It's aluminium (or
alumiNUM which I believe is very similar
)... Originally I was going to build a wooden boat as I was more familiar with fiberglass-epoxy-ply work, but then my son built a small aluminium boat as part of his pre-apprenticeship
training and I ended up welding (with a TIG welder) some
parts of it while he was recovering from hand injury. TIG welding aluminium is easy if you can use 2 hands. I have done electronic soldering since I was old enough to pick up the cold end of an iron so I found it pretty easy. The best part about aluminium is you can do things that would rust in
steel because you don't have to
paint it, for example you can use box sections as
deck beams.
I will be making my own wooden mast(s), mainly because it is too hard to get deliveries out this way. I got a quote for $1000 for a suitable extrusion and $1500 to deliver it! I'm going for a
ketch rig because it seems right with a
center cockpit and all the usual advantages. I'm
buying second hand
sails, that's one good thing about the
racing crowd, they throw away good stuff all the time. I'll probably have a bit of a
bowsprit and a bit of a platform at the back (if you look at the TT web site you'll see one)
I'll keep the rudder pretty much as in the plans, but I may see if I can balance it just a bit and probably go for the trim tab
wind vane.
Glad to see that you are allowed to
live aboard even if it is ashore, they seem to have all sorts of
funny rules here (in Western Australia). After many years of working out of a garage (that never saw the car) and in the drive, when I moved out here (to the bush), before I even bought any materials, I built a decent shed. I could fit 2 boats side by side and still have about 40sqm of workshop space and there's a 40sqm mezzanine.
Agree with you about a TT group.
and I agree with you about doing as much as possible yourself. My
kids (who are somewhat nautical) always have a laugh at some of the youth
round the world attempts and say that they should first get a job and pay for at least part of the boat, then be involved in the construction or fitout and they should understand and be able to
repair all systems before they leave home.