How many G cramps to hold a boat together?

Progress!

The two halves of Riff Raff are being glued together as I write (that’s the deck* and hull** bottom, not bow*** and stern**** sections nor the port and starboard sides****).

I learnt of this almost by accident and immediately commissioned Jamie (the Works Manager) to take some photographs. They’re all mostly of G clamps, like this one:

It looks as if the compass, bilge^ pump and some sailing instruments have been installed and the winches on top of the cabin. The galley^^ is not yet complete and the cubby holes in the sides of the cockpit coaming have not yet been installed. I hope they’re not forgotten…The rectangular holes in the sides of the cockpit are lockers that will eventually sport lids and the round hole in the cockpit sole ^^^ leads to a tank where the water ballast ^^^^ resides.

Jamie, Thanks for the photo’s! And I think the answer to the question above is “lots”.

Glossary

*Deck – the bit that keeps the water out of the hull**

** Hull – the bit that makes the boat float provided it’s not full of water see* above

*** Bow – the pointy bit at the front

**** the less pointy bit at the back

***** left and right (or red and green******)

****** the colour of the navigation lights for the appropriate side

^ bilge – where the water goes (eventually) if the deck (see * above) leaks

^^ nautical term for kitchen

^^^ Cockpit sole = eg the floor of the cockpit

^^^^ ballast – a heavy weight to help keep the boat upright – not to be confused with crew.

I’ve run out of suitable indicators (as I can’t make this text do superscripts) so will befine crew in a later post…