Not much work on the boat today. Just an hour and all I got done was to cut the slot in the trailing edges for the fibreglass batten with a hand saw and I glued them into the dagger blanks. Cutting these slots was into the daggers was not easy. The trailing edge is only […]

Another fun day, even though it was pretty much the same as yesterday. I have now shaped both daggers and dismantled the jig. I had a couple of unexpected problems. Well unexpected is not quite accurate. I had a bow in one of my boards but I thought after attaching the molds to the ends […]

I have shaped my first daggerboard. It took me all day because as usual I was a little over cautious on this first one. I measured and checked and checked and measured until there was nothing for it but to actually cut one. So I did. And promptly made a mistake. There is a lock […]

Sounds like a brand of margarine. No I still haven’t shaped a blank yet, but I am ready. Nothing more to do but run the router over them. I have the router bit (I got a better deal at the local tool retailer, 20% cheaper than Bunning’s across the road, only $34 so not too […]

Builders will tell you that even an hour spent on the boat is well spent and brings the finish that little bit closer. An hour was all I had time for today and it wasn’t a particularly productive hour but was worthwhile nonetheless. I found out today that I still have a couple of problems […]

The long rails are set to the bench and the cross rail is made and slides easily in its track. There are only 2 things stopping me from shaping the blank. I have yet to glue the Cedar blocks for the sheave into the blank and the router bit I have does not reach deeply […]

This month I should finish the daggerboards and their cases. I will also try to get a few more of the dirty jobs done so that next month I can start to close the shell up. Once the jig is secured to the bench I will then secure the blank inside the jig. It just […]

I am calling this the half way mark. I have been building now for 2 and a half years of a 5 year plan. In terms of hours completed, I am figuring 3000 hours is going to be the full build on my cat, a tad optimistic most would say but I intend to cheat! […]