Many weeks have passed since any meaningful progress has been made on the new Passion, my Didi 40 Cr. The planned breaks to sail the old Passion at Port Stephens and to visit relatives in Perth have been extended by the prolonged wild and wet weather in Sydney. Boat building planned for the intervening periods was difficult and even the inside jobs were hampered. On returning from Perth we had to bring Passion back from Port Stephens and were fortunate to do so on two of the four dry days since the rains commenced. Most of the stranded fleet made it back in the previous two day window and one adventurous pair even managed to finish their return voyage with a race in the GFS Saturday series which they won.
A dry sunset on the return voyage from Port Stephens
Since we returned last Thursday there has been more heavy rain so work has been restricted to what can be done in the garage and procurement of fittings. The rudder is fabricated from nine layers of plywood and seven of these have been cut to profile ready for joining. The central 12 mm panel is surrounded by the 70 mm rudder stock and 12 mm stainless steel tangs which provide the turning moment for the structure. There are just two more small 6 mm panels to be cut to complete the set but the joining to the stock must wait until the rudder bearings are fitted to the hull in the next dry spell.
Cetral 12 mm plywood panel of the rudder surrounding the rudder stock
The weather is forecast to be dry and sunny for the next six days so hopefully the covers can come off and the fairing continued where we left off a month ago.