12/12/2024 - Trev cut fibreglass ready to do the uni layups in the hulls where all the bulkheads sit. He did a bit of grinding but mainly sanding the bulkhead locations. We checked measurements and markings for the layups. Where main bulkheads sit had multiple lay ups.
The diagram show 3 layers in the pink but there are also layers that are 5 and 6 layers think.
13/12/2024 - We started fibreglassing in the uni in what I call Hull No. 1. The uneven floor really kills your feet when you've been in there a while.
15/12/2024 - Finished off the fibreglassing in Hull No. 1. We had to put in w layers of 600 double bias on the back section that wasn't done when we did the hulls.
We then did the measurements on Hull No. 2 and Trev went on to sand where the uni was to go and I went and did some gardening a Trev's mums.
16/12/2024 - Hull No. 2 Started putting in the uni strips. Because the day was going to be a bit warm we did the sections that had the 2 layers plus 5 and the 2 layers plus 6 first. It takes a while to do these layups and you can feel the underneath layers heating up, so it's best done while cooler. We went on and completed most of the others. Only had the 3 or 4 to do plus the 600 Double bias area.
17/12/2024 - Had a quick trip down to Kanwal and back. The care home Trev's mum is in put on a Christmas party for the residents and family, which was lovely.
18/12/2024 - Finished off the Uni layers and the DB layers on the back of Hull No. 2. After lunch Trev got the grinder out and.cut off all the hanging over the edge bits of fibreglass, removed the peel ply, measured where bulkheads were to go and drew in lines marking their location.
19/12/2024 - I did more garden at Trev's mums home while Trev started fitting the smaller bulkheads and sanding off excess bits to get them to fit better.
20/12/2024 - Off gardening again while Trev put more bulkheads in. We marked out Hull No. 2 and Trev drew in the lines for those bulkheads. Helped Trev put in some of the full width bulkheads. Bulkheads 6 and 6a which are where the cockpit is and where the post will go up from the top of these to the cabin top. As well as Bulkhead 1.5 which is at the front.
22/12/2024 - Carried Bulkdhead No. 5 in. I swear he's trying to kill me. Glued the bottom pieces to it on the floor - too tall for the trailer which is why it was the only one in two pieces.. Once glued we fibreglassed the joins as well. Brought in the front bulkheads. In and out, in & out, oh my I was sick of taking them in and out. Each time Trev just taking little bits off. I wanted him to take bigger chunks but he soon informed me that each time it went back in it was sticking in a different spot. 😆🤪. Once in we screwed pieces of angle to hold them in place - 4 on each.
23/12/2024 - Had a Christmas party to go to, a tip run, a Bunnings run and groceries to get. Day off from the shed.
24/12/2024 -Trev put the whirly birds that we got from Bunnings on the shed. Hopefully they will pull some of the hot air out and the shed will be more bearable on the hot days.
26/12/2024 - Measured up the Cabin Top to make sure the Bulkheads were going to line up with where they join. Only needed to remark BH5, Frame 4.5 & BH4. Not out by much but now is the time to realign. We will be double and triple checking everything before we get to the gluing them in bit.
Watched a bit of the Sydney to Hobart then Trev did a bit more sand off on the Bulkheads bottoms to get them to fit better.
29/12/2024 - Trev Routed out the bottom, the window, the doorway and the two access holes on BH5. Spent a bit of time with grandkids and in the afternoon we put filler and uni rolls and more filler in the routed out areas.
30/12/2024 - Trev sanded all the bits that we did yesterday. All of the access holes that we will have to climb through at some point he is rounding the edges on those as he goes. He pulled out a few of the smaller bulkheads and routed those. We lifted BH5 back into place.
31/12/2024 - My Birthday and we always have a fishing competition on my birthday.🎣 Result of that competition was that I beat him by one. We caught a total of 11 - 6/5 but if you only count the keepers he won 2/1. We had to do a bit of chasing. Hopefully next fishing outing the tiddlers will be keepers. 😄
I often look when Trevor watches other boat builders and think "I wonder how old they are". Some are quite young but there are others that look about our ages which, for the curious ones like myself, is early 60's. I remember when my Nan turned 66 and I thought that was old. 😅 In a few more years that will be me. All I can say is that I am extremely happy to be still here.
1/1/2025 - 'HAPPY NEW YEAR' 🎉.
Back in the shed we did some more - what shall I call it so that I don't keep saying Filler, Uni Rolls & Filler.. Looks like it's FURF.
FURF = Filler, Uni Roll & Filler
2/1/2025 - Trev back sanding what was done the day before and routing out more on bulkheads. I lost track of which ones we were doing. It just goes on and on.
3/1/2025 - Routed out more openings on the bulkheads and we FURF'd a few more.
5/1/2025 - Trev back sanding all the ones we did Friday and we lifted BH3 back into place. Routed out the next ones. We glued wedges on the cove. the cove is 20mm. The bridgedeck is 50mm. We need to glued the 30mm wedges to match the bridgedeck and that will gives us a nice run over from bridgedeck to the hull with uni layers that go under the bulkheads. That will be a process for a later day to tell you about.
6/1/2025 - FURF'd again and later in the day glued more wedges on the cove.
7/1/2025 - Did a bit more work on Trev's mum's yard in the morning and then back to the shed. Sanding and pulling peel ply off the bulkheads. Rolled bulkhead over, sanded and pulled peel ply off that side then spent the afternoon cutting out the ring frames for the single bunks up front and the king single. We had to enquire with out boat designer as to how much we could cut those back and what to do to stiffen them up. Got that sorted so cut those and routed out. We now have a heap to FURF.
