Like sailing and being treated like a grown-up?

And not like a naughty fucking child who's just crayoned the hallway wall then consider this place your new online port of call:

You couldn't meet a more friendlier, knowledgeable crowd of sailing obsessives than this lot and with great content and an irreverent attitude - what are you waiting for?

Have been here a while but finally got my arse in gear last summer & set up a thread on Cruising Anarchy called Westerly Anarchy  for this rebuild and indeed all things Westerly and get this; they wont delete your account if you swear - even if you meant it...............................

Apparently I was damaging the brand?

 It was worth it though - if nothing else for making a dull day fucking funny. Long live the interwebs!

HAPPY NEW YEAR (in a bit)!

Nothing then Something.

Had a couple of days off as i was seeing a great band in Bournemouth last night so i planned ahead  - frivilous i know, & bought a couple of sheets of MDF, one 18 and one 25mm all in aid of making a supersized former to make the remainder of the curved components for the interior.

The original one got completely annihilated when making the corner pieces for the galley modules so seeing as theres still a load of pieces to make i thought i could use the free time making something more durable. 

Also the fact there are a zillion more jobs to do i didn't want it occupying bench space so set about building it into the boat shed, the only conundrum was how big to make it?

An answer came swiftly as i want to make the inside of the coachroof and underside  of the sidedeck in one piece - this measuring some 2.4m long and about 450mm x 450mm so that was the benchmark. Although because of the nature of bending timber along its grain it'll still be made of two separate 1200mm pieces it means i can do it all in one go.

I wont lie - i've had enough of living in the van and want to get on with the boat so by making these bits and pieces, when the time comes to get back on with the boat it should speed things up a little.

Well thats the plan anyway.

Sorry..........................

I'm nowhere near the shed, so have consoled myself with finishing the contract first, (should be end of the year beginning of next) then crack on with the boat afterwards, plus it beats biting my nails down to the quik trying to figure out how to progress with no money in the bank.

Still,this came in from Eric a couple of days ago, what d'you think?

Forgot to say

I'm still working up country at the moment but should be back in the shed after next week.

Cheers.

Still in Front

Still pushing on, although didn't get the forepeak finished, its all bolted down, epoxied, bedded and tabbed to the boat, this after endlessly veneering and capping everything - man that got tedious by the third day, see i originallythought i'd have it all done in a week and yet two weeks on still not complete. 

I dry-fitted it altogether in the shop first to make sure there'd be no surprises once the epoxy was mixed and PU gooped everywhere and in fairness there wasn't. I dunno why even after all this time having tackled some reasonably big jobs like the keels and sheathing the hull i still get incredibly nervous fitting stuff even with everything laid out in front of me: tools, materials and a crib sheet - seriously!

I think in this particular case its due to the confining space of the forecabin on these boats and i'm waving sheets of ply around that are 900mm x 900mm and trying:

a) to get it through the forecabin opening without damaging the ply

b) not to get any of the adhesive on the ply until i've got it in place &

c) to forget the ticking clock that starts in my head the minute i've mixed the epoxy and squeezed three tubes of structural PU about the place.

After yet another feeling of eternity and thoroughly soaked through in sweat (nervous energy) plus 200 screws it was all over bar the wiping off of excess adhesive of all varieties.

Also to add to the tension is the fact you're stooped (5ft headroom) and because of the new arrangement a mile from where you need to be, much easier walking around all three sides in the shop but when in place its a ball ache to lean over to check joints have pulled up and wafers have stayed in place. I cured that problem with several plywood straps to hold them together then fired what seemed like box after box of wood screws into predrilled and countersunk holes.

The upshot was being too tired the next day to do anything meaningful other than clean the shop up. Still after a bit of local paid work i got the lids veneered and trimmed so they're ready to go, just need to get in the cabin to trim the veneer that will cover the top and get that bonded down. 

I'm also looking for a 2k clearcoat to do the interior with, if anyone has any ideas post in the comments section cheers, as after paying £40 a litre for the hempels to do the windows with i realise i'll go broke again based on how much interior joinery there is to coat plus i want some thing quick drying and sprayable too

I think since its internal i may well approach an old supplier from my furniture days, from memory a 20L drum of 2k semi matt was around £120, it would've gone up but it'll be cheaper than any tin with a picture of a boat on it. 

I've tacked the latest photos onto the existing album of the forecabin here

cheers.