Got batteries

We got old car batteries from our mechanic. We're going to use them to get lead for the keel of our next bigger boat. For now, we're going to be using them as weights for weighing down wood during the gluing process.

A good start

Putting up the big marquee

We just placed the big blue marquee that we bought from Gran Baie. We got a lot of help from my neighbour and our yard is finally ready for the construction of the boat to start. Its all hidden from view of everyone and specially we're going to be able to work independently of the weather. The rain is hence not likely to affect our wood quality and glue strength.

Our original setup used some metal rods to support everything. However, when it rained, this setup kept quite a large amount of water on top of the marquee and risked tearing it apart with the weight. So, we had to change it completely so that any water would simply flow and drain.

The original setup.

Under the marquee

Our yard (and old mini now outside)

Wood for the boat.

We have bought a total of 21 sheets of marine grade plywood. We have 17 sheets of 3/8th of an inch thick and 4 sheets of half inch thickness.

Got our marquee

Today we got our marquee from Grand Baie. It is a nice blue and very heavy.

Remove little white Mini from yard.

With a big help from the mechanic, we finally managed to remove the old white mini from the yard. Initially kept for spare parts, the old mini is now getting completely rusted and is just in the space that we were planning to build the boat. So we had to remove it.

We  might soon be sending it off as scrap metal.

Old Mini

Yard without the mini.

Ground has been levelled and big table built

Bought Boat Plans

Today we had a big step forward in our dream of building our own boat. We bought the boat plans from boatplans.dk. We decided on the 18 feet motor boat as a first boat to give us the experience of boat building that we have to acquire to maybe later build our dream sailboat.

The design is a simple one with easy stitch and glue construction and the dimensions are adapted to fit snugly into our yard with the costs as well fitting just as snugly into our budget. The site owner also provides support for any difficulty that one is likely to come across.