topside fare...or getting close....

There just isn't that much to photograph when you are sanding, sanding and sanding....except maybe the piles of dust and me all sweaty in a respirator.

BUT, when you apply a coat of primer....well THAT'S a different story:

And my plan is to flip on Wednesday evenning...if Iround up enough hands! Come by if you care to see the bottom of the beast!

Interior geting closer....

Forward fillets/tape is done under foredeck and tape under cockpit is done.

Here are some shots of the compression post.

Bottom/base set-up:

Top end set-up:

Post ready for goo:

Base installed:

Top installed:

Aft end of cockpit taped:

Now, BRING ON THE LONGBOARD....aka the torture board....time to start faring!!!

In the belly of the beast

I took a deep breath and decided it was time to finish (most of) the interior. The forward stringers under the foredeck needed fillets and tape. The compression post needs to be installed. The chain plate gussets need to be taped to the deck. The cockpit needs taping. All of this is nasty, dark, cramped, dusty yucky work and I am just going to spend the week getting it done.



Not much to photograph, just use your "minds eye" to see me hunched over, dust mask on, trying to keep long lengths of epoxy infused cloth off of me and in the right places where one can almost reach. My butt has a random bruise from sitting on some stringer for too long last night, I have gobs of epoxy in what little hair I have left and my neck is most comfortable when I hold my head about 10 degrees to port.....maybe THIS is why I haven't chosen boat building as a profession.



It is all coming along nicely though, and my hope is that I will be ready to flip the boat over this weekend. I think I will get the topsides mostly fare, but not worry about primer and/or paint until I get the bottom done.

Since I have nothing to photograph myself, I will leave you with one of my favorite sailing pictures ever....courtesy of Sailing Anarchy:

The shape of things to come!

This is it!!!!! This is the shape of my boat. All major plywood construction is complete (accept for the added suger scoop for PHRF handicap racing).

There are some spots where I will be able to tape the underside, and I need to tape the hull to deck seem, but otherwise I am into "finish" mode. YAHOO!!!

cockpit in.....for good!

John P came by again and helped with the final install of the cockpit tonight. It went in nicely after a dry fit last night showed some "opportunities for improvement".

There is no turning back now. I just hope I can find all my backing plates when I need to!!!

I'll trim up the edges tomorrow and have a rough version of the finished product finally!!

Flip/Flop....

Pulled the cockpit out, marked spots for backing plates (traveler, center block behind traveler, spinnaker blocks on aft decks, foot strap tie downs on aft cockpit sole....I think that is it), cleaned up front end of cockpit where it meets the cabin and flipped it back over again.

Here it is mid flip:

And here is the bottom...done!

I also gave the inside of the aft section a quick sanding and am debating about one more layer of epoxy to seal it all. I also need to add the backing plates for the pintels and gudgeons and an outboard. Other than that, I am ready to put this bad boy in for good!

excellent weekend..minimal progress.....

Had a blast this weekend. Thanks Rob, I needed that.

I also shaved my head, but that is another story....



Cleaned up all the glass work from last week and started placing backing plates for the hardware in the cockpit. I laid some of the carbon/kevlar twill that I am so fond of over 1/4" ply. I am hoping that the carbon kevlar is a good surface for the underside washers and nuts.





Backers for the traveler are in. Need spin sheet blocks in the rear of the boat, hiking strap anchor points and the center main sheet block and I should be good to go!

Oh yeah, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Soft White Underbelly.....

(2 points if you can name the referenced band's REAL name.....)

So the underbelly of the cockpit has all the glass it's gonna get.

A shot whole enchilada:

Fillets and tape on the stringers under the cockpit sole:

4" bi-axial at the junction of the sole to the coskpit sides:

Layer of 6 oz cloth under the foam for good measure:

A couple of notes. The biax WILL take an outside curve (remember that inside my cabin I wasn't real pleased w/ the way the biax wrapped around the deck to cabin side seem, inside the boat it was an outside bend...if that makes any sense). I used plastic carrier sheet to hold it down, and faired the wood into a nicer curve under the tape. The tape looks great tonight....we'll see tomorrow.

