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Fuel Update Apr 08

Recent Press

Hull number one of the FPB 64 Series is now underway in New Zealand, and we are pleased to bring you the first of what will be many photos of the build process.

Circa actually began construction in mid-April, but it takes a while before production engineering drawings make their way to the cutting table, and jigs are ready for the initial frames.

The photos which follow represent some of the early work, to the end of May, 2008.

Frames (above) are standing from the bow to the aft end of the salon. Longitudinal girders below the salon are in place in the photo below.

You can start to get a feel for the depth of the girders, fuel, and water tanks here. Depth equals structural stiffness and big tanks.

The pointy end. That is a massively thick and strong centerline girder supported at close intervals by the topside longitudinal stiffeners.

32mm (1.25") of solid high strength aluminum alloy.

Looking at the bow and forepeak storage area above. The first frame back from the bow forms a tank, for extra protection in a collision. The second bulkhead defines the aft end of the chain locker. The next web frame is for mid-span stiffness. Then you have a watertight bulkhead which isolates the forepeak and defines the forward end of the living space (which begins aft of this bulkhead).

Still looking at the forepeak, now from just aft on the starboard side towards the chain locker.

The big cut out in the bulkhead is for access to the windlass and so you can get at the chain in case there is a foul to clear. The topside stiffeners are capped with round pipe to create a shallow shelf, soften the edge, and provide somewhere to tie stored items.

Looking aft from the forward half of the forepeak, at the watertight bulkhead. Note the width of the topside stiffeners. If you are banging into big head seas at cruising speed you will not have to worry about deflecting structure.

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The photo above is a detail of the water tight bulkhead. The T's run vertically and the girder across the bulkhead. Note the closely spaced frames and capped girders.

And one of the topside girders aft of the forepeak. These vary in width, but this 230mm (nine inches) of width is typical.

Looking aft from the forward to aft end of the salon. The longitudinal girders form the fuel tanks when enclosed with bottom and top plates. The intermediate transverse frames (running across the boat - left to right in the photo) within the tanks are to reduce liquid movement when the boat moves in head seas. The closely spaced longitudinal girders do the same job for side to side movement. This "eggcrate", together with the 15/32" / 12mm bottom plate is enormously strong.

While the big pieces are going on there are lots of small bits being manufactured as well. These are for stabilizer mechanisms and will be welded to the hull with numerous gussets inside of water tight coffer dams.

Bending or "wheeling" plate is an art. This special machine actually stretches the aluminum into shape to match the hull we have designed.

In the next batch of photos you will begin to see some of this bottom plating being tack welded into place.