Wednesday, September 30, 2015


The keelson stack is complete.  I will place an aluminum (TBD) plate on top that mirrors the keel flange.  The rudder block will go on as soon as the next epoxy work starts.  Started the buoyancy tanks beneath the side decks.  The volume is slightly less than original design but still meets the rules.





 


Friday, September 25, 2015

Now the deck fore and aft is glued up and near ready for the skin, 6mm ply.  The rudder bearing and inner seals are in place.  The deck rudder block will be installed next around which the deck skin will lay.  After this the cockpit work starts.







Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Fore deck beams, stringers are all ready for installation.  Mast gate bulkheads strengthened at hull interface with matting and weave fiberglass.   Added final seal coat of epoxy all over hull interior forward of station 4.  Installed fore deck beams.  Need to figure out the spinnaker chute, fore-stay interface and chock mounting.











Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Fitting of beams in fore deck coming along.

















Finally!   When I get some more epoxy the barb fittings will be bonded into each bearing block and the assembly finished.  Lets try 3M 4200 for that as West 105 and nylon will not bond.  As time allows the rudder stock and tiller attachment will get built but now to continue the deck and cockpit.

Made a trip to Kona and hit all the marine stores for ply, glue, etc.  Starting 6th container of 105 and 7th standing by, hopefully that will close the deal.

















The seals did not work very well at either bearing and epoxy dripped out until it began to gel.  Added more barrier coating in aft sections.









Keelson deadwood is in place and waiting to install cap board which has been reduced in length to just cover sections 3-6.   Front window port frame is in place for future upgrade.  A transparent window will be installed from exterior at this frame.  The fore section will receive another epoxy coating,  installation of fore stay anchor plates and possible spinnaker chute hardware.  After that the fore deck beams, stringers then skin will be installed.

At the rudder stock some more frustration as the re-drill was now offset to the port side by 3 mm.  We enlarged the bore to one side and mounted up the rudder for positioning.  The bearings will be poured epoxy 105/205, which, has slightly less strength that Acetal or Nylon.  The seal between the upper and lower bearing will take some finagling.  Need to get this done so we can close up the back.

Mid deck compartments and seats are underway.  They will be split (for now) into forward and back compartments separated by a space of 20-30 cm adjacent to the sheet console.  The compartments will see less bending and less likelihood of leaking.  The seats would float above them with a space underneath to facilitate maintenance.  Well at least that is the plan.