Hi Annie,

I'm pretty excited too. It's amazing how much they get done, two or three people five full days a week, with a third person handling the getting of all the materials. I think it's also a testament to the "easy build" priority that Dave Zeiger puts into his designs, which has simplified the process. When Auklet was built, also at a boatyard, it took almost a year for the basic structure and paint – and then three years in the driveway! This boat might indeed float this summer, with a slight chance of actually sailing somewhere, maybe just down the Bay. I have a relaxed goal of that kind of sailing in time for the junket at the end of August – you never know! But I can tell you right now that the boat will not have the marvelous interior that is the payoff for all your enormous work ;-)

Shemaya

New photos are up, here. Deck is on, parts of cabin being dry fit, and hatches cut into deck… Looks a little more real, all the time!

Shemaya

Gosh - doesn't the copper look marvellous?  I'm not sure how well it would last here, in the primeval soup that is N Island, New Zealand.  I read somewhere that colder water adds to its longevity.

So wonderful to see another boat in build!

I've mentioned this project in a couple of other places, but have been thinking that it should have its own spot. Here's the overview:

T24x8 SHANTY Triloboat
Designer: Dave Zeiger, www.triloboats.com modified by Shemaya Laurel
Construction drawings: Christopher Lariviere
Being built in 2019 by West Cove Boat Yard in Sorrento, Maine, USA

Details:

– 24' x 8' junk rig flat bottomed barge with leeboards/off-center boards
– fir plywood construction, mostly 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch ACX, with marine ply on bow and stern curves. Framed with doug fir dimensional lumber, and white fir for larger boards that were unavailable in doug fir
– dynel and epoxy sheathing on exterior surfaces, plain penetrating epoxy on all interior surfaces, all surfaces then painted with exterior latex house paint
– bottom sheathed in 3/32" copper plate, sides to waterline 1/16" using half hard C110 copper
– chines covered with architectural bronze angle 2"x 2"x 1/4" (unable to source silicon bronze)– powered by Torqeedo 4.0 electric outboard motor, with 8 Universal UB121000-45978 12v 100AH Deep Cycle AGM batteries configured for 48 V
– aluminum mast: tapered 6063 anodized flagpole 22' x 4" diameter tapering to 2", 1/8" wall thickness
– high tabernacle is EXPERIMENTAL

– and leeboards/off-center boards, on which we are still working out the details

Goals: protected water cruising and lazing around; drying out flat on the mud when the tide goes down; open water in settled conditions to get around points into the next series of bays; sailing across the wind and downwind, electric outboard very possibly the only way to make progress upwind. But in this area, on many days in the morning the wind blows from the north, straight down the bay toward places one might like to go, and in the afternoon it comes around from the south. With decent tide/wind timing and some patience, the boat might be primarily sailed.

That's the story! Construction photos and more detailed drawings can be seen here .

Shemaya