Front beam structure....

[Oscar]

OK, I've got some (more) questions...

Mind you, I have a Canadian built PCMold boat, and it appears they may have been "creative" in their approach to some issues.....

The fixed wings they built have a flange on the hull with a hole in it, and then a long section of aluminum (same as the mast in fact) goes in one hole, through the boat, out the other hole and is bolted in place through the flanges.....

The swing wing appears to be a mod of the fixed wing. The swing "dome with hinge" for lack of a better word, is riveted over the flange of a fixed wing hull, after the aluminum section is removed.

What baffles me is that there is about a 3 inch piece of aluminum tube in the flange, inside the pivot "dome"...... What the hell is that for?

The next question I have is that there is now no tube running through the big box beam over the forward berth. Is this box beam plywood only? Or is there a fiberglass box inside? Is it structural? Or was it only to hide the aluminum in the fixed wing, which is now no longer there......

The reason I ask is because the box beam renders the forward berth all but useless. Maybe a 20 year old can worm his way under there, but I hurt myself every time I do it. Removing the box beam would greatly increase the usable space. But, only if it serves no purpouse.....

It is possible that my boat started life as a FW, and was modified by the factory to be a SW during the transition period between the two.... Then again, I don't know how later SW were constructed.

Maybe I need to pay a visit to Denmark.....

Opinions?

[tpaliwoda]

Oscar,
Good question. Wish I had a good answer for you but lets take a stab at this.
The boat you have was one of the last Canadian boats made. I think there were only two after yours.
With that being said, I think he may have made a few boats in advance as conventional non-folding boats and then just modified the boats into folding boats.
As for use ability of the front V berth - that was the kids domain, we would put both up there and my wife and I would use the pull out bunks in the main cabin. We spent many a weekend on that boat. I guess you can use it for storage.
You may be able to modify that box structure somewhat, but I still think that only gains you about a foot of headroom / shoulder room.

Hey - if it keeps up snowing, you may have to design some skis for that boat!

Stay well
Ted

[Oscar]

A foot would be awesome. It is by far the longest bunk, and if you put your head under the forward hatch, you have height and more shoulder width than anywhere else.

After a 42 footer the Admiral has indicated that spending nights on this will be......eh, unlikely. I have indicated that we can sail from B$B to B$B..... That would be OK she said. We have little time to sail as a family anyways right now. In 7 years youngest is off to college and then we will have much more time, and will be getting a large(r) cat.

Oldest kid will be off to college this year, and the other one and I can do some cruising. I also may enter in a race or two....most likely solo.

Discovered the CMA, look forward to hanging with those folks.

Yes the snow is something else..... did a 10" pass early this afternoon with the blower and another 3" pass just before dark..... Still coming down. May be 18"+ before it's all over.

Fedex trodded through the blizzard to deliver my flexible long sanding block this morning.... the decks have been primed and the hulls are about to get filled and faired.. A year and a half so far by the way.

Center hull has been emptied and is ready for pressure wash, stripping of bottom paint and a coat of nice gloss..... (the advantage of dry sailing...)

Have been figuring out the rigging and am almost ready to order some (pricey) hardware.....

Note the new hatch to replace that flimsy round thing..... Now I'll be able to get a few things in there.... (light things of course.... )