Day 99

Splitting the remaining half of pipe took 2 hours as I wanted it to be exact and perfect. As this piece had been used last year for the poopdeck edges, the 1/2 was slightly wider at one end. I used a washer that fit into the pipe and tested the angle less the cut width and found it to be perfect (lucky!) The forward end of the cabin required less pipe than the aft as the angle was set to be greater. This gives it a more sleek appearance. The problem was getting quick and accurate results from the cut I was to make from the cabin sides. As can be seen in the pic above, everything came out great! Here's how I did it:
First I cut down to one of the frames furthest aft, slowly trimming it down until the sample piece of curve ( pic to right ) lined up with where the plate would come in to meet it. To mimic the roof plate I used a cut off one good edge piece of 1/8" plate. Then I measured the offset between the bottom cutoff edge and top of the plate. (where it would butt in ) All of the following measurements were distance down side to top plate + offset. As the angle widened towards the bow end, the pipe narrowed, so it worked out perfectly! One cut and a smoothing grind was all that was needed and the pipe just fell into place. I'm feeling pretty good about that one :o))	The method of offset hehe!
If I could change anything I did today, I wouldn't have cut the pipe up piece by piece. (If I'd have had a whole pipe that is haha!) Instead, I would have sliced each section leaving some of it joined so the shape of the pipe would persist, then zap out the remaining tacks afterwards. The main problem is once the pipe has been spit more than once, it tends to curl in, even with a plazzi cutter, and this makes lining up a piece of straight flat bar for the next cut very difficult. Not to mention I could no longer use the special clamps I made yesterday, so regular clamps on a round thing are a disaster.

	While I was having all this fun, Gena was diligently at work on the cabinframes, T'ing them off just like the pilothouse ones yesterday. She also hauled up 3 more 4x10 chunks of plate, and we marked, flipped and cut 2 of them to fit into the pilothouse roof. Wow it's getting dark inside the boat, we're going to have to get some lights to put in there soon Before we go much further on the cabintop, we must decide on whether we'll have a deck or keel stepped mast. We have heard that keel-stepped is better for cruising as it may survive a knockdown, etc better
Just a note: Day 100 ( yay! ) is coming up tomorrow, but I won't have time to post it as we will be packing for a little holiday on the island ( Vancouver island ) and for a sail with friends. We plan on (urk!) somehow fitting in the aft cabin top plate that actually goes into the pilothouse some, and finishing off the other cabin side edge, and whatever else. Just another note: I am designing and building a standalone WEFAX receiver and may create a new site for that, as it promises to be interesting....well so far it has been anyway! The DDS auto-tuning SSB HF reciever was finished last month, the dot matrix LCD driver ( I want to see the WEFAX as it is received) is nearly finished. A computer can do a really great job of WEFAX with a separate HF receiver, and we would have- except the power requirements are substantial, and a purchased standalone unit is substantial $$$

Day 99:
9 hours: split pipe and installed to cabin side, plated pilothouse roof, finished T's on underside of cabintop frames