My little piece of peace

[Boston]

isnt that from the Wizard of Oz

[boat fan]

Originally Posted by Boston

isnt that from the Wizard of Oz

That it is....

[masalai]

Duckin fustey all afternoon - Thanks - next time point your nether regions south and warm up the Arctic ocean - - Mostly blue skys today just a touch orang tinted early this morning (could have been the last of the dust blowing off the neighbours roof...)

On the build, some more duflex arrived, I was advised that the 'white-out' is "Hi-build"... This, early onset stage of alszheim ar **** you know what I mean, person is still learning - - slowly

The team are heavily into setting stuff up and finishing stuff and all sorts of bits & pieces... (That ******** means - "sorry no pictures today")

[boat fan]

Originally Posted by masalai

The team are heavily into setting stuff up and finishing stuff and all sorts of bits & pieces... (That ******** means - "sorry no pictures today")

You have been generous posting pics Mas....greatly appreciated too...

thanks Mas.....

[hoytedow]

Yeah, thanks. Good pics. Learning lots.

[masalai]

More work yet, still lots to do, and tomorrow is appreciation day for the team... and your "pay" dear viewers, will be some more pictures eventually

Today's images - Hi-Build and undercoat in toilet, laundry, shower and ironing areas are the areas where noticeable work has been done...

[masalai]

And three more - - two showing detail of the forward chainplate, and one of under the bridgedeck...

I also bought from Bunnings, 10 pair of self closing, 550mm deep, drawer sliders for the galley...

Recovered this post I made in Manies thread as it is relevant to my build.... and saves doing it again somewhere - and gives people 2 opportunities to find errors in my explanation
* The build used 6 "female frames" and they were also used for the other side by turning each frame 180 degrees on the same mark along the hull centreline... They are now available to the next builder at a heavy discount. (they are re-usable)... - No strong-back, just a line marked on the concrete, for the centre of the hull and at the appropriate marks, a squared off line to position the frames...
* LOTS of gyprock fastening??? type screws were used to temporarily hold the DuFLEX in place whilst the internal filleting/glueing set and then REMOVED all the screws and to be used again on other parts... (removing them also when finished)
* The 3 main bulkheads were placed at this time (or were there more? - can't remember...)
* The hulls were turned bum up and cloth epoxied in place & immediately epoxy-wet-out the thin underside ply-layer on the "flat bottom" using Gravity clamps, (lots of heavy things), added more epoxied on cloth, then the rest of the external joins were glued, epoxied, bogged, faired - - - then 50% copper dust and epoxy mix applied below the waterline marks, rolled or spatula on, - - - and undercoat for the above waterline area (a quick process that was not very "painful" with no long board slavery, just a quick 'passover' with air driven orbital sanders or the angle grinder with a soft pad and Velcro-ed sandpaper... The bow sections were bogged up using electrical conduit and filled with epoxy/micro-balloons outside, and the bow sections inside were filled with tapered DuFLEX and filleted in whilst the hulls were rolled onto their sides for easy access... The rest is covered adequately in the photographs... The hulls are a lot more accurate than many moulded production builds but the important part is both should be in line with the "keel" centreline and set square across the hulls... Minor variations are not relevant so long as they are not noticed by any "critics" - - (I have seen Monos under 30ft that are about 3 cm out along the centreline, and If they were not being measured at the time nobody would have been the wiser in appearance or cruising performance - except a sometimes curiosity as to why she points better this way than that in some conditions?)...
* All joins were filleted and shaped with a variety of spatulas then taped and epoxied, with peel-ply rollered on using the little metal rollers, bogged and sanded inside and out... The peel ply on the big areas of the DuFLEX was not removed until work was to be done on that area, this kept the surface clean and ready... Likewise all filleted joins etc., were taped and epoxied then recovered with peel-ply and rolled with those little metal rollers (occasionally burn them to clean them up and whilst hot hit with water from the hose to make them as good as new)...
* When the hulls were joined to make a "cat" lots of measurements and "nudging" was done to ensure true alignment (again centrelines were drawn on the concrete, squared off and marked at key reference points...) the internals were flexible and because of the glueing technique, do not "force" the internals into place as that will distort the outside view of the hulls and the glue is best if there is a gap where you can force it in with a spatula... To hold stuff in place use a screw to temporarily align whilst the glue (epoxy & micro-spheres) cures, then REMOVE THE SCREWS
* Later, as you remove the peel-ply, you should be pleased to note that the surface requires minimal touch-up, - - filling screw holes and the occasional careless bit needing a brush with the friendly angle grinder, THEN apply epoxy with a spatula/squeegee to seal the surface then bog/sand and undercoat with hi-build ensuring there are no "pin-holes" PERIOD........ As the paint or other undercoats will never fill these and the build will be leaky.... DuFLEX is never certified as waterproof, It is up to you to ensure ALL micro holes are filled and closed before and after final sanding and before undercoat and then final paint.... NEVER EVER put a hole through without sealing the area by removing the foam/balsa & filling the cavity with a sausage of tape soaked with epoxy completely expelling ANY and ALL air bubbles... when cured, then, make sure the hole is into the epoxied-in tape... and seal that as the screw/bolt is tightened... Better instructions are to be found in the Scrumble Project http://scrumbleproject.wordpress.com/ or ATL http://www.duflex.com.au/duflex/basi...s/the_tool_kit and don't forget to look at all the other resources there... It all sounds tedious but as you have seen goes together very easily and quickly, and by having built-in furniture is light, convenient and very robust...

