I only managed an hour today so it was only enough time to cut, kerf and fit (and glue on) the bows of the hull side panels. With these glued on the next step is the cosmetic chamfer panels. Once they are glued on the joins are cleaned up (the oversize panels trimmed back with a plane), rounded (a router and sander work well here) and then taped with glass and the internal joins get coved then taped. Once that is done, the lids are glued and taped on then the whole boat gets a final sand ready for painting. We also glue a ply shelf inside the center compartment to level it off for petrol tank, etc before the lids go on. Once the final sand and resin coat is applied, the boat can be painted and any hardware attached and hatches cut and edges sealed to finish it.

So with just the chamfers and tops to go and the taping inside and out, etc. the boat is almost finished. I am hoping to have it done by next weekend as after that I will start to get busy with the move to the other shed, and once in there I will be very keen to join the hulls. I also hope to finally glue the 2 forebeam halves together this week so that it is easier to transport as 1 piece. I will sand it in the new warehouse ready for fitting once the hulls are joined.

Even thought not much has been done to MM for a while I really feel like I have been productive so far this year, and have had a productive month. We started on the dingy project on 23 Jan so exactly 1 month today, and in that time we have launched one and are almost finished the second dingy. And as a contrast, it took us 36 hours (18 each) to get to this stage on the first boat and it has taken 21 hours (15 for me and 6 for Warren) to get to the same stage. Of course we were making the second and subsequent boats as we made the first. I think it would take a first timer about 30 hours start to finish (including fairing and painting) on a boat from scratch with a set of plans using the offcuts of their main build, slightly less if you bought materials for the job as it takes a while to sort through and find offcuts the correct size for the various panels but if you were only making 1 dingy you would have ample offcuts as I have almost finished 2 from my offcuts so 1 would be a snap and you would not need to be so careful choosing them.