12 Months on

12 months since starting so its worth a look. Have had a few days back at it in the new year- have got the second final layer

of ply on the deck (with help from Ash thanks) and so the hull is officially complete in its main structure. - I used up the last

3 sheets of ply on this from the original 70 odd! not a bad guess. Then managed to get all the port holes/ lights cut - this was well worth doing to let in light and air for the interior painting job that charlotte has started. For the port hole openings I rough cut with jigsaw then finished off with a jig/ template for the router. Also cut a big hole in the deck for where the dome will sit above the companion way. Not sure if to make this slide or fix it shut- i think i

know which option will not leak....

Deck Down

I decided that it would be great to get the deck on before christmas so that we could have a 'christmas party' in the boat. Laminating all the deck beams took some time - the knees have 9 laminates each and main beams have 6. All epoxy glued together.

My brother Nick and I had a fun week of jointing and fitting all the deck beams and then finally nailed down the first of two layers of the ply deck just in time for a celebratory drinks party. A good stage to have got to just before christmas. - 12 months ago we had a christmas party in an empty shed celebrating erecting a 'temporary shed roof' !! amazingly the roof is still there after so many gales.... touch wood

Mast partners

Main mast partners . This component holds the mast up so has to be strong.

3x layers of half inch ply followed by the deck (2xlayers 3/8”) Because of the raised deck this over nine foot long by two foot wide making it quite heavy to handle on your own! I thought about making a mould to laminate it over but concluded that it would consume too many materials. It turned out easy enough to mold it in pisition on the boat. Starting with scarfing the ply to make three 10’x 2’ sections. I put one of these in position on the boat and then spent some hours putting props under it from the cabin floor/galley units/water tanks pushing it up into a smooth curve that i was happy with. It looked quite a lash up but worked well. Once the props were in i took the ply off and added a mass of epoxy to create the usual sticky laminate sandwich and clamped into place.

cabin sides

At last the cabin sides are now finished and the boat is really showing her shape now. It is amazing how different she looks with the sweeping cockpit sides that are mirrored at the bow.

To get this shape I started by making a hardboard template to get the shape right without committing to expensive ply. I then scarfed together two 8’ lengths of ply to get a 16’ section that would bend and twist around the cockpit in one hit (it makes the transition from leaning into the cabin to leaning out to match the hull angle at the stern post/stem while curving around the cockpit/bow) These are then screwed, glued, nailed and tortured into position followed by a second layer. At the same time I used 100mm glass tape and epoxy to smooth in the joint between deck and side.

Its getting cold!!

Over the past few weeks the temperature has been plunging to below freezing. The epoxy needs pre heating with a fan heater then i stand it by my workshop stove to keep it warm for the day.

The workshop has not been the only cold place - the cottage where we stay has also been cooling down. In light of this i have spent a few evenings making a little stove. I used an old diving bottle for the main part, some cast iron gutter as a flue and some 8mm steel plate to make a door/vent/lid/hinges. Its is top loading and has a removable griddle made from re-bar (from keel framework) and the legs are the off cuts from the keel bolts.

The plan is to fit it into the boat when it is finished - i will add a stainless steel fiddle rail to keep a kettle on top at sea.....

It works well and heats the little cottage well using very little fuel (Coal or wood).

I am now fitting the cabin sides and working towards fitting the main deck. The basic interior and all the large fittings including engine and tanks (water and diesel) are installed as once the deck is on they will not come out again. (engine will squezzz out of the main hatch). A few photos:

Charlotte’s painting the areas that the tanks get fitted into and the first ply layers of the side decks are in place.

The Tank Family

I made the tanks from 2.5 mm 316 stainless steel. I needed three sheets (8x4) to make the 4 tanks.

Two 20 gallon fuel tanks (40 Total) and two 60 gallon (120 total) tanks for fresh water.

I used a plasma cutter (thanks John) to blast out all the flat sheets. this was qui

ck and easy as you can use a straight edge (10mm ply) clamped down the the sheet metal and just run the cutting head down this. Far easier than angle grinding! I then use flap disks in a 4”grinder to remove what little slag is left from the cut. I had cut out all the sides in an afternoon. Then it was just a case of tacking all the sides together every 6 inches or so before seam welding it all together using a TIG welder. I added stiffening bars in the middle of the sides to prevent the sides bulging out when full of water/diesel.

I made 10 inch inspection hatches on the tops of all the tanks . Adding these and all the pick up pipes / fillers seemed to take longer than making the main tanks. In all these tanks took me 8 days to make which i think has been well worth while at this stage.