9 h April

Spent time before lunch leveling the hull and giving the port side a sand to knock off the filler touchups then a quick go over the whole side with 180 grit to smooth out the sanding marks from 60 grit.

Got 2 coats of primer on and looks nice and fair.  Also got the rudder primed on both sides.  Now just got to repeat tomorrow on the starboard side.  

 8th April

No photos tonight.  Did watch the eclipse - was spectacular using 2 pairs of polarised sunglasses  tilted at an angle to get a good shade.

Stbd side sanded with nice sharp new sandpaper and all small blemishes refilled.  Finished sanding the rudder and now ready for priming. 

Tomorrow will tack over again to sand the touch up filler on the port side and slap a coat of epoxy primer on if all is OK.

 7th April

Tacked onto starboard for sanding the stbd topsides.  Sanded maybe 1 third but ran out of sandpaper.  No point wearing my arms out with blunt sandpaper so stopped sanding and started playing with my lathe.

Preparing some POM (Delrin) for making fittings for Dyneema connection to the mast for when I experiment with synthetic rigging.  Also got to make bearings for wind vane experiments.

Lathe work done and now got to cut in half at the correct angle and remove the end where it was mounted in the lathe then drill through for the mounting bolt.  

Going shopping tomorrow then back to sanding.

 6th April

Been a busy day.

First thing I did was skim the other side of the rudder and lifted and heeled over the hull a bit. 

Hull side at a comfortable height while sitting in a chair on a board with wheels.  Got stuck in with the sander and long board.  I dont know who designed my Elu sanding machine but it gets heavier as the seconds tick by.  Lots of rest breaks later and just before a late dinner the whole side was done.

After dinner did the touch up filling on the sanded port side which will be sanded flat in a few days when nicely cured.

Tomorrow will flip the hull to put the starboard side up and start sanding stbd side.  Need to buy more sandpaper on Monday so wont get too far.

Also did some power consumption tests on the electronics to be fitted.  Going to try to estimate the AH consumption in 24 hours and estimate what 50w of solar will produce on average per day to see what I can use.

 5th April

Finished glassing the rudder leading and trailing edges yesterday and gave the whole rudder a sand today.

Gave the deck a good clean and de-dust and then gave it a coat of epoxy primer.

Cockpit and transom also have first coat.

Rudder got a light skim of micro balloon filler this evening and can get the other side done tomorrow.  Will sand and prime in a few days.  Looking fwd to doing stainless steel work again soon to finish the pintles.

Almost time to lift the hull a bit and tip it on its side a few degrees to make it easy to sand the topsides

 3rd April

Just got in from workshop (4th April ie after midnight).  Was determined to finish all the sanding on the deck and cockpit.  All done and ready for primer.  Also glassed the other side of the rudder today.  No pictures as will look the same as yesterday - just flipped over.  Also spent some time spending money with Ali and Amazon buying goodies.  I gave up smoking a year ago and have a new addiction - as long as it costs less than cigarettes no problem! and more healthy.

 2nd April

Took the Easter weekend off and had a great barbecue with lots of friends at the beach on Sunday.

Did a bit of fiddling with electrics but got stuck in today and shaped the rudder and epoxy glassed one side.  I have made a section of straight edge on the trailing edge to fit a trim tab to experiment with.

Once the other side is glassed and everything is filled and faired I can finish welding the rudder pintles.  I need the exact thickness to get a good fit.  There are different layers of glass on the sides of the rudder at the bottom pintle versus the top so the bottom pintle will be a bit wider than the top.  Also made a short 75mm dia. epoxy glass tube to fit in the deck for the dorado box.

Been looking for jobs to do that dont involve sanding but running out of ideas so will just have to get it done!