It is exactly eighteen months since I took the first photo of a few of the frames I had cut out on the garage floor for our Didi 40 Cr. Progress has been steady rather than spectacular and we have had many breaks for travel both within Australia and overseas. There is also time off for sailing Passion on Wednesdays and the Laser on Saturdays and Sundays.
Initially I had an objective of launching the new yacht in time for the Port Stephens Regatta in April 2016 but with the many breaks from building I realised this was not possible. A new target date is to launch in mid August in time for the start of the 2016 twilight racing season in October.
Today was spend sanding previously painted surfaces or preparing clear epoxy coated plywood for more clear epoxy. I did manage to coat a couple of feature panels with clear epoxy but the preparation took longer than anticipated and I need another three hours to complete the white two pack epoxy primer I had planned.
For the record I took a few more photos to remind myself how much has been completed after eighteen months.
The transom is marked up ready for the boarding platform. The widened cockpit of our Wide Stern version shows up well and the top bearing for the rudder stock is already glued in.
The bulkhead on front of the galley will be painted white.
Now three coats of clear epoxy on the mast step bulkhead
Looking into the dinette area from the V berth showing two coats of clear epoxy on the V berth ante room feature panel.