Jahazi: Interior joinery (2012)

Introduction

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea"
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

With that in mind one may think that anybody with a passion for the sea can build an ocean going yacht. But be warned! It is not something that can be taken lightly. It takes time and dedication.This project was started in 2004 with the purchase of plans for the Didi 34. Although almost finished, it is still ongoing.

Monday, 31 December 2012

Interior joinery (2012)

The interior joinery of the boat can be done at any stage and at whatever time. In my opinion, this was now the time to do as much as possible before turning the hull over. Although one must install all the shelves and cupboard fronts upside down, it just makes sense to do the interior joinery while you stand on a level floor and work at shoulder height most of the time. Initially, I though it would be difficult to work upside down, but one gets used to it very quickly.
The drawings show the basic structure of the interior. Except for the joinery cleats that are already installed on the bulkheads (this was all done when the bulkheads were made) one has to measure in sito, check the fit, coat with epoxy and install each component. Quite a time consuming process as nothing is square or straight as in ordinary house joinery.
While doing the interior, I also did most of the interior hull epoxy coating as well as the fillets on all plywood joints to the joinery cleats and to the hull and bulkheads. Fillets are the strongest reinforcement that can be added to an angled joint. I spent 200 man-hours during 2012 just working on the interior.