A busy few days...

It has, to say the least been a busy few days, which have included a great many concurrent activities, not least Ben spending most of his time under the boat applying an underwater primer that smells like a cats litter tray...  I joke not!

So on the basis that a picture says a thousand words here are two days activities...

Knee blanks in place waiting to be shaped

Facing pieces clamped to the ends and top of the centreplate  box

Ben marks in the waterline using a laser

First coat of thinned primer and extract of cat tray!

Knees cut and shaped and thwarts prior to routing the bevel on the edge of the seat

Second coat of primer

Study of Custard Tart with Boat... well a man has to eat!

Final coat of top coat on the inside and 3rd coat of primer externally

Transom and inwales coated with varnishing oil, only another 8 coats to go to achieve full saturation.

There is still a shed load of stuff to do before the 7th December and the launch but we are confident that we will get there!

More tomorrow....

Its all about knees, thwarts, and sanding...

Well we are making good progress and tomorrow will start on the process of fitting 12 knees, the last items for the rig have been ordered and I now have a large box full of various bits and pieces that will need to be screwed on before 7 December.  Today has been spent fitting thwarts and trimming them up to match the risers...

and while I have been inside the boat sorting out risers and thwarts, Ben has been working underneath sorting out the planking and filling and sanding, which has to be said is not the most pleasant of jobs, lying flat on your back sanding above your head, however it has gained us the better part of a day and every hour seems vital at the moment...  Although I have to confess we were both so tired this evening we decided to pack up early at 19.15 and go to the Pub...

Yep... and next we have to paint it with 4 various coats of noxious chemicals...

We are making progress...

Today, indeed the past couple of days have been very useful and we have made significant progress...

The deck has now been laid and although it still requires finishing it is well underway and should be completed tomorrow.

Today we have also been fitting the thwarts, I shall refrain from cracking some diabolical joke about having been thwarted at every turn, but it has seemed that way.   Although having spent a great deal of time striving to fit the thwart (pew, seat, bench, what you will) to the planking with ever increasing levels of frustration and scrapped paint, Mike our tutor strolled over and leant on the side of the boat and muttered the words we all dread to hear 'Ah, Yes, Well!' he then told me the simple way to do it... They get fitted tomorrow!

We also fitted another substantial structural member today in the shape of the quarter knees, which I think I had explained were somewhat complicated and required considerable work on Ben's part to make fit properly as they are required to support the mizzen mast.

So we press on with only a couple of weeks left and quite a lot still to do, including painting the outside of the hull which we will have to do while she it still on the keelway, this will involve lying under the boat to paint it, which we are not looking forward to, so this will be the last early night for the rest of the week while I do lots of preparatory work making good and filling and sanding.

There is also one remaining coat to go on the inside of the hull but I shall put that on when we have finished the majority of the internal fitting which does do some damage.

Bye for now...

Boomkins...

Yes, yet another odd word...

The boomkin is the thing that sticks out the back to ensure that the mizzen sail lines up with the centre line of the boat.

However, the boomkin has to stick out the back which called for the boring of a 2 inch hole through the transom, a slightly nerve racking moment as you obviously only get one shot at it.

We have now finished fashioning the Sampson Post and that is in place waiting to be fixed as the deck goes in, the sampson post provides the base for the bowsprit and also a point on which to secure an anchor or tow.

On top of the frenetic woodworking that is going on with varying degrees of success we are also painting the interior at the same time which has led to a number of late nights and with more to come!

There is then only the rig to sort out which as with everything is proving problematic because of the number of bits that require manufacturing at short notice, we will see how the next few days go but it is definitely going to be very much nip and tuck...

Progress continues... rapidly!

We have had a very good couple of days, apart from my developing a lousy head cold, I never was the sharpest chisel in the roll, but this has really come at a most inconvenient time.

However notwithstanding the cold, we now have Christian on the team and it is amazing the difference the extra pair of hands makes.

Not included in the 'phot's below today we succeeded in getting all the deck beams and Sampson Post installed and glued up and Ben completed the Stern knee which we shall install tomorrow, on top of this we actually got another coat of bilge paint on and the first coat of undercoat inside, so making good progress.

We are also expecting all the gear for the rig in the next couple of days so we should be able to get on with that in parallel ... next update tomorrow

A deck beam being constructed on the job prior to shaping, this is to compensate for a measuring error on my part.

Ben trimming of the stern knee prior to starting work on the  Quarter knees, which in our case is a little more complex, well there is a surprise..

The main forward deck beam in place, shaped  and centred

Christian applies a production approach to creating the selection of knees we will need to support the thwarts, looks complex but actually saves vast amounts of time in the construction of the knees.

Detail

The deck beams in place and shaped with the exception of the for'ard beam .

The Risers and Bowsprit being oiled prior to installation, only another 11 coats to go...