Assembly, hull & preparation for launch

The hull is supposed to be allowed to draw moisture during the winter before I do any work to it, but I will have to finish the top part now so I can seal under the side decks before painting.

The 3 top planks in the bow have at some point had strips glued into the joints, but it does not hold - the strips do not go far enough in, and they used Sikaflex as glue. In addition, the portholes had not been removed, so there are no strip glued in under them. So I have to redo it with a slightly wider strips and epoxy as glue.

I have removed all the paint from the area and dug out all the putty over the screws so I can fill them with epoxy instead. I milled the old strips out with the router - there were screws hidden in the strips, so there were a few loud bangs. But it worked, and then it was just a matter of gluing the new strips in.

October 18, 2009:
This week I have filled in all the screw holes in the starboard side, so all that remains is to sand them - then I can caulk under the side deck. On the port side, I have sanded all the way and roughly filled the screw holes. I'll wait with gluing in the strips until I have oiled the superstructure, because it starts to get a bit damp in the tent, and the wood needs to be dry.

May 17, 2010:
We have now our son Lars' confirmation well behind us, and I have finished varnishing the superstructure. I have now started to finish the hull.

I have fixed all the rusty screws above the waterline, so now it only needs to be smoothed a bit, then it is ready for painting. Below the waterline is a different matter - I knew that some of the screws probably would

need to be replaced, but it has proved necessary to replace around 200 screws on each side, ie between 400 and 500 in total, and replace the putty over all the old screws. The bottom will subsequently be saturated with linseed oil.

I've spent the entire Ascension holiday on my back under the boat, so it's been a tough time. I expect to use approx. 3 more days on my back. I have filled all joints with Ettan, so the boat will fairly waterproof when we launch - we don't want the crane holding it for too long at launch, it's quite expensive to rent.

July 6, 2010:
It has been difficult to find time to update the website lately. This is partly because I have worked like crazy to get the boat ready, and partly because there has not been anything interesting to write about.

But it's progressing steadily, everything on the deck is fitted, the roofs are painted with Decolay, most of the interior is fitted and I have just finished painting the hull and fitting portholes and various other equipment. So now I only need to mount the bathing ladder and the nameplate. I had actually planned to cut the letters out of mahogany and put gold leaf on top, but due to lack of time, I have chosen to temporarily have the name made of foil to stick on. This will make it much easier to mount the real letters next year, so that's just an advantage.

So at the time of writing, I the following is still missing: Pressure testing, installation, and connection of the fuel tank, installation of the engine, installation of the batteries, replacement of bilge pumps and one floating switch, installation of mast and cabling to the mast, marking of waterline and antifouling. Plus of course cleaning and rigging.

July 16, 2010:
Everything is almost done - finally. I have worked like crazy in the last few weeks to reach it all, but now the engine is in and tested, the tank connected, the electric is mounted and the tent is packed down. So now it's time for launching the boat.