Always something to fix....

I have added a link opposite called 'lo-res brochures site' to combat a problem i found whilst maintaining the scribd.com site using a computer that wasn't mine.

With help from 'google drive' i've now placed all the brochures in the ether with links to them here, this enables you to truly help yourself without joining facebook, scribd.com or having to pay for them.

If it sounds to good to be true .............

Goldie Looking Keels

What's happened since last week, well i recently received the engineering drawings from Sponberg Yacht Design concerning the new swept back rig, the level of detail is incredible and is a credit to his industry. I can't wait to use these drawings to fabricate the bits and pieces i need but for the moment I'm still on keel duty.

After fabricating a vapour barrier under the boat i got into the starboard side to finish off the last of the laminating work. I've learned alot working with Kevlar - again another string to the skills bow in this project.

Its funny having talked on the forums about propping keels with timbers and doing work yourself i will readily admit to a tingling sensation when - with my nose half inch away from the very bottom of the keel - i finished laminating the last of the Kevlar.

I say this as i have estimated from materials-used the boat weighs 3300kg and its all balanced on two end plates made of 2 x 18mm thick WBP ply - nothing under the keels , it just sits there. I remember when the bloke came to strip the gelcoat many moons ago; to get access he asked me to unbolt half of the cradle declaring "its not going anywhere" and sure enough it didn't although i bolted most of it back on afterwards.

The true test of both my 'bottle' and the panel strength of plywood came yesterday when i spent all day crouched inside the cradle under the boat mixing up and applying west system's 410 to the inside of each keel.

After the first ten minutes i just got on with it not before figuring out a way to escape, today (Sat) i'm giving myself a day off from the sanding as it gets me down day after day so think this afternoon i'll tidy the shed up and get ready to go again.

cheers

Oh yeah nearly forgot, i own agentlemansyacht.com so now its even easier to read my desultory prose via the internet, although solwaycloud.blogspot.com still works perfectly.

I'd never of thought..........

The amount of time i have spent on constructing and maintaining the boat shed truly bewilders me at times, at present I'm playing a 'cat and mouse' game with the elements; more like a catch 22 really as i need the raised floor of the shed out of the way so i can get access all the way around the bottom of each keel.

You might think little of this until you factor in the UK's rather shitty weather for by removing the floors i now have cold moist air coming up from the ground combining with the warmer air  in the shed creating an immense condensation problem with the encapsulated keels. 

If ever there was a catchphrase for this project  its; "solve one problem create three more" i agree not very catchy but accurate nonetheless.

So what to do? Well i spent the last couple of days head scratching and with one eye on my ever decreasing wallet went for the cheapest most practical solution - to make a fully sealed vapour barrier under the boat using heavy gauge polythene the like you use when pouring a concrete floor. 

Going from one side of the shed to the other in one whole piece i worked late to get it done as high humidity levels are with us for the foreseeable.

Well i went out this morning to see if the keels had stopped wetting themselves and was pleasantly surprised with the feel of the air in the shed as well as completely dry nay almost warm feeling keels.........another problem solved and all because i forgot to laminate the Kevlar when the keels were in the shop.

I get told regularly by family i should write a book about this project but i don't know if i can recount all the cock up's seeing as there's been so many and some i'd rather forget.

Roger