KVARK – the homebuilt microcruiser | Kvark is a homemade plywood boat to cross the Atlantic in 2018-2019

News

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Uku

Hello!

We have put things in motion now, after an academic focal shift, which has so far yielded a master of science (Joosep). We are in hot pursuit of paint, mast, sails and other rigging. Updates to follow as things progress.

Posted in Building blog | 2 Comments

Done!

Posted on January 12, 2014 by joosep

The hull is now completed. We laid the keel today and fixed the last plate. The keel still needs to be epoxied, but things are looking good. Looking forward to sailing in the summer.

: This is what the hull is now and this is what it will stay like until we paint it.

: Giving it a last check with the bevel – as if we could change it.

: Uku getting it on with Portland cement, tight cracks and the very toxic lead.

: The dry fitted lead. We leveled some of the casting extrusions with the angle grinder. It was like a machinegun of fine lead pellets. the whole shop was full of little lead shot.

Posted in Building blog | 4 Comments

moving on

Posted on January 11, 2014 by joosep

I haven’t written in a while. We are preparing to finish the keel and paint the boat. That means lots of epoxying, a minimum of 3 times inside the keel. The other panel will be attached with Sikaflex 292i, which is apparently stronger than the strong force of Nature. Here are some pictures!

: Lead blocks in the keel, a dry fit. Had to hammer the lead flatter since the casting form deformed as we were hammering the casts loose. First casts fitted nice, but the quality of them decreased with every pour. Hammering lead was an interesting activity. Two hammers were used, one in the left hand, the other in the right. Whilst rythmically bashing the lead, an activity good for Siberian prison camps of the past, we rediscovered one of the oldest forms of music: music of labour. It just comes naturally when you need to do physical, routine work for long hours.