Now that the capping pieces on the gunwhale of our Didi 40 Cr are planed and sanded in line with the deck and hull the sweet shape of the yacht is clear.
Once I started sanding the deck I could not stop till the front half was finished. I needed to add the rope as a hand hold to stop me sliding off the sanded deck.
24 mm plywood mast knee. The deck in this area is reinforced with two layers of 6 mm ply so the total is four layers of 6 mm ply from side to side. The hand hold will be practical as well as lightening the appearance of the knee.
The little infill panel at the front of the V berth shaped so that the bunk tops do not hit the frames when the tops are folded back. Lots of storage under the bunks.
There are so many interesting jobs to do on the boat that I feel spoilt for choices. I know there is a critical path which will get the boat finished in the shortest time but I think it is my boat and if I want to do this particular job now I can. So a few little jobs have been finished and some large ones done. The capping on the gunwhale is glued in place and planed and sanded down to the line of the deck and hull. The two edges will be faired with the torture board before final rounding and glassing. A couple of the small jobs I wanted to do were the knee at the mast step in which in incorporated a hand hold and the front of the V berth bunks where a small in fill piece was needed so that the bunk lids would not foul the frames when lifted. One job that I have been putting off is the sanding of the ceiling as the overhead sanding is dusty. I solved that problem by connecting the vacuum cleaner to the sander and not only is it almost dust free but the suction pulls the sander down to the surface making the job quite easy. I got quite excited with this development and sanded half of the deck, some of the hull and some of the cabin sides in an afternoon. The sanding was possible despite the strong winds as the vacuum took all the dust away.
Other interesting jobs awaiting are fitting the control cables to the engine and fitting the water lock muffler and exhaust pipe but if the weather is fine I must push on with the deck glassing and painting so that we can start putting fittings on the deck while I finish the coamings on the cockpit. So many interesting choices.