Passion X

A wild front just went through with wind gusts over 50 knot so it was a good time to pause and do a progress report.

At the time of the last report the lower rudder stock bearing had been laminated and was curing. The following day I trimmed off the rough edges of the upper flange and lower rim before the resin went rock hard. The following day I had planned to remove the mandrel thinking it would be a major exercise but to my surprise the mandrel literally fell out of the housing. I attribute this to the fact that the laminating was done on a hot afternoon with the mandrel expanded with the heat and in the cool of the morning the clearance created was enough for it to slip out without any assistance.

The next job was to get the rudder stock into position so that the upper and lower bearings could be aligned. That was easier said than done as the weight of the stock exceeds my lifting limit. With the aid of two chain blocks suspended from the awning I managed to get it into position and do the alignment late at night when the lines from the laser level were easily seen.

That meant a late finish as the gluing of the bearing housing into the strongback had to happen later that evening.

Once the glue had cured it was time to add the reinforcements to the housing and as that meant working the laminates upside down I proceeded with caution with first the stern gusset bonded into the transom gusset and glass wrapped around the bearing housing. Next day I glued in place the 12 mm plywood transverse gusssets and the forward one and once that glue was cured I could start the laminating. Again proceeding with caution I did that in three stages until all three 12 mm ply gussets had six layers of 420 gsm double bias glass around them.

On Friday we had an early Christmas get together with some of the family and my two eldest boys lifted the rudder stock out of the bearing housings and helped me get it to the garage for storage. That was a bonus task completed in short time.

In between laminating in gussets I have been progressing the hull fairing along the radius chine and have started glassing the centreline join. I cannot do long periods of torture boarding so I am fitting in less physically demanding interior tasks.

Today with the wind and rain I had a reprieve from the hard work but managed to fit some of ply doublers over the stringer notches. At this stage they are all cut and I am down to the last two frames for gluing.

For the record we did win the spring series on handicap from Utopia. Before the race John said it was time for us to win a seried but then then put on a master display and won the race. We held on by a single point but a win is a win.

I have been busy. Last weekend was the Laser state titles at Wangi Wangi which kept us occupied for two days and away from boatbuilding. A rest from boatbuilding was needed as the overuse injuries are starting to mount up and I am having to pace myself with the manual labour. Still a lot has happened and so this will be a catch up blog.

First the yacht racing where we scored a third and a first place in the last two Wednesday events. The first place was last week when we were given second on the night but the winner must have overlooked his crew list. No big deal as we all move up one point and the series stays in the same order. It was one of those nights where if you get out of Humbug early you establish a good lead and that is what we did. It is a rare race indeed when we beat the Sydney 38 Utopia by quite a few minutes. Congrats to Adrian for fastest time and commiserations to Steve who was second fastest on the night.

On the boat building scene I spent the Thursday and Friday prior to the Laser regatta trimming the excess plywood from the gunwales. This is an awkard job as the angle is uphill so by the end of two four hour sessions my arms were pretty tired but I am very pleased with the result.

My engine beds were delivered saving me a long trip and after a few trial fits and epoxy coating or the timber base the metal angles are firmly bolted in their final position.

One of the achievements of the past fortnight was to manufacture an epoxy glass stern tube which is twice the thickness of the off the shelf items. I had an ideal mandrel in the form of 32 mm OD fibreglass pultrusions with a highly polished surface. I did have to use the one tonne chain block to extract the mandrel but the result is very pleasing.

On Thursday I collected my drive train components and on Friday and promptly bedded in the P bracket and stern tube using the bearings dry fitted as alignment guides.

On Friday I cut out the holes for the rudder stock having previously reinforced the hull with 24 mm of plywood attached to the 12 mm skin and fixed between the strongback and the stringers. The cutting was accomplished with the required diameter hole saws in very quick time. A post cutting alignment check was conducted mainly to get the tiller stop on the upper housing exactly on the centre line.

The lower bearing housing has been fabricated and after a couple of days the mandrel will be pressed out of the moulding leaving me ready to fix the rudder stock position.

It was great to see the big Ausreo out on Wednesday night even if they did disappoint us by powering past on the final work to the finish. Weather wise it was the best of the season and that no doubt brought out the big Beneteau and hopefully they will keep up the appearances.
We were down on crew numbers for the night and that meant we were not the quickest tackers in the fleet so our handicap results suffered. Another minute and we would have been mid fleet so it was not a disaster and everyone gets a turn with the handicap system.

