Here you can see a front view of Sea Biscuit as she is being put together from scrap plywood. The plank through the middle will become my bunk. You can see the seat sitting in place. The two main bulkheads can be seen. They will later be reinforced with two by fours on the sides and more layers of plywood elsewhere. The keel structure can be seen here also. It is made from three layers of plywood above the seat and five layers within the bottom of the hull below the bunk/seat level. As you can see, the plywood for the sides is quite thin and will be reinforced later. This plywood serves mainly to create Sea Biscuit's shape and has little to do with her structural integrity.

(click images for larger views)

Sea Biscuit's hull has been turned upside down and the starbord side has been covered with Keviar and epoxy. The Keviar cloth overlaps the seam between the hull and the keel. This seam will be further reinforced with a wide band of fiberglass woven roving and epoxy as will the seam atthe forward edge of the bow. All will then be covered with fiberglass cloth and epoxy. Fiberglass tape will reinforce the seam where the deck and sides meet

In this rear view you can see how Sea Biscuit's barrel-shaped center-bottom section was sliced into planks that taper toward the transom. The starboard side has been put on and the Lexan windows go on at this stage also. The temporary cradle holding her up by her keel will be torn apart and rebuilt many times before the project is complete.

A view looking aft of the seat. You can clearly see that the layer of galvanlzed steel fabric has not yet been applied to the port side of the hull. The steel fabric overlaps at the section where the bottom of the hull meets the side panels. A layer of one half-inch thick steel plate was bonded to the bottom of the hull at this point for ballast. When the ribs are laminated in, they will actually help hold the steel plates in place. The layer of closed cell foam will encase the steel ballast as well and the inner hull will be built over it.

One half inch mesh galvanized wire Fabric was stapled to the inside of Sea Biscuit's hull to help guard against puncture. This was all slathered with a flexible rubbery layer of polyurethane sealant to bond the steel fabric to the plywood. Later the ribs will be laminated in using thin strips of wood so that they could take the rather sharp curve at the bottom of the hull. Once the ribs are in, a three inch thick layer of closed-cell foam will be applied to serve as the hulls core, floatation, and insulation from the hot tropical weather and the freezing Southern Ocean.

Here is another view of the wire fabric applied to the inside layer of Sea Biscuit's outer hull. Once the ribs and Foam insulation is applied the cabinet frame work will be built and an inner hull will be built up of fiberglass cloth saturated with polyester resin. This will be the only polyester resin used in her construction. All of the
exterior resin is to be Epoxy
bonding a layer of Keviar for impact resistance with a layer of fiberglass cloth and Epoxy to protect the Keviar layer. Her deck will be one half-inch plywood covered with a layer of Kevlar/graphite hybrid fabric saturated with Epoxy Resin.

In this interior shot looking toward the bow, you can see the Polyurethane smeared over the galvanized steel mesh that reinforces Sea Biscuit's hull. The ribs have not been completely laminated in yet.

Here you can see the framework for the cabinetry that will hold Sea Biscuit's supplies. Most everything will go in the bilge and in these cabinets to prevent my supplies from becoming dangerous projectiles at Sea.

Here is a view of the Kevlar/Graphite hybrid cloth bonded to the deck. The framework that
will encase the starboard solar panel can also be seen to one side of the hatch opening. It's twin on the port side has been installed also but cannot be seen.

This is the view I leaked onto the web before I had formally announced the news of my voyage. By now I had been dubbed with the "Captain Nemesis” moniker on a popular website called "The Captain Humphreys Project”. Eric Humphreys was, to my knowledge, my only competition for Serge Testa’s World Record. In addition, I'd hoped to also set the record for the smallest boat to go around the world single-handed, non-stop, and unassisted, by way at the five Capes.