Today I managed to finish all the legs I need to stand all the bulkheads. It takes longer than it should because I first need to salvage the timber I used by dismantling pallets.

Is it?
Could it be?

I have finally stood the first bulkhead!! Well temporarily at least. I have only clamped it for now. Tomorrow I will secure it then move on to the next bulkhead and will use the laser guide to ensure it is level. I will also run a few more string lines to plumb it all from.

One little tip here. When you glue the hull panels to the bulkheads you will make a rounded fillet shape on the glue line where the hull meets the bulkhead so that the fibreglass you add next will not have a sharp right angle to glue to and would otherwise not sit perfectly flush. Therefore you will need to have an inch or so of peel ply removed (all the pre made fibreglass Duflex panels also have a protective removable layer called peel ply). It is much easier to remove the peel ply before you stand the bulkheads. Simply score the peel ply at about an inch in from the edge and peel it off. Don’t score too deep as you don’t want to damage the layer of fibreglass below the peel ply.

You can see from this photo (just squeezing in on the right) that the 44 gallon drums arrived today. Graeme brought them down. His wife Natalie (Jo’s sister) came down earlier in the day and helped by buying me 2 bags of chipboard screws whilst they were out shopping. I had asked for them earlier in the day and mentioned the size I needed but whilst I got the size I asked for they may be too short for the job of attaching the bulkheads to the legs! Never mind I will need these and more to temporarily attach the hull panels to the bulkheads. I didn’t have the heart to tell her at the time as she so wanted to get a mention on the website!!! Perhaps if she knew a little more than I do about my requirements she would get a whole page dedicated to her on the site. Thanks Nat. I would have included a photo of Nat but I couldn’t get one of her when she wasn’t yawning! Seems she yawns whenever I am discussing the boat??