This one could be fun

[Slacko]

I trimmed the ply and used a 6mm router round over bit to put curves on the edges.
I wanted the glass to wrap around the routered edges, but I am not set up to vacuum bag and don't want to use Xylenol cloth as I wouldn't be able to feather it onto the old cloth on the lid.
I decided to try peel ply taped down to wrap it tight to the piece.







It worked from the top to the sides and partially worked wrapping around the bottom edge, which was the best I was hoping for.
The cloth was a bit dry, but this is 12 hours after application so I filled the weave with resin and 417 filler powder.
The cloth is for abrasion so not too worried.

[Slacko]

After curing in front of the fire I sanded it all back and surveyed the outcome.
It came up pretty well with some air bubbles in the filler causing pimples on the surface.


I filled these, sanded it again and then put a coat of epoxy primer on it.
The flaws really popped at this point!

I filled again with 410 fairing powder and it is now drying in the daughter's Wendy house with a fan heater.
The paint is still pretty pungent, so no drying by the fire.
The Wendy house is insulated, so not too decadent!


This is where I'm up to now.
There were 2 parts of the hatch as shown, but the second part has been a similar process except that the top wasn't rotten and I put a piece of Cedar across the front of it that will get varnished to drag casual observers eye away from the paintwork. (not looking flash at this point, but may get to acceptable by the time I'm finished).
I must go outside and turn off the heater.

[Slacko]

Today I sanded the filler, and got a coat of epoxy undercoat on.
There are still a few blemishes, but it should meet the "5 metre finish" standard.
A couple of hours in the drying shed and I flipped them over and got a coat on the inside.



I found online some waterproof plastic hinge material to replace the metal hinge with grotty rubber over the top.
$28/ metre, hopefully it will be soft enough to sit flat when open.

[Slacko]

So, I've got the second top coat on and sanded the cedar front panel.
The photo shows the first coat of varnish.


Both halves sitting side by side.


I think the hinge material will work.


I'll drill it for screws and bed it in the dreaded white goop for sealing.
2nd coat of varnish went on tonight as well.

[Slacko]

So, I've got 4 coats of varnish on the trim.
Today I cut, and planed down the plastic hinge as it was too wide for the location.



I then drilled it to match the holes from the previous hinge.
Cup washers and a line of goop under the hinge to try to stop it leaking underneath finished the task.



I need to take it to the boat to measure and cut some gaps in the back of the back half for the cabin top track.
Then home for a few more coats of varnish.

[Slacko]

The hatch is back on the boat and just needs some aluminium angle screwed to the back half to retain in in the track.
I finally got a space in the yard for maintenance, so got lifted out on Saturday.
There was some discussion about how to put it in the cradle, but the safest option was to lower the boat over the centreboard and support either end rather than rely on the single 24mm stud of unknown installation and reliability to support the boat with the keel extended.
Much easier to get on and off too.




The racing grew getting into stripping the antifoul back to the really fair surface under the layers. Someone took some time getting this right.



My Festool sander bit the dust after 10 years on this job, so I'm a little sad about that.
I'd like to get the topsides repainted, but it won't make the list before the opening day race on the 1st of October.
Getting the mast off was a bit more exciting that we were hoping for.
Luckily there was 3 of us, with one stationed on the roof of the shed to catch it.
When it got part way down the wooden base that the hinge was screwed to split and the base flew off.
I caught it in the middle, and the roof catcher got the top, so no damage other than the base.


Boom and mast awaiting the jobs they need done.

[Slacko]

The other reason the mast needed to come down was that I needed to chase some rot in the bilge under the mast support post step.

This stringer was mostly for sporting the floor sole, but should add the the stiffness between the centre case and the mast step once replaced. The "floor" was beside it was also removed to get to some soft stuff underneath it.
Luckily one of my crew trained as a boatbuilder before changing to house building, so it is awesome to get a knowledgeable opinion on this job. As we discussed, this is all in the high stress area on the old girl.
The bad wood extended under the step, so I had to remove it. It was a laminated piece with no gaps under that top plate, and in good condition, so felt kinda wrong demolishing it.
The other side of the bulkhead was sealed so I had to cut an inspection hatch to see how far the soft wood extended.
When opened it was pristine, with the smell of fresh epoxy sealed in for all those years. Lucky me!



First the post needed to come out, so the multitool got to work getting it out in a reusable state.


I'm trying to not cut the bottom out of the boat at this stage, so stick with me.

[Slacko]

So there was a bit of moisture getting under one end of the step, so better to get it out of there anyway.
Looking ugly at this stage.



The step is gone, and starting to scrape out the layers of ply looking for solid wood.


The badness ends before it gets under the bulkhead, so I have a wobbly scarf of 3 layers of ply about 50 mm long. The new mast step will go over the top.
The centreline lamination is about 50mm thick made up of multiple layers of plywood. I'm going to keep removing layers until I hit solid wood and then laminate back in.
It looks like I'll need 6mm ply to bring it back to how it was.

