Sea Sled madness. It’s in my brain.

Boat surveyor from the local Lloyds guy coming Saturday.

First glass in a long time. Damn rain. Coffee stains showing through the glass. I like it.

 

Is this your local Lloyds Register office, or a different Lloyds?
Have you told him about this thread? If not, then if he reads through it from the beginning he will be very familiar with the boat before he even sees her in person.
Will he be the person ultimately responsible for compiling a report for your Insurers?

 

Aarrhhh... (in a sea shanty accent)....She's got character Cap'n !!

 

Lloyds seems to be the only outfit giving insurance that isn't cookie-cutter simple. HUB insurance in my region is a local broker, and their commercial marine insurance specialist gave me a couple recommendations for surveyors, one of whom works out of the same boatyard I'm in.

 

It is a bit difficult to make compartments watertight unless there are vertical barriers, aka bulkheads. If the intermediates are too narrow; you can widen them for a better glue joint. If you intend to get water (or don't) in the bilge; the sole if ply needs to be epoxy sealed on the bottom as does most everything and well or it'll all swell up and bust.

But I'd plan watertights. On my boat; the watertights are pretty large. I accidentaly did not vent the first hull two front watertights. I knew they were not done and thought I could skate. The boat was upside down and under a black tarp. The compartments puffed up and damaged some of my forward laminate. I had to repair it. I used 1.5" pvc cleanoits and have an access to all the compartments. I put the hulls outside and had heavy heavy rains here and water got in because I didn't have the compartments sealed with tfe tapes. I used a oil change pump and took out lotsa gallons of water. I am planning some alternative drainage above the watertights and the water is routed towards a low area which will have a bilge pump on a float or manual switch.

 

Also, another idea. Use plascore or nidaplast for the sole. That stuff glassed each side won't be affected much by water.

 

Woo-hoo!!!

Movement is good, movement AND progress is quite the accomplishment.
Attaboy
Congrats
Good on ya
I'd buy you a rack of ribs and a Pabst but the gubmints that be.....

 

Some day Lloyd!

 

Hour and a half visit from my boatyard neighbor, Paul Dupre. Excellent fellow, very knowledgeable. Most things he had to say were very positive. Very reassuring. However, TC, Transport Canada, is very negative about wooden boats carrying passengers. So water taxi may be impossible. That is a blow for sure. But there is plenty of other work to be done.

He says not to cut limber holes.

(hang)Dog

 

This astounds me. Did Paul elaborate more as to the reasons why Transport Canada are not keen on 'wooden' boats?
One could argue that your sea sled is not a wooden boat per se - rather, she is fibreglass with a timber core.
Same as so many other fibreglass boats that have (eg) balsa cores - and which are no doubt carrying passengers, even in Canada.
Does TC have any rules or guidelines to follow?
If they do, and you follow them absolutely (and maybe get a survey report signed off to that effect), then it would be difficult for them to not approve your vessel for passenger transport?

PS - I would agree with Paul re not cutting limber holes - you want to have lots of watertight (but accessible) compartments.

 

I will follow up.

 

Actually managed a bit of work after the surveyor left.

 

Your boat is technically a 'composite'.

It is not 'wooden'. If someone wants to call it wooden, then sheath it all in glass. The irony is epoxy and wood are both flammable, so TC is a little off unless they have reasons like wood boats sinking more often. But again. Not 'wooden'.

 

Those are going to be steps!

 

Yes. A flight of stairs built to standard building code dimensions. 8" riser, 11" tread. So folks can walk up them and not feel insecure or stumble.