23 rd June.


Still ticking along.  Done a few bits and pieces on Nuts.  Added another 50kg approx of foam buoyancy under cockpit.  There is still space for 2 small bags of chain and at least one anchor.  Got strong U bolts to secure them.

I made up a stainless steel hoop to make a small dodger over the companionway so the top washboard can be left open when it is raining.  Mrs Nuts still has to do some sewing to finish it off. Pics will come soon.  I cant get on board at the moment as Nuts is balanced on 2 little car supports aft and a gas bottle on the tip of the bow to do the antifouling and dont want it to fall over!!

Just finished the second/third coat tonight.  Leaving the antifouling to the last moment as I dont want it to be on land for too long.  Going for 3 to 4 coats on the waterline and under the stern area.  2 over the rest.  Ablative being used.  On previous boats the  barnacle problems only appeared under the stern and above the antifouling - especially aft.  I am painting the antifouling quite high above the waterline.~

Putting keel onto trailer.

My mini tractor was at its limit to lift the keel at its furthest reach to position it in the middle of the trailer.  Was a bit iffy as the back wheels wanted to lift off the ground when I got off.


Made it!!


All tied down and secured for transport to the marina.

Transport truck has some issues.  That is why going a bit slowly at the moment.  It is going for its inspections this week so has been out of action for service, inspection etc.

Crane for lifting at the Clube Naval has been organized and everything is just waiting on the truck.  Mast is all dressed with rigging,  halyards, topping lifts etc.

Hopefully towards the end of the week all the bits will be transported to the marina and I can mount the keel.  Clube Naval is closed over the weekend (for the club crane) and dont want to launch on a Friday so looking at Monday.  Weather is a bit iffy over the weekend so we will see!!

 4th June

1 month since last post!!  Bad me - but you dont need info on garden work and tree felling and log splitting.  Had crappy weather for most of the month but summer has arrived in the last week.  When Nuts is in the water I wont be spending much time in the garden so got to keep Mrs Nuts happy now.

Bits for the trailer arrived (eventually) from Vevor.  Most packages take about 1 month to arrive here except from Amazon which can be from 3 days to 3 weeks.  Temu about 1 month but free shipping to the middle of nowhere which I think is a good deal.





I ordered 4 acrow jacks which I had to cut down as they were too long.  I welded bases and support struts so I could bolt them onto the trailer or use them as a cradle on the ground.  My trailer is not street legal so the plan is to load it onto a car recovery lowbed for transport to the marina (and bring my fishing boat home).  I also plan to load the keel onto the trailer first and position Nuts above to be lowered down for the bonding.  Maybe it will be easier to lift the keel up to the bottom with threaded rods to be removed once the main keel bolts are in position.  I went down the road this afternoon and measured the heights of overhead wires for clearance.  There is 1 electric wire and 1 internet fiberoptic cable that might be a problem but can push them up while passing underneath.


Finished splicing the guardrails and fitted this afternoon.  6mm Dyneema. Pullpit and stantion bases got their overdrilled holes epoxy filled and re drilled before fitting with SikaFlex.

 I reprogrammed the Victron MPPT for LiFePo4 charge profile as recommended by the battery manufacturer.  Now I just have to swap out the battery.  They are the same size so my mounting does not need to be changed.


My buddy Lex had lots of fun fishing on my little boat.

Ive been out a few times and off to sea again tomorrow with Sister Nuts to try some deep drop (250m) to see what is lurking down there.