I managed to get both side decks glued and glassed on last month with the exception of just 4 internal tapes, which I completed this month. With just the 4 tapes to go I spent 2 hours last week just preparing the surface for taping. Remember the upside down grinding. It used up the last of the hours I had left in April. I thought I could do that work and get the tapes on within April but I had forgotten just how difficult grinding upside down is. Anyway it is done now.

I have also marked out where the masts will be because I intend to have the boat faired soon and the masts require the deck to be de-cored and the balsa replaced with plywood and 4 layers of glass laid in concentric circles each 200mm larger than the one above to a radius of 800mm from the mast centre. And of course it would save a lot of work if this work was done before the boat was faired. Then, when the time comes to fit the mini mast posts for the masts, a section only 200mm wider than the radius of the mast need be stripped back of bog for glassing and then re-faired all around. It is much easier fairing before protrusions are glassed on, and the bog stripped back and re-applied after. It might seem like more work but the protrusions (such as the mast posts, stanchion bases, winch and block pads etc) get in the way of long board fairing and actually create much more work having to fair around them. So fair first, strip back bog for glassing of anything, then re-fair. On the weekend I will remove the top layer of glass in a ring 400mm across, remove the core and fit a 400mm ply disc then, remove the bog from around this for 800mm, then re-glass it with the 4 layers of glass.

I have also been working inside the boat. I have made a template of the bulkhead that will be fitted to make the wall for the starboard aft bedroom and doorway. It is complicated by the fast that it is set at an angle to the centreline (not square to it) and this effects the shape of it as it meets the various chines and the curved side deck. The best way to get the panel as close to the correct shape is to make a temporary template out of mdf. In fact I made cardboard templates first because they are so easy to cut with scissors, then transcribed that to mdf and cut that, this is more rigid and robust so there is less risk of it not transcribing correctly to the polycore panel. Then once I had cobbled together the various bits of mdf into place, in its correct shape snuggly against the hull sides, sole and underside of deck, (and wherever the gap was too big I marked on the template to add a little to the panel when I transcribe), I laid it out on a sheet of polycore ready to cut it. This too I will do on the weekend.

I had to decide the best way to make the bulkhead because it is larger than 1 sheet of polycore. The most cost effective way would be to have the panel run horizontally and add a piece in the hull to complete the bulkhead. This uses the least material, but has a horizontal join and the join crosses the doorway so the join is actually much smaller because a lot of the join is removed with the door cutout. BUT. There is always a but. But I think the panel would be stronger if I make the join vertical and the door would also not have any join in it at all. This join would be visible along its entire height, but either way I need to fair the join out. I am still thinking on this. That is the reason I have stopped. Sometimes it is better to think things through rather than push on.