Second Factory Visit

Building a boat is no different than building a home. There are construction workers, electricians, plumbers and project managers. Just like a house, there is a sequence for the various stages and just like a house, you can expect delays but you can’t really predict them. Our builder works on a few boats at once and these form a queue, which you can’t jump.

Exciting news for us was in June when the first real progress on our boat was made – the hulls began to be formed in the molds. Now that a few months had passed, I headed to San Fernando, Argentina again to see the work in action. This visit was all work – boat visit and shopping mission – but I was caught having some fun as well.

My visit overlapped with Rob’s (Antares) and with Ed and Maite (Hull 4445). Besides being great company, Maite also is an excellent videographer and we are thinking of employing her again in the future. All three of them were able to head out on the River Plata aboard Ona (Hull 4439), the recently launched boat. I missed the sail but was eager to look at the final product, as it was the first (and maybe last – painting is time consuming) blue Antares.

 

 

 

Ona is sort of a model home for us. I got to check out all of the new features and to try to answer crucial questions, such as – where will I sit with no co-pilot chair? Fortunately, I solved that question right away. Next question was – what will the new lounge chair be like? Answer – wonderful. The challenge will be who can wake up early enough to claim the chair for the day. I wonder if it will be sufficient to put your towel on the chair, sort of like at a beach resort. Don’t worry about the mess – the builders are finishing a few last minute items in advance of the owners’ visit in a few days. Phew – that was hard work. It was time to take a break at the Yacht Club Argentina.

At the factory, I was able to look at hull 4440. This boat was about 6 weeks away from launch. At this stage, all of the electronics are in the boat and the builders were focused on the metal work and other final touches.

I still hadn’t seen Two Fish but just a glimpse of the project document was enough to make me happy.

On the next day, we went to the fiberglass factory so I could finally see the start of our boat.

Working backwards, here is Hull 4441, almost ready to move to the finishing factory. Her deck is attached so engines, pluming, electrical, all major woodwork and tanks are already installed. I is tough to predict now when we will be at this stage.

Our partner boats are 4442 and 4445. Because our launch dates are relatively close, we spend the most time with them discussing strategies, options and general boat topics. 4442 is an electronics nut who

finds fairly nifty items – like our newly added underwater lights. More often than not, once we hear of his new gadget, we respond with “We’ll have one of those too”. Here is 4442, getting ready for the next week’s deck install. The week after my visit was going to be a big week at the factory. 4441 was moving to the finishing factory, 4442 was getting its deck and moving to the on deck circle and 4444 would be moving to the almost on deck circle. Sort of like when the announcer at a ball game says the winning run is in the dugout.

By now, you are wondering where Two Fish is. Climb aboard. It was amazing to actually see a hull. It would have been even better had Jason been there and I took lots of photos to try to give him

the bird’s eye view. Standing in our future home made it all feel real. Just like during our apartment renovation in its early stages, I didn’t know enough to comment on the work being done. The important thing was that progress was being made. It almost seemed as if it could float. All we need now is a sail, right? Both of our hulls were out of the mold and they were being joined by the hull bridge. One of the fiberglass workers was attending to the points where the hulls meet the bridge.

Our bulkheads and stiffeners were also being installed. Now we just had to wait for 4442 to get her deck so that they could start the process of putting our deck in the mold. Here is a view of the bridge mold from the outside:

Besides the actual hull, other components were built and ready for install. The heads are made of fiberglass and help to stiffen the hull. The cherry veneer wood work is carved at the factory. All of the pieces are made in advance and I examined the pieces that I saw to look for the 44 label. The final boat in the queue 4445 was one step back from Two Fish. At this point, 4445 has two hulls in the mold  and is waiting for our bridge to be ready for cleaning and prep for their boat.

Great news when I returned to the factory the next day. Our bridge mold was off and we officially have a hull. I can’t wait for our next visit.