Our new boat is progressing.  It’s frustrating for us, as she is taking shape in the Pacific North West while we are firmly planted here on the East Coast.  We feel so removed, so irrelevant.  The crew at Tomco/American Tug are doing their best to keep us “on the team” but it’s still hard.

Which is why we hunger for every word we can get from the west coast, and especially every picture that hits our inbox.  This week it was a big moment that came our way.  The hull popped out of the mold.  We don’t know precisely when this happened, but the photos arrived on Tuesday, October 18, so we assume it happened then or the Monday the 17th..

Before the hull came out of the mold, the two halves were laminated together and the structural stringers were glassed into the hull.  You can see how stoutly built the hull is in this photo (right), and you can also see that the bilges are white (below), which we love, rather than the more traditional red or brown.  A beautiful thing.  Thank you to the guys/gals in those white suits doing the hard work on our behalf.

Also under way, while the hull was being constructed and popped out of the mold, are the bones of the interior.

The forward cabin sole has been roughed out and the forward bulkheads and cabinetry are taking shape.  The starboard (guest) cabin walls are going up and the cabin doorway is in place.  The head, on the port side, is being roughed out.

For now, she’s a sea of Sea Shell Green. Imagine, please, the red bottom, the white boot stripe, the name on her transom, and the white superstructure and flybridge that are yet to come.  Our tug.

This seems to be about a 30-week gestation process.  We are at about week 7.  Excellent progress.  A long way to go!

For those who are interested in the precise details of hull lamination, here is a great time-lapse video of an American Tug 365 hull being built over eight or nine days.  It’s a slightly smaller hull than ours (36′ instead of 39′), but the process is the same.