Yesterday and today (6 hrs each day) I have finished coving the sections between BH3 and BH4 (the port bedroom) and BH5 and BH6 (the main bathroom) leaving only the section between BH4 and BH5 (the saloon or more appropriately the halls at the bottom of the stairs from the saloon). Then once that is done tomorrow, I will have completed all of the work on the inside of the hull at this stage leaving only the sanding on the outside to go before turning and starting on the second hull. Perhaps the only other thing might be to do a quick grind off (using a sander) of the sharp points at the edges of the tapes as they can be sharp. I will also run the router along all the edges to remove the tape overhangs.
I have removed all of the temp bulkheads. There were no screws still in place and they all dropped out easily thanks to the sticky tape on their edges to prevent any glue from sticking to them. I was reminded how heavy the mdf temps are. I would guess that the temps weigh more than the hull does.
Finally you can see down the hull through the doorways and see the entire length of the habitable area inside of the boat.
A tip on applying the tapes to the bulkhead joins. Make sure you apply it with slack to the outside of a turn (against the hull panels). It will leave you with excess slackness on the inside of the turn (on the bulkhead) but this smoothes out with your fingers. If you are too tight on the outside of the turn the glass will not stretch, it will lift off the bulkhead and you will have a lot of trouble getting it to stay attached to the bulkhead. Another tip (that Randall gave me) is to brush on some resin an hour or so before you want to apply the tape and it will be tacky and help to get the tape to stick to the panels easily.
Once the inside is done tomorrow I will have no more excuses, I will have to start sanding the outside of the hull then apply the numerous layers of high build and sand them off again. I actually have been sanding here and there and have about a third of it done. I need to apply a little more bog and then sand those sections again. I have been exaggerating my avoidance of the sanding, but it is a bugger of a job and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I reckon it is the sanding that weeds out the gunna’s from the doers. (For those not familiar with Aussie slang, a gunna is someone that is going to do something one day but never gets around to it, as in “I am gunna do that one day”).
I noticed I passed 400 man hours today. The estimate for the build is 4000 hours so I am just on 10% done. And I think I will finish the first hull this month which is about 10 months, but I think I can finish the second in 6, because I spent the first month gluing all of the panels (for both hulls) which I don’t have to do again, also I have a bit more of an idea what I have to do (and what I don’t have to do) which will save a lot of time and finally I lost almost a month in Feb whilst overseas and a month due to the bog mistake so that’s at least 3 months less. So hopefully in January I will be ready to join the hulls.
