General Building Notes |
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| General Procedure for
Building Gypsy Gypsy has been designed from the outset as a modular boat. The hulls, cuddy, cockpit and beams can all be made individually with final assembly not taking place until near the end of the building process. Furthermore, much of the construction can be done in an ordinary garage with a 8' (2.4m) wide door. This is a great saving in time and money as much can be built at home rather than in a boatyard. Hulls These can be built using one of three techniques, but in each case the cuddy, cockpit, hull decks and beams are identical and are built in plywood and timber. 1) Hulls built in strip cedar, glass sheathed inside and out. This technique is only used for those building round bilge hulls. Such hulls are significantly harder and more expensive to build, but do result in a slightly faster boat. 2) Flat panel plywood hulls, glass sheathed. 3) Flat panel GRP hulls - either solid glass with foam stiffeners, or foam sandwich. Option 2) is more familiar to most builders, but there is a lot more sanding, painting and finishing than with option 3). In addition, the grp hulls have better impact resistance and require less maintenance. Resale values of the three types will vary depending where the boat is sold, but it is likely that option 2) is the cheapest to build but will also result in the lowest return on resale. Cuddy This is built from the bottom up, but to simplify building and cleaning, the nacelle is not fitted until final assembly. The interior layout can be modified to suit own preferences, or galley equipment. However, the furniture is structural and care must be taken to ensure that the cuddy bottom is well braced. If necessary, the cuddy can be joined to the anchor locker 100mm forward of forward end of cabin at a later date. Beams The mast beam is made in three sections so that the cuddy can be built separately from the hulls. The sections are joined together during final assembly. The two main crossbeams hold the boat together and so must be made carefully! Try to avoid bolting unnecessary fittings to the beams to avoid the possibility of rot starting or the beams being weakened. Cockpit The design of the cockpit is determined by the engine installation. We recommend the 4 stroke 9.9hp Yamaha outboard and this is best situated in the port side of the cockpit. Hulls These are built upside down, using the same building frame for each hull so that they should be identical. Keels can be fitted to the bottom panel of the grp boat after assembly of hulls and cuddy. Wood boat keels are fitted in situ. Hulls should be sanded and painted before turning over. Final Assembly Decks can be fitted to hulls before final asembly, but it is easier to fit beams before decking. Hulls are set up square and level, so that centrelines are 4200mm apart. Ensure that hulls are vertical and that diagonal distances are equal (otherwise one hull is in front of the other). Brace well and fit aft crossbeam. Fit cockpit. Fit cuddy and mastbeam. Fit aft beam to cockpit. Note: If hulls have been decked, beams will have to be slid into hulls and so it will be harder to line up the separate pieces. |