August 30th

Pic of floor in place which was done yesterday.

While waiting for sand and stone to be delivered for another project I finished fitting the deck stringers and intermediate deck beams ready for gluing.  Lots of shavings and fiddling with joints to fair it all in.

The foreward stringer join  was the most thought intensive. The rest were easy simple joints.  The best part is they dont have to be perfect zero gap joints.  A bit of epoxy in the joints is stronger than it all squeezed out. >

Got to do concrete mixing tomorrow but hope to get a bit of time before I fall down in a heap to glue the deck stringers and beams into place.  I want to get the side deck glued on before starting the interior but still lots to do.  

 28th August

Spent time in the cockpit today.

Bottom sides fitted with floor supports screwed on.  The bottom ply was also cut and prefitted. This all has to come out again for epoxy coating on the inside and some areas with paint primer before gluing.  That will happen much later.

 27th August

Been doing some bits and pieces the last days between other commitments.

Spent several hours sanding fillets by hand and wearing my fingers out.  It has been hot and humid so set up my system for keeping cool and sanding without needing a respirator.  Fan is put outside and blows clean air through plastic tube which I put over my head.  Used this system in the past for grinding and glassing inside an encapsulated keel.  Also great for painting with toxic fumes in enclosed spaces.

Glued the chainplate doublers on.

Cockpit framing getting glued on.

Started with deck stringers

Finally decided on the bunk level Im going to use.  2cm lower than the plan as Im tall (1.9m) and need headroom to sit down inside but also want the biggest storage space available.  Inside all marked out so cut bulkhead.

This is not the final cut profile but the bottom level is set.

Decided on the coin to be fixed under the mast post.  100 escudo coin from the Cape Verde Islands.  The Madalan  was regarded as a lucky ship in the Cape Verde Packet Trade.  http://www.archive.ernestina.org/history/Tchuba/tchuba-4.pdf  Go to page  38.  I will probably stop in the Cape Verdes on  my way across the Atlantic as I have several good friends that I worked with many years ago in Mindelo.  The beer is good and the Caldo Verde is delicious.

 22nd August

Nuts was snoozing today.  I was occupied with concrete slab pouring preparation so not a happy chappie.  But yesterday played around with the cockpit.

Cockpit layout is pretty well set and decided so starting there.  Interior is still in planning mode and undecided.  Got to look at planned routes for crossing the Atlantic twice starting in the Azores and see which jybe/tack will be most prevailing and comfortable for cooking / sleeping.  Short boat will be uncomfortable with motion so looking for the best compromise. Even considering a flexable / changeable galley / nav station setup. Any Ideas?

 

 20th August

Nuts is happy again. Hull nice and level (used laser level) so I can use a level inside for doing the interior.  Bow compartment got its second coat of epoxy primer this morning while still on its side. Left a patch where the forestay chainplate will be bolted on as I will put a couple of glass layers on the inside for reinforcement.  Keel top also all nice and straight and sanded with first coat of epoxy primer applied.  I think I will give it 4 coats of primer before bolting the lead on.  The keel can then be left outside till needed just before launching next year.

 19th August

Busy day today. Went fishing with my sister and filled the cooler with nice sized trigger fish, cleaned and bagged about 15 meals. Then..

Filled keel mounting plate with filler to make it flat and hopefully it will be a good flush fit.  Just needs a little sanding to get a good finish.  A few more coats of epoxy primer for protection and the keel plate is done.  Got to weld up the lead bulb bolts.  Dont want to use 304 threaded rod for bolting them on and have 316 bolts that are too short but can cut and weld (using 318 rods) to extend them and use a4 nuts which I have.  I think that will be better for corrosion seeing that it is underwater.  Once keel is finished I can put  it in the forest until needed. 

Nuts still on its side.  Epoxy coated the bow compartment and also gave it its first coat of epoxy primer.  Using Hempels Light Primer.  It now has 2 coats of epoxy resin and 1 coat of primer. 1 more coat of primer and I think it will last forever.  So much easier to work inside the bow while the hull is on its side.  Another day or two and I will flip Nuts to the straight and level.  It is so much easier to turn the hull the right way up than upside down.  Had to use a block and tackle to pull the boat upside down and the same tackle to stop the hull spinning the right side up when going the other way. A good sign?

 18th August

Keel removed and filler strip visible along the edge.  >It was easy to remove with the epoxy filler releasing well from the parcel tape on the hull.

You can see the distortion on the plate from the welding.  It got worse after the zinc spraying

 which  is maybe from the heat of the molten zinc and flames in the process? I dont know but happy with the coating and easy to fix.

This is the keel plate with zinc spray and 1 coat of epoxy ready for fairing the mounting plate.  You can also see the lead bulb halves with epoxy filler on the outside to get them nice and smooth.  Already filled and flattened the insides of the lead bulbs.

Getting hull ready to turn on its side.

Bulbs skimmed with filler and will hand sand in 24 hours (or later as going fishing tomorrow)

Only turned the hull about 90 degrees so I can work on the bow compartment.

Putting extra reinforcing fillets on the stringers with silica, micro fibers and a few glass beads in the mix.  Not too worried about getting it nice and smooth and good looking.  Just want it strong as it will all be covered in more epoxy resin, epoxy primer and filled with foam sheets and spray foam up to the bottom of the hatch and sealed over.  The rest of the compartment will be filled with pet bottles to enable access to the deck fittings and bow chainplate.

So much easier to work inside the bow compartment with the hull on its side.  Will do a light sanding and give the whole compartment a coat or two of epoxy resin and a few coats of epoxy primer now as once filled with foam flotation there will be no access. 

