I'm writing this blog as a journal of my build of a Duo-660 catamaran. Most of the content will be dedicated to this endeavor. I try to populate posts with pictures since it is instructive. The notes tab is for misfit posts. Always nice to have a place for the misfits.

-Esteban

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Bulkhead Needs to Survive Build Process

I finished Bulkhead 4 yesterday and ran into a potential issue. On Sept. 1st I wrote a post about alignment holes. The discussion was that some of the alignment holes would be drilled in areas of some bulkheads that would theoretically not be there if the center cutout of the bulkhead were made prior to setting up the ama.  The outcome of that discussion on the k designs group was to drill the alignment holes but then only partially cut out the center cutouts. That way the material is still there to do the alignment but also make it easier to complete the center cutout when access is restricted. Seems reasonable right?

But then it turns out if you do this with any aggressiveness at all on BH4 you will be left with the entire bulkhead being supported by only tiny sections of thin plywood. I think you would break it in anything other than very careful handling.  Hopefully some pictures help. Here is the entire bulkhead.



Here is where the section of remaining bulkhead gets really thin.


As you can see I stopped the cut well short of where the center cutout comes close to the relief for the stinger. I ended up making 5 short cutouts being careful to stay well away from where the center cut out gets close to the stringers. Here is one more pic of how I started these cuts with a drill and a jig saw.


I'm a bit worried about access to finish these cuts when the time comes, But I would rather be worried about that, than a broken bulkhead.

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