Unbelievably its been over a year since I originally started on construction of the tumblehomes, talk about dragging a job out! Today though I re-cut and re-fitted the ones on the port hull and they are now ready to glue. It was all relatively painless and if I knew then what I know now I wouldn’t have wasted so much time. But there’s no point moaning, they’re nearly done now and I can move on to more exciting things. Despite being on my own today I managed to manhandle the completed cabin deck section down onto the floor so that I could sand it and get the first coat of epoxy on. If I can keep this pace up I should have both deck sections glued in place next week and I can make a start on the raised doghouse sides.

Starboard Hull View

Both Hulls Growing

Deck Section Halfway Down

Today it was a migraine and business that conspired to hinder my progress but as before I ‘sneaked’ a couple of hours and got the final top layer of 4mm ply glued to the port hull side decks. Apologies for the lack of photos and short posts, I’ll make up for it soon. Interestingly though these posts reflect my work sessions well i.e. short, no frills, just a bit of progress!

My diary had me down as spending a full day at the barn today. I did, but only got 2 hours work done on the boat as another (paying) job took up the bulk of the day. Not to worry, it was a worthwhile use of my time and I managed to get the polystyrene sandwich material glued into the port hull side decks at least. Some progress is better than no progress.

I unexpectedly managed to sneak in an hour and a half this afternoon and got the lower sections of 4mm ply side deck cut and glued into position on the port hull. I’ll take anything I can get right now, it all helps to keep things moving forward

I’m keen to get these tumblehomes and cabin tops done as soon as possible and today I was able to move over the the port hull and make a start joining the two sections of cabin top. Things went far easier than with the starboard hull because the tumblehomes weren’t in the way meaning I could concentrate on getting the contact points at all the bulkheads spot on. Again I took my time, checking all the levels, before gluing and clamping the four long connecting stringers and the two small transverse blocks that sit on top of the mast beam trough. To finish off I key sanded the edges of the starboard cabin top then grabbed a couple of volunteers to help me lift it back onto the hull ready for final positioning (Thanks to Richard and Malcolm).

Cabin Top Sections Connected, Glued & Clamped

I put in a 7 hour day today and feel like I  made some really good progress but I’m worn out tonight, as is my belt sander which finally gave up the ghost today after many many hours of use. It’s an indication of the scale of work involved with a project like this that you wear out decent power tools before it’s finished. It has to be excepted though and I’ll be shopping for a new one tonight.

Nice Sanded Tumblehomes

Before the belt sander gave up I managed to get most of the glued tumblehomes on the starboard hull sanded smooth and I was able to finish the rest with the orbital sander so I now have a nice set of well fitted smooth tumblehomes to admire. They’re much appreciated after all the trouble they caused. I then carried on with the orbital sander and got the cabin roof sanded back before applying the second coat of epoxy. As my mind wandered whilst rollering it on I wondered how many nights I’ll spend lying in the bunk looking up at it!

Cabin Roof Second Coated

Portside Cabin Roof In Position

Once this was out of the way I turned my attention to the port hull, and, having learned my lesson on the starboard hull, the first thing I did was to remove the tumblehomes so that I could concentrate on getting the cabin roof sections perfectly in position. As I discovered before, it’s far easier to fit the tumblehomes when you have something to fit to! After a little bit of trimming to get the forward and aft sections sitting nicely onto the bulkheads I set about using scrap timber to support the sections in the right positions to allow me to construct the connecting sides in situ. I took my time, checking with the levels and am now happy I’m ready to go with the side decks next time.

A good work session today working on the two side decks of the starboard hull connecting the large curved forward section of main cabin roof to the small aft section. I’d successfully joined glued the four longitudinal stringers and the lower pieces of ply the other day but there was a fair bit of cleaning up to do and I spent a good deal of time check measuring and taking levels to make sure everything was right. I had to trim a couple of partial bulkhead tops to get everything spot on and then drop in two little transverse blocks next to the inboard beam trough as this will be cut out later. Then it was a case of cutting and dry fitting the polystyrene sandwich material before gluing and clamping everything together. All in all a pleasing bit of progress. Apologies for the lack of photos, I forgot to take the camera. I’ll post some tomorrow.