Some New Photos

Hi Folks,

I have been doing a bit of work to the boat, mainly scraping and sanding off the tape I put onto the veneers to stop to much glue getting on them. This was a mistake the tape is harder to get of than the glue and it doesn't sand off as well as the glue.

I have also taken a couple of photo's of the support cradle to show how it conforms to the shape of the boat. This was achieved by transferring the contour to the cradle frame using a 3mm thick marking and removing the waste with a spokeshave.

Then marking again and removing more waste until the final contour is achieved.

The sanding is just to remove the tape and excess glue, I will use a long board to final fair the interior after a bit of final fettling of the cradle frames.

That's about it guys.

KBO.

More painting.

Well I finished painting the walls in the garage which has really cut down the dust, so hopefully I can get on with the boat this week.

I have some final shaping to do to the cradle to make sure the boat sits right and is fully supported by all the frames. At the moment the inner of the two rear frames is not touching the bottom of the boat.

The gap is only 2 to 3 mm but to get it to sit down I have mark of the front frames with a marking block and a pencil and take of a small amount of timber at a time with a spoke shave until all the frames make contact. This should cut down the flex went I'm sanding down the inside of the boat.

I'll try to put some photo's on this weekend.

KBO.

Painting

Hi Folks,

I'm gradually sorting out the garage to get a bit more space to work. It has bare breeze block walls and a bare concrete floor that makes a bit of dust. To stop this I'm painting the walls with the cheapest emulsion paint I can find which is magnolia. After living in MQs for years I said I would never paint any building, I owned, this colour but it is cheap. The blocks are soaking up the paint like a sponge but it is cutting down the dust and making the place lighter.

The roofs leaking so I'm keeping the boat under the tarpaulin for now. I really have to get down to sanding out the inside of the hull then fit the deck beams . This should hold the hull in shape.

I'm mainly only working at weekends now because I work away from home during the week. There seems to be a mountain of jobs that stack up in the week which wait until I get home.

My work home life balance is all wrong at the moment , my goal is to sort this out this year one way or another. There is no point earning a good living and providing a good home for your family if your never there to share it with them.

Anyway KBO

Steve.

Cradle

Hi Folks

Haven't done a lot have new job now work away from home during week and only home at weekends. Its a bit pants but had no choice I was posted on promotion. Still I can't complain to much I still have a job.

I drafted a drawing of a support cradle from the main profile plan for the boat in CAD.

It has support frames at mold stations 3; 4; 7 and 8. I built it this week.

I have designed it so that I can remove some boards from my inspection pit and slot the frame into the gaps. This will allow me to work under the boat just like I do with my car. Also I plan to fit casters to the bottom of the frame the idea being the frame will sit firmly in the pit with the casters hanging free and if I need to move the boat I can lift it out onto the casters and just roll it out of the garage.

Stripping

Hi Guy's sorry I haven't posted for a while I have been sorting the work shop out. I have just started stripping the tape I put on the inner veneers.

I put this on to stop the glue spreading over the veneer to make it easier to sand down the interior of the boat, however the tape is a bit persistent its harder to remove than the epoxy.

I think the solution will be a heat gun on a low setting and a very sharp scraper.

Somewhat Distracted.

What can I say I'm not making much progress with the boat just now.
I did have just the one project the boat but now we have bought the house that's turned into a project too. Its a hundred year old miners cottage with a large garage workshop, ideal for the boat. The roof on the garage leaks so I'll have to fix that so that when I turn the boat over it doesn't turn into a giant bath tub.

Incidentally I recon I'd love to have a bath tub made of this material or a hot tub maybe that will be my next project?????? No I don't need another project got distracted see what I mean?

Back from overseas

Well I'm back from working overseas so it's time to get on with the boat.

The next tasks I have to do are:

1. Build a support cradle to hold the boat in shape while I fit out the inside.
2. Strip all the tape off and rough sand the inside of the boat.
3. Fit the three deck beams.
4. Make and fit the plate case.
5. Made the framework for the buoyancy tanks.
6. Fit the deck.
7. Apply final coats of epoxy.
8. Source and fit hardware.
9. Source spar, boom and sails.

Not a long list then.
Better get started.

PS. Hello to the Byron Boys days to do.

That's about guys bye.