BUILDING THE COMMODORE'S HULL AND A HALF

Building this half-hull of a Corsair trimaran started with reviewing the drawings in brochures that had come with the boat, and also studying many photos of the build in California.

Drawings from the brochure, blown up to the desired scale

The first step was to cut a thin plywood profile, and plywood deck, from the drawings.

Profile and deck fitted to the drawing - halves of ama cut for shaping

The main hull was ready for planking, in 1/32" planks

Planking of the main hull started, in 1/32 inch planks

The next job was to build the beams that would join the ama to the main hull

The jig to laminate the beams, with metal inserts to ensure the shape was kept

The fore and aft beams were laminated as one, to ensure that they remained exactly equal.

Two beams laminated together, to be sawn down the middle

In the meanwhile, the starboard ama needed to be built.  This was done in two halves, then glued together.

Planing the ama halves to shape with miniature plane

By this time the main hull, the ama, and the beams had been sanded and painted.  The next job was to fit them together.  The designer drawings showed that bottom of the ama sat exactly along the DWL.

A neat jig to fit the ama to the main hull

And so, after painting on the bottom paint (no easy job), and installing the spinnaker pole, the job was done.

The Commodore's half-hull, to go onto the wall of fame at Norwalk Yacht Club