Happy 2009 everyone! We disassembled the form frames last night (except for 5 and 8 to support the hull) and spent the morning lifting the hull and turning upright to support on cradles made that morning (again, supported at 5 and 8). We had a hook in the ceiling (and added a second half-way through the process) and ran a strap around the cabin bulkhead at station 8. No pictures of this – was just dad and I performing this feat and taking pictures was not on the mind.

Alright – It’s been too long. I apologize for the delay. Between work, travel (for work), work and more work, what boat-related stuff we did took a back burner to documenting it. Buy the time I had a moment to sit down, there were so many pictures I felt overwhelmed to update. This post covers everything from the last update until 31-December 2008. Some pictures were taken with my cell phone, some of them might be a little out of order but hopefully they make sense… Basically, you get what you paid for… 🙂

Promise…. I’ve been slacking on updates and need to post some pictures and stuff. Quick run-down of what’s happened – Hull halves are together and almost finished with the interior taping and extra reinforcements. Started building the rudder web and should be finished with it soon. Bought some 4″ deck-plates for the anchor well so the holes can be cut/filled before mounting. Doesn’t really feel like much when I type it all out, but both dad and I have been busy with other commitments which include being out of town too much over the last few months.

No pictures – just a quick note that we bogged the keel together Sunday – everything lined up great with the small exception of part of bow (original either deformed a little or we didn’t get the foam bent exactly right with the frames when we did it). Have keel bogged together from aft all the way to where the HD foam ends before the bow. Once that’s taped we’re going to try and get the bow to mate using a little more, erhm, persuasion.

…. or…. how to prove you are insane. First, I’ll rewind to yesterday. During the past week, dad finished laminating the outside of the bow web, which meant that after a quick grind and touch-up, it was ready to have all the slots cut. We did this in rather quick order with a hack-saw, dremel and chisel. No picture of it because I forgot, but here it is being tacked into the starboard hull half.

Not too much else this weekend. Managed to trim the carbon around the bow web 2564 and then start putting fairing compound on it for the final laminates 2568 Time Spent: 1 hour

Whew… been a while since I updated this and it’s been a busy 2 weekends. To start with, the starboard hull half is fully laminated with all extra re-enforcements. We then measured, cut and tacked in the daggerboard case and forward beam bulkhead: 2536 2529 Here’s the deck, followed by the keel : 2533 2539 and looking forward from the very stern : 2542 Also started doing something with the bow web blank that’s been sitting for the past year.

Whew.. what a long title to say that dad finished planking, we did the last few sections of foam at the bow and then laminated everything except the aft cabin… 2523 Everything is now sanded and ready to finish the laminate… 2520 With any luck I’ll be installing some bulkheads this weekend, hopefully a daggerboard case, and then next time make the garage seem REALLY small by bringing the port half inside!

So I’ve been gone for the past week… Dad’s planked some more of the deck…. 2498 and while he was laboring on that, I was visiting friends in the Bahamas…. staying on this….. 2510 looking at beaches like this…. 2504 and this…. 2507 and catching things like this…. 2501 So… I’ll need to work my butt off this weekend on the boat, because the guilt is just POURING in and I need to earn my keep with some fiberglassing… 🙂

But not much Dad’s done more work planking, which is good, because I’ve been out of town for the past week working way too much. 2492 I’d love to say that we can laminate the gunwale/deck area next weekend, but I am treating myself to an honest-to-goodness vacation away from everything. 9 days with no cell phone service, no computer access, a sailboat, some old friends, and a good number of islands just south-east of Florida….