Final bits 'n bobs
Mounted the dolly on a RightOn trailer. Added a mast mount to keep it clear of my car Hoisted a sail for the first time And..... ready to sail...
Posts
Getting boat like
Got out of the Garage and had a wash off. That salt was well encrusted though a fair amount remained. Took a break on the bigger boat.... Then put the mast up. There's a T prop at the bottom here to allow me to rotate it up while solo with a line on the transom to hold in place while I figured out the line lengths. Also got some decals!
Non skid decking
For non skid decking I added a final layer with some large crystal Kosher salt Came out quite nice. Originally I was thinking to keep the clear varnish finish but in hindsight seeing the non skid areas seems quite useful and I'll probably add a second pass with a color you can see at some point. To test line lengths I propped the boom up and started to look at how things would fit together.
Hull Paint
Starting to put the hull paint down. Used an Epifanes Yacht Enamel and to be honest had a lot of difficulty. A fair amount of this was definitely user error but at the end of the day I feel the final finish is a bit soft. I over sanded the chines a few times. Plus a few spots here and there. Took another pass at the hull paint. Came out much better. The main thing was to work the blending in between sections better, I rolled slower and tipped smaller sections. Still not perfect though - if I get competitive with this boat we'll be back here again. In fairness the color is AMAZING!!!
Fairing
Started building up areas using a light to look for low spots The chines took a lot of work. If I got another go I'd round out the edge more before glassing, then just build up with filler. Then took a break from the hull to work on the foils.
Side decks
Primed Ready to go.... And a bunch of color! Well okay lets get her outside for a first glimpse of the sun
Decking bits and bobs
The rudder head is coming together nicely. Weighing down some mounts for line leads Adding a few more foot supports (including some Ash edging to the carbon foot rests for a bit of extra grip) Planed down to an edge intended to get my toes on First line out - everything pretty good but in hindsight I'd spread out the blocks at the mast post base a bit more.
Foot braces
I built up some foot braces over a mold made from some corner molding from a local DIY store. On top of this I laid three ply of carbon cloth at a few different angles and vacuum bagged it. This took two attempts, for my first I tried a single layer and when I removed the bagging the carbon ripped. Once on I laid them out and taped around them Then weighted them down and epoxied them in place The final result was pretty good.
Ummmm, ten months later....
Seems like I've been lax at this blog. A couple of job changes and two growing kids have kept me busy but I did keep some time for boat building.... In fact I'm about ready to launch and the only thing that stopped me today was my trailer not being road legal. Next weekend though! I'll try and catch the blog up a bit, post a few highlights of the last few months. But.... Two years after I started I'm ready to go sailing....