9/1/2025 - Spent the day doing more FURFing. The video will show that process.
10/1/2025 - Trev spent day sanding everything and routing corners on the ones that need softer edges. We spent some time then putting all of the bulkheads that were out back in their places and cleaning up the centre of the shed.
12/1/2025 - Glued more wedges on the cove. Amazing how many clamps we found to do the job. 😳. Would never have guessed we owned that many. Trev had a bit of modification to do to the aqua props to get them to go low enough for when we lift the bridgedeck.
12/1/2025 - cont... We moved the hulls back to line up with the bridgedeck on the floor. Made sure the bulkheads are where they should be. Measuring everything again. Looks like we are out about 10mm from one side to the other. A couple of the small bulkheads that don't go right across but should have lined up were a bit out. So houston - there's a problem somewhere - Found it and marked where all the bulkheads should be. We lined up the back of the hulls to determine a measuring spot that was definitely the same on each hull and now pretty certain that the marks are in the correct spot. The only other thing to do now is re-align with the cabin top - make sure that's still good.
We squared everything up again - marked the centre of the bulkheads front and back to give us a reference point when we lift the bridgedeck.
13/1/2025 - Lifted the bridgedeck with the help of Phil and his trolley jack to get the middle up in place. Marked where the excess on the edges needed to be cut off. Glued the last of the wedges on the other side hull. - they are all done now. When we did the Uni layups on the bridgedeck we stuffed up when we did where bulkheads 6/6a go. Trev thought they were 200mm apart but they are 250mm apart and so our layups didn't go far enough on the back side. So we did those layups as well today.
16/1/2025 - Raised the bridgedeck. Propped with aqua props. Phil & Alan gave us a hand to do the raising and propping. Then Al gaves us hand to glue the joins with resin and bonding filler.
17/1/2025 - Sanded the bonded joins and filled areas that needed extra or that were missed under bulkheads.
19/1/2025 - Trev did a bit more sanding of joins and then we cut 600 double bias fibreglass and peel ply ready the fibreglass along the join, top and underneath on both sides and the Uni fibreglass to do the layups that go under the main bulkheads. Took forever to cut it all out ready.
20/1/2025 - Fibreglassed the top side joins on both sides from the front back to bulkhead 6. We won't do that back bit until we have all the other bulkheads back in place. Trev went on to sand more underneath. The area we need to fibreglass needs to be free of any undercoat or epoxy filler. The going was a bit difficult.
21/1/2025 - Because the grinding back is all overhead Trev ducked to Bunnings to get a new grinding disc so that the job could be done a bit quicker. I spent the morning catching up on a bit of house cleaning and then after lunch we started the join layup on the starboard side. There was dust everywhere from Trev's grinding but I guess there's not a lot that can be done about that.
We applied a layer of resin with filler first that helped the first layer to stick up there. It was a bit messy with the resin overhead. By the time we go to layer 3 we decided to wet it up on the table and roll the strip of fibreglass on a cardboard roll and that made it easier to put up. We did it in two sessions the back first and then the front. Would have been too much to do the whole length in one go. We were very happy with the outcome. We weren't sure how many layers we would be able to do overhead without having some kind of drama with it.
22/1/2025 - Fibreglassed the join underside on the Port side today and did the Uni on the cove on the side we did yesterday. That was a fun time had by us both. NOT. We wet out the uni before we put it up and with it being a curve you had to be fuss gutsy with putting it on because if you pulled it to much it would pull off the curve and then peel all the way off. We had one really fun moment with the 3rd layer on the bulkhead 6 at the back but we managed to eventually get it on there as well as the next 3 layers. Very happy that that side is now done.
24/1/2025 - Fibreglassed the cove sections on the Port Side Hull with Uni. Trev sanded the Starboard Side ready to put fairing compound on. Managed to get the first layer of fairing compound on that hull before the weekend.
26/1/2025 - ENJOY YOUR 🇦🇺"AUSTRALIA DAY"🇦🇺 LONG WEEKEND
26/1/2025 - Trev started sanding the fairing compound he put on on the 24th. Removed peel ply from the other side. I helped sand for a while. Sanding high is an arm killer. You go go go for a little bit then you have to rest your arms.
27/1/2025 - More fairing compound on the port side cove and I sanded cove bits on the starboard side. That side just need a little bit more in a few places. We both moved bulkheads. Sanded a bit more off so that we can just squeeze glue between the bulkhead and the hull rather than lift out again. Screwed them in place.
28/1/2025 - We had a fire to light today so set up for that with hose and got it started. I did the fire watch and Trev went to do more sanding and fairing compound.
29/1/2025 - Trev out sanding again yesterdays fairing compound. I did a catch up in the house then went to give Trev a hand with the break neck and arms sanding. Once we finished that we started working out bulkhead placements again, making sure that we did have them right this time. Set up laser leveller & string lines to make sure everything was straight and upright straight.
30/1/2025 - Trev worked today and I got to do the groceries but we went out and had a look at different things and trying to work out the stairs in the boat, down into the hulls. Seeing if there was a way to put them in without cutting into the hull.
31/1/2025 - Fitted more bulkheads. Had a look at where the table goes and working out a few other things. Moved bulkhead 6 & 6a out of the way so that we can fibreglass the join and do the cove layups on the top to the bridgedeck. Trev started working out a spare piece for a door. He has to add a few little pieces to make it the correct shape.
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