Whilst I have not updated this site for a while (nearly 2 weeks) and I did not work on the boat last weekend because I was at the boat show (for nearly a week away) I have managed another good month putting in 71 hours for the month. Given that I missed about 20 hours of work time at the show (and whilst researching at the boat show is important to any build I am not counting those hours) I am very satisfied with the result.
I don’t have a show report as such, I saw a lot of great ideas and got prices and made comparisons on a lot of things I would like to fit. I have decided on toilets and tanks, and a number of other items, I am pretty sure I will go with hydraulic steering but not sure yet what brand (probably Hydrive), I will also probably go with Raymarine electronics (E80) which also means I will probably also use Raymarine for the autopilot, and finally we are convinced that lining the entire internal of the boat is the way to go for a professional looking finish. I got back on Tuesday and during the week I managed to finish fairing one side of the second board, and to glass the inside of the last dagger case half.
Today I glassed the outside of the last dagger case half and to coat the inside with another layer of resin and to bog the last side of the second dagger to shape so just a final fair (which includes back filling holes) on that side and some touching up of hole back filling done on the other side.
Then I cut the hole for the bottom half sheave in the first dagger and glued the half sheaves into their boxes, and glued the box into the first dagger. The second dagger will be done tomorrow. I glued the half sheave into its box and also screwed it to the box with 3 hefty stainless self tapping screws. That sheave half will never move. Then I glued that box (after dry fitting it) into the hole I had cut. Again I made the box about 3mm or 4mm oversize each side so that I can grind it back down to flush when it is set and made a glue cove with my finger to ensure the box is completely sealed in.
I then started on false floor bases for the 4 forward spaces that I glued the keelsons in. My thinking is that I am splitting the size of these spaces, creating a floor to stand on when fitting the forebeam and to lie on when coving and glassing the inside joins of the decks and then I can utilise the space with a door from inside the boat or a hatch lid from outside if I want some extra storage space for sails, fenders and other light weight stuff. I have glued duflex strips to the hull sides and bulkheads, level all around. Tomorrow I will cove and glass these on and cut a ply floor (I may use duflex) and glue and glass this in.
So looking back on the month I managed to finish a lot of smaller jobs that I had put off for quite a while and am getting closer to some major milestones as a result, the fitting of the forebeam and the closing up of the bows.