PREPARING FOR SPRAYFOAM

Nov 22, 2007 // by admin // BLOG // No Comments

It’s been over a week since my last visit and the boat build is continuing to progress. The concrete slab ballast has been added and the floor laid over the top. It’s important that the ballast is installed correctly taking into account the type of fitout for the boat. This boat will predominately have a starboard fitout, with the majority of the weight from fixtures and fittings being on the right hand side. This means that more ballast needs to be placed on the port side to ensure the boat doesn’t list when fully fitted – although it’s not unusual for a boat to require additional ‘Trim’ ballast when fully fitted and launched. This trim ballast is normally hidden in the engine bay or under cabinets & access steps etc. Power lifting weights (the ones covered in plastic) are ideal for this as the come in various signs and can be hidden easily, they also won’t rust (cast iron) or chip & dust like brick ballast.
The wooden battens have also been screwed in place. These provide screw and nail points to attach the sheets of oak veenered plywood that will line the boat. You can see from the photo that the battens and window apertures have been covered with clear tape & plastic, allowing the person sprayfoaming to totally cover the inside of the boat. Afterwards these strips of plastic are removed to leave clean and smooth battens, without the need to scrap off the foam.

The windows have been fitted too together with the steel stable doors at the bow of the boat, which look great. The windows are currently in the process of being fitted with the plastic strips that hide the rivet points attaching them to the

shell. The strips are added and then left to hang oversized for a short period to allow for shrinkage before finally being trimmed to size.