On fastest times we were a long way behind Jackpot who took off out of Humbug and was never troubled. Fully powered up she is a fast ship and quite a contrast to the reefed mainsail result from last week.

Joli had another good race and seemed to like the conditions but even given she sailed well the gap back to Passion X was excessive. From the results it was clear that the earlier starting fleets had relatively better times around the course than the later ones and the slower of the later ones seemed to have been left out on the course.

We did not do well on the run back from Goat Island and could see the slower yachts from behind rapidly closing the gap with freshing breeze and the bigger Blue fleet yachts did blanket us for much of the run. It was not until we turned the corner at Cockatoo for the work home that we got clear air and streatched out from the Blue Fleet.

It was at this stage that Ausreo went through our lee like we were standing still and perhaps we were. Perhaps we were staying too close to Cockatoo to avoid the Blue fleet running over the top and while we did that Ausreo left us in their wake.

On the boat building front I moved from the bow to the stern and added the final layer of 12 mm ply to the rear edge of the boarding platform. This forms a formidable box section comprising two layers of 12 mm ply on the two faces and a layer on the top and bottom edge all stiffened with webs and stringers. While the bow is massive with four layers of 32 mm meranti on top of 36 mm of ply the stern is equally strong.

These last two jobs left me with a seriously sore shoulder and an inclination for lighter duties which included fitting the external keel shoe, doing the external glass on one of the ply joins, cutting the hole for the stern tube and locating the P bracket. These were all tasks requiring more care and attention to detail than the robust planing of the bow and are jobs that are due to be done.

Today I attempted to manufacture the stern tube out of epoxy glass. While I say attempted I mean it is made but it is stuck with less than half off the mandrel. Tomorrow I will jury rig the 2 tonne chain block to see if they can be parted of if I have to start again when fresh supplies of fibreglass arrive.

Wednesday was a challenge both for the officials and the contestants. The breeze had been above the forecast all day but was due to subside around start time. As it had backed off a little the race started on longish courses as befits a windy night and we all finished in the light.
With our tiny crew of four with two on light duties it was a challenge but we managed well due to the heroic efforts of Kevin who was treating it as a Laser race.
Elaine and Frank did great jobs grinding in the No 3 jib despite the windy conditions. I did promise Frank that I would but larger winches on the next boat and we will definately go up a size to 50’s.
For the night we swapped the mainsheet to the port side so that the No1 reef line could be kept on the starboard winch and that worked well in keeping the foot flat.
Most of the fleet sailed with a reef although Utopia did not and Joli took her reef out in the pre start. This I had not noticed but once in Humbug Joli took off. This was a good thing and a bad thing as leading the fleet Joli sailed the White board course and left the rest of us to sail all the way to Spectacle Island.
It was a quick trip to Spectacle, Snapper and back to Goat where we passed the Blue Fleet which means we did the extra miles in 5 minutes.

Out in front of the Blue Fleet was Hula pretending to be a Farr 40 or something. To be fair we did pass her around Goat but once on the work home she took off showing her Black Fleet capabilities. I do like to tease DJ about that.
We went wide around Goat Island and were still in the hunt with Jackpot and Meridian at the red bouy but on the way home we were not as nimble with the tacking on the shifts.
Irukandji was more nimble and passed us up the work to Cockatoo but we almost caught her once on the free leg back to Humbug.

Unlike last weeks purgatory, Humbug was more foregiving and apart from letting the big Hanse 400 run over us no damage was done and there was no last minute recovery for Sweet Chariot.

At the finish we managed a second on handicap which was very pleasing for such a small crew.

Back at the building site progress has been very measured as I have been battling a persistent ear infection and the antibiotics are knocking me about. While working at a more measured pace I have made a lot of progress but no torture boarding. Notable jobs have been finishing the king plank doubers inside the hull and making the keel shoe out of spotted gum to go between the plywood skin and the steel fin. I have yet to shape the side of the keel shoe that goes against the hull as the shape forms a curve in profile as it intersects the V of the bottom. It is ready to be shaped in profile and there are new sharp blades in the Makita. They will be needed as the timber is very hard indeed.

