The video to accompany the below activities and dates is a bit lengthy. I have added a bit of Professional Bull Riding and what we have been up to while we waited for the cabin top. Hopefully it won't get too boring. 🥱😑😴
Where have the weeks gone. We've started a new financial year already.
It will be Christmas before we know it.
Since the 14/5/2024 we have been busy catching up on other jobs while we waited for out cabin top pieces to get either one side or both sides fibreglassed and then CNC Routed. There was a bit of a queue so we had a few weeks extra to wait. We used that time to play as you will see.
Trev spent a bit of time working on how we would lift the tender onto the back of the boat, checking the balance of the tender we have now.
We put a new liner in the fish pond.
Sanded and oiled the back verandah.
Went to Sanctuary Cove Boat Show.
Went to the PRB Bull Riding Championships at Caboolture.
Lost a grandpet. Thor. Very sad. He was getting on and had heart issues.
Attended an auction on the way home
Mapped out the Cabin interior on the bridgedeck.
Worked out what light would go where - part of our auction purchases.
Measured up what size hatches we would need and where we needed to put them.
Built an 'A' frame to pick up the cabin top pieces using mates trailer.
Did a bit of gardening, tree lopping etc
Fishing. We caught a heap of Bass but it's the off season and we had to put them back. They were taking the lures we use for flathead. We ended up getting 3 nice flatties for dinner. The bass were good fun to catch. Put up a bit of a fight. Got the rods bending.
Moved shelving units to the carport to make more room and move hull over a bit.
21/6/2024 - Trev & Phil did a road trip and picked up the cabin top piece. Round trip to gold coast and back. Unloaded all the pieces into the shed before it rained.
23/6/2024 - Jigsawed all the pieces out and took the peel ply off. Set out the framework to see what it all looks like. Laid out the cabin top quarters ready to glue together and do the uni directional fibreglassing. (This side was the fibreglassed side. The otherside wasn't done because there is a slight bend on the cabin top and so this allows us to bend then we will fibreglass the other side once on the frame.
25/6/2024 - Got ready to fibreglass. Turned the cabin top pieces around in the shed. We use a little stool with wheels to turn them. They were quite heavy.
Cut the fibreglass and peel ply then glued the two quarters together and did the Uni layups.
26/6/2024 - We moved the two halved of the cabin tops to the front of the shed and Trevor put up framework ready to build cabin top and joined some of the pieces ready.
27/6/2024 - Removed the peel ply off the joins and put the pieces in place. Trev has been working on the lifting mechanisms for the tender and what we need to put in place to carry the track etc. so that those pieces can get fibreglassed in as we go. SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT.
28/6/2024 - Trev picked up track and cars for the tender lifting.
1/7/2024 - Glued the frame pieces together. That was the easy part.
2/7/2024 - Lifted or should I say slid the cabin top halves onto the frames and dry fitted and then propped them up to put the glue on the frames.
My job is always to go into the tight places and so I was designated to go underneath and do all of the internal glueing. By the end of the day I had had enough of crawling in under there. Had to go under to glue and then go under and spread the glue that squeezed out - so eight times I was under there.
3/7/2024 - We cut out the Uni and the 600 Double Bias Fibreglass ready to do the strips and fibreglass the top of the cabin. The first strip of uni we put on was too short and we had to put it at the back where it wasn't as wide and that mucked up things for a bit but we got in the groove and knocked out 3 of the lay ups (2 4 & 6). 4 to go to finish it off.
4/7/2024 - Fibreglassed Sections 1 & 3, just two to go.
The video to accompany the above dates is a bit lengthy. I have added a bit of Professional Bull Riding and what we have been up to while we waited for the cabin top. Hopefully it won't get too boring. 🥱😑😴
5/7/2024 - Finished the fibreglassing on the top - Sections 5 & 7.
Trev started Tapping and drilling the stainless steel bar ready to fibreglass at the back where the track will run to lift the tender and broke his tap. Off to bunnings for more. Broke a few more before he tried the expensive one which finished off the holes on that piece.
