I ducked in for a quick 2 hours to glue the last few panels and tidy up a bit so that when I next come in I just have to stand the huge bridgedeck panels against the wall before the next stage in the process.

Next job is to start standing the bulkheads ready for attaching hull panels. Then I am building a boat and not just gluing a stack of panels together! The first job will be to make the legs.

Our aim is to have the first hull bulkheads stood by Christmas so that we can start the hull panels in January. Brett has offered to help me again and will be available in early January hence the timetable. I have promised myself that I will try to work at my own pace but having Brett will be worth pushing myself on this occasion. I don’t think it will be too hard to have them all stood in 4 weekends. I am able to put in a few hours on most days due to flexible work, but I will need some help for the next stages and Jo’s brother-in-law Graeme (an engineer so that should be a bonus in getting the bulkheads straight and true) is going to help, and also going to bring a theodolite (dumpy level). That means only being able to work weekends for the next few weeks (maybe I will be gluing some 13mm panels now after all!). Graeme also thinks he can get me about 8 empty 44 gallon drums, which will be needed to make a scaffold to reach the top (bottom upside down) of the hulls when the bulkheads are stood as they are about 6 feet high and will probably stand about 3 feet off the ground (enough room to crawl under and inside to tape the inside of the hulls before turning).

That’s what the bulkheads should look like stood ready for the hull panels.