Archive for January 2023
After a winter of too much rain and long delays to boatbuilding it is strange to be welcoming the rain back. The sanding of the hull is taking a toll on my body and the rain forces me to stop the sanding and tackle some other tasks.
Since the last post there has been two sessions of rain. In the first session I finished filleting the frames to the skin forward of the mast step and installed the V berth bearers and wing panels. There are four panels to the V berth with the outer ones fixed to the hull and the middle ones hinged to access the sail storage under. The outer wings are fixed to the bunk bearers and the hull skin forming a formidable U section and all that remains is to paint the bare plywood and wait for the hull to be turned.
During the same wet spell I retreived the V berth locker shelves from storage and fitted them to the cleats on the bulkheads. I had taken the opportunity to trim the shelves to the skin position before skinning the hull so it was just a matter of some final trimming with a hand plane and they are all ready to go. So that I can get better access to fillet the shelves to the skin I will do these one at a time.
last Friday I cut out the front panels for the two lockers between the V Berth and the mast step bulkhead. These intersect the hull across a tangent stringer so there was a lot of trial fits and trims to get a snug fit against the hull. Fortunately one of the grandsons turned up late in the day and did the lifting and holding for me to finish the fit.
With the fine weather returning I recommenced sanding the epoxy prime coat.
Elaine volunteered to do a bit of torture boarding rather than go to the gym and Don, one of our crew, also made it a social morning on two days to keep me motivated.
This outer layer of epoxy primer is reinforced with a very light double bias to form a base for the epoxy paint. Of the six 1.3 metre wide panels applied four went very smoothly but still needed a lot of machine sanding for the final finish. The final two were applied on a hot day and it was difficult to keep ahead of the resin curing curve. I settled for mixing many small batches and finishing each section before mixing the next and while it needed a little more sanding than the first four panels it has sanded up well.
Due to the temperature of the day I left the laminating till after 5pm so it was a late finish to a hot day. Tuesday was equally hot but I had to sand the laminate before the epoxy cured rock hard and with a bit of perseverence managed to tidy up all the already applied epoxy and prepare the hull for the next four panels. That will get me past half way when we next have a cool dry spell.
The wet and windy weather of today was a relief. For the morning I set myself up in the sunroom with the plywood locker fronts on the glass table and set out the locker openings. Not wanting to make a mess of another room in the house I moved the panels to the carport to cut out the locker access holes. This was less civilised than the sun room but was nevertheless a pleasant work station.
That went well so I moved on to the settee backs which will have six locker access holes cut in each face. I used a cardboard template to establish the angled cuts on the two ends and first side fitted the second side exactly so I could cut a matching mirror image.
So that is where I am up to. If it is wet I will finish cutting out the holes in the setee back and if it is still wet I will move to the quarter berth locker fronts. This is my minimum internal fit out target before turning the hull.
If it turns fine and cool then I will get back to the thin laminate on the hull where there is at least two full weeks of work before the four coats of epoxy paint can start.
Christmas was a time for a relaxing break from boatbuilding and to letting my muscles recover. A bonus was to go out on the Harbour and watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart. We positioned Passion X at the Heads near to the turning mark and were well placed to watch the action as four 100 ft maxis tussled to be first out of the Heads.
After two days of relaxation and with some fine boatbuilding weather I attacked the fairing of the hull with a vengance and over the next two days managed to complete the fairing and epoxy coat the aft end of the hull. Now at least the stern was protected from the weather.
New Years Eve, New Years Day and the 2nd were fully occupied with assisting at the ILCA (Laser) Oceania regatta at the Georges River Sailing Club where we were inspecting all the yachts for compliance with the ILCA rules. It was still good boatbuilding weather on the third and with a few days of rest behind me again attacked the fairing with a passion. In one long day I completed the middle of the hull leaving only the front 20% to be completed. Now the forecast turned for the worse but tempting fate I finished the last 20% on the Wednesday before the rain set in. It was very fine timing as the cost of epoxy was just touch dry when the drizzle started.
Wednesday is our twilight race day so it was an early finish and a quick trip to the club. With festive seasons absences and with a miserable forecast we fully expected a diminished fleet and the crowd huddled in the doorway at the club seemed to want to call the whole thing off and go home. Rumours of lightning and BOM warnings were circulating but the warning zone did not extend to the coast so it was all clear for the sailing.
A most unusual night of sailing ensued. I selected longish courses as out regular post race BBQ was no scheduled and if we took a little longer to finish the race it was not going to upset any plans. And the breeze was rising and falling ahead of stronger wind forecast for the Thursday. For our small crew I selected the No 3 jib and was prepared for the consequences if the wind died.
The race was conducted in two halves, not by plan but by chance. At the start Joli, Meridian and Irikundji got a good break from Utopia and ourselves on Passion X while Fireball and Ausreo struggled to get the phasing right to get out of Humbug. All the way to Goat Island and back we we chased Utopia and Irukandji while Ausreo chased us. Any chance of catching Joli and Meridian seemed to have escapes as they were already minutes ahead but strange things happen. Back at Longnose Irukandji and Utopia were stopped dead in the wind shadow. Here Utopia managed a mini break while we snuck through to leeward of Irukandji and Ausreo went even wider and made up time.
At Cockatoo Island the breeze died to less than five knots and we were soon overtaken by Ausreo who was sporting a large overlapping genoa compared to our tiny No 3 jib. Once out of the wind shadow of Cockatoo Island we went high and made ground on Ausreo while in the distance we could see Joli and Meridian becalmed in the wind shadow off of Balmain. The sat there motionless for a long time which encouraged us to go even wider than usual. By a bit of luck the breeze freshened as we approached the point so the wind shadow blew away for a few moments and let us pass Ausreo to windward and just hold them out for the rest of the journey.
Joli and Meridian were first into the hole and first out so they made up some of their lost ground but then lost it again going around Goat Island the second time. On rounding Goat we were surprised to see the three leaders not far ahead. Again with a bit of luck we held out the small jib to windward and went very wide of Snails Bay so that we could give Long Nose a wide berth on the way home. Ausreo liked what we were doing and followed so we both made up ground.
Into Humbug we took the wide berth and headed for the Onion Point shore and made up a little more ground and at Onion Point flipped the jib out to windward again and headed for the line.
On fastest time this was one of our better performances and a handicap win is always appreciated. Much appreciated was that the rain held off apart from a little drizzle.
I am at a loss to understand how we got so far behind at the start and how we made up so much ground at the finish but it was a most pleasing race.
That was the last of the fine weather as Thursday and Friday conditions were not suitable for any construction work. I did a tiny bit of filleting and setting out partial bulkhead positions using the laser level but a very lille big indeed. The weather was so inclement that sailing at the ILCA Oceania Championships was abandoned on both days and we hope for better weater for them for the final two day.