7/7/2024 - Pulled back the peel ply around the edges ready to start the top sections that go on the cabin top. Glued the framework and the pieces on the topside that the top trim pieces glue too. You will see what I'm talking about in the video. We found a little problem with the cut out of the front pieces. The router cut made them 10mm shorter than they were supposed to be. Had a chat to designer and it should be fine. Can always bog it up. 😄
8/7/2024 - Coved & Glassed in the brow frames. Glued the Under Brow.
9/7/2024 - The parts to the boxed section that goes around the edge are called - Vertical Inner Skins, Vertical Outer Skins, Chamfer Skins & Top Skins. (Hopefully I've got that correct). Anyway we started to glue the vertical inner skins and found another mistake. Two of the transverse frames underneath were in the wrong place. Needed to cut off one and glue on another. Easy fix. 😅 Then continued to glued on the vertical outer skin - except for the back section.
10/7/2024 - Trimmed and glued the from chamfer skins. Glued the back vertical outer skins. Front side chamfers glued in - we put and extra backing piece in the corners to help those bend nicely. Cut fibreglass and Peel Ply. Trev cut out the hatches.
11/7/2024 - Trev started coving and fibreglassing while I cut out the fibreglass and peel ply.
12/7/2024 - Trev continued to fibreglass - I had a day away.
14/7/2024 - Messy fibreglass/foam dusty day. Routing edges of the chamfer sections & tops and dry fitting them. Ready now to fibreglass.
15/7/2024 - Glued Chamfers on
18/7/2024 - Glued all the top skins on the boxed section right around. Just have the front slopey bit to put on now after the hatch hole is cut out.
Taking a break to transition senior family member into care. 😞
26/7/2024 to 4/8/2024 - Home for a week. Got RSV and that slowed me down. Trev continued on the boat.
Rounded all the joins off, with planer and sanded. Routed out hatches & bogged ready to put the visor top section on. Glued top section on.
Fibreglassed the back box section & triangular sections on sides & the coved section along the front of the water catchment area.
Had to send an order for peel ply before we could do anything further.
Sanded front visa edge where glued and rounded that off.
Removed Peel Ply from the fibreglassed sections. Drilled and filled any air bubbles and put on some fairing compound. Made up post to mount the back deck light and/stern light.
Glued post onto the back. Peel ply arrived Friday afternoon which meant fibreglassing Sunday.
Fibreglassed front visor section and side boxes. Took all day.
Back to Newcastle for a fortnight.
19/8/2024 - Inserted resin soaked uni directional fibreglass in around the hatches between the two fibreglassed sides. Trev had routed out about 20mm so that we could put this in to strengthen around that edge. It was quite flexible before that.
20/8/2024 - Prepped the front hatches and did the same to those with the uni. Pulled back peel ply and started sanding and fairing. Put the fairing compound on and then sand it off. Fairing compound on again and then colour it up with food colouring and sand. This shows the low spots that will require further fairing compound (bog) spread there.
From the 21/8/2024 through to 4/9/2024 - Fairing & Sanding
Then to Newcastle again for a couple of days.
8/9/2024 - Undercoated the cabin top - bit of a sacrificial coat to protect it.
9/9/2024 - Rolled the cabin top over. Took all day. We had a bit of shuffling to do with the bridge deck front and the bridgedeck long section. Had to move a light so that the cabin top would fit when we rolled it. A long slow day but we weren't leaving it suspended in the air. Once it started to go down it was just a matter of slipping it across the floor which it did fairly easily and then a bit of a shuffle.
Being the lightweight, I got to ride the cabin top while pulling the endless chains to raise it. Then once we got a bit steep had to tie a rope around waist to walk from one chain to the other until I was slipping too much. We were able then to work off ladders to continue to raise it.
12/9/2024 - Started playing with the slide for the tender - something not quite right. Worked out the holes in the metal strip were a fraction off which made the slide a bit stiff.
13/9/2024 - Purchased new metal strip to drill and tap again. installed conduit for the cockpit lights.
15/9/2024 - Continued the drilling and tapping. Routed the cockpit roof bearers to round them off ready to fibreglass. Tried the slide again and it slides smoothly now.
16/9/2024 - Put extra pieces in to make the section wider across the cabin top where the slide ends - to firm up that area a little more.
Cut out fibreglass while Trev sanded ready to fibreglass.
17/9/2024 - Cut out more fibreglass and peel ply. Started fibreglassing after a bit prep work.
