Busy few days. Lots to write about. We carried the bow section outside and tested the mast fit...just right...maybe 1/4" gap around. Enough room to leather the mast where it meets the deck to prevent chafing.
The mast itself (and boom and sprit and various other spars for ill-defined purposes) were actually made when I made the oars a few months ago. The first spar was done by hand - spar gauge and hand plane and hand rounded and sanded - trusty Stanley block plane. Every one after that was done by power plane and belt/random-orbital sander

The mast is made from two reasonably straight 12' long 4x2s epoxied together, and rounded and tapered, and cut back to 10' - some glassed, and some not. All spars (bowsprit, sprit-boom, sprit) are from 2x2s or 4x2s of similar size. Mast has 2" brass mast band hammered on.
Stepping the mast was good, but what do you reckon? I'm worried that with such a short waterline length that her hull speed is going to be pretty low....hmmm....
The mast is ~2.5 metres above deck (bang on 8'). And we measured up roughly for sails etc. The plan now is definitely to test out a bowsprit and jib. I made that decision after seeing this webpage - so thanks to Ross - no bowsprit, but a workable jib and it woke me up to the benefits of a jib with a sprit-sail, especially for sailing to windward.
http://rosslillistonewoodenboat.blogspo ... lying.html
Who knows if it will work on the FB11 - it will certainly move the centre-of-effort for the sails forward, but I think it is worth trying out at least. And if it isn't very efficient, then easy to just stick with the sprit-sail on its own.
The FB11 now, with the aft compartments and gunwales fitted feels *very* stiff and strong. We weighed the bow section as I was starting to get nervous about the weight overall as the entire boat was feeling heavy, but was happy to see the bow section (the heaviest) come in at around 40 kg / 90 lbs. We'll weigh the complete boat (and find the COG) when she is finished. I'm guessing somewhere around 75 kg / 140 lbs. I'll be happy with that. This build is meant to be a tender for an eventual VG23 - but also to allow us to do some reasonably serious sailing and do some overnight camping trips in the meantime - I think it still fits that requirement.
Today I painted primer inside the aft compartments and epoxied the seat-tops on, and also added strengthening mahogany to the daggerboard case.
Jobs for the weekend include rounding the central bulkheads and glassing over them, and also biting the bullet and fitting some hardware. I made some decisions about rigging and control lines and ordered some cleats/blocks, etc. I do want to keep the rig minimalist and easy to set up (and repair when needed) but also want it to be manageable.
The other major job now looming is to figure out how to use our major Christmas present - a sewing machine. So time to start learning about sewing some sails I suppose.
The original plan was to nest the boat on top of the Jeep (Wrangler 4 door) on a home made roof rack. But after weighing and measuring I think it will fit perfectly on a cargo rack on the 2" hitch receiver. Out of the wind, not too heavy, and we can drive it anywhere like that and not worry too much.
Anyway, enough for now. Comments/suggestions always very welcome.
Mick
FB11 (Designer Evan Gatehouse)
VG23 (Designer Jacques Mertens)
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, con a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. Robert A. Heinlein.