[sabahcat]

Originally Posted by masalai

I also bought from Bunnings, 10 pair of self closing, 550mm deep, drawer sliders for the galley...

I'd be keen to see how they look, the sliders used and the cost

Thanks

[masalai]

Bloody expensive but have an auto close & clamp system something like $38/pair - receipt is at the build site, so the team can swap for a smaller size if needed (the carton of 10 weighed 22KG! I think???) and will project 550mm when fully extended... Just go to Bunnings and you will see for yourself (made in Australia - - S.A. or Victoria) I also get plastic buckets at 98 cents each and paint brushes at $1.50 each (2 inch wide)... as well as most of my power tools from Bunnings and latex gloves, but now use http://www.cleaningandpackagingsupplies.com/ for the latex gloves and their 600cc ~ 750cc plastic buckets for small batches instead of the buckets...

27 Sept... Immediate reply from http://www.wattagan.com.au/index.htm...tml&lang=en-us on my genset, seems, barring unforeseen issues, should be delivered late this week or next week and Phil seems well pleased with the result...

Progress on my build is impressive (well you have seen the latest images), and part of the decks may go on soon and as soon as the genset arrives, the engine can be positioned and marked so the beds can be epoxied in place...

I am toying with the idea of alloy davits and bridging across them with some curved frame in alloy to shape the roof line and give a place to hang my cinema screen between the davits... How far apart does one place the davits? - I was toying with 2.2m apart... (the dingy is not built yet, but will be "cathedral hulled", with 3.3 hp outboard provision & lots of floatation chambers using balsa cored DuFLEX of size yet to be determined)... the one on "Schools Out" was around 80KG all up...

[masalai]

No images today as "the dream team" had a well deserved break on Monday, - Both returning with big grins but no comment - So I am guessing that they had close encounters with potential crew that would make Manie green with envy, but then what do I know...

On Monday Morning, I got my ancient car serviced, and no, it did not get pregnant, and I have got to save for shock absorbers @ $600 the pair.... Ford certainly know how to charge for spare parts... Rocker cover gasket was $90 and fitting $88, as extras on a full service, and the car feels sweet now... I also got some hoses and fittings for the fresh water systems on the boat.... from Bunnings (Hardware suppliers and they carry almost everything in a bloody huge warehouse...)

