Project update

The boat is painted ( November 2015). I decided to do it on site with the help of a professional painter. Before, I tried to find a painting booth close by but couldn't find one that would be big enough. The only possibility was too far away and was only available on Saturdays which made the logistics a bit tricky. So I decided to set up a painting booth with a wooden frame and plastic. Used an extractor fan and inlet filter. The filter area was undersized regarding the extractor power which induced excessive negative pressure making the plastic film look like it could collapse  ( a bit scary!) but it held on just fine . Painting the main hull in one go was a bit challenging but it turned out to be easier than I thought.

 

The paint is very hard and the finnish is excellent.

 

 Had to open a section of the booth to get the main hull out and the floats in.

 Here the floats are getting prepped for top coat.

Now everything is just about on hold waiting for the spars.

Rudder and Daggerboard

Rudder and Daggerboard Topcoated at a local paint shop.

Update

 

All components are now primed and ready for the topcoat ( Beams,daggerboard,rudder and rudder case are already topcoated).

It's looking pretty good with no pinholes in site and a very good finnish.





 

 

The structure for the spray painting booth is ready.

Next Monday and Tuesday it should be lined up with plastic and exhaust fan,intake air filter and door should be installed. Then it's just waiting for the right weather window to paint the main hull and floats.

 

 

After that the project will be basically on hold until the spars come in. In the meantime still have a lot to do ( wingnets, deck hardware,etc).

Snap shot

Sorry for the lousy quality of the photo. Gotta get a decent camera.
Anyway the floats are there and boat is getting bigger, well, at least wider!

No I just need to sort out the mast and it's not being easy.

Next:

Work on the trailer's berths, take the floats and beams apart and continue surface final finishing for painting.

So far, a lot of swet and high blood pressure but getting there, one day at a time.

Rush!

Trial fitting the beams. It ain't no piece of cake! If you want to get it done right, at least to the point the boat sails straight and even on both tacks you gotta spend plenty of time here. I mean more than 2 days! More than 5mm all around is just too much! Yet still have to tweek around with a close to 18 mm fore and aft gap on the starboard forward beam. The rest is under 5mm tolerance which is excellent by all means! Anyone that garanties more than that has  to come here and show me how it can be done! There are just too many degrees of liberty to handle. The boat was leveled by laser and two opposing lasers were used to line up the beams.
Tomorow the floats will be on. I just hope the process will be much easier than lining up the beams!

On a different front there's the mast charade. No one seems to have ( or to be willing to supply a decent mast for this boat). Some seem they never heard of a multihull. Others thing the world of sailing is all about super yacths and the Volvo Ocean Race ( justice be done here; that's where the $$$ is).At the end I might just make a carbon mast myself at a latter stage. After all it's not that complex and it certainly won't be more of a challenge than
what has been building this boat so far. It will be just another part. Difficult, time consuming but a lot cheaper ( and probably faster than the 6 or 7 months one has to wait for a factory mast). And what about those emails that seem to get lost in cyberspace?
All nice people. Thank you but no cigar!
Well, tomorrow we will see. One day at a time.

The time is now!

"One Flew Over The Cuco's Nest!"

 

It has been a long project and now it's time to kill the beast!

It's just one of those moments when you say " it's got to be now no matter what!"

 

Working 12 hours a day Monday through Sunday sanding, drilling, thinking and leaving bearly no time for dreaming.Living pedal to the metal!

It feels great!

 

 

 13:00 O'clock: using the precious resource of time to eat with the left hand while drawing the gantries. Nice wine ( good old Portuguese Alentejano Red Wine in a local "Tasco" in Ponte Lima just close to the steel supplier)) and  it worked just fine keep that blood pressure down!

 14:10 :People that make crazy dreams possible. Rocha " Fatela" from Ferrolimiana cutting steel tubes like there's no tommorow. Thank you Mr. Rocha!

 15:30 Welding... and weldind...

And voilá! One of the best things I've done! These gantries will make the project flow faster big time.

Sorry for the absence of decent and timely updates. Can't have the cake and eat it too.
My kindgom for time!

Carbon Fiber Rudder Case

 Case GRP tube that I had made before and a plate of carbon covered with tape to make the angled rib for the tube.

 Lining up the tube with a laser ( just in case!)

Trial fitting the rudder system. So far so good!
Next the tiller stub and tiller.
Keeping it rolling!