Days 53 and 54
By Ron Porter
Sunday, June 11, 2006
The results of this week-end's work are all out of proportion to the actual labour. I only cut four panels, two of which (the cockpit walls) I cut at the same time from sheets I had clamped together. Although, to be fair, one of the panels (the roof over the main part of the cabin) had to be built up from a couple of pieces with a butt-joint. Still, it didn't feel like a lot of work.
This first shot shows the floatation foam in the walls of the cockpit before we installed the walls themselves. I don't know how much good it does, but I've been working on the principle that any enclosed air-space needs to be filled with floatation foam, so I just did it. It's not like it adds much weight.
Here's a shot of the cockpit with the walls in place. And my sweetie and co-builder! If you are really paying attention, you'll notice that the cabin roof looks a bit different from the previous shot. There is a simple explanation for that--the roof has been installed instead of just sitting in place.
This shot is the first indication that maybe the lines of the original haven't been completely destroyed by raising the roof of the cabin. I put in a lot of time with scraps of lumber and sketches to get this look, so don't be too hard on me.
Here we can see how important those cockpit walls are. If you compare this shot with one from about the same angle last week, you can see the that most of the top-heaviness is gone. It's amazing, really, what a simple curve can do.
Last, but certainly not least, we have a shot of Devy hanging out the window, waving to her fans. She won't be able to do this after we install the windows. Every window will either be fixed (non-opening) or have a screen installed. In this case, the window will be fixed. The only opening windows are the front corner ones (the trapezoidal window in the centre of the shot) and the one at the back of the cabin beside the door.
