Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Boat Deck

I'm sorry that I didn't get pictures of the boat deck being installed today. I was at a business seminar and missed it. But here are a couple of photos I took this evening. The lamination crew will bond it in place but the accuracy of the mold made it so that there was only a very minimal amount of fitting that had to be done. Note the boss on the back for the stern light.
Here is a view of the port side. I wish I could show you the other side as that is where the walk around deck is but the boat is too close to the wall for even a wide angle lens to capture it. Most of the door and window openings have been cut in and now with the boat deck in place I really can get a sense of how large it is in the salon.
Here's another view from the front. I know I am biased, but I think she truly is a beauty. Stuart, Jamie and the rest of the design crew really hit the mark. We now have our work cut out for us as we need to be ready for the Seattle Boats Afloat Show in September. I am confident that the crew can do it.

We have had visitors coming nearly every day to see the progress. Our place holders for hulls 4 and 5 were here yesterday and today. If any of you are in the neighborhood, please call and we will be happy to give you a tour. Our insurance company has requested that we be with you when you are there, so please call ahead. Thanks.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

On The Road Again!!!

Today was moving day.........again.... We have been building in a temporary facility and now we are moving the boat to our new building. The building has a bit of history as it formerly was used by Northern Marine as a manufacturing facility. A lot of our crew (former Northern people) worked here for many years. More recently the building was used by BMW Oracle to build their Americas Cup contenders. But now it is ours......
Here is a shot of the woodworking shop. Dan and crew are ecstatic with the amount of room they have to work with. Here they are just getting set up. They have their work cut out for them as I don't want to lose any production time.
Here is another shot of the interior. The building is 20,000sq. ft. We should have room to build 3-4 of the 42's and a couple of 52's or 62's to boot. Part infusion will be done at our facility at Bayview Edison so we won't have to deal with moving molds around or storing them when not in use.
Before we move the boat into the new building, we are installing the pilothouse shell.
By golly......it is starting to look like a boat.
It fit through the door with plenty of room to spare. The cradle that it is now sitting on will make it easy to move around the shop.
And here she is in her new home for the next couple of months. The boat deck is being infused and should be ready for installation in a week or so. I will post further developments.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Single Stateroom Layout and Engine Room Changes

There have been many requests for a single stateroom layout for the 42......so below is the Steve Davis rendering of how it would look. The bed is a king size bed and there is plenty of room to move around the spacious stateroom. Also note that the head has two sinks. The entry arrangement to the head is designed so that the head can be accessed without entering the stateroom. This provides privacy if guests need to use the facilities and someone is sleeping in.


To the right as you go forward out of the saloon is the washer/dryer (full sized Bosch) and a storage/commissary area.

If you look at the engine room, you will also see some changes in the layout. We have split the fuel tanks to either side and moved the genset to the forward part of the engine room. This will open up the area forward of the engine so you will have more room to work. It also improves weight distribution as the genset is quite heavy. One additional benefit is that with the genset forward, there is much easier access to the BAT drive (if installed).

We will be moving into our new building this upcoming week. I will post pictures then.

TTFN

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Much Progress

We just got back from Trawler Fest in Poulsbo. What a great time and thanks to everyone who came by the booth and/or our two brokerage boats we displayed to say hi. I was surprised at the number of people who told me they are reading this blog and visiting our website regularly. (I guess I should be more diligent in posting progress reports)

The folks at Passagemaker (Amy, Natalie, Will, Eileen, and many others) really put on a great event. If you are a trawler enthusiast, I really encourage you to attend a Trawler Fest near you. The seminars are very informative. Jan (my wife) went to see Pat Raines who gave a talk on cruising in Mexico and Central America. She learned a great deal of where we should stop (and avoid as well) and got great tips for transiting the Panama Canal. Bob Smith does a superb job on the diesel workshop and Steve D'Antonio always has some great tips on maintenance and systems. We are national sponsors for Trawler Fest and feel that it is one of the most worthwhile boating events held. (off my soapbox back to the boat)

In the previous post, the superstructure was being infused. The process went well with only a couple of small hiccups. We found a couple of small areas that had undercutting. When a mold is manufactured, care must be taken to insure that the part can be removed. This means that there can not be any reverse tapers that will not allow the part to slide out of the mold. Well, we had a couple of small areas; no big deal but it slowed the removal of the part until they could figure it out.

I am happy to say that the part did come out and it was in good shape (and the most exciting thing is that the mold can be used again .

The part was infused at our facility at Bayview and then we moved it to our temporary building in Anacortes to be mated to the hull.
The superstructure was lifted into position by the overhead crane in the building and one of our portable cranes.
That's Kevin operating the crane through the "moon roof". Here is a closeup of him:
I don't know what we would do without Kevin. Even at the young age of 29, he has many years experience in boat building, most of it as a lead at Northern Marine building large expedition style yachts.

Well, we got the superstructure into position and lo and behold, it fits.

Once the deck is bonded in place, it will be difficult to get full shots of the engine room, especially from above so below are the last unobstructed shots you will see.
Dual Seachests showing Reverso Oil Changing System to the left
Lower part of fuel manifold (less site guages) with Reverso fuel transfer pump
Racor Fuel Filter System
After part of the engine room showing much of the hydraulic system.
Climate Control System and Watermaker
Overview of Engineroom
Another view of the Engineroom
Engineroom looking forward.
Rudder

We are slowly beginning to move into our new building here in Anacortes. The building is where the BMW/Oracle Americas Cup boats were built. It is 20,000 square feet and will finally provide us with the needed space to get into production. I am not sure when we will move hull #1 there, but it should be soon.

I invite anyone who has an interest to come and see the boat under construction. Please call ahead so that we can be here to give you the 25 cent tour.

Thanks for your interest and as always, write me if you have any questions or comments.
peter@nwtrawlers.com