 August 16th.

Keel plate back from sand blasting and hot zinc spraying.  Remounted and leveled up with parcel tape under the edge.

ready for epoxy filling bead around the edge.

Epoxy bead filled all around the plate and hopefully can remove the keel plate from the hull.  Should have a small bead all around the mating surface that just needs to be filled and flattened for a good fit.  Using epoxy filler from the Netherlands that is used on steel boats for repairs and filling that I shipped home with all my other goodies.

Cant wait to get the keel off and boat turned the right side up again.

 August 14th

No interesting photos.

Keel bolted on again after final welding and grinding.  Used up about 70 3.2mm welding rods doing skip welds in different directions to try to reduce built in stress from weld shrinkage as well as clamping onto thick steel under mounting plate to try to hold it straight. ( my welding has improved with a bit of practice) Even with all my efforts there is still a deformation from flat which I will correct with epoxy before the final mount.  The steelwork was delivered to the sandblaster/zinc sprayer operation on the island today for collection on Wednesday. (tomorrow is a public holiday).  Took the opportunity while Nuts is upside down again to give the bottom a sand and 2nd coat of epoxy primer.  I plan to mount the keel on the hull again once zinc sprayed (not possible to get it hot dip galvanised) and fill the gap with epoxy once it is all aligned up properly. It might be possible to pull the steel flat onto the hull with the bolts but would require a lot of pressure.  I will put a plastic release tape on the hull and hope that the epoxy just sticks to the keel.  Once the keel is removed once again there should be a bead of epoxy all around the edge of the mounting plate where there were gaps which just need to be filled in for the perfect? fit.

 10th August

Nice weather day so back to painting house and garden work. Did manage some Nuts work later in the day.

Spent some hours grinding the leading and trailing edge of the keel plate then set it up on my jig and welded the fin to the mounting plate.  I had prebent the mounting plate yesterday and marked and drilled for the bolts and prefitted.

Happy with the fit.  It is all nice and straight and vertical and the bolts still slide in nicely.  There is some distortion on the keel mounting plate from weld shrinkage but that  was expected.

Only one root weld bead done so far.  I ground the 12mm plate at 45 degrees  each side to get complete penetration.  I guess another 2  passes each side to get the specified thickness.  This is a photo of a nice weld - you dont want to see some of the others I did.  Just as well I have a grinder to get rid of bad welds.  Was a good welder 30 years ago but lacking practice.😐

 August 8th

Filled keel bolt holes with second coat of epoxy after a quick sand in the holes.  Then did some keel plate grinding till I used up all my discs.  Still lots to do. Doing the grinding at a different location to spare the neighbours the noise.

Then turned nuts upside down again.

bow pulleys

Stern pulleys

45 degrees

90 degrees

Hope I never sail at this angle

Upside down again.

Keel bolt holes ready for cleaning up after epoxy filling.  Bolts have a nice snug fit now.  Next job is to mark and drill keel mounting plate and prefit before welding.

 7th August

Did fillets in bow section and fitted oak mast compression post which still needs to be glued in.

Drilled through the hull for keel bolts.  Bolts are 12mm diameter and drilled 13mm holes.  I lifted the boat up a bit to get access to the underneath.  I put my finger over the hole on the outside and Mrs Nuts poured epoxy into the hole till full and waited a bit for the epoxy to soak in and then dumped the epoxy into a plastic cup and moved on to the next hole.  This way the inside of the holes will get a good saturation of epoxy.  Going to do this twice before turning the boat upside down again for marking the keel holes onto the steel plate.  Planning to do some tack welds on the keel and fit it to the upside down hull to check all is good before doing the big weld. (without the lead)

 5thAugust

Did some bits on Nuts today.

Glued in the fwd keel bearer.  It does not have countersinks for the nuts as there is no floor resting on the bearer in this compartment. Next work session this compartment will get fillets.

Cleaned up and put fillets on the other keel bearers.  Fillets are of a stronger mix with less than 1/3 of glass beads and a bigger radius.  

Also made up supports for the keel mounting plate to the correct hull profile for welding jig.  All marked and ready for grinding and cutting session.  My keel mounting plate is going to be 6mm thick instead of 5mm as specified. I could buy an offcut of 6mm steel plate but would have to buy 1.5m x1.5m square sheet of 5mm at 90 euros+ per m2 plus vat!!  The other steel supplier on the island would also only sell a half sheet and  that size was 1.25m + 1.25m and would mean I would have a huge offcut and also have to weld on 50mm to make up the 1.3m strip. The extra weight is 2.04kg so not a huge problem and it is in the right place. Also hopefully a bit less distortion from weld shrinkage.  

 August 3 

Glued aft 2 keel bearers this morning then spent day painting our house.  After dinner this evening glued another 2 bearers.  One more to go forward of the bulkhead maybe on Saturday as have lots to do tomorrow.

 1st August

Been going for about 7 weeks so far but slowing down.  Got lots of other work to do so limiting Nuts time to late afternoons and evenings.  Big house painting day today so only a few hours in the bow of Nuts

Sanded glue joints in bow in preperation of making smoothing fillets and also planed and marked fwd keel bearer.  Just need to cut/chisel ends and make to fit then drill for keel bolts. Dremmel sander is great for smoothing tight corners.

My sisters patio is finished and she has donated 2 small hatches as a thanks. 😘  My recently acquired AIS is working a treat  and can follow passing ships and the local whale watching fleet.  Just need to get all the registration and MMSI number programmed to check the transmission. April/ May (2024) launch date is still on the cards.

Going fishing tomorrow so dont expect much progress!!