Blog — Thursday , 10 October, 2019

Wed. Oct. 2

As we enter October, the temperature has fallen, which has made life a little easier for the shipwrights. But we’re still in the middle of typhoon season, and Cynara is protected only by a tent. A smaller tent stands adjacent—where work on the interior, the masts and the spars is being done.

Paul and Carlos (above) are onboard in the galley area, where the mast will pass through. They’re using temporary patterns and frames to check the positions of where the bulkheads and furniture will go.

On deck, Ben is fitting the rods that connect the deck to the hull. The rods are bolted through the deck and run down alongside the mast and into the mast step, and firmly bolted to the keel. They add strength around the mast, as the blocks and rigging will be putting high loads and stresses on the deck in this area.

A team from Southampton in the UK called Centerline Marine was brought in to lay the teak deck planking. Teak laying is a very time-consuming process, so this allowed Riviera’s team of shipwrights to focus on other tasks. The deck beams were first covered with a plywood sub-deck, which was first “faired” to ensure there were no high spots or hollows. Then the teak planks were laid on top, one by one. Each plank was machined to include the seam for caulking before they were glued down.

Tues. October. 8

Mike, from Centerline Marine, is removing any extra glue from the caulking seams. He also has to cut the butt joints between each plank end.

You can see from this photo that the planking is almost complete. The caulking between the planks is the next part of the process.

Thurs. Oct. 10

Work had to come to a halt in order to prepare for Typhoon Hagibis (Typhoon 19, as it’s called in Japan). We are storing all the important interior fittings, lashing the masts down (above), storing other parts in elevated containers (top) and taking other measures (middle) to protect the tents from the wind. According to weather reports, the typhoon is scheduled to come ashore very close to our location about October 12.