27th October
Been busy with another project but my 316L stainless steel arrived yesterday.
Did some more cutting and drilling today. Got to grind angles for the welding penetration and then weld it together. Polishing compound somewhere in the Amazon postage system but not in a hurry. At least I can mess around with metal work now when I get fed up with epoxy and plywood.
October 25th
Had my slow shoes on the last days. Well difficult to get slower progress but at least there was a bit.
Sanded and fitted the cockpit seats and floor that have been glassed on the underside. The panels are a lot stiffer and should be great once glassed on the top. They are still loose as want to prefit the rudder fittings and do a bunch of painting on the inside before the final gluing on.
The forepeak has been completely epoxy coated but not painted yet. I have decided to make the fwd section (under the plywood) completely foam filled with a fixed but removable hatch for inspection and foam removal. Hatch has to be fixed down otherwise the foam would float out in a submersion. The aft half will be for storage - mostly of water and each day that goes by and water is used and the empty sealed bottle is returned the flotation will increase.
Had some fun experimenting with gimbal for cooker. Drilled lots of holes to get the best gimbal balance with different cooking pot weights and heights on a mock up system.. Dont want it to be like a pendulum and not top heavy. Dont want my spagetti on my lap. Im planning to make a pot clamp to keep a pot or kettle fixed on the top of the stove even in rough conditions. Also hope to make the gimbal fixable at a few angles as well as removable for cooking outside. I want to be able to use a small frying pan as I love catching and eating fish and that does not go well on a Jet Boil
22nd October
Done some jobs in the last days. Cut and fitted bow plywood panels and glued in support strips and gave the ply a coat of epoxy on the bottoms.
Cut and glued the extra deck beam knees into position. Just got to give them a bit of a sand and put fillets on to make them look pretty and hopefully a bit stronger.
I cut out the cockpit seat plywood panels and decided that the okume 8mm ply is pretty bendy even with extra supports so decided to give the cockpit seats and floor 200grams of epoxy glass on the underside before fitting to create a sandwich construction once it is glassed on the outside.
Panels glassed on the underside. Im not using peelply as Im running low and saving it for the deck.
Planning the galley. Got lots of ideas and just have to decide which ones to use and which to dump in the bin.
18th October
Spent the whole day running around Horta doing paperwork. My favorite task!! Also popped into the marina and my little fishing boat is still floating after the crappy weather we have had in the last days. Got to keep my little boat happy in the marina as its parking spot will be shared with Nuts when the time comes. Marina berths here are as rare as snakes legs. Spoke to the marina boss about a spot for Nuts and he just laughed. No problem at a daily visitor rate on the wall but another story for a long term spot on a pontoon.
Fitted my rough weather bunk (floor) while Mrs Nuts made something to eat. (chicken ,roast potatoes and veggies 👍)
17th October
Spent some time yesterday planeing and cutting rough pine into strips that are needed for the interior etc. Also finished fillets in the bow section
I can start working on the rest of the woodwork in the bow area now.
I cut the new shape of the rudder for gluing so that I can use the original shape or my modified shape with a section of straight trailing edge for fitting a trimtab. I will make the final decision when shaping.
Rudder all glued and can start shaping in a couple of days after glue nicely cured. My 316 stainless steel might be here by the end of the week so I can start making the pintles. I can make the parts that are bolted to the transom even though the rudder is not finished. I have already made the tube bits that will fit into them so I can get the exact spacing and make the rest of the pintle bits when the rudder is all shaped and epoxy glassed to get the correct spacing for the straps that are bolted onto the rudder. I want to prefit the bottom transom pintle before closing up the cockpit so I have easy access to making a good backing plate system for the bottom pintle. The top is easy.
I glued an 8mm strip of pine on the top of the transom frame to level it off with the ply on the side decks.
Glued in side strips to support the floor. They are jammed into position with scraps of wood that will be removed when the glue has cured. I worked out I can fit about 35kg worth of flotation foam under the floor or 15 liters of bottled water in 500ml bottles that might drive me crazy rolling around in there. Floorboards will have to be able to be fixed down if I put flotation there.
15th October
Lousy weather in the Azores today. White seas and gale force winds with plenty of rain. Took my car to the workshop which is less than 100m away.
Fired up my lathe and finished the tube parts for the rudder pintles.
Gave the partial bow bulkhead a quick sand and glued it into position. Next job is to put fillets on it and the mast compression post. I am considering filling the foreward half of this compartment below the bunk level with foam. I think it is a good idea to get as much emergency flotation as possible low down. Having an unsinkable boat that floats near the deck level is not as good as one that is only half full of water.
