explain that because our foredeck as so low it would be very difficult to step up onto the side lockers and out of the boat.  He wanted to build a second, lower locker across the bow that would act as a step.  However by doing this there would be very little floor space in the foredeck area. Hence the request for the additional foot.

This is my updated impression of what the bow section might look like.  The red area is the locker above the bow thruster tube and the yellow is the diesel tank for the saloon stove.  The purple area is storage and the cyan is the new step which has been recommended by Tim Tyler to assist in exiting the boat.  If we add a foot to the bow then we will need to take it from somewhere else.  I have a feeling the saloon will be to compartment to suffer the loss.

I then asked Tim what was the status of the shell.  He was able to inform me there had been a slight delay waiting for the 20mm baseplate steel but now all the steel had been cut out and actual fabrication would commence very soon.  Tim estimates it will take three weeks to complete the shell.