Well, it finally happened - Bill the boatbuilder turned up at my house and we began working on the boat! I had been helping him on another job for about a month, then we raced to Fiji together, which was great as we got to discuss the job a little. Anyway, one of the first jobs that Bill did was to cut a hole in the foredeck. This will be the hatch for the anchor locker, so the bulkhead on the aft end will be watertight. The locker will drain overboard and there will be an empty void under the floor.
One of the unpleasant things we have found (not totally unexpected) is significant rot under the deck. I think the main point of entry was under the forestay fitting, as back in Hawaii we found that the threaded rod connecting the forestay to the stemhead was broken. The fitting had lifted at some previous time and let the water in, rotting the plywood pad under the forestay as well as allowing water to wick back through the plywood core. The centreline appears to be OK, while it is quite rotten along the outboard edge. We have been cutting 73mm holes in various places and heating the inside of the boat in an attempt to dry the area out but I think we might have to be more aggressive with our treatment, maybe more holes and more heat.
The anchor locker bulkhead is all ready to fit and that will make me very happy - it is very exciting to be putting stuff in rather than taking it to the dump!
We can even say something is finished - Bill gelcoated the inside of the locker today and there is nothing else to do to those two surfaces. A small but very satisfying victory.
It has taken me quite some time to finish the cover over the boat, there has been some difficult engineering created to ensure we can park cars, access the garage etc etc, while trying very hard (well a little bit anyway) not to piss the neighbours off. We have had some pretty windy and wet days and it is still in place so fingers crossed it will stay there.
We have also removed the two forward hatches, which both collapsed as soon as the were lifted off the sealant. There is a raised fibreglass lip which is very lightly screwed on to the back of the teak base. We will need to cut these flanges off for the new Lewmar hatches.
Very happy to return after a month spent delivering a 109' sportsfishing boat (not my idea of a boat in the slightest), to find progress aplenty. The forecabin has taken shape and we have prepared for the next major bulkhead to be installed, which will be the forward end of the head (starboard) and the forward end of the galley (port).
At the aft end of the bunk there are open-fronted lockers on both sides.
The v-berth has been raised about 80mm from the old level, which should increase it's size as well as improve the stowage beneath. All bulkheads and significant furniture is glassed to the hull, deck and cabintop where posible, so the boat should be a lot stiffer and quieter that the old soggy egg carton.
After stripping off the old glass layer from the top of the keel and allowing it to dry out, we have relaid several layers of chopped strand mat.
This has given a nice smooth area on top of the keel and up the bilges, where the 2 main water tanks will be built in. We used vinylester resin for this as it is the best tank coating.