18/9/2024 - Fibreglassed. Put in conduit for the motor electrics for lifting the boat. Which turned out to be not big enough. Looked at vent types for the front brow.
19 - 20/9/2024 - Cut out vents shapes from cardboard to see what they would look like. Placed and order for them. Continued fibreglassing.
Worked on getting metal strip straight and glued in. Removed peel ply from everything.
24/9/2024 - Worked out the conduit for the lift motor was too narrow. Found the light sections needed to be higher or the light would cut into the conduit and the wiring space would be reduced. Handy to have an electrician in the family.
25/9/2024 - We had a powerpoint outside the shed door for the compressor.
Worked out where the lights all go.
26/9/2024 - Finished fibreglassing where tracks go and redid the lights with extra height for lights.
27/9/2024 - Trev cut out the holes for the vents and routed out where the screws will go ready to infuse with bog to make the area stronger. Routed outside edges of the brow.
29/9/2024 - Sanding
30/9/2024 - Fibreglassed brow sections on the inside. Nice and tight spots to get at. Glued foam boards for dorade box inside vent holes to stop any water that may get in through the vents.
1/10/2024 - Fibreglassed front brow of cabin top. A bit more fairing compound put on.
2/10/2024 - Bit of sanding
3/10/2024 - Finished off sanding.
6/10/2024 - Hello Daylight Saving. 😵💫 - not a fan. Cut holes for conduit to go through to each section in the roof where we will put up roof linings to hide the wiring. Glued those in and then fibreglassed them.
More fairing compound added to the brow and the front. More fairing compound in the cockpit area.
7/10/2024 - Sanded front brow and sanding coves. Routed back edge and fibreglassed it. More fairing compound to the brow to try an fill pin holes.
8/10/2024 - Pulled peel ply of the back section and sanded square sections and prepped the back area for fairing. Finished off the sanding after lunch and pencilled any areas needing more fairing. Faired all those areas.
9/10/2024 - I picked up more primer undercoat while Trev finished the sanding and taped up areas not requiring paint at this stage.
10/10/2024 - Painted the underside of the cabin top with primer undercoat. The cabin area we used rollers to give this area a coat. Not faired as it will have the hood lining to cover it. The cockpit area and the front brow we spray painted.
11/10/2024 - Went to sand the paint work but think it needs a little longer to cure.
NEXT:
Working out how the windows will go in and what needed to be done for the cockpit area. We found that there needed to be a boxed in area on each side to cater for the cockpit windows. Making those now will be easier than doing them overhead later. Plus a little extra fibreglassing and fairing to be done while we have this side up. It will be easier to do what we can now, rather than working overhead later on. :)
11/10/2024 to 10/11/2024
11/11/2024 to 27/11/2024
11/10/2024 - Spent day glueing in the window eaves box in the cockpit area where the windows will fit too.
13/10/2024 - Cut those back out - NOT RIGHT - Sanding and remade boxes.
14/10/2024 - Sanding and fibreglassing eave box sections.
15/10/2024 - More Sanding
16/10/2024 - Purchased hatches for the boxes
22/10/2024 - Mixed Paint & Filler to patch pin holes and imperfections.
24/10/2024 - Fibreglassed inside eave boxes - trimmed later when dry & glue then glued the top on the box in the afternoon. Sanding in the afternoon.
25/10/2024 - More fibreglassing of sections near eve boxes.
27/10/2024 - Removed Peel Ply, sanded, applied fairing compound to the two eave boxes and the sections next to those.
29/10/2024 - Oh, Glorious sanding, to coin a phrase used by Madds. (a youtuber doing a renovation on a catamaran.
30/10/2024 - Paint brushed imperfections and spray painted with primer undercoat.
31/10/2024 - FISHING 🎣
1/11/2024 - Sanding. Made enquiries regarding speckle paint or paint that has a rough finish.
SO MANY IMPERFECTIONS AND PIN HOLES THAT ARE NOT GETTING COVERED. Very Frustrating. When we started looking at what other people have done with the rough finish we decided that this was not an option for the cockpit area ceiling. It just didn't appeal to us. So back to trying to get this area looking a lot better so that we can get it painted in a gloss smooth finish. Going to try another product ALTEX Epoxy High Build Surfacer.
