How can it all take so long?

Well, I dunno, but it does.  I have but a paltry collection of photos to show you: little indeed for the hours that I've been putting in during the three weeks since last I posted.  All I can say is that I've been working long days and there isn't much to show for it.  Still, one day I'll get there!

 With the dividers filleted in place, I made framework for the lids/seats to land on.  As ever, things didn't go perfectly as anticipated, so there was a certain amount of sanding or filling to be done to get everything level so that the lids don't wobble.

 In the meantime, I finished off in the lazarette, making a removable sole panel which is at a little less of a steep angle than the bottom of the boat.  The idea is that it will be a little less uncomfortable to sit there when I am getting things out of the lazarette.

 Belatedly, I recalled that I had intended to make a bar either side, to keep the boxes in place.  Actually, there is not much headroom for them and the fiddle on the shelf is quite high, so they are very unlikely to jump out of their own accord.  Still, if they can, they will!  It would have been a lot easier to fit before I closed in the cockpit!

 The seat framing is glued into place and the screw holes plugged.  (I often find it quicker to use wood plugs for screw holes than to fill them with epoxy.)

 Before I painted the lockers, I cut up strips of decking for slats, in the hope of preventing things in the locker from standing in pools of water.

 I then masked off for the slats and proceeded to paint the lockers with four coats of low-sheen, two-part polyurethane paint.

 I stopped painting when the lockers looked white!

 Pulling the masking tape off was a satisfying job.  The locker is now ready for the teak slats.

 I am trying to fit a nice teak capping to the outboard motor transom.  My thicknesser stops at about 4 mm.  I sanded the teak some more, but it's still rather too thick to bend easily.  Using a silly number of screws and heating the teak with a heat gun, I managed to force it into place.  I will leave it there for a couple of days, but I have no great hopes that I will be able to glue it back in again without it breaking.

 A little bit of teak trim around the cockpit gives a pleasant illusion of solid teak.  I happened to have a long length that I'd made up for the forward end of the centre deck, but which had broken when I tried to bend it too far.  It was made from recycled timber with old screw holes plugged.  This recycled timber will now be recycled again.  Teak is inconceivably expensive and I can't even consider buying any new.

I don't think I've included a photograph of the little rail next to the fire.  It does a good job (assuming it doesn't delaminate due to the heat!), but is still awaiting the varnish brush.

And finally, I have managed to paint around the galley hatch.  I was waiting for the final use of the low-sheen paint to do this.  I'm pleased I remembered - I don't see my using that paint again.  Which is a nice feeling!

Putting things together

And then taking them apart!  The cockpit is even more a put-together-and-take-out again than most of the things I've been making.  But it is slowly coming together.

 The grating glued up nicely and was then sanded to remove excess epoxy.

 I installed the lower shelves first, carefully filleting them to the side of the boat.

 This  shows the port shelf with the locker for the meths containers also glued into place.  The latter appears to be at a crazy angle, but part of the idea is to make it easier for me to drag the full one towards me to swop for an empty one.  A 20litre container is quite a lot for me to manoeuvre around.

 With the lower shelves glued and filleted into place, I could then turn my attention to the sidedecks/cockpit seats.  I had gone to a lot of effort to get these to fit and it paid off as they simply dropped into place. The 9mm plywood barely flexed along the outboard edge, noticeably stiffened by the layer of fibreglass I had added.

 The starboard side is finished, the port side is being glued up.

 And here is the grating.  The bilge area underneath is separated from the rest of the bilge, so drips won't spread any further.  With some sort of curtain rigged up, I could even use it for a shower stall!

 The bridgedeck slots into place between the sidedecks.  However, I don't intend to glue it in place until the cockpit well is hung.  In many ways, it would have been easier to make the well first because it would be easy to clamp in place, but for a number of reasons, I decided to put on the sidedecks/seats first.

Here the sides are getting a layer of fibreglass put on the side that is out in the weather - and gets kicked.

 Such is the cussedness of a wicked world, that the lowest point of the sidedeck landed on a stringer. I have to remind myself that I have no intention of sailing across the ocean, being regularly swept by seas built up from gale force winds.  One or two of my friends gently pointed out that a hole of around 30mm would be more then enough to drain any water - which is more than likely to be rain water, anyway!  So I used a hole saw and made a modest scupper, which I then almost flooded with epoxy to ensure it drains.

I then offered up the cockpit well to check that things fitted.  It took quite a few attempts, particularly because nothing wanted to stay vertical.

The view from aft.

 I decided to fillet up the corners in situ, to ensure that I get the three sides back in.  With a generous fillet, the structure is surprisingly robust, but sufficiently flexible to make it a tad less difficult getting it in and out.

 Left to its own devices, the structure flops open, so sticks and tape are being used to ensure that the after end is the correct width.

 The cockpit sole is of of laid teak, which I fitted with the intention of routing to size, so that the sides and back of the cockpit would fit snugly.

 That done I fitted the base and sides together and offered it up.  Many, many times.  To be perfectly honest, fitting this cockpit well has been more than a little challenging.  The clever little "Clinometer" device on my phone assured me that the cockpit sole is at an angle of 4°, which might be a bit excessive, but will ensure that no water stands in the cockpit.  There are few things more annoying than standing in the cockpit in stocking feet, only to find a pool of rainwater.  I really needed something to tell me just how much of an angle it was, because with nothing else being horizontal fore and aft the whole thing is rather confusing.

 The well is having its final fitting.  It's level athwartships, has the appropriate rake and (more or less) fits around the teak.  The next stage is to paint the faces that will end up inside the lazarette.

