The Shaped tiller on the faired deck

The Deck was faired with a microballoon and fumed silica mix, the cabin sides were overcoated twice with an epoxy and fumed silica mix, although it is harder to sand , it worked really well, there was no need to use microballons on the cabin sides as the two layers of glass created a really fair surface with no bump where the tape would have been if only one glass layer had been used, this small amount of extra glass instead of adding fairing compound between the tape was a good choice IMHO it adds strength and stiffness to the hull deck cabin joint.

This is the detail of the cabin side versus the cabin top/deck, showing the difference between the microballoon fairing mix and the epoxy fumed silica finish, my last ply epoxy boat was built without using peelply or microballoons , just epoxy+glass with a a fill coat of epoxy, and then a fill coat of fumed silica epoxy mix - all wet on  semi-wet, then sanded and a final coat of a ceramic epoxy flowcoat, that is used on floors and walls of  industrial food processing plants, hospital operating theatres etc, and it was super tough, it was almost like a marble epoxy coating, and it has lasted extremely well, then the flowcoat had a very light sand and had a 2pack poly paint applied, and the finish was superb. Lets hope this one looks as good.

BTW you can see the positioning lines for the chainplates, a hint to all other builders, Remember to mark the DWL and the centre lines and the positions of the chainplates throughout the build, so that you can use them all the way through, I have the DWL and centres marked under the boat available, it saves a lot of leveling etc especially mark the dwl for inside positioning and also mark it on the outside of the hull.

 Fairing - the icing on the cake

fairing epoxy has been applied - the deck is quite fair already so this is a really thin layer and will not take long to sand it fair, already thinking about paint and colours - 

 Final piece of "boat jewellery" done

The final piece of the boat jewellery is done and
all the A4 stainless fastenings have been sourced and arrived.

Still life of gudgeon and firewood 2024☺☺☺

 Deck glassed and fairing is in progress, rudder glassed, tiller in progress and stainless in progress

deck and cockpit has been glassed and peel plyed

the rim around the companionway has had glass epoxy reinforcing

glassed deck and cockpit before fairing

rudder ready for sanding of the filler coat and adding more glass and fairing

Mahogany and Afzelia laminated tiller  and stainless rudder cheeks in progress

and of course sorting out fastenings for the deck fittings mast fittings and lots of other things that are really not photograph-able

A lot has been happening, 
but nothing really interesting to photograph

a lot has been going on but nothing really interesting to photograph, here is a pic of the most interesting stainless steel item

the bow fitting for the twin forestays

 Chainplates complete

The chainplates were the most complicated of the stainless items, the rest will progress quicker as they are way simpler

 Stainless steel work begins chainplates and babystay

Began work on the stainless fittings, the baby stay is completed and the chainplates are in progress, used my 580 plans for the chainplate and babystay dimensions

 Prep for cockpit glassing

final low density cosmetic fillets have been laid over the structural fillets in the cockpit, these are easily sanded and will be super strong once the glass cloth is laid - also seat drains were cut

cockpit glassing can begin