[Slacko]

I like to know what is the cause of the damage.
Water had been sitting in the bilge for awhile, so was the major player.
The hull ply going away from the centreline has patches of rot that I'm going the same treatment.
One of them had the whitish hole in the centre of the patch as shown.



There is a matching smaller blemish that I also ground out on the other side of the hull.
I think these are screw holes from holding the ply onto temporary moulds. There are a couple of other bits that look similar, so there you go.



The centreline stringer was held down to the ply with 3 rows of skewed screws, I guess while the epoxy was setting. These were the starting points of the centreline timber rot that I'm digging out.
This is the only part of the boat that has this centreline stringer thank goodness!

[Slacko]

I got rid of all the soft wood in the centreline ply which was at either end, and was contemplating how to rebuild it.
The best solution I think was to remove the "good" wood between them and scarf one piece into the spot.
An electric planer made short work of it and a final cleanup of the area left it as per the attached image.



It turns out there was a layer of 9mm ply sitting on top of a Kauri plank, which is in pristine condition.
The builder may have not had a wide enough piece to make it all solid and added the ply to make it up.
I'm now in construction mode, so need some 45 x 90 mm stock to make up the floors and the stringer.
I have enough Kauri for the stringer only, so will have to visit the timberyard.
My back is feeling it now after being hunched in the bilge for a few hours today and yesterday.
I'm going to build up the hull ply with epoxy and 400 triaxial cloth layers, then run some 200 cloth over the whole lot.

[Zane Lewis]

Looking Good so far. Whats your top speed to date?
Z

[Slacko]

Top speed so far is 12.5 Knots. We had a fractional spinnaker up last time out but the direction was swinging 20-30 degrees, so we struggled to get really settled into a groove.
I got some nice quarter sawn 50 x 200 Fijian Kauri yesterday, so will get into machining that tonight.
The price wasn't too bad as it is getting harder to source lately.

[Slacko]

Today I dry fitted the plywood in the centreline.
I then laminated the hull ply first with epoxy, glue powder and the chopped up offcuts of the 450 gsm biaxial cloth mixed into a slurry.
Then 3 layers of cut to shape cloth and resin.
Then a layer of 200gsm over the whole side from the bilge up to the stringer.
Finally peel ply over the lot to make the sanding and next step quicker.
The other side just got the slurry, 2 layers of cloth and the peel ply. I hadn't sanded the old glass around the divots, so have to do that once it all sets.

One of the crew came along and scraped and sanded more antifoul on the hull. The rear planing surface behind the keel was the worst section of the hull with some heavy cratered layering, so we should see some improvements in performance.

No photo's sorry, it was all a bit sticky!
I also used some resin and a bottle brush for the holes in the deck I had drilled for the rear cleats and the outboard bracket. I'll seal them on with goop this time.
They were both quick jobs at the time with nothing done to seal them.

[Slacko]

On Sundays I sanded the Stb side and cleaned up all the bumps of goo.
I then added 3 layers of 200 gsm to the port side to bring it up to level with the surrounding plywood.
The stb side got 2 or 3 layers of 450 gsm, and an allover layer of 200 gsm.


Tonight I pulled the peel ply and the port side is ready for the next step.
The Stb side needs another top up of a couple of the divots.
Then I can get the centreline ply in.

The antifoul removal is going slowly. the rear end and Portside have a heavy buildup (3mm) which we are scraping then sanding back to the original fair surface.
There is much work in front of us!

I found a piece of Oak that was just the right dimensions for the external mast step.
This got shaped down to a nice thick wedge and is getting lots of coats of varnish along with the tiller (7 coats and counting!)




Ready for a quick sand.
I love edge tools, especially that there is so little sanding to finish the job.
Just knocking the edges off.


Part of the old step is sitting at the top of this photo.

[Slacko]

Yesterday I glued the plywood back into the centreline and coved it to the hull planking.


Today I put a layer of 200gsm over the ply and half way up the hull to the stringers.
That's the fibreglass laminating finished!


I also spent an hour scraping and sanding the antifoul. I need to keep at this each time I'm at the boat and it will slowly disappear.

[Hugh MacD]

Looks great! Awesome little rocketship you have there

[Slacko]

Thanks, I think so.
Today I fitted the solid timber into the bilge.
First was the mast step.
Pattern made and being transferred.


Roughed down with the Makita, then finished off with the Bailey 41/2.
I then made the sole floor and centreline timbers.

All glued up.


I then spent an our scraping and sanding antifoul.
One of the crew had already spent 3 hours lying on the ground sanding, so we are almost there now.
We need to get the boat picked up and the blocking moved to get the final bits, then an allover RO sand to fair it all out.
Finally.

