We had a holiday booked to go to Norfolk Island for a five day break so I was keen to have the plywood deck painted and protected from the weather. That motivation was enough for me to get three coats of Interprotect on the plywood cabin top and one to two coats on the epoxy glassed decks.
I planned for wet weather and that is what we got but I was contented that the plywood was well protected. We did pick the wettest twilight race to miss and only nine yachts from all the fleets presented. It was a dismal way to end the 2023 sailing year but that is weather.
We returned in time for the Christmas festivities and while we had a quiet Christmas and New Year we enjoyed the family dropping in for overnight stays on their way to their own activities.
A bonus was son Mark spending a morning torture boarding the primer on the deck and grandson Rohan helping to cut out all the instrument mount holes on the bulkhead.
I used one of the cooler days to progress the painting in the rudder stock compartment. With that done I closed off the aft starboard seat which was providing ventilation, finished painting the rest of the compartment and epoxy saturated the raised seat to preserve the water proof status of the aft cockpit.
On the critical path to installing the electrics I needed to get the instrument panel constructed which I did in tandem with the galley sliding door locker so that we have matching clear finish ply on the two sides of the boat. It looks a little dark at present but will lighten up when the ceiling and walls are painted white.
Next on the critical path for the electrics was the battery box which I did in parallel with the saloon settee seats. These are now build and fitted with lifting lids and removable floors
I had been putting off completing the cockpit locker hatch while waiting for the fuel tank to be constructed but I decided that I could do most of the structure just leaving off the internal lip on the cockpit side. Having done that I thought I may as well tackle the locker lid. I had saved the 12 mm ply from the deck cutout for that purpose but I found bending the 12 mm ply over the light frame of the lid was a little difficult when I did Passion X seven year ago. This time I laminated up the lid from two layers of 6 mm ply held down over the existing cockpit seat curve. After a couple of days of very warm weather the panel was ready to use and it certainly made completing the hatch much easier. I glued it up in situ this afternoon taking care to mask up any wet epoxy seams. I will tape some of the internal corners when the glue cures but it looks good as is and I will fit the hinges temporarily so that the hole into the locker is protected. Then I will finish fairing the rear winch on that side in safety.
There are a lot of jobs going on so in parallel with the cockpit locker I have cut out the floors for both the head and the quarter berth. The measurements I took for the quarter berth floor were good enough to get a fair fit first time but to get it perfect took a half a day longer. From the quarter berth floor I cut a cardboard mirror image of the vital parts and then cut the cardboard to size in the head. That was a lot easier as there was less trimming to do for a good fit.
This morning I cut and fitted almost all the cleats for these two floors and screwed and glued them in position this afternoon after gluing up the cockpit locker lid. As it was warm I had to work quickly to use up the glue before it went off.
Now the quarter berth floor will need a little triangle on the outboard side to bridge the gap between the hanging locker and the floor. It could be a handy cable way.
In the head life is a little more complicated. On Passion X there is a sloping floor so that all the shower water drains to a sump which is fitted with a Jabsco bilge pump with a manual switch. For the new boat I plan to use the same bilge pump but I will put it on a float switch so that it will run if anything untoward happens in the head. The floor will be in two parts, a semi fixed part with a slight slope to the sump and a perforated removable sump lid, The semi fixed floor will have services running between the stringers and will seldom be lifted so the plan is it silicon seal the edges and make it waterproof . Again there is a corner against the hanging locker where the hull is exposed and this should get a triangle edge for appearance sake.
Once these finishing touches are done there is still the galley to complete, a fridge to construct and a set of drawers to make. The wider engine cover for Passion XI will allow a slightly wider set of basins to be installed but I won’t start that until I have the basins in hand.
So much to do and so little time.