FB11 New Build

[mhd]

So the last few days I've been fairing the boat and fitting the seats and finishing off other bits and pieces. I rough-finished the middle seat and so managed to test the location of the oarlocks.



I also centred the bowsprit supports (gammoning rings - mahogany, not iron!). Using a small bowsprit will give us the option of a small jib - probably not even 20 sq ft so it won't move the centre-of-effort forward very much, but it might help sailing to windward. It will be an interesting experiment.



The seats are in now, and the daggerboard is ready to go



All looks nice and more-or-less aligned



I still need to fit the cleats for the midships seat. I'm also going to fit some small half-round peices of wood on the rear compartments to use to secure the aft seat using wingnuts. And I need to finish off fairing. The bottom of the boat is almost done but still a way to go on the interior. Once those jobs are done, I think we'll be ready to get the paint brush out. It would be nice to be finished before the end of the month, but it is probably going to take a week or two longer - work is getting in the way of shipwright duties at the moment.

Mick

[mhd]

I've been busy with work and a few other things the last week or two, so the boat didn't progress much except some fairing and sanding and varnishing the removable seats a few times.

I finished the fairing of the exterior yesterday and after washing with water a few times, and wiping over to remove any dust, I put the first primer coat on today. Went on easy and it looks good. I used a high-quality natural black-bristle brush and it worked very well. I'm planning on at least two coats of primer and two coats of paint. I'm really impressed/amazed at the level of finish on some of the boats on here, but I'm not personally looking for a boat-show finish - I don't have the patience required.

I've spent quite a bit of time building out the cut bulkheads to match better. After cutting/sanding/fairing they aligned but the gap wasn't flush and even all the way around and didn't look good. It is still not perfect now but better than before. One thing that isn't a problem if you don't cut your boat in half!!! There will be a neoprene gasket between the two halves so I'm not massively worried about water getting in and time will tell exactly how it lookes when painted and on the water.

Anyway, I've been trying hard to not rush things and will be happy with something that is "good enough" for me. No prizes but also not the bottom of the pile either.




A quick look over and I only noticed one slightly shallow spot that I must have somehow missed when fairing. I'll leave it on the boat to annoy me so that next time I'll spend more time getting the next one a bit better. The inside of the boat still needs some more sanding/fairing. It is a real pain in some places but I'm getting there slowly. With a different boat, that didn't involve cutting in half, I think I'd have been finished long ago.

Next jobs will be another coat of primer and finishing the inside.

Mick

[mhd]

Well, it took a few days of effort and some skin off my fingertips, but the boat is finally sanded and primed (System Three Pennant Primer). I'm happy with the result.







I also finished varnishing some detachable oarlocks that can be removed when just sailing and to nest the two halves. The oarlocks holders are bolted through solid mahogany and held in with a split pin. The will then be bolted through the gunwales on the outside with wingnuts.



A few days for the primer to fully cure and then some more final sanding and a couple of coats of paint.

One other thing that I'm not sure of is the paint scheme. I have white and green paint and can't decide whether to go with green all the way up to the gunwales or just on the bottom with a stripe. Any suggestions?

Mick

[mhd]

Primed and bolted together and measuring for sails.

Mick

[Jeff]

Nice!! Jeff

[cape man]

Going to be a very pretty thing!!!

[mhd]

Nice!! Jeff

Going to be a very pretty thing!!!

Thanks Jeff/Cape Man,

I'm trying not to rush but looking forward very much to the maiden voyage

Cheers,

Mick

[mhd]

Painted and some hardware fitted. Will give another coat of paint to the outside hull, plus not-skid to parts of the inside, and maybe the deck.

The first paint session I was cursing System Three Pennant paint - it was drying as soon as it went on and practically impossible to get a decent finish...I now blame the record low humidity in New Mexico this year. Adding ~10% water to the paint really helped. I'm actually much happier putting it on now, as it has time to flow out smooth, and it is looking like it is going to be a really decent finish.

MVD for title, registration, and hopefully a HIN tomorrow.

Hope to have her in the water in the next two weeks, at least for a test row.

Mick

[mhd]

The MVD insisted on seeing the boat before they would issue a HIN, and then want to check again when the HIN is affixed to the boat. So I'm heading for the first appointment tomorrow.

Today I made a platform on top of a cargo hitch. Did a test drive up to 50 mph and it is stable and solid and I'm pretty happy with it. Stated capacity of the cargo hitch is 350 lbs and the boat is nowhere near that, so it is a pretty good solution - at least it seems so for now.

Mick

[Fuzz]

Neat way of moving the boat. Not many you can pull that trick with