whole new repetoire....

I am trying my hand at metal work now......dealing with .040" material instead of .25" material.

Metal work is dirtier, louder, and not nearly as aesthetically pleasing to me......but highly functional and certainly neccessary.

Some tools and the beginning of my chain plates and tangs for the mast:

My plan is to also make the mast base halyard organizer and the stem fitting. Also ordered my standing rigging today...may have a mast this weekend????????

Christmas in August!!

The PRIMARY activity this weekend was cleaning out the garage. Fairing and sanding generated a fine patina of dust on EVERYTHING in the garage, that generally found its way into the house despite my best efforts. Molly has been very supportive of the build, but the last 2 months of sanding have...well, let's say, "tested her patience". So while she was out Saturday with some friends (on a pub crawl no less!) the boys and I took everything out of the garage, then blew it off or washed it, and put it back in the garage. It was an 8 hour marathon, and they were troopers! I am still beat tonight, but it was worth it. You know the saying, "if momma ain't happy....nobody's happy"! Well, momma is happy again!

I also got the sails I purchased in the mail this weekend. They are Quantum second hand sails from a Melges 20 owned by Michael Kiss. The head will need to be cut down a bit on the main and the jib, minor surgery. The spinnaker should plug right in. This will leave the boom a bit long for class sailing, but I am not seeing another i550 in my neighborhood anytime soon.

More presents showed up in the form of the Ronstan hardware kit I ordered from Watershed. Very exciting to have the "boat bling" in my hand to start placing pieces!!!!

Finally, I got a coat of non-skid on the cockpit floor. The boat is going to look real nice when finished!!

bits n pieces....

Spreaders

and mast step

BBBAAAAMMMMMM!!

Pulled the tape today and the paint looks AWESOME!

A couple of shots....

(Should have wiped down the sides for the glamour shot...oh well....)

And my favorite...if you look closely, you see the reflection of the foot bensons on the far side of the boat...NICE!!!

Also got the spreaders set up. They will require some glass cloth, but are looking good so far. Just hope a squirrel doesn't decide to try climbing this mess before the epoxy cures!!!

It's getting closer!! I can alsmost TASTE it!!!!

Prep for deck paint and spreaders...

I had Mickey and JP's help today creating a newspaper skirt for the boat. JP seperated the papers and fed that to Mickey who held it in place while I taped....many hands make light work!!

I also started to lay out the spreader arangement.

But before glassing the spreaders in place, I added the thickened epoxy to the tips to protect them from the stays. A bit of packing tape around the tips filled w/ aforementioned epoxy, then sand and I should be good to go here.

.

Tomorrow I paint!!

spreaders etc.....

Laid up my spreaders a few nights ago. Pulled them out, cleaned them up and laid glass on them tonight. The first picture is of the long and short spreaders before and after routing the edges. (They are narrower at the outboard end but the picture distorts that.)

I then laid 2 layers of 6 oz glass over them. I consolidated w/ stretch wrap. This would have been an ideal application for the vacuum bag, but I didn't have peel ply etc, so saran wrap was used.

I also began to lay out the rudder. I won't use a rudder box, not sure the extra effort is worth it. I am just going to attach the rudder handle and the pintels directly to the rudder. I lose the ability to raise the rudder, but the keel is so much deeper I can't see where this is an advantage. And it would take a great deal of extra time to build.

I hope to get one coat of paint on the deck this weekend and get into setting up the mast. I have a plan for the rigging. Regular old 1x19 SS w/ turnbuckles is the plan.....nothing fancy and not as lite as possible, but quick and cheap.......I am ready to go sailing!

Also purchased some second hand Melges 20 sails that should arrive shortly. I will need to "modify" them slightly, but they are high quality and barely used and CHEAP!!!! so they fit the bill perfectly. I hope anyway. We'll see soon.

Bensons and Ballgames.....

While my family was off enjoying this:

(JP w/ his favorite head gear and the view of the Bay from their seats at ATT Park where they watched the Giants defeat the Dodgers.)

I was getting in a little of this:

Mast step started:

1st coat of primer on the deck and foot bensons placed:

And companionway trimmed out:

I decided to leave the bensons bright rather than paint them.

They look awesome and serve as a nice reminder that it is a wooden boat after all.

I also got started on the spreader brackets which I am fabricating. I hope that fiberglass brackets against an aluminum mast is ok. (I understand that carbon fiber against aluminum is a bad idea......any input here is welcomed!)

It feels great to get in a couple of solid hours rather than just 1 or 2 here and there. I need to quit my day job.....(just kidding Molly).