Thanks Tony. Nice work & good to have you over. 

Need lead, anyone..?

Anonymous wrote:

And please, don't allow anyone to persuade you to launch before the boat is finished.  I can't remember how many times I have heard people say " a boat is never finished".

This made me think. First I am thinking of launching before finishing in my case but my case is different. I have a boat that lives on a trailer and will never live on it (22foot). This year it will go in the water with no mast but with three bunks and a cooker so we can go camping. We have in the past filled our 16foot boat with camping gear and set up camp on a nearby island. This year we hope to not have to set up as much. after two weeks it is back on the trailer in the back yard for step two.

However, for a home, finish first then launch will: give reason to keep working  and pushing to get finished. Allow work to continue without having to clean up for lunch, supper and sleeping. Finishing in the water means moving house to one end of the boat to work on the other and then moving house again when finished... maybe more than twice the work. So choose the yard wisely and finish before launch. Working on a boat you are also living in or even a boat that is on the water will be one big delay and merely add more truth to the "a boat is never finished" saying.

This boat is a try out for my family, mostly my wife. We will find out if  we will continue to camp in a small boat for a few weeks in the summer, go back to land camping or go for a bigger boat for longer trips.

Well done.  The rest will take as long as it takes and will largely depend upon whether you are happy with a simple plywood interior or want something with more texture.

Systems: if a boat has systems it's too complicated.  Installing my water tanks took the time that was required to buy the jerricans and stow them under the cabin sole.  Likewise the engine installation was asking a friend to lift it up for me while I secured it to the transom.  Oh! And I had to attach the petrol line.

And please, don't allow anyone to persuade you to launch before the boat is finished.  I can't remember how many times I have heard people say " a boat is never finished".  Well FanShi is.  Some details yet to do, but if you think a lack of loose covers on the settee and toggles to keep the portholes open, make a liar out of me, then you are even more literal than I am!

Baie baie dankie Oom Arp & good luck with the new rig for your boat. 

16 months later hull construction done.

One good thing about not previously having built a boat, is not knowing what you’re in for..