Little Bea CG580 in Horta 

The slightly bigger sibling of the Setka stopped into Horta on his crossing from Halifax Canada to Portimao Portugal. We met Dan and spent an enjoyable time with him and Little Bea talking boats, building, what works, what doesnt and having a look at his great build, nice to compare size and get some ideas for what should be done and what not to do on Cagarro, including a strengthened transom and jib sheet lead idea

 While he was here he joined in on one of the Semana do Mar races, the singlehanded race, here are some pictures taken by my friend John.

 Once he departed Horta - it was interesting to chat with him and check his daily progress as he sailed from Horta to Portimao.

 Fairing  & SANDING!!!!!

for the last 2 or 3 weeks all that has happened is the boat has had fairing epoxy applied and then it was sanded smooth with a longboard, it is almost done yeah yeah it is almost done, 

some more sweat is needed, but it is looking great, there is another layer of glass to be added to the bow (rather a layer of glass to get it fairer -  than a layer of microbaloons), and the area at the sheerline has been left fairing free so that when the cabin sides  and deck are added then the hullsides can be bondedd together, and then it will get its fairing.

It is not a very photogenic or exciting stage of the construction.

Fairing

 The boat is all glassed and fairing is in progress, this is the part that I said I would not bore you with hundreds of pictures, the goal is to put on the thinnest layer of fairing epoxy mix, and to get the boat fair, the mistake commonly made is to put on a thick layer of fairing mix and then to spend time sanding it off to create a very expensive dust.

if you would like to read more about epoxy, reinforcing with epoxy glass, and composite wooden boat construction have a look at the following link to the downloadable version of the west BIBLE on epoxy.

the gougeon brothers on boat construction

This has been my GO -TO reference on all things epoxy and boat repair ever since I built my Wharram Tiki 26, it answers every question you are likely to have about tool,s plywood, wood as a construction material, hull construction technoques, tanks, deck construction, fillets, fillers, prepping for paint and plywood  and composite construction. And more!