Also, it is AMAZING how stiff those 2" and 3" stringers are when beefed up with a fillet and tape....they are simply BOMBER.....and light. I say this now. I may be cursing those words when they start to pop as some 280 lb rail guerilla lands hard in the cockpit mid broach.....time will tell.

I'm off for a few days for a GUYS weekend....(white water rafting Class IV Saturday, meat and cigars Saturday night, mountain biking Sunday) with a group of old buddies. I'll be back, clean this mess up and maybe flip and trial fit on Sunday night.....if I'm not to gassed.

(De) Construction....

The cockpit coming out:

And the cockpit flipped over and getting prepped for fillets, tape and epoxy

all around:

Thanks to Matt Seely for swinging by to help w/ the lifting and spinning. The cockpit is stinkin' LIGHT! Just cumbersome.

Everything is sanded and the tape has all been cut. Wed eve will be another epoxy night.

cockpit glassed......and Perfect Game.......

The cockpit is glassed...top side. It came out beautifully. No runs, no drips, no errors.....(in honor of Dallas Bradon's perfect game for the A's today........) The area near the aft that has no epoxy is extra "run" of deck.....I haven't trimed to fit at the very back just yet. Going to use a flush cut router bit on that at the end.....figured it would be helpful to leave it on so I have something to grab as I lift the sole out to flip it.

Now to lift it out and glass all the bits on the bottom!

Cockpit radius done and glass prep.....

I have finished fairing (at least for now) the radius' (radii?) for the cockpit.

I have also cut the glass cloth for my first big glass job. *{[GULP]}* I have done a few big glass jobs like this, but never on my own......this is a BIG committment of material and time and....well....any skrew up is going to be COSTLY in both!!!

Wish me luck on two fronts: 1) That I don't create a massive WHOOPS and 2) I find time to do this on MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Have I mentioned that my wife is a SAINT?

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! radius and foam dust......

So the planer made quick work of getting the radius' close:

And then my single most favorite tool in the shop, my PorterCable variable speed random orbital sander got them to within hand sand tolerance:

I need to tweak in some spots. I did lose a few pieces of foam where the edges get thin. I crawled into the belly of the beast again and added a few tabs behind those spots, including one that was far enough back I could only just barely reach it......and no way I could see what I was doing. Molly was kind enough to come out and eye ball it for me!

And she made some awesome enchiladas for dinner.

Note to self: wearing a dust mask after enchiladas is a bad idea unless you really enjoy enchilada burps.........

tabs from below....

Nothing exciting to see, but the tabs are all in place from underneath. The darker 2x4 is propped against the side of the garage and pushing the side panel in. The lighter one forward of that is holding the foam down. The 4x4 running fore/aft is also holding foam down..more red neck engineering!! I tabbed the starboard side last night, pulled those ties tonight and started playing with shaping the foam. Longboard is slower than I'ld like, belt sander isn't much faster. Then John P suggested the hand planer.....excellent idea and a great trade off for the 1 beer I fed him.

Tomorrow's picture will hopefully show a foammy snow storm and a nicely radiused cockpit!

Cockpit ready for tabs......

I remember this movie that I saw as a little kid.......this crazy guy would bury people alive in a coffin with one small light and a little bit of air. The scene would open with someone coming to in a really cramped space realizing slowly what was going on and beginning to freak out. Those images came rushing back as I crawled head first in to the aft part of the boat to place wire ties.....it is freakin snug in there!!!!

But, I was able to get the cockpit sides and sole in this weekend!

!

Hopefully I will be tabbing this week. Then the foam is shaped and the whole top glassed.

While I was at it, I started to clean up the interior a bit and also started the foot bensons. Well, then I had to put those into the cockpit w/ the travelor to see what it all will sort of look like:

8 hours in one shot is worth more than 3-4 evenning shifts of 2-3 hours.

I feels great to make a big chunk of progress!!

Cockpit supports

This is what I am going to have for supports under the cockpit sole. Less than some builds, more than others. With the bensons on it should be plenty stiff.