Prepared Bench port side

Today I only prepared the bench on the port side for gluing as dad was not feeling well and could not work. I sanded the edges to be glued and the flat surfaces that will be in contact as well.

First cockpit Bench

Big milestone for the boat again. We added the first bench on the starboard side today. The work prooved easier than anticipated as dad had the opportunity to lie down to do it instead of being bent completely to get his arm into the tight spaces.

Spread glue under the benches

Today we sanded the places that will soon become the underpart of the cockpit benches and spread a layer of epoxy everywhere. Then we had to stop work early.

Glue the double bench plywood together

Today we sanded the two benches of the boat and set about gluing the pieces together. What we did was add a second layer of plywood to reinforce the benches so that we could cut out holes to be hatches.

Glassed joints for water storage compartment.

Today we added the fiberglass to the joints of the water storage compartment. Later we will add a fiberglass to cover the whole of the cockpit sole in order to give us a strong place to walk on when we're in the boat.

Finish cockpit cover and added last part of cockpit sole

Today we spent a large part of the morning fixing the wooden posts that will act as support for  our wooden cover.

We also set about doing the final polishing on the benches and their hatches. The next part of the work will involve the gluing the benches in place.

While unbolting the wood of the cover we had surprise. Turns out that one of the holes we drilled in the Iroko wood was not straight and while we were removing the bolt in it, the bolt actually broke instead of making a new path for itself through the wood. Though we were using marine grade stainless steel bolts. the metal turned out less strong than the wood as it came out completely bent and broken.

The last parts of the cockpit sole has been glued in place. This part took some time to add as the space underneath it will be used as a water storage compartment later on. It will also serve to stabilize the boat in case of choppy waters.

We also had a surprise in the afternoon as we found a book on our bookshelves called "Elementary Seamanship" that none of us had ever seen. We simply have no idea how we came to possess that particular book.

Cut and Polish new wood posts for the cover

Almost the whole day went into cutting and polishing the wooden posts that will later hold the cockpit cover up. We cut the posts from a big log of a wood walled "Iroko". It also known as the "African Teak" as it is a very tough and good quality wood.

We can confirm the toughness of it as our handsaw we were using ended completely blunt by the end of the day.

Glassing top part of cockpit cover

Today we added fiberglass(200g/m2) to the top of the cockpit cover and rounded its corners. This part will later hold our solar panel once the boat is in the sea.

FIletting of the joints of cockpit cover

Today dad has been busy adding fillet of glue to the edges of the cockpit cover in order to glue it into one piece. The inside has been epoxied to make it resist water but no fiberglass was added as it will not be subjected to any harsh treatment.

Preparing cockpit cover

Today we prepared the wooden structure for the cover of our boat's cockpit. The whole structure is now holding up with small nails and dad will start to glue them together as from tomorrow.

The wooden structure

Preparing the plywood roof

whole structure holding up

lots of joints to glue and glass

Cutting of part of trunk

TOday we had a little help again from my cousin Noor. Dad had received a part of a trunk of a tree called "Bois Noir". The plant is a hard wood and has a very solid core of reddish wood. Dad intends to use this wood to make wooden cleats for tying the boat to pontoons, etc.

In order to cut this trunk, Noor brought his chain saw and within an hour the trunk was cut into slabs as shown below.

Slabs left to dry.

Glueing the arch

Today we glued the arch inside of the cabin that will help the roof to keep it curve. This part will also add strength to the cabin roof and allow us to sit on it while fishing once the boat is in the water. We had to place long wooden structures to act as scaffolding.

Glassing of inside of cupboard

Today dad fiberglassed the wood parts that will later become the front cabin cupboard. He also added a small triangle of wood to make the lowermost compartment of the cupboard become water tight.

Preparing of front part cupboard

The front end of the boat, underneath the part where the anchor will usually be stored, will be used as a cupboard to store our stuff when we're at sea.

Fiberglassing of joints of cabin roof inside and out

We set about glassing the joints of the cabin sides and roof today. The whole day went into it. The outside parts were quite straightforward. However, the inside ones were quite another story. Gluing fiberglass upside down is really slow work and the glue simply wants to drip rather than hold up.

However, now we are absolutely sure about the strength of the boat and we will not be afraid when sitting on the cabin edges to fish once we're on the sea.

Putting other glue points and removing cable-ties

Today we removed the cable-ties of the cabin roof and then sanded them down to a smooth finish.

Cable ties trimmed down. Batteries added to make the cabin keep its curves

My neighbor who regularly comes to see the boat.

Cable ties removed and boat sanded.

 However, once we had the top sanded and ready to go along with the construction, we had a nasty shock. It turns out that since we had glassed the inside of the roof before putting it in place, it has become rather rigid and didn't make the beautiful curve expected anymore. 

So we set about cutting out an arch from half inch plywood to help it up. We in fact cut out two of them and nailed them together. Then we put them in place inside of the cabin.

Arch visible fixed to the roof with nails.

Putting glue points to cabin roof

The fiberglass of the joints have taken quite well. We added these to give extra strength to the cabin sole. IN case of collision with rocks, the front will be extremely strong.

Glassed Joints

We then set about preparing glue and adding "Glue points" to the cabin edges in order for it to hold up with its own strength so that we can remove cable-ties.