Today I shaped the last of four layers of 32 mm meranti that form the bow. From by stockpile I selected some medium density for the first two layers up agains the 36 mm of plywood at station 0 and some very dense merati for the front two layers which will take the bolts for the forestay fitting. The hard timber was hard going and as I glued and faired each of the four layers individually it was a four day job.

The glue in the last layer cured overnight so today I changed the blades in the Makita and spent four hours planing by machine and by hand and sanding by machine and by hand until I could do no more.

As an escape from the hard work of hand planing I have been working on the companionway steps. This all started because as I was selecting timber for the bow I spotted a length that was pretty tough but straight grained and thought that would make a good set of steps. And so it is that they are made in plenty of time for epoxy coating and varnishing before they are put into use when the hull is turned.

Wednesday provided some excitement when the breeze came in just on start time when everyone had their big rigs on for the light winds forecast. We hung in well with the big boys for the work to Cockatoo and did well on the run back to Goat by going wide around Cockatoo Island and doing the same around Goat Island. We were looking good at Long Nose on the way home with Utopia and Joli just ahead and Meridian a little way back. Jackpot and Agrovation were battling it out for the lead some way ahead but both of these have to give us a lot of time.
Somehow from just a little behind we missed the cut off for entry to Humbug. Perhaps our tickets to ride had expired but there we were with no wind and only an incoming tide bringing us in with similarly disappointed crews. We did manage a mini break over Meridian on the way through and pulled ahead of the Blue Fleet boats Worlds Apart and French Connection. Somehow these yachts had better connections and came at us at the finish line with wind from behind. If that was not bad enough the wind increased and Sweet Chariot came through Humbug like a rocket.
Oh well! There is always next week.
Back home progress on building the new Passion XI had to be fitted in with the rain. On Friday I had help from the crew with torture boarding the port side. We started in the middle as that was under cover and after lunch I called it a day. The call was premature however as the sun came out and as the covers were already almost off the stern I attacked the aft quarter with a vengance and so much so that I needed the weekend off to recover.

Monday had rain forecast and in anticipation we had scheduled a visit the the keel fabricator to discuss a plan of attack. The visit went well but it was still raining back at the construction site so not much to show for the day.

During the rainy patches I have completed an initial clean of the radius chine on the inside and patched all the temporary holes ready for filling from the topside. Along the way I have been cleaning up sections of the interior, sanding stringers and generally fiddling. To be fair it all has to be done sometime and better to be done when it is wet outside.

Keeping with the theme of inside jobs I have installed the doublers on both sides of the king plank. These are 55 mm by 19 mm spotted gum and are have a high crushing strength so ideal for supporting the keel bolts.

The final job for Friday was to mark out the keel shoe ready to fit it to the hull. I have to take the “V” off the bottom of the hull to prepare a flat section for the keel shoe and then glass over the strongback and bed the keel shoe in place. This is all under cover so an ideal job to fit in with the showers and one I hope to have well finished by next week.

In every sense of the word it was a fine night for our Greenwich Flying Squadron twilight race. The winds were light, there was no rain and most of the fleet got home on time.
The challenge with a light night this early in the season is to get everyone home before the winds die and the dark descends. Unfortunately the trip through Humbug, both in and out was characterised by almost no wind.

In our Black division, Utopia managed to escape from the calm and turn the corner into considerable breeze so that by the time we drifted through with the outgoing tide she was invisible to the naked eye.
Joli tried to emulate the feat of Utopia with a mini break around the point while Meridian and Passion X battled it out at the rear. Well the almost rear because Sweet Chariot was not enjoying the conditions any more than us.

On the beat to Goat Island Meridian drew away a little with good positioning for the last lift approaching Goat. We tacked early hoping for the tide to carry us around the mark and it did just that to regain a little ground. From the island our course took us down the south side of Cockatoo all the way to Drummoyne and up the river. A spell of fresh breeze kept our spirits up and we made ground on Meridian. Once around the point formerly called Long Nose we poled out the genoa with our super long whisker pole and ran out wide for breeze and then very tightly to Cockatoo Island.

At Snapper Island we had crept ahead of Meridian and could see Joli not far in front. As the breeze had swung again we poled out on the way down the channel from Snapper to Spectacle Island and just kept Meridian at bay.

