Color

I received blue and white polyurethane bi-component paint. Here is what I foresee. It may change...!
Hull is blue - Deck is white - Cannopy wood varnish - Inside is white... I am not sure which color are the sails, I believe grey. By the way, I need to go and get them this week from the maker.

Warning up

The weather was a bit better this week end, so epoxy could be mixed again. Two more strips on the canopy and some other work on the center board trunk. Sanding under the hull is no fun...

I took some time to install the stanchions and life line. It does not look too bad! I went the cheap way for that piece, as stanchions can be very expensive... I used 1" x 20" SS pipe and some handrails bases.

Under the hull, one can see the ruder and centerboard. On the centerboard top, one can see the hole and slot cut that will be used as anchor point for the the winch webbing. The rudder and centerboard are ready for painting...

Winter time

It is cold in Houston, not the right time for epoxy... So progresses are slow.

I have redesigned the centerboard lifting system a bit. The original design was difficult to operate and I was not confortable with it. I have installed a 600 lbs manual winch borrowed to Kerness trailer with a web strap. There is a key slot in the centerboard top, where the strap is kept in place with a pin. Very efficient and simple design and no more issue with lifting the centerboard.

I had to use my sander a bit more, to make the center board move freely in the trunk.

The ruder is ready... almost!

On each side of the trunk, there are 2 hatches and a couple fastners to retain the lead in place. I will place the lead in heavy fabric bags and fasten them to the bottom with straps.

In the front, the space below deck is water tight.

The canopy is slowly covered, day after day, with 40 mm x 12 mm strips. Long process, but it is beautifull.

All the best for 2011...!

Center board

Last week-end was a busy one for Lady C....


There was this old boat vendor on the port of Brest, who told me once a motto he said was coming from our old neighbors, accross the channel. He was the kind of old Breton that do not really like the neighbors, but respect them as great sailors. So I was going to start the installation of the legs on my boat back home and I needed to drill 4 holes, about 1/2" in the hull. Humm, the kind of thing, I do not like much. So the old man told me: "as the englishman says, it is better to measure twice and drill once, than the opposite". So, I wanted to try the big centerboard in place before we glued in place the final soles pieces around the trunk. If I had to modify the trunk, better to know it now rather than later.
So the first thing was to lift the boat of its cart. This was done with the tack of Lady C. on one side and the tack of KerNess on the other side and a securing web. All was attached to the garage roof framing.
Then the centerboard was attached to the cart, ready to get in the trunk. The cart was pushed underneath the boat, centerboard inside the trunk.

Last piece was to lower the boat and have the kids put the axis in place through the trunk and centerboard.

It all went very well and we were able to test the lifting mechanism. Hughh it's heavy. I may have to rethink it a bit. At this moment, we have 4 strings, I may be able to add one more.

I also took the opportunity to trim the trunk to the outside shell shape and tapped to layer of cloth from inside the trunk to outside hull.

Next week, we need to glue the sole in place and get ready for the decks...

Centerboard or keel or both

Not much to say since last post, other than a lot of dirty sanding time on the hull, before flipping it. But now, I should be OK in the future. I added fiberglass on the hull sides up to the deck, in and out. I also laid two layers of fiberglass on the hull external bottom, for tear and wear.

Then, flip it...

Now time is for centerboard and keel. This is the design change I am trying, since I would like that this boat be either able to have the shallow draft or the preformance with the keel.

A piece of rope, four pulleys and some magic later.... Center board is gone!

Oooohh, how does that work? OK, here is a picture of the trick. You notice that the centre board is not the final one... The final one is ready, but way to heavy for that dummy run.

To install the keel, which a bit thinner than the centerboard (50 mm vs 60 mm), we install a box that fits inside the centerboard well. Note that the bolts for the centerboard go on each side of the keel.

Finally, in position in the large saw cut in the boat's bottom...

Lady C. is making progress!

Glue

I was away for a few weeks, cruising from Singapore to Mauritius on one new drillship. We had very nice weather all along the route and did not meet anybody with bad intentions in the South China Sea or Malaka strait.

Back home, I took some time to finish putting the planks together and start gluing all this together.

Lifting keel and daggerboard

Weather in Houston area is not really enjoyable at this time of the year. It is either warm or cold and it rains. I try to catch all warmer days opportunities to progress with the epoxy. Waiting for the plywood to arrive, I continue on the keel and daggerboard.
The lifting keel has now its final shape before fiber glass layering. It was a bit longer than expected, the wood being really hard. From the initial shape, I mainly use the electric planner to get to the final result, with some final sanding.
The bulb model is made of 1/2" styrofoam plate from Lowes. I cut discs at the size of the drawing and glued them together with cyanocrylate super glue. It is not the best glue for this purpose (tend to eat/melt the foam), but the result is good enough. Each disc that is in the middle of the keel has a cut out for the fin. To cut the styrofoam, I used a soldering gun, it goes very fast. Then all that is shapped to the right dimension. Next step for the bulb is the mold and then I will take this to the foundry for lead pouring. I still need to figure out how to do with the hollow shape of the fin in the bulb, may be use cement or plaster... I will see this later.

I received the steel also for the daggerboard. Instead of welding pieces of flat 1-1/2"x6" and 1"x4" flat bars, I used 1"x10" flat bar with 1/4"x6" flat bar and epoxy glued them on both sides. Like this I avoided any welding. I ordered the flat bar 1"x10", but I had to cut it to shape with my grinder. It took me a while, but it is done...

That the farther I can go, now I need the wood and the fiberglass to continue my boat...