Fiberglassing sole joints and adding roof with cable-ties

Today we tried to add the cabin roof to the boat. It was a nice fit and required only minor adjustments. We decided to glue it in place and then make the final corrections.

Mum n dad both had the opportunity to sit in the boat's cabin for the first time.

 

Then we set about fiberglassing the joints  of the cabin sole in order to give it more strength. We had to slightly sand it down first before adding the glass.

Trying cabin Sides and glueing cabin sole

Today we added the sides of the cabin to the boat and held them in place with cable-ties. Then we spent a lot of time gluing the cabin sole in place and adding the filleting. There were a few minor gaps that we filled with thick glue and leveled down.

Top part of cabin entrance added and lots of paint jobs

Today we started by adding the second coat of paint to the underside of the cabin sole. Then we set about adding the top arch of the cabin entrance. It is made of 1/2 inch marine grade plywood and we held it in place by bolting it to two big pieces of wood.

Then we painted other pieces of plywood what would be the parts of the cockpit sole (to be glued together this week).

Glued decking on both sides of cabin sole

Today we glued the two deckings on both sides of the cabin. They will be walked on later when the boat is on the water.

We intend to add our hand rails by sliding them into a gap between our decking wood and our gunwales. Hence, when gluing of the decking we must at all cost prevent glue from getting onto the piece of exposed wood in the middle gap.

In order to achieve this we devised a simple trick. The decking was put in place ensuring that there was a proper gap where required. We put masking tape into the small gap and then made sure it was perfectly fitted to the curves of the boat. Then we cut it with a paper cutter and removed the decking.

The decking was glued to the sides of the boat onto the inwales. Then a fillet of glue and filler was added to the underside of the decking for extra strength.

Both decking added for the sides.

Glued cabin sole into one piece and glassed cockpit sole

The sole of the cabin were cut from two different sheets of 3/8th inch marine plywood almost a year ago. Today we added tape to them at the places where they would be glued later on and then fiberglassed the two together. Once glued together, the whole surface was glassed.



Then we proceeded to fiberglass the two sections of cockpit sole that we had glued to the boat last time we worked on the boat for some time(almost 8 months ago).

Prepared decking at sides of cabin

The curves of the boat have been slightly changed as we set about adding the bulkheads and other wooden reinforcements. Hence, we had to modify the shapes of the decking for them to fit. We used cardboard to cut out the new shapes and then transferred the drawing to plywood and cut it up.

Bolted gunwale and painted underneath cabin sole

The port side gunwale was bolted in place. We had to leave a gap between the decking wood and the gunwales, so we put some of that blue masking tape on the piece of wood to prevent it from sticking together with epoxy.

Then we painted the part that will later be underneath the cabin sole. The tape was put in place to prevent paint from getting to places where glue will be later applied.

Second Gunwale glued

We started off removing the c-clamps holding the starboard gunwale in place. Then we drilled through the wood and added bolts to hold the inwale and gunwale together to the boat's side.

Tightening bolts

Adding glue to hide bolt head

Not very unconspicuous

The port side gunwale was then glued and clamped in place.

First Gunwale glued

We glued the starboard side gunwale today.

Applying the glue to the balao gunwale.

We had to sand the wood first and then apply the glue before clamping it onto the boat. We used about two dozen c-clamps.(You just CAN'T clamp enough when installing a gunwale)

BACK to work: Adding reinforcement underneath cabin sole

Today we finally got back to work. This is the first day of holiday that we have when both dad and I are at home since the start of the year.

Mum and dad are on holidays and have expressed the wish to "go camping" in the boat before my university resumes. This leaves me and dad exactly two weeks to finish with the cabin of the boat.

We had a nasty surprise when removing the covers from the boat in the morning. Rain had somehow got in and the cockpit sole had collected water and the wood had changed color since we had not yet added the fiberglass on the top face.

Far Right: Wood changed color due to water accumulation

We started off by cutting a piece of plywood for reinforcing underneath the cabin sole. Then we glued it in place and glassed the joint.

Dad adding the fiberglass to the new reinforcement

We also added this piece of wood as we intend to add hatches in the cabin sole to use as storage of some small items that we can keep in the boat itself. Also, the hatches will make it easier to do maintenance on the boat in case of cracks by hitting a rock.

Then we proceeded to glue the reinforcement underneath the triangle of wood at the bow of the boat.

All glued in place

 Finally we used our electric block plane to make the inwales perfectly flat for the decking of the boat to come onto it.

Plane flat

Finished with the metal structure.

Today we started work at around five in the morning and kept working the whole day. We managed to put up all the steel tubes and even the marquee.

 We were able to accomplish quite a lot in the early hours itself. However, as the morning progressed, we had some intermittent rain and had to hide and then go out again. Still, the rain did permit us to work a lot more hours than we would otherwise have done since the scorching Mauritian summer Sun is not something we're really fan of.

Around 2, when we were running on empty due to tiredness, a man came to help us. Being from Bangladesh, he usually work at the textile factory close by and was going around on his bicycle looking for some minor works. His help was most welcome by both of us and we were able to keep going despite being physically drained by the effort.

Later in the afternoon our neighbor came to help us place the marquee over the steel tubes again.