Joli turned for the work home and was soon well up the track. We tacked as best we could and managed to pull clear of Meridian on the way to Clarke Point

From the point we went deepest of all the fleets but once in Humbug we had to avoid the raft up of the earlier fleets. By some miracle our momentum carried us head to wind till we cleared the four or five yachts parked off Onion Point so that we could bear away for the finish line mercifully closer to Onion Point than usual.

We did see Utopia once on the way to Snapper Island when she was running down to Spectacle but it was a distant view and a well deserved win for Utopia.

We managed second place due again to our generous handicap but to be fair it was a course that suited us with the long run from Long Nose down to Spectacle Island.

Back at the boat yard the excitement of finishing the second layer of the radius chine has given way to the steady toil of cleaning off the excess glue from the joins and starting the torture boarding. What I have boarded pleases me but I realise that I need to pace myself and mix up energetic boarding with patching and filling whenever the weather permits. Two days this week have been spent under the covers patching the temporary holes prior to filling them from the top but on one fine afternoon I attacked the starboard quarter and made good progress.

Now that the interior is well protected from the weather I have a huge list of tasks that can proceed with the first being the inside filleting and fairing.

After this morning’s rain cleared the sun has come out and brightened the outlook somewhat.

As it happens we had a large tree removed from our backyard because it was too close to the neighbours residence. That inspired the adjoining neighbour to have his similarly large tree removed which has opened up our back yard to a lot more sunshine. Our tree was over thirty years old and growing vigerously while the neighbours tree was much older and a bit worse for wear. After the tree was felled the tree rings told and interesting tale. For the first two thirds of the rings there was no fire damage but after that there was repeated fire damage over many cycles until 35 years ago when the area was urbanised. I speculate that the tree predated agriculture in the area by as much as 50 years and then possibly 100 years of agriculture. It is a shame I could not save a section of the trunk and have it polished to date it properly.

That was Thurdsay’s distraction while the evening before was the second twilight race at GFS. Courtesy of a generous handicap we were second in that race. We had our moments with a good first windward work until Long Nose where we were caught on the wrong shore for the breeze direction but on the subsequent run down the south of Cockatoo Island we got a private gust with some staying power that caught us up the the fleet. Nevertheless our two second places will cause us some pain in the handicap department. Well done to Irikandji who sailed a steady race and won by a large margin.

Back at the boat yard I call home I have been a bit quiet on reporting activity as it has been repetitive planking of the radius chine and all weather affected. It is finished although a week behind my self imposed schedule and I really did not compensate for the lost time with a lot of interior work. I did some cleaning up inside which will be useful but it was hard to get motivated when it was cold and damp.

For the record here are a few photos from planking the radius chine to a bit of interior fiddling.

Wednesday was a dreadful day with heavy rain for most of the daylight hours. We went to the club rather hoping that racing would be abandoned and the majority of the skippers voted with their feet and did not show.
On the wet pontoon we were endeavouring to negotiate a no show for all of our black fleet but our attempts were thwarted by the arrival of Joli. No wanting to give Joli a six point head start to the season Utopia and Passion X made a mad scramble to the moored yachts and made it to the start.
Joli because she was better prepared no doubt, took the lead and held it to the finish for a first and fastest. Well done Joli.

At the back of the three boat fleet we had abandoned hope but a good shift on the second windward work gained us some ground and rekindled our spirits.

Now it was cold and damp. The heavy rain had moderated and sailing was only mildly uncomfortable as we headed into Humbug for the work home.

As much as we tried we could not get in phase with the shifts in Humug as they were severe and often but midway through our luck changed and we worked the last half in one beat.

At the finish we were certain that all hope had been lost but that last shift got us over the line for second place on handicap just one second in front of Utopia. While a more generous result would have been a dead heat for second we will take the extra point.

My last significat progress on the hull of Passion XI was on Tuesday when I made full use of the available daylight hours and a couple of hours under lights. In that session I planked 2.7 metres of the second layer and in the process completed all the 6 mm planks. The remaining section needs two layers of 3 mm to bend around the tighter radius.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday provides some limited opportunity for external work during which time the temporary fasteners were removed and some limited cleaning and torture boarding started.

The torture boarding is more of a luxury at this stage but I am a little like small child unwrapping the presents as I cannot wait to get the glue off the joins and run the fairing battern over the surface.