14th October
Jumped into the bow compartment this morning with the laser level and marked out bunk level and a little bulkhead. Made up a template and cut the bhd out and fitted.
Last little bow bulkhead epoxy coated as well as 3rd coat inside dorado box.
Compass support is epoxied in and ready for final fairing. It will be glassed over at the same time as the deck.
Fired up the steam engine! My 1930s lathe.
Started making rudder pintles. Cant get 316 tube for pintles ( well I can but got to win the lottery first) so drilling out old 25mm stainless prop shaft from my little fishing boat. First time attacking stainless steel on my ancient lathe. Fiddled with aluminum and delrin before and Im no expert machinist. Engineer Google has helped me assisted by Mr Youtube. So far so good. Barbecue called so will continue tomorrow.
13th October
Did some small jobs on Nuts today. Cut out the rudder plywood so can glue it soon. Also glued in the mast compression post and the compass mount and did some sanding of recent epoxy jobs. Cut up the lofting board to make shelves for another project and then dismantled a sanding machine that died.
Was hoping it was only the start capacitor but it checked out just fine. Low ESR and 7.9 instead of 8 uF. I dismantled the whole motor and found 4 different breaks in the field windings which I managed to reconnect and now got a working machine again. It took hours to do but was very satisfying when it sprang into life.
11th October
Cleaned up and sanded ventilation dorado box and compass mount. Once inside epoxy fillets are cured I can shape the outside and epoxy saturate the whole catastrophe.
Starboard bunk (well part of it) is all glued and filletted in. My stbd bunk will be over 3m long. There will be no fixed chart table but a mobile system which will enable me to sleep in 4 different locations. Only one on the port side but fwd or aft on the stbd side and on the floor in extreme conditions. Also a location for a chemical toilet as hope to sail around the islands with my wife before the single handed Atlantic Challenge and dont expect her to "bucket and chuckit". My stainless steel (316 order) should be arriving soon so I can start on the rudder pintles and chainplates etc. Had a very fast reply from Janusz (the naval architect who designed the Setka and is running the Atlantic Challenge) about changing the profile of the rudders trailing edge to accommodate a trimtab and still comply with the rules. He sent me a lot of information which is very usefull and allowes me to do the mods I would like to do. Nothing spectacular but just straightening out the trailing edge and keeping the rudder area about the same. Thank You Janusz! I am looking forward to experimenting with lots of different home made self steering systems when the time comes. Maybe more fulfilling than watching conspiracy theory chanels on Youtube.
10 th October
Sanded and glued in the stbd bunk front and supports. Also glued the dorado box and compass support so they can be shaped tomorrow. Next job is to put all the fillets on the stbd bunk bits and check that the tops still fit. Epoxy fillets on port bunk should be ready for a brush with some sandpaper and get it ready for first coat of epoxy primer paint.
9th October
Been lazy the last few days. Didnt have my nose stuck in the computer or epoxy much but did get some things done.
Epoxy coated stbd bunk bits and glued in locker lid supports.
Then I glued the port side bunk and galley into position.
Also put in fillets on joins to the hull. They look very white but full of microfibers to hopefully add some strength.
The tops still fit nicely but will only be glued in when the lockers are sanded and painted to make life easier.
While waiting for epoxy to cure I started making a dorado box and the support for the Plastimo mini Contest compass which will be mounted on bhd B. As the bulkhead is on a 60degree angle I dont want to mount the compass at that angle so am making a support within the bulkhead that is only 10 degrees off vertical. I finished my first drum of epoxy today. I had 80ml of resin left when all the hardner was used up. Not bad after 28L. My mixing proportions must be pretty close.
4th October
Sanded port bunk top and glued locker lid supports.
Also epoxy coated the rest of the port bunk and galley parts. Should be able to sand tomorrow and all will be ready for glueing in.
Cut out stbd bunk front and started fitting supports. Got to go to the marina tomorrow to check boats as big wind and rain due so wont get too much done.
3rd October
Did some bits today. Spent a bunch of time doing garden work before the rains come but managed a bit in the workshop.
I removed the rest of the port bunk and galley and gave it a sand and coat of epoxy. I still have to coat the other side of the mini bulkheads and give it all a sand before installing. While that is curing Im starting on the stbd side.
I marked out the stbd bunk front using the same template as the port side. It was almost perfect with just a tiny bit of trimming. I will cut it out tomorrow.
2nd October
Nice weather here in the Azores before lots of wind and rain in a few days time so spent a lot of time on outside jobs. Did manage a few hours in the workshop though.
I removed the port bunk top and cut the hatches and made supports for the lids and then epoxy coated the insides. Weather still nice tomorrow so going to take advantage of that and do more jobs outside but will still try to get my "Nuts" fix.