 And I was so excited about doing this, that I forgot to mark and mask off for where it's going to be glued, so I shall have to offer it up again and mark it.

 In the middle is the cockpit sole: in the foreground is the bridgedeck, also getting its underside painted.

The object will all the clamps is - I hope - a laminated end for the forward seat in the saloon.  It occurred to me that without something physically separating people from the wood burner, you can be sure someone will lean on it while it's lit.  They probably still will, but at least I will have tried.  I just hope it won't get hot enough to soften the glue and spring apart!

Agonising over details

I've been trying out ideas, scrapping them, trying others, going back to the original and generally giving myself a lot of grief about the galley.  My friends have been tried to the limit by my vacillations and cries of woe, but I've finally come to some sort of a conclusion.  My only consolation is that I went through the same process for the saloon, and I'm now delighted with it.

 I'm not sure if I mentioned my cunning idea for extending the settee into a wider bunk.  But here it is in action.  I may require A Stick as well, to support it, but that can be easily arranged.

 While I've been agonising, I've also been varnishing and am pleased with the end result.

 It will be fun choosing the fabric for the cushions.  I have no idea what I'll send up with and suspect that I'll be spoilt for choice when I start looking.

 The kauri that Gordie gave me looks wonderful and the cosy corner produced by the bulkhead is going to be a favourite spot.

 One of the knock-on effects of any decisions made is that the cabin sole has to be divided up into hatches to allow access to the bilge.  I plan to store most of my water in the bilge and reckon on having at least 120l.  Most will be in 10l containers like the one in the photo: the rest will be in 5l jerricans.  The piece of wood along the galley will probably be glued into place, because I can get at the hull from the centre, if necessary.

I wanted a stack of drawers in the galley.  Drawers are immensely useful and it's hard to have too many of them.  However, the galley counter is pretty wide and I didn't really want super-long drawers, so am making a wee stack at the forward end of the galley.  The original idea had been to use them for dinner plates, among other things, but I can't make them quite wide enough for that without sacrificing other things.  So the plates will have to go elsewhere.  Unfortunately, the portholes make putting lockers along the outboard edge of the counter impracticable.  However, one needs light and air.  I could put a locker in between, but I don't think it would look that good.  We shall see. Here is the bulkhead for the drawers, being panelled in kauri.  Now that I have a plan, I'm excited to get on with it!

One step forward, one step back.

Well, I guess if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.  After some nice progress, I seem to have been chasing my tail for at least a week, and my poor brain is hurting from all the thinking I've been having to do!

 One of my ideas that has worked is to make a hinge-up flap to extend the dinette into a more comfortable berth.  Not a double - if I have two guests, they can use my cabin, but the dinette will now provide a bit more elbow room for someone staying on board.

 And I finished off the trim around the dinette, with a decent piece of wood providing a hand hold to the back rest itself.

 Then, with four portholes ready to install, I added the rubber to keep the water out.  These (peculiarly Kiwi) ports have two grooves in them, so I put soft, round rubber in the glazed part and harder, rectangular rubber in the other.

 Finally I installed them in the forecabin, using my favourite Simsons Marine glue, which cleaned off beautifully when it had dried.

Now that they are fitted, they were worth all the effort, as, thankfully, is usually the case.

 I shall paint the nuts, but I think the portholes look fine without any trim ring.

 My birthday having come around, I sinfully took some time off.  My friends Rob and Maren gave a wee party for me at their house in Whangarei Heads.  Roger was also invited and drove me back, coming into the boat shed to see what I've been up to since his last visit. I hope this will be the first of many convivial chats in the saloon!

 Hoping that I would be revived and invigorated by my break, I set about making a trial run for the saloon table.  This is what has been providing me with the headache.  It has to be big enough for four people, but the fore-and-aft bulkhead makes it impossible for anyone to access the seat next to it.

 Pete had come up with an ingenious arrangement for a sliding table, that would allow access around its end,  but, alas, it protruded dangerously out from the companionway.  So it was literally a case of back to the drawing board.

 Mk II didn't survive long - the legs were going to stop anyone sitting in comfort.

Mk III adapted Pete's idea with a smaller version, using 240mm leaves instead of 300.

 Mocked up with 18mm MDF, it seemed to work and there is, just, room for 4 people to dine.  In fact, I will probably have plates more the size of the blue ones, than the others.  People can always come back for seconds!

 Here it is folded and slid forward so that you can get around to the seat.

 I made a few wee alterations and worked out just where the top should go and felt quite pleased with myself.

At three o'clock this morning, it occurred to me that the legs are going to be too close to the dinette to be able to raise the extension flap.  But I haven't yet had the chance to measure it. Maybe I can just redesign the legs.  Or maybe it's back to the drawing board again.  Sigh.

Some time ago I was standing and admiring the hull, all shiny in the sunshine coming through the sides of the shed.  All shiny.  'Hmm,' thought I, 'there's a hell of a lot of hull to sand.'  So it struck me that it might be a good idea to start getting rid of some of that shiny epoxy.

So now, first thing every morning, I get out the sander and vacuum cleaner and work along the hull for half an hour or so.  It will probably take a couple of months, picking away at it like this, but it has made an overwhelming task into a routine where I can plan my day.  And think about saloon tables.

 And before I install said table - assuming I ever get a pattern that will work, I have to finish off the saloon.  So I've started painting the 'cabin' sides.

While I was at it, I sanded down in the galley area and started painting that out, too.  At least there is something to show for that work!

I am well aware of the fact that I am asking an inordinate amount of this 26 footer and can only thank David for giving me enough room to cater to pretty well all my whims!