Reviewing my design selection criteria - being lazy I copied my post to another's question.... What Yacht Owners are Looking For in a YachL
My quest started from an understanding of my proposed cruising ground and interests... The rim of the Coral Sea has Australia on the Western side, NZ and cold waters to the south and to the North and East, the Melanesian islands, (mostly coralline uplift with lots of volcanoes and regular earthquakes), so a need to escape cyclones, (opposite rotation to Hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere), by hiding up shallow creeks & inside fringing reefs, a fair turn of speed to outrun such storms if caught making a cross "the ditch" - Coral Sea - passage... Most of the swell has about a 1000 km or less fetch so fairly steep... also required is an ability to ghost along in almost breeze-less days and to overnight in the many delightful small lagoons and small creeks that abound the region (deep water anchoring is out of the question as the drop-off is mostly quite steep and deep)...

I went looking for a comfortable, proven, light weight, robust, easily handled, solo capable, easily built, composite construction, and the design board of Bob Oram ably met my needs with a sailing cat 39 ft x 21 ft... Seems a "tradition" that everyone does their own thing as to the shape of the bridge-deck-coach-house - I am still toying with ideas mainly, more vertical windows on sides and forward (a little after the style of the French "Lagoon" series - or not so "severe" with, when compared to other popular cat designs, a less sloped "suns-heat-catching-capacity", as I will remain in the tropics, and all major windows will be flat, fixed, "gold" or "silver" tinted-&-tempered-glass and there will be many smaller opening systems to catch and direct the prevailing breezes to cool the insides...

The vessel will be kept out of marinas and have about 2000w of solar panels, a large bank of batteries, (48v electric motors by Torqeedo), backed up with a 6000w diesel genset, carry no gas or petrol and have 240 v AC for a "domestic galley" make our own water using an RO "watermaker" and process black and white water for benign return to the oceans... sail area is around 80 sq Metres, "using a hitch-hiker dual genoa to each bow on roller-reefing with a 9 sq M hanked-on blade/storm self tacking jib midships rig" and have a ready-to-cruise weight of less than 4800KG... I have gone for "mini-keels" to facilitate grounding and remote "bum cleaning", draw around 800mm... Genset will happily use most "biodiesel" oils...

[Manie B]

keewwwwlll

close encounters with potential crew

tell the dream team they have just earned MEGA POINTS and one day when i am around that neck of the woods, first beer on me

and i promise i wont play "sound of music"

[Manie B]

Hey Mas please post pics of the dream team

high time that we meet the fellas doin all the HARD graft

because i for one certainly salute these chaps on a job well done

Points for the DREAM TEAM

[Boston]

Ill delete this shortly so as not to disrupt your build thread but I thought Ild show you guys what Ive been working on of late

[masalai]

Very nice work, Now the owner will have to fix the rest of the house to be in-keeping with such fine work (looks like a "Rolls Royce front end tacked onto one of those "Clunkers" as part of the US 'buy a new car scheme'... Make your own thread on your boat build and start with this "practice for your boat"... All praise to a craftsman who cares...

[Alan M.]

Originally Posted by masalai

No images today as "the dream team" had a well deserved break on Monday, - Both returning with big grins but no comment - So I am guessing that they had close encounters with potential crew that would make Manie green with envy, but then what do I know...

Sam knows how to have a good time....say G'day to him from me.

Originally Posted by masalai

The vessel will be kept out of marinas and have about 2000w of solar panels, a large bank of batteries, (48v electric motors by Torqeedo), backed up with a 6000w diesel genset, carry no gas or petrol .....

How will you power the dinghy? Torqeedo too?

We went out a couple of times for a motor test then a sail on "School's Out" a few days back.

I'd have to say the Torqeedo's haven't been 100% reliable so far.

The first day both worked fine for a couple of hours, but inexplicably one wouldn't give reverse thrust when berthing.

Then the next day, even though both engines were given a test run in forward and reverse before casting off lines, as soon as we cast off the port engine refused to run.

Then heading up the channel, the starboard motor just stopped. A quick hoist of sails, and we were going again.

On returning to the marina, both motors worked again, which makes it very hard for Bryan to find and fix the fault.

Another strange thing is that performance with 2 motors is hardly any different from just using one. Less than 1/2 knot. I'm thinking a bit more pitch on the props might be in order, but the available selection is very limited.