Annie Hill wrote:

David Tyler wrote:Does the figure of 725kg for the hull come from the crane's loadcell? I thought it would be less, but of course the bulkhead panelling, beautiful though it is, has eaten into the weight contingency fund. Got to be careful with the furniture! 9mm ply wherever possible, and KISS. But you knew that.

David, the plywood alone comes to 660kg and there is surprisingly little left in the way of offcuts! Then there's epoxy, glass, stringers, deadwood.  As for the panelling, which I know you dislike, I doubt it weighs 20kg.  The weight was +/- possibly as much as 50 kg.

No, I don't dislike it! It's just something that I wouldn't do, I'm happy with a good paint finish on the ply, with wood trim.

So the weight's somewhere around 1950kg now, against the designed displacement of 3350kg. You have 1400kg left to complete the build and fitout, and then put yourself and your worldly goods aboard. Just saying.

David Tyler wrote:I can spot some of the usual suspects at the Turnover Party. Sorry I'm on the other side of the planet and couldn't be there, but ... an early spring launch, in a year or less from now? Could I face that longhaul flight again? As we move towards winter and it gets colder and darker here in the UK, it's a tempting thought.

You can save up for another year.  There isn't a cat in hell's chance of completing the boat in a twelvemonth.  If I finish her in 3 years, I'll be happy and I'm not going to put myself under pressure to achieve a deadline.  (If that seems like a long time, well don't forget I had to learn how to use my tools before I even started the job.  Girls get taught domestic science; boys get woodwork.  If no-one ever shows you how to use a plane or a chisel, you only learn by watching and it's not a good way.)  As I've mentioned before, as well as building the boat, I have to do my domestic chores (and JRA stuff) and, unlike some boatbuilders, I'm not an obsessive.  It's a means to an end, not an end in itself and I like to have a couple of hours to myself each day.

BTW, I'm not being defensive here: lots of people would take longer!

Annie

A great series of pictures!   She looks fantastic, congratulations.  If I can achieve something half as good I'll be a happy chap.

Peter

I love those paneled bulkheads.  It will give the interior a warm, traditional atmosphere.  I continue to be in awe of you tackling this project.  My boatbuilding days are behind me, I think, though I sometimes dream about "Rogering" a small fibreglass boat for my old age.  I suspect I'll just stick with Arion until it is time to smell the roses.  Happy days ahead for SibLim - turning the boat over is such a crucial stage of a project.  It suddenly feels like a boat.

There's been a lot going on in the last couple of weeks, including taking the hull out of the shed

turning it over, which I have to say, was one of the scariest things I've done in a long time!

and putting it back in!

Then I started work on tidying up all the interior.  You may recall my having some problems at Station 2 and my difficulties getting the plywood to pull in around the bow.  This had resulted in some split stringers, gappy joints and loads of screw holes and wooden plugs coming through the plywood skin.  Where the lower chine log met the bow bulkheads was messy, with tiny triangles between wood and plywood that were going to be excellent traps for debris, moisture, etc.  While the very lower part of the bow is going to be sealed off, this can't happen immediately and in the meantime dirt and damp may collect.  Besides, I want it all to be clean and properly coated, even if I never see it again.  So one of the first jobs has been getting all that area tidied up.

Lots of photos for those who are interested, in the usual place.