Thanks Guys

It was like a weird and wonderful Team Building Exercise.

All we had to do was move the boat from the back garden to the front garden.

The boat has a 6' beam. The lane between the houses is about 6'10". Plenty of room.

The fun bit was the 4'-5' high wall running down the middle of the lane.

We had a short false start where we were still bolted to the ground (my Fault, sorry guys).

Then the 7 of us lifted the boat to shoulder height and manoeuvred it up over the wall (sorry about the plants Caroline.)

I somehow ended up standing underneath the upturned hull, with my shoulders to the frame. It was my first real view of the inside.

We did our best to cripple my soon to be wed brother, by trying to drag him across the wall through a bush, but he was having none of it.

The Herculean Effort culminated in The Lady Caroline* being man handled into place, in the front garden and then carefully flipped over.

So Thanks Guys, In Alphabetical order Alan, Andrew, Colum, Connor, Oliver and Peter.

And thanks Andy and Trish for letting us use your garden in the move. I hope Bonnie forgives us for locking her in the kennel throughout.

And thanks again to Caroline, my wife for putting up with this, the boat, the mess, the invasion of the house, the time spent, etc. etc. etc.

* The boat, not my wife.

From the Air

This is from google maps.

You can clearly see the blue tarp that covers the boat in my back yard.

Yes, it will fit out between the houses.

(I hope)

Helpful people

It's amazing how some people are just so helpful. Take the guys at http://www.chinawindyachts.co.uk/ I needed some stuff in a hurry, no problem, I rang on Friday, they got stuff in that was not already in stock and they shipped monday morning. Bear in mind that my order was a couple of hundred Euro, and they know I'm a hobby builder. Peter takes a genuine interest in his customers, he was able to offer help and advice.

Many thanks.

Pics

As promised, pics of the Hull.

I have filled and sanded most of the screw holes on the near side in the top pic. And as of about half an hour ago, I have filled the remaining screw holes.

The Epoxy, Glass beads, and microfibers sands easily. It seems like a good mix for filling.

I used a router, a roundover bit and a batten to round over the entrance to the CB for glassing.

And I have glassed the transom. This is a small and uncomplicated area, but it's near vertical, so you have to be careful about runs.

I no longer feel like a fraud referring to "my boat".

Sorry there are no pics to go with this, but I finished up working last night, outside under lights at about 11:30pm.

It was gluing, screwing and filling screw holes, so the neighbours did get to sleep. 8-)

The last panel is now in place. It needs to be trimmed, but the hull is now complete.

I no longer feel like a fraud referring to "my boat".

I also started the process of filling the screw holes. Some screws needed to be reset a little deeper. That was easy enough. I tried three mixes for filling. Epoxy and:

• Oak Sawdust from my sander
• Glass Spheres and Silica
• Glass Spheres and Microfibers.

The Oak Sawdust is not as fine, and is harder to sand. On the whole I won't be using it again for filling.

The Glass Spheres on their own don't thicken up, and seep to remain runny, so I added a little silica to the first batch. It's smooth, sands easily and is easy to work with.

I also filed more screw holes last night with the Glass Spheres and microfibers to thicken it. This is smooth and works well. I'll let you know how sanding goes.

Incidently, for sanding I used a Ryobi Random Orbital and some 40 grit disks. Worked like a charm. I had tried hand sanding first, but it's unreasonable to expect my grandchildren to finish the boat.

I should be ready to start glassing soon. I'll start with the transom. Less to sand off if I mess up 8-)

Photos will arrive when it stops raining again. 8-(