boat is tented, deck sanding in progress and 
a new youtube video

The boat is tented to allow work on the deck

the rounding over and sanding and filling of the screw holes is in progress ,
I prefer to get surfaces as fair and perfect as possible before glassing as I feel it makes for less fairing compound to be added and sanded off at the fairing stage

Bow deck to cabin deck transition in progress

 Tomorrow 21 Feb is 1 year 

since I cut the first pieces of wood for the frames 

and began the build

It has been 364 days of fun, great pleasure, creativity, creation, sanding slog, stickiness, and dust.

 Thank you Tanya and all my supporters, PEM Lublin, 

Lanex Yachting , Narwal Sails,

Helm Watches, MAYS,

contributors and collaborators. 

The ocean Awaits.

 Filleted bow compartment, planed flush deck joint,
 filled  screw holes

Today I finished up the fillet under the deck in bow compartment - I had to take a break from the monstrous overhead fillet job the previous day. I am in two minds to leave it as it is or to add a layer of glass - it can always wait as I made sure to leave good access.

then I planed the deck joint down, companionway bulkhead and also the cockpit coamings, and filled some screw holes in preparation for the round over of the sharp corners
 - all for the glassing  work to come, there are plenty more screws to fill  !!!!

and shop vacced the inside and outside and admired my work, 

 Deck is on

earlier today

 Bow deck, fillets, and a MC Escher stitch and glue sculpture

Today I glued the 2 bow deck pieces using a "Herb Payson" (think he was the "inventor") type fibreglass butt joint - I have never used one before but thought I would try it because it will actually butt against the central U beam in the bow compartment, so I am not worried about its strength or possible lack of strength, but what it should do is help with creating a fair curve which would have been difficult with 2 separate pieces (I used some offcuts as I have ideas for my remaining ply sheets)

then I finished up some fillets under the deck, and lightly sanded some from yesterdays work

and got to work on my MC Escher stitch and glue ply sculpture 😊😊😊😊😊😊

and got to drink a few beers - btw, that big chunk of stainless is for my rudder fittings

 TEASER! one side of the deck is on,
check back soon for the full deck reveal

 Today 13th Feb I worked on the lazarette,
cockpit drains and tubes

did some west fast epoxy work on the tubes so that I could glue them in today - cut the lazarette access hole, routed a bevel on the transom and the front face of the lazarette, glued and filleted the front face of the lazarette,  glued and filleted the tubes in and then lots of layers of glass with peelply to finish

40mm vs 50mm tube

 Flush trimmed the cockpit edges , Made a new 50mm glass tube, prepping for deck

Flush trimmed the cockpit edges and the coaming edges,

 and made a new 50mm tube as I decided to make bigger drain holes

 than my previous 40mm tube,

40mm

50mm next to 40mm

and started prepping for adding the deck

 Cockpit coaming risers glued and filleted, 
Transom drain holes cut

The cockpit risers were glued and screwed in -  they were also coated with their final coat of epoxy before they were installed and the coaming lids had their final coat of epoxy before the riser was glued in,they had some fillets done as well -  the riser was filleted to the cockpit seat and the transom with a large structural fillet

cockpit riser to transom fillet

the holes to take the 50mm epoxy glass drain tube was cut in the transom and in the front face of the lazarette.

 Cockpit coaming tops glued and filleted

these are the "lids" for the under coaming storage lockers - They are done !!!, this was the most difficult glueup so far, as the access is not easy and glue cleanup and fillets were done in some pretty tight compartments in really awkward positions, boat yoga ??? - backwards downward dog is easy by comparison.

 Glueing and filleting in the under coaming lockers/cuddys and the stern locker/lazarette modification/idea

Today the under coaming lockers were glued in. I decided to use wWEST fast epoxy as I wanted it to cure so that I could glue on the coaming tops. There has had to be a specific order to the cockpit build so that all glueing and if needed filletting but especially access for excess glue removal to easily take place, anyhow using fast epoxy was not a great idea as it was too fast for the fiddly pieces of the lockers that had to be precoated, glued, held in place with all sorts of blackmagicry and skyhooks smoke and mirrors (bendy springy pieces of wood from underneath) and filleted and cleaned up while making no mess  - it was a wrong move, plus the neccesary boat yoga, in and out shoes on shoes off gloves on gloves off, because the undersides had to be glued and filleted as well, anyhow "jobs a goodun"

and from inside looking into the locker

and for anyone wondering about the cockpit modification and the idea behind it - 

this is how it will look, with a watertight hatch on it, that opens to a lazarette storage/foam compartment   - at the cockpit floor level there will be another hatch that will be in a different format , but will also double as an emergency hatch for the one above. Under the cockpit floor will be the usual foam flotation with easier access to the rudder fixings, and in the lazarette will be space for extra foam. The cockpit drains will be 2 x 50mm epoxy glass pipes that run through the lazarette along the sides to the transom. This cockpit  addition will reduce the cockpit volume, add extra foam flotation when needed, make use of the normally unused  space under the tiller, and strengthens the aft of the boat dramatically. It may look a bit old fashioned "70´s boat style" but makes me happy that the unused space is positively used.

the ply cutout is the hatch cutout from inside the lazarette at cockpit floor level to give an idea of the top hatch opening size

 Cockpit seat tops glued in

Today and yesterday was the cockpit seat top project, a lot of glueing and clean up and filleting took place with a huge amount of boat yoga involved - getting your head, arm and a clean up / filleting stick, along with a cup to collect extra epoxy glue, into the aft flotation compartment through the  compartments access hatch, all the while trying to remain glue free, while your gloves are mega sticky is a major accomplishment, but - Job done!

creative clamping

Flying Clamping Object