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By Dermot Tynan • October 28, 2013
Here's a quick sneak picture of the hull with the wiring harness complete and the decks sealed in place.
The keel is still only temporarily installed so the main compartment is again flooding with sea water. The bow is still slightly down in comparison to the stern, but this is mostly due to the flooded compartment. Also, the keel still hasn't been moved back, yet. That will happen this week.
By Dermot Tynan • October 27, 2013
On September 1st, we launched the hull in Aughinish bay, without sails, rudder or electronics. The purpose was to see how the hull performed in open water, with the keel attached. As the keel wasn't properly attached or sealed in place, the main compartment flooded with water, but as the compartments are individually water-tight, this wasn't an issue. It did lower the boat in the water somewhat, but not to any significant degree.
By Dermot Tynan • October 27, 2013
A quick look at the almost-complete Sailboat Guidance System (SGS). The board on the left is Igor. Otto is on the right, and the main CPU (Mother) is hidden underneath. The ribbon cable brings all the I/O to and from the boards. The red insulating tape is to remind me of some of the last remaining wires which need to be connected. You can also just about make out the DC/DC converter which is just underneath the ribbon cable at the bottom of the picture.
By Dermot Tynan • October 26, 2013
Earlier this month, once the hull and keel were mostly finished, we took the boat down to Aughinish bay to see how she performed. I have some video footage of the hull in the water, which I will upload a little later on. To ruin the suspense, Beoga Beag didn't sink! In fact, she moved through the water quite nicely, but more about that later on.