Before the deluge on Friday I sent a morning fairing the first two layers of 3mm on the radius chine ready to take the next two layers. There is possibly a mornings work removing the remaining glue off the first two layers to expose clean timber ready for the next application of thickened epoxy..

When it rained I retreated under the tarpaulins and started tidying up the completed radius chine ready for filling holes and filleting the bulkheads to the new skin.

Tomorrow, Monday, a new work week starts and with the forecast promising sunshine I hope to be back on planking the hull.

As anticlimaxes go it was as good as they get. We finished mid fleet on time and handicap and mid fleet on progress scores amongst those yachts that sailed regularly. As far as handicap racing goes that is as much as one can expect. Strategically our 1,1, 3 result in the middle of the season resulted in a significant handicap penalty from which we never recovered. Over the course of the season the handicap results were so close that a series of fourth places might have resulted in a better season outcome.
You cannot plan for these results. Once in a good place no respectable crew is going to go slow for a lower placing so it is what it is.

Not having a season victory to celebrate we will quietly slip away to some boat building and hope no one notices.

The boat building is progressing steadily if not spectacularly. A few more fine days has helped so that as of today the stern quarter of the hull is fully planked. With every plank the length gets shorter so in terms of area there is more progress.

On the wet days I have progressed some of the interior structure including the king plank hardwood doublers and the galley cupboard tracks. One key project was preparing templates of the keel base plate and keel bolts to confirm the bolt alignment before the hardwood shoe is glued to the hull. At the right moment these semi finished components will come out of the garage and get installed in what seems quick time where in fact it has been careful use of rainy days.

As for the present I have 21 more planks cut ready to install and a schedule of a minimum of 6 per day to achieve my target date for completing the second layer.

Even before the second layer is finished I am planning for the next phase which is fitting the rudder bearings and the engine shaft and P bracket. All the required parts are on order and with a bit of luck will arrive before the torture boarding and priming is finished.

After a lot of deliberation I have chosen a colour scheme for the new yacht and I hope to have the red water line painted on the hull in time for Christmas. It is the right colour for the Christmas season. Perhaps some teak and holly flooring would be in keeping with the Christmas theme.

Today I finished attaching the two layers of 3 mm ply to the bow area to form the first 6 mm layer of the radius chine. From the bow the shape of the yacht has finally taken shape and I am very pleased with the appearance. On Passion X the first two layers of 3 mm ply were placed back to back as a single double layer but for Passion X1 the two layers have been staggered. This appears to have produced a fairer first layer which i will be able to fair with the torture board before fitting the subsequent two layers.
I could not resist getting to work with the torture board to see how fairness of the bow area. The excuse I made to myself was that I needed to check the alignment before planking the port side. It seemed a reasonable rationalisation and I indulged myself with some very fine tuning of the stringers on the port side before completing the last four double planks.

It was not a busy day but rather one of careful sanding and very fine planing to ensure that the two sides would come out the same. In the process I got some exercise with the torture board and also tested the 150 mm random orbital sander.

The spotted gum timber I had ordered was ready for pick up which was a pleasant drive in the country to timber yard and also a justifation for an easy day on the tools.

With the spotted gum home and the first layer of the radius chine completed I am accumulating a long list of tasks that can be done in accord with the weather conditions. The spotted gum will go on the edges of the king plank as a very strong doubler to take the bearing pressure of the keel bolts. It will also go under the keel so I can at any time plane the “V” of the bottom of the hull and form the keel shoe.

But my priority will be to get the second layer on the radius chine so that the hull is water tight and final fairing can begin. I will need plenty of less vigerous tasks to do in parallel so it could be a good thing that the list is long.

In the RANSA winter Wednesday series there is just two races left this season. I cannot say that I am not frustrated at the windward performance compared to the Sydney 38 Agrovation and the Sydney 36Cr’s Amante and Crosshaven. To be fair they are respectivly rated 4% and 3% faster to windward and apart from sailing smarter I have to acknowledge they have the natural speed edge on the windward work.

Our new yacht, the Didi 120 prototye is designed to be faster to windward and with a longer waterline still have good downwind speed but it will be winter 2024 before we can put it to the test.

