The original brochure/specs
Leaving Jack's place - her home for 30 years. 1st Dec 2006
Getting the boat out was "a bit of a squeeze" to say the least :-) 1st Dec 2006
We used Robert Honey from Marine Transport to transport her. We thoroughly recommend Robert. He really knows his stuff! 1st Dec 2006
The day we first saw her and got inspired!
A big project 19 Nov 2006
Looking at her at Jack's place the first day. 19 Nov 2006
Arriving in our yard 1st Dec 2006
The next day... looking, assessing, plotting, planning :-) 2nd Dec 2006
The Gantry crane with it's coat of paint 15 Jan 07
Renovating the Gantry Crane. I was doing this for a few weeks.... still a few pieces to do. 15 Jan 07
Fibreglassing the new rear bulkhead - wish I had taken pictures of Michael getting all itchy with fibreglass dust cutting the old one out. 15 Jan 07
The new rear bulkhead receives it's first coat of fibreglass and resin 15 Jan 07
The cat makes use of the old bulkhead... his new favourite spot 15 Jan 07
The rear bulkhead out 15 Jan 07
View of the rear window cutout 15 Jan 07
View of the rear windows cutout 2, 15 Jan 07
Vacuuming fibreglass dust 15 Jan 07
Fibreglass dust is itchy! 15 Jan 07
Looking forward with the rear bulkhead out 15 Jan 07
The cat has learned to climb the ladder and watches over our progress daily 15 Jan 07
Cutting out the rear windows 15 Jan 07
Michael marking out the position for the rear windows 15 Jan 07
Today we cut out the windows... hopefully we won't asphyxiate ourselves while fibreglassing inside now. 15 Jan 07
This is NOT a rude photo! :-) This is the empty keel with the rudder post hole at the top. This area will very soon be filled with lead, motor, cockpit drains and pipes, prop shaft and rudder post. Well... ok... maybe not TO soon 17 Jan 07
Looking into the empty keel from the companionway 17 Jan 07
Michael making the markout for the front bulkhead hatch 17 Jan 07
Michael cutting out the front bulkhead hatch 17 Jan 07
Front Bulk head is cutout. Looks good. In front of the bulkhead will be the anchor well, and the sail locker. On this side the toilet and storage room. 17 Jan 07
The chief cook and bottle wash called in for her expert opinion on the galley
The plumb line hangs off the mast point
Starting to take shape
Installing the gas cooker took ages. Getting the height and swing angle just right.
Template for the shelving at the back of the galley
An oven no less! What luxuries this new boat will have
Divider for the ice box
The "head" bulkhead and through to the anchor locker. It looks blue as we have a huge tarp over the topside
The grand plan
A fan is a must. It is so hot inside. I suppose we can take a fan heater up in winter
Don't know why this is in here. It's the channel at the end of our street.
Patented mast locator
The cat always keeps us company while we are up on the boat. I wonder if he will like sailing?
Vacuuming before we put the back bulkhead in for good
Who says you can't have happy hour on a dry docked boat?
Thinking fluid
The front face of the galley. Lots of cupboards
Gimbals for the stove
We've chosen Merbeau hardwood for the trims. It's a deep red colour. A plantation replacement for Mahogony
These cutouts will have to come in handy for something!
Floor platform for the head
Michael's Noah's Ark look. Stops the water from pooling in the cockpit when it rains
Voila! The ice box. We need to fibreglass it to seal it, then we will put it in the galley and foam insulate it.
The rudder post hole.
View of the rudder position
Routing the window surrounds
Making the mounting holes all lovely and even
Oh yeah! Going to look great
A bit of creativity was needed to get the gantry crane on it's feet after renovation
Lucky we have a winch and several large trees in the yard
The first window goes in
Routing out the timber and working out how to do the back hatch took a lot of thinking through. It kept Michael busy for a week.
After 3 bad batches of epoxy resin, we took the product back for a new batch. At last! A batch that will work. Cleaning up unset resin is a hard job!
Michael describes it as "Just like icing a cake." He has never iced a cake......
Got to get it right. It won't be coming out this time
We cut the back part of the hatch out, and moved the whole thing forward by about 5cm so there was no gap at the front of the hatch.
Michael's patented idea for keeping the panels together to dry
cutting up the lead into bite size pieces makes the melting process go faster
Fitting the sink waste outlet
Laying the first layer of ballast. We used lead shot to fill all the gaps between the ingots
500Kg laid, only 1.5 tonne more to go
Weighing up the lead.... we've bought it from all sorts of places
Stirring the pot. I've sacrified my good camping pot for a good cause
I got to look after the pot while Michael was away fixing the lawn mower :-) Note my safety gear!
