Here is the first update from Alan Hicks on the start of construction of his beautiful new boat C54.  As you will see from the photos below Rob White’s team have finished the laminating of the hull and the boat has been moved to Simon at Thorpe for the templating for the side and forward buoyancy tanks.  Alan tells us that Malcolm kindly brought over the templates he made while fitting out White Spirit and there was much discussion about the best way to fit them with Rob making some very helpful contributions to the discussions.

The centreplate is currently being forged at East Coast Castings and should be completed in the next week or so. Much time has been spent by Alan thinking over fittings, etc, using copies of plans to make life easier later.  The big things to finalise and order over the next two weeks are mast, spars and sails.

Clearly progress is very quick with the construction so everything looks good for a launch in spring 2014.  We’ll bring you more updates soon and thanks to Alan for sharing the photos below and for keeping us update on progress.

The mould being prepared (the waterline is showing as the pink line)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gelcoat goes on (we love the pale green colour!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The glass layers going on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boat goes to Simon who is making the patterns for the side and rear buoyancy tanks.