[Slacko]

Antifoul is getting closer, just the blocking areas, the keel, bulb and the waterline which is much harder from being out of the water most of the time.
Tonight after work I sanded a repair to the fibreglass coating on the top of the steel centreboard that I rust killed and filled with epoxy and glue powder.
I also sanded a small repair to the rear swim platform that had been hit, not repaired and the rot had travelled along the edge.
Then some more sanding of the keel bulb that I had a few spots of filler in.
The bulb needs a wet sand of the antifoul, as the RO sander is never going to get in around the cradle the keel is sitting on.

I then chased a topping lift for the spinnaker pole into the exit block in the mast that was there for the purpose.

[Slacko]

The mast base got glued in place a few days ago, so I put a couple of screws in to back up the glue. I hadn't allowed for the curve of the cabin top, so the glue was thick enough to make a plinth.



I then drilled with tapered countersinking drill bit for the mast tabernacle, and screwed it on with some Sika 291 under the screws.

[Slacko]

I then moved back to my favourite job, scraping antifoul.
The boat had been moved to a different cradle that uses slings to support the hull, with the keel sitting on the cradle.
This allowed me to attack the final bits under the blocks with the other cradle.





The last patch of full strength badness on the hull.


I got all the main hull finished and one side of the waterline scraped back.
I just have the Portside waterline and the keel to finish.
Then a quick finish sand with 40 grit with the RO sander, and finally into primer and antifoul!

[WX]

Very interesting stem there.

[Slacko]

Yes the figurehead does draw comments!

[Slacko]

The weather is not playing ball this weekend it seems.
Yesterday and tonight was a bit too damp for dealing with the antifoul.
Last night I managed to change some strops that had been holding the shrouds to the chainplates for some rigging screws. It's a small boat, but still not a dinghy!
I fitted the crane to the top of the mast for a new wind indicator.
I cut the rotten end off the boom (which is 400mm to long for the sail) and fitted the clew saddle backing plate and exit block for the reefing line slash centreboard lifting purchase.
The last thing I did was slather penetrating epoxy over the new timber in the bilge of the boat.

Tonight was a little wetter still, but I got the clew saddle installed on the end of the boom.



I then gave the bilge a light sand and mixed some 2 pot epoxy primer.
While this was emulsifying, I fitted an old hatch in the hole that I cut in the forepeak for inspection earlier in the job.



I sanded the varnish around it as it was much easier to do before fitting the hatch. I'll hit it with some bleach to try to kill that bit of mould that is lingering in the grain.

The paint went on thick as the first coat, so I'll give it a bit of a sand before the next coat.
Looking slightly rough, but it is the bilge!

[Slacko]

I spent 5 hours doing the final finish sand of the hull on Saturday last week, then put on a coat of linking primer and 2 coats of Jotun semi ablative antifoul.
I was left with 2 strips of old antifoul where the straps supporting the hull in the cradle were. These were moved by the yard guys during the week which meant I could paint the last bits.
The mast went back up without drama over that weekend and once I remembered how it was rigged, and a bit of tweaking it was ready to go.
I was ready to go in the water on Friday, but the weather was back to winter, grr!, and Brr!
I had drilled and glassed all the holes for the stanchion bases the previous weekend, and managed to get half of them on before the sky opened up on Friday night and drove me indoors.
I went in at 8:30 on Saturday for the EBYMBC opening day race start at 1:15 pm that afternoon, so that was cool.
The race started in 10 knots, which we were a bit over-canvassed for, but the wind dropped pretty quickly.
It turned into a drifter that our newly clean and fair hull excelled in, and we got onto a finger of wind that carried us into the new breeze and away from the pack.
The wind never really came back fully, so the race was abandoned after a couple of hours.
We got the masthead spinnaker up for the first time on the way back to the marina, so had a good play with trimming that before motoring home.



The colour of the water is from the heavy rain the night before.
If you are into Rallying, the NZ leg of the WRC was on over the weekend for the first time in 10 years and they got a hammering at times from the rain.
Next Saturday is opening day for RPNYC, so we will have another go.

[Slacko]

We had the first race of the post Christmas series yesterday.
We managed 2nd on line after a 40 footer, so pretty happy.

I bought a trailer for the boat online this week, and picked it up this morning.
It came with free a Flying 15 on it that I need to move on.
It is fibreglass, so not much to say other than cool boat.



The hull is good, with scruffy deck and tired looking everything else on it. The nicest thing is the outboard mount that someone has added.
I'm going to attempt to resist the urge to fix it up before selling.
The trailer will need a longer drawbar, but the draft of this is the same as mine with the centreboard up so the bunks could be in about the right place.
I'll only use as a non road legal haul out trailer for keeping Upcycled in the yacht club yard, as she is too wide to legally tow on the road.