Thursday, December 16, 2010

Moving Big Things

Well it's been a while but I'm settled in now in coastal NC working for Graham Brynes, fellow watertribe adventurer, naval architect, sailor, and owner of B and B yacht Designs. B and B is a small company with big ideas and an abundance of knowledgeable people who love boats. I am having a blast working on the latest project, a 45 foot power catamaran. Designed by Graham for a client as an efficient live aboard cat she has wave piercing bow bulbs and a very narrow entry angle. This is the largest project that B and B has taken on but it's something that has been on paper for a long time.

In addition to glassing, sanding and brainstorming, I have been modeling the Cat in Rhino 4.0, a popular solid modeling program. It is possible to build such a large and complex shape with very few people with the help of CNC cut parts. We use a shopbot table large enough to cut shapes out of 4x8 sheets of plywood. Computer cut parts can be joined into large and accurate jigs for building the hull panels.

This week, we rotated the Starboard hull over with the help of computer cut circular cradles in order to fair and glass the outside surface. Eventually, the hull will be rotated back and the process repeated for the inside surface. Below is a time lapse video of the move.