When we finish in front of Allegro and Joli and alongside Foreigh Affairs we expect better than ninth place so I was disappointed when the results came out. We had our best sails for the conditions but from the start Amante and Crosshaven took off and were never headed. Agrovation with a smaller than expected headsail managed third over the line due to their good upwind speed but their handicap put them one behind Passion X.
I mention we finished near Foreign Affairs so their last place on handicap was no suprise but what was suprising is that they did not get away.
Perhaps the Sydney 36CRs have a special trick up their sleeves in such conditions and full marks to Crosshaven for a good win. Also full marks to Monkey Magic for second place but almost three minutes behind Crosshaven. If Crosshaven was an athlete she would be asked to pee into a bottle.

That’s enough about the race now what has been going on at the boatyard?
To be fair a lot of other activities have been going on. We have over the last few week demolished 15 metres of fence and sent that to the tip in a skip bin. Next we demolished a large garden shed and sent that to the tip is a similarly large skip bin. Then there was repairs to a trellis that had been demolished by the tree fellers when they removed the large gum from the back yard. All has not yet returned to normal as the contents of the garden shed that we wish to keep are spread around the property awaiting a new one.

Against this backdrop I have been plodding along on the radius chine planking.

There was a brief interruption to get the four coats of epoxy paint into the water tanks before the planking obstructed the access and the fairing of the radius chine doublers has had to be kept going in advance.

The radius chine is fixed to a 100 mm wide 12 mm ply strip which is attached to a 32 by 22 stringer. The flat panels attach to 50 mm of the strip and the radius section attaches to the other 50 mm. Before attaching the radius section the 50 mm strip has to be planed to the curve and in the planing process the longitudinal shape has to be maintained. At the rear the curve is so large that the fairing is quite simple but as the work approches the bow the curve is much sharper and the amount of ply to be planed off is more.
At the bow for the first 5 metres I had not routered the step in the 12 mm ply as it was going to be out in the weather for a while and I wanted to leave the 6 mm step until I was ready to do the curve. That time arrive today.

I had been a bit anxious about the routering on the upturned hull but by carefully fastening a long timber batten to the hull as a guide the process went rather well.

The rest of the day was spent fairing the 50 mm of ply to the radius shape and apart from a final fiddle just before gluing it is finished.

Now I have few excuses left for plodding progress. There is nothing stopping me completing the front half of the first 6 mm ply layer and moving on to the second layer. So it is 40 done and 120 to go.

For the Winter Wednesday at RANSA we had no expectations as circumstances conspired to leave us with just two men and two ladies on board. In deference to the crew size we had no option but to set the No3 jib and do the course as best we could.
From the gun it was apparent we were under canvassed for the run to the heads. Looking across the fleet we appeared to be last in very quick time. Some of that was due to the fleet being well to windward and getting first use of the breeze and some was just lack of sail area.
We did get a few gusts from behind to keep us in touch and as we approached the top mark we had a better angle which made up a little ground. The fleet was suprisingly closely bunched at the mark so we rounded wide and headed for the shore until we could call room to tack against the rocks.

This was our lucky break as the breeze lifted on port tack giving us an instant gain over the early tackers.. We were almost at Steele Point before the breeze knocked and Fidelis who looked hopelessly far below tacked and crossed. At this stage we carried on for clear air and when we did tack we were lifted on starboard.

Imagine our surprise to see Cuckoos Nest cross not far ahead and to find Joli and Meridian in close company. Somewhere in that leg we passed Allegro and Brittania. We did not have it all our way as Joli and Meridian got a good port tack lift into the mark at Rose Bay but we were happy to be close given our rig.

The wind was a bit fickle around Point Piper with an easy reach giving way to a very tight work to the mark. When we did round the mark a lot of the fleet was in the wind shadow and going nowhere. We went as straight out as we could considering the fleet with Cuckoos Nest deepest and when the wind returned Kevin held out our tiny jib to good effect. Years of sailing NS14s with tiny jibs seemed to pay off as we rounded the island ahead of Crosshaven.
This is the time when we needed a good rounding but our top battern caught on the backstay. Earlier in the day I had replaced the top battern because it was fractured and the replacement was a heavier one. It is ideal for 12 knot but at that stage of the race and in the shadow of the island it would not pop through. On the new boat we will have a very large backstay flicker but for now it is one of the problems we must manage.
Depite the battern issue we held our position in the fleet but lost ground to those who had rounded just ahead. The lightening breeze was not favourable to catching the fleet and we looked behind at Fidelis making good progress.
Congratulations to Joli for the handicap win and for winning the wrath of the handicapper. For our part our successive 12 places followed by a 6th has returned some handicap to us in time for the tail end of the season. Only Allegro who did not have a good day, fared better at the handicappers hands and so they will be hard to catch on the pointscore.

