23 April
Finished and painted the gas storage box.
It ended up pink because it is what paint was left over.
The inside is yellow as ran out of pink and had a bit of yellow left over! All epoxy coated before 2 coats of epoxy primer and 2 coats of polyurethane topcoat. Should last longer than me. The box is on a teak slider and can be removed. Plenty of space for butane canisters for my cooker plus a separate space for other goodies. Each butane canister is vacume bagged and sealed to prevent rust and check for leaks). Took many days to finish but not many hours of work. Paint and epoxy takes its time to cure!!
The stern is complete. Everything bolted and sealed.
Got busy on the pullpit. With lots of help from Mrs Nuts holding the tubes at the "correct?" angle under my misguided instructions while I pulled on the pipe bender. Was a bit of a mission to work out the angles but made many templates and got it close enough.
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Welding the bits together. Tomorrow job is to weld the mounting pads on the end of the legs after final fitting and the loops for the guardrails and start the fun job of grinding, sanding and polishing.
Inside is pretty much done. Just got to stock the bar!!
Looking aft. Been fitting fixing points for leeboards, washboards, and bungees for holding stuff in position. A 5m boat is not going to be a smooth ride.
Looking fwd. Sail storage up to port with general storage below. Below bunk level is filled with foam buoyancy in the fwd half and storage for water bottles in the aft half.
Mrs Nuts made me a bunch of beanbags. They are filled with polystyrene balls inside waterproof fabric. I think Im going to ask for some more sewing. (Got to be nice to Mrs Nuts!!) I bought 200 liters of foam balls so might as well use them. I think Im going to fill the aft lkrs in the quarter berths with foam filled bags for extra buoyancy. A bunch of small bean bags weigh nothing but might be useful to jam me in to stop me getting smashed up in a storm.
My target is to finish the pullpit and stantions by the end of the month and have them bolted on. Only got 5cm clearance on my workshop door to wheel Nuts out once pullpit etc is bolted on. I have to remove the windvane mount though.
This is the last major job to do other than fitting the keel and antifouling. There will still be plenty of small jobs to do though - like connecting solar panels, second VHF antennae, etc, etc.
Parts for making the trailer are on their way and should be here in a week or so - Azores time.
Most of the skippers (including me) entered in the SAC were hoping to use LiFePo4 batteries which were outlawed under the lithium ban due to fire risk. Because of the advancement of the safety of LiFePo4 batteries and minimal fire risk they have been allowed provided the batteries are of a sufficient quality and have good protection.
After a lot of research and reviews from reputable people (Will Prowse etc) I have gone with Li Time Trolling Motor 50Ah Bluetooth. The reviews from independent teardowns with extensive testing of the BMS have satisfied me. The inside protection of wiring and connection insulation against vibration looks excellent. It is not the cheapest but not the most expensive either. With Bluetooth you can monitor the balance between cells and the status of the BMS. That should give you a warning if things are going sideways. I have ordered battery terminal fuses that mount directly onto the battery ( 30Amp) that should open before any overload issues.
I am going to be using a trolling motor for getting in and out of marinas so need a battery that can deliver a bit of power for a short time. I have several 100Ah AGM batteries but they weigh a ton - non starter. (over 50kg -ex submarine) The 32Ah Marathon AGM batteries (got 2) are OKish but can only use 1/2 the capacity before doing damage to the cells. They could keep Nuts alive but only just. LiFePo4 - can use the full 50Ah without doing damage (and they weigh less). I will have 2 x50Ah LiFe Po4 batteries on board. One for the boat supply and one for the motor. I will only have 2x25w solar which will be used for the boat power which is in keeping with the SAC philosophy. I dont want to take petrol onboard. My dinghy will be an inflatable canoe and if the shit hits the fan I will use the paddle to move.