The first Saturday for post Covid 19 sailing was a windy one but not that it mattered. I had already decided that I would work on the new Passion as I am enjoying the project. As I work through the details I remember little things that I have on Passion X that I would have done differently. I recall standing bare footed on a V berth cleat and thinking that that was a bit sharp and so on the new Passion I am making tiny but for me material changes. Also the time pressure is not there and I can spend more of it in finishing touches so that there will be less finishing later in the project.
I am planning on a few mass production efforts where every bulkhead is painted at once rather than the one by one process on Passion X so I know that there will be some catch up time to compensate for my attention to detail now.
For the record I stood up station 0, bulkhead A and bulkhead B for a photo opportunity as they are completed. Bulkhead C could not come to the party because the epoxy glue was still curing but she is finished too. Also finished are the transom and the Aft Perpendicular which is a fancy way of saying the last little bit of overhang that forms the boarding step.
Next on the list in order of priority is bulkheads D, E , F, H, J, and K all of which are in semi finished state and need at most a day to complete. It is not quite that easy as there are furniture cleats to be fitted to both sides of most bulkheads and I have room for one at a time.
What is pleasing is that half of the bulkheads are now finished except for the final detail around the keel support. Dudley’s strong back on this yacht goes from Bulkhead C all the way back to Bulkhead H and is going to be an impressive I beam for the engineering minded.
On Passion X the keel structure is pretty impressive already and one of my professional boat builder friends opined that the keel structure would be an archaeological find for future generations. I cannot wait to see what he says about the new structure.