Meanwhile back on the boat building site I have been getting ahead of myself just a little. I was so keen to start the radius chine planking that I took off before finishing the painting in the water tanks. So now it is a race to see if the water tanks will be painted before the hull is planked from the stern to the tanks.

It seems that the planking is winning as of tonight the starboard first layer is completed up to the water tanks and there is still two coats of epoxy paint to go. For my penance for being impatient I spent the last hour today sanding inside the starboard tank. There is still a lot I can do before gluing in the planks. There is plywood to be cut to width and then hand fitted to the final positions. I have been preparing eight a side so that would get me past the tanks once the painting is finished. I am reluctant to do more as the radius is tightening up quickly and soon it will be too tight to plank with 6 mm and I will change to four layers of 3 mm ply.

I could not resist starting on the radius chine moulding before all my other fiddly bits have been finished. To be fair my list of jobs has been whittled down and the main outstanding item is painting inside the water tanks while the top and side are accessible. I want to leave the least painting possible for after the hull is turned as painting epoxy upside down inside a tank is not a pleasant task.
By starting at the transom with the moulded ply planking I should have enough time to complete the painting.

What I have finished includes fixing the water tank tops, filletting all the corners in the tank and glassing over the fillets. That includes glassing the fillets where the tank top, which is also the settee seat, joins the hull. All but the last glass has been sanded ready for the epoxy paint. While in the tank I filleted the stringers as it is easier while there is good access.

Before the laminating of the radius chine can begin the tangent stringers have to be faired to the radius. The layers of ply give a good indication that the bevel on the ply is even and a long fibreglass battern wrapped around the chine provides a good planing guide. For good measure the 12 mm ply on the tangent stringer can be eyeballed along the hull and a much longer fibreglass battern is useful for checking the fore and aft alignment.

It helps to have a very sharp plane and to that end I sharpened the blades many times a day.

I have been reserving the morning for planing the tangent stringers as it is a quiet task and gives the body a good workout before starting the noisy machines cutting temporary clamps and cutting ply strips.

At a rough guess with each plank 300 mm wide and 12000 millimeters of boat there are 40 planks a side for one layer so 160 planks to finish the hull. That is conservative for the from third will be planked with four layers of 3 mm ply to get around the very tight and powerfull forward chines. That adds 50 planks to the task so 210 planks in total.

I did look back at the photos of the build on Passion X and noted that this phase took three months. I think that I can do better than that but we will see.

Meanwhile back on the race track we are missing crew weight. Yes for the three crew we had on the rail we are down 0.2 knots in boat speed. Add to that the more challenging handicap we were dealt after a couple of wins and we are back at the rear of the handicap results.

Clearly I got ahead of myself giving praise to the handicapper a couple of weeks back.

The results on Wednesday were instructive as the two yachts with the smallest jibs for the day came first and second. Before the race I did say that Fidelis must know something and that something was that the wind would be stronger than forecast. On the hard reaching leg we lacked crew weight on the rail so I am looking forward to having the new yacht on the water in a couple of seasons where the extra 450 kg on the keel will compensate for the lack of crew on the rail.

Today I glued in place the last two 12 mm ply panels that form the bottom of the new vessel. It is a significant milestone as the sheets of 12 mm ply in the garage has dwindled down and the last five sheets will soon be stood up against the wall freeing up valuable working space. It is significant as the structure is now well protected from the weather and I have a dry place to continue the work.

Looking ahead there are lots of jobs to be completed before the two layers of 6 mm ply can be moulded around the radius chine. Foremost is completing the sealing of the water tanks around the keel floors and sealing the plywood inside the tanks. The interior of the water tanks are much cleaner than on Passion X as every floor has blocking back to the skin so there is less surface area and it is easier to coat. After the water tanks the tangent stringers all have to be trimmed to the radius and then the moulding can begin.

