Am i seeing double?

Yes ladies and gentlemen after close to year both keels are finally done although not without some repairs to the starboard keel - i think caused in no small part by the really cold winter we had.

Essentially both casting caps had cracked open and erupted outwards so after a few days with a hot-air gun, grinder, primer & resin etc i got it looking someway decent.

However not such a problem with the port keel, i'm really pleased how it turned out and even made a couple of covers for each of the keels so they breath whilst being covered up (which i think is part of the reason the casting caps cracked.)

With both keels sat together on their respective crates i really feel a sense of accomplishment as both were in such bad shape when removed from the boat and now seeing them looking better than new.

I now need to get a lick on and get the keel stubs sheathed and remade but to do that i need to make exact templates of each keel to offer upto the stub this is to make sure i get a perfect joint, still what with those to make and the heat pads to test i will be busy these next few weeks.

Cheers.

More updates.............................

Got bored waiting for the hull to dry so started looking for things to do, although spoilt for choice my mind turned to the rudder as the second (port) keel was nearing completion i wanted a clean sweep of all appendages for the boat to be done and ready for mounting.

so having gone into the loft to get the plug i made i was gutted to find one of the two halves of the plug water damaged; no doubt condensation.

undeterred i thought about mending the plug when over a cup of coffee i found an interesting set of pictures from dixdesign.com showing the amateur build of a mount gay 30. Among the many albums was one on building the rudder, it couldn't be more simple as it entailed sandwiching the rudder stock between two halves of ply and then shaping and sheathing.

Having wasted the best part of two weeks worth of time making the plug i couldn't believe how quick i made the new rudder and now pretty much with everything for the boat finished apart from a couple coats of west on the skeg and blade i can turn my attentions to rebuilding the hull.

Updates v 1.0

Since i last posted i've gone to version 2.0 of my heater pads since the originals i made using high performance rubber roofing material were too heavy and even with the vacuum on it couldn't support their own weight.

So as we speak version 2.0 are in build after making a prototype using substantially lighter weight material, pictures on that coming soon.