3/11/2024 - Sanding
4/11/2024 - Had a shed tidy up. We needed to remove the front Bridgedeck section off the 'A' Frame and layed back on the floor. Cut up rags ready for use.
Put extra boards on the A Frame ready for road trip to pick up bulkheads.
6/11/2024 - More fairing compound on the bird boxes.
7/11/2024 - Sanded all the square areas in the cockpit and the front brow again ready for the new HIGH BUILD product. Covered the boat with sheets to stop the spiders poopin' on it. 🕷️. Picked up trailer and loaded 'A' frame on ready for the road trip
8/11/2024 - FISHING 🎣
10/11/2024 - Filter & Oil change on the Isuzu. Trailer hooked up ready for early start to ATL to pick up Bulkheads.
11/11/2024 - Up at 4am, on the road by 4:30am. We had a few stops to pick up items and the new high build then off to ATL to load up bulkheads and head home. It was a long day. We unloaded all of the smaller bulkheads and extra pieces we gathered.
12/11/2024 - Phil gave Trev a hand to unload the larger bulkheads. We moved the 'A' Frame into the carport and loaded the bulkheads back onto it. Sitting there now for a few weeks until we can finish off the Cabin Top and put up in the ceiling of the shed.
Week of family matters to attend too,
20/11/2024 - Sprayed Boat with High Build. Went on quite thick and was quite lumpy.
21/11 - 22/11/2024 - Sanding - Sanded up great.
24/11/2024 - Undercoated with Primer Undercoat.
26/11/2024 - Last sanding before rolling cabin top over again. Too hot for me to sand. Trev continued and we both went out after dinner when it got cooler to complete it. Using 120 grit.
27/11/2024 - Had Justin from North Coast Steel come and have a look at the sliding device and work out what would be required to manufacture that arrangement before rolling over. Rolled Cabin Top Over
27/11/2024 to 10/12/2024
I apologise for the above video. I had made a video with some of the same content as the above one. I did cut a fair bit out, so it's a bit shorter. 😅. Fast forward to the raising if you seen the last one.
27/11/2024 - Trev started sanding. Trev also started laying the rectangle pipe for the wiring to be installed for rear lighting & solar.
28/11/2024 - Continued the laying down of the down pipe and glued down.
29/11/2024 - Did the cove along the down pipe sides
1/12/2024 - Prepped for fibreglassing the down pipe and fibreglassed after lunch. We put 4 layers on getting wider each time. Started with 600 Double Bias, then 2 layers of 400 Uni Direction and then topped it off with another layer of 600 DB.
****Had a few other jobs going on this week but in between and afternoons Trev managed to get some fairing compound on the down pipe section then sanded that as well as all over the cabin top ready to put on some high build.
6/12/2024 - Finished off the sanding, wiped down with thinners - started rolling the high build on but it looked dodgy so sprayed the front and the sides inside and out and down the centre where we laid the down pipe.
Once we spray the undercoat it willbe ready to raise up in the ceiling. We will move onto the bulkheads after that and square up the hulls, dry fitting the bulkheads to make sure everything is in the correct place before we fibreglass them in. That will include lowering the cabin top down to make sure the bulkheads line up with it as well. BIG JOB that will be but exciting because we will all be seeing how big this boat is. 🫣 😳
8/12/2024 - It ended up being around 37 degrees for a while and nearly as hot in the shed. So all we did was be a bit more fuss gutsy with the finish - bit more sanding and covered the boat with sheets ready to spray the undercoat tomorrow.
9/12/2024 - Spray painted cabin top with undercoat.
10/12/2024 - Started getting block and tackles ready. Quick trip to town for a few extra. Forgot to restart the cameras so missed the start of the lift and tilt to get it over the cove section on the hull. Oh well! Had to use aqua props when we shortened the lifting straps to get it as high up as we could. It was a bit of a shuffle with the bridgedeck and the hull in the way but we got it there. 🥳🎉
We will now move onto doing the Uni layups in the hulls where the bulkheads go, then dry fit the bulkheads to make sure everything is in the correct place and all squared up before we glue and fibreglass them in. That will include lowering the cabin top down to make sure the bulkheads line up with it as well. BIG JOB that will be but exciting because we will all be seeing how big this boat is. 🫣 😳
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