Having started by boat building career moulding Moths in my Dad’s garage I am quite at home tapering panels so that they lay flat on the stringers. I still have my trusty block plane from about 55 years ago and have been giving it a good workout on the 12 mm panels so the 6 mm ones should be OK.
This week Dudley sent through a Deck layout and that gave me a few evenings contemplating the changes and investigating the supply situation with fittings.
But it has been a big week. On Tuesday I worked a 12 hour shift to get two panels installed and cleaned up.

On Wednesday I took Passion X to JBC Engineering for a test run and confirmation of the drive train we will put in the new build. Everything stacked up well but we possibly need a bit more pitch on the propellor to stop the engine revving too high. That is a minor adjustment at the next lift out.
After the test run we had the Winter Wednesday at RANSA where we were fortunate to dodge the rain but that was about all. It was a pleasant afternoon with Elaine spotting dolphins in the harbour but the pleasure diminished when Allegro, Joli, Meridian, Love Byte and Brittania passed us as the breeze died. We did not do ourselves any favours by getting on the wrong side of a couple of shifts but we were in the mix and did not prevail.

Today I set myself the task of finishing the bottom ply comprising two panels from one sheet of ply. The full list of jobs comprised cleaning the weathering off the unpainted edges of the bulkheads where they will be bogged to the skin, adding doublers to the short stringers, cutting the short stringers to length and cutting the limber holes in the last bulkhead.

The final, final, fairing of the strongback to the bottom Vee took longer than expected but once done the panels could be cut and checked, edges routered, glue lines marked, screw holes predrilled at set spacing, screw holes counter sunk and then we could start the gluing.

It takes some discipline to keep the jobs progressing at a pace that will have the tasks finished before nightfall. After dinner and a break I finished the clean up under the tarpaulins and under the work lamp. There is so much white epoxy paint on the bulkheads and side panels that the light from the work light fills the interior and softend the shadows. Anyway I will clock it up as a ten hour day but a very satisfying one.

Just a couple more photos from the week.

Wednesday’s race at RANSA was a win for the handicapper with the majority of the fleet finishing within a minute. We were in the back end of the minute and so scored a seventh to keep out third place on the season pointscore.

We started the day full of optimism as the sun was shining and the northely breeze was bringing warm air over the course. A fresh breeze was forecast but on the water it was not so strong so we set our No 1 heavy genoa. The forecast wind direction had been very favourable for Passion X but the wind on the course was tighter than expected for the first beat and headed as the race progressed.

We started low on the line alongside Cuckoos Nest who were going faster and pointing higher so we pulled below for clear air anticipating the wind to trend back to forecast for an easy beat. An easy beat it was not for Passion X and at the top or the course we were the only boat to have to tack to get to the mark.

At this stage Agrovation was well gone followed by Crosshaven and then a close group including Allegro, Joli and Brittania. We rounded on the tail of Love Byte and did well on the broad reach to Steele Point. The leg into Rose Bay was very square and while we would have liked to go wider we were hemmed in by a port gybe yacht who refused to gybe away. This is annoying as Rule 14 requires us to avoid a collision and we don’t need the hassle of an afternoon in the protest room. As a result we gybed away onto port early while the yachts further out sailed around us. From Rose Bay to Point Piper we carried breeze and sensed we were closing on the fleet now that we were reaching.
Around Shark Island we made up a little ground but had Love Byte and Allegro just in front forming an obstacle. Avoiding a starboard tacker from the back fleet cost us a few seconds but despite this we drew alongside Allegro at the Naval buoys.
Now if you ask me we had an inside overlap but by pulling away at the mark Allegro just cleared our bowsprit and got the inside running to the favoured end of the line.
It was all so close at the finish which kept everyone on their toes and well done to the handicapper.

Back on the new build the keel floors were tidied up and the next two panels fixed to the hull. I was pleased to get the limber holes tidied up and thoroughly saturated with epoxy resin before the sheets of ply were fixed to the hull. Tuesday was a long day with work not finished till nine at night due to the need to clean up all the epoxy resin that squeezes ouf the joins and the large number of joins with the panels going over the keel floors. The very last job was to clear coat the floors to keep them clean for the rest of the build.

Today, Thursday, I finished planing the strongback all the way to the transom. Planing is never quite finished as I will check it again with the long hand plane before the final fix. The sheets of plywood behind the keel are the largest panels to go on the bottom so I will be pleased to get these next two done.