Skin on the Bones

Feb 27th, 2021 James The Build

Scout is coming along quickly, and now has a hull to speak of. Time for a cheeky return trip to the factory see whether things have progressed. And so they have…

The previous set of photos we received from the factory showed the transverse frames going into place, and we just had to imagine the hull going over them. But imagine no more!

The hull comprises a set of large curved aluminium plates which are then joined (I think with a stir weld) together. At the tip of the bow in this photo you can start to see that process underway, resulting in the swirled, polished look. Up on the top (which is be the underside of the aft), the effect is very prominent:

Plate welding on the underside of the hull.

(Obviously that safety fence will be unwelded at some point… that would be a lot of extra drag!)

Inside, it’s starting to become clear how the ‘rib’ frames support the structure of the hull. There are also lateral bars in place to provide strength and rigidity right along the hull as well as around the centerboard structure.

Turn the photo upside down and start to imagine...

The aft bulkhead is also firmly in place - I think those diagonal struts are temporary - and you can see where the two watertight hatches will be:

These hatches are for being able to get access to the steering gear from the starboard technical room (the larger hatch on the right of the photo) and the guest bedroom (the smaller one on the left). The other ‘through-bulkhead’ pipes at the top of the photo are (we think) for the engine, plumbing, and propane systems. The engine is mounted forward of this bulkhead but will need a water intake, exhaust, and so on.

And finally, up front, the forward bulkhead is also set in place, beyond which is the sail locker ‘garage’. Turn this photo upside-down to imagine our forward master cabin. Not comfy enough to sleep in yet, in my opinion, but we’ll see.

And that’s it for this update. Evidently things are moving fast, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with progress as we get the photos in from the factory. Stay tuned!

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