Mondays seem to be the days I feel that I make progress on the construction of our Didi 40 Cr. I was thinking today that if I had all Mondays the boat would be completed sooner. Perhaps the weekend sailing the Laser clears the head But today I made an early and measured start with some detailed tasks and as the day progressed installed more and more deck cleats and reinforcement. It did help that the timber had all been pre cut last week and all that was needed today was trimming to size and routering edges where required. By the end of the day the two ends of the large deck locker had been glued and cured ready to take the water seals, all the deck cleats were completed and the gas bottle hatch marked up. It was handy having a spare gas bottle to use to check the size of the lid required and the depth of the locker needed. As a final dirty job for the day I sanded the rudder stock bottom bearing support area ready for heavy layers of glass and epoxy possible as soon as tomorrow. Hopefully all the thinking is finished in this area and I can move into production mode. The thought of getting some of the deck installed is motivating me but can I do it by Friday?
Installing deck cleats on our Didi 40 Cr using a straight edge and clamps so that the edge of the plywood cures as straight as possible
Plywood reinforcement has been added to the frames at the ends of the deck locker hatch. Because of the T shaped cockpit the back edge of the locker needs considerable reinforcement and I settled on three additional layers of ply for a total of 48 mm.
Perhaps tomorrow’s job is heavy glassing around the rudder stock bottom bearing. The heavy hardwood doubles on both sides of the keel are impressive reinforcement so the extra glass will make it super strong. I am glad I did this work with the hull upside down as the area is mighty cramped now it is right way up.