Building the Glen-L Yukon
by Wayne Milner
Page 8
Turning the Hull
Turning the hull was easy. I estimated that it weighed between 5,000 and 6,000 pounds at this point. The first step was to remove the building form from underneath, and to devise some way to support the hull at all times while it was being turned. I first blocked up the hull at the ends, and dismantled the building form. I stood four of the 6x6 timbers on which the building form had rested on end, one on either side of the hull at frames 4 and 11, and braced them. I got some steel roof trusses from a junk yard and set them across the top ends of each pair of 6x6s. I used six sets of chain falls and cable hoists, one at each end and at the mid-point of the trusses.
Two men turned the hull in just a few hours, using chain falls and metal trusses supported by the roof of the temporary sructure. |
Here, the turning operation is nearly complete. Note the steel trusses used to support the hull, just visible at the top of the photo. |
For attachment to the hull, I put an extra 2x6 across frames 4 and 11 inside the boat. I drilled two 3/8-inch holes through the frames and 2x6s, and threaded 1/4-inch wire rope through them, leaving a loop that reached out past the edge of the hull just enough to catch the hook on the chain fall. With appropriate shiftings of chain fall hooks between the attachment points, two of us turned the hull without mishap in about four hours. One person could have turned it, but more running back and forth between chain falls would have been involved.
After turning, the hull was leveled and blocked up for support, the lifting appliances and the 2x6 supports across each frame were removed, and the hull was ready for the next stage of construction.
Conclusions
At this point, I have put in about 1,200 hours. I started in May 95, and it is now December 96. I've spent about $17,000 Canadian. At this writing, I am working on the interior with undiminished enthusiasm, and look forward to submitting a follow-up article when the project is completed.
Reprinted from the January/February 1999 issue of Boatbuilder magazine (www.boatbuildermagazine.com).
Glen-L would like to thank Wayne Milner and Boatbuilder magazine for permission to post this article on our site.
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