PocketShip.net

The past weeks have been busy: Seatback framing done, forward sections filled with foam, interior of stern sections painted, seatbacks installed, seatback tops installed, trimmed and edges rounded. Preparing for glassing: Imperfections filled with thickened epoxy (especially the outside joint between upper and lower side panels). Sanding, minor imperfections filled with epoxy+microspheres, sanding, very minor imperfections treated with epoxy+microspheres, sanding.
Cabin deck glassed down to the side panels including overlap from upper to lower side panel.

Dietrich

After almost 4 months (has it been that long?!) in the upside down, I flipped her back this morning. Used the strap method again and did it single handed.

Is the end in sight?

This was a lot tougher than I expected. Quite the rig though!

The main achievement with our build during the past weeks has been the installation or the rubrails. Scarfing, steam bending and attaching each pair was quite a project. After that was done, the entire upper hull (except the cabin interior) received its third and last coat of epoxy which got already sanded.

Below is an image showing part of the rubrail. My co-builder is very proud of having installed the third pair without screws, which looks really clean.

We have installed the sill around the hatch opening, built the hood, and flipped the boat.

Hard to describe how much fun the build is right now. Having spent a year working on everything BUT the hull and now within 2 months of laying the keel, glassing the bilge...

I'm certainly not moving exceptionally fast but the relative rate of change is exciting. Hard to imagine I'll be cutting floorboards here shortly.


https://sisterspocketship.com/2023/09/glassing-the-bilge-pt-1/

After a winter break, it's time to get back into boatbuilding mode. It took me a week or so to get my head around where I was up too on the build and do a stock check on the remaining ply, epoxy and glass cloth.
With the exception of exterior paint, electricals and a completing the trailer, I estimated I had enough stock to complete the build.
I kicked off on the cockpit seat backs. To ensure a tight fit against the transom, cockpit floor and cabin BH I decided to use cardboard templates fore and aft, joining the two with thin ply strips hot glued together to form a tight template. In conjunction with the paper plan, I traced the outline onto 6mm ply and cut out with a jigsaw.
While this method required additional labor it resulted in a tight, neat finish. I am adding a couple of mods to this area prior to gluing the seat backs in place. The first mod is a storage area in the first buoyancy chamber aft of the cabin BH with access from inside the cabin area. The second mod is to add electrical conduit through the foam buoyancy chambers from the cabin BH to the aft seat back storage area. This will provide future electrical access for things like the transducer lead and power to a chart plotter, USB/Cig socket DC power outlets, light power and compass backlight power. This will eliminate visual wiring inside the cabin area.
check out the October 2023 posts on my blog.
Cheers Terry from down under

https://hookypocketship.blogspot.com

Hooky wrote: The second mod is to add electrical conduit through the foam buoyancy chambers from the cabin BH to the aft seat back storage area. This will provide future electrical access for things like the transducer lead and power to a chart plotter, USB/Cig socket DC power outlets, light power and compass backlight power. This will eliminate visual wiring inside the cabin area.

Welcome back Terry. I'm curious on your electrical mod...what path will your wire take from the seat back chambers to the battery in your forward storage area? You have any clever ideas for keeping the wire hidden on that run?

Gday Martin,
All wiring will run in the two conduits I laid under the floor boards from BH 2 through to the transom. The wiring will simply go up through the lazarette into the seat back area and the through the conduit to the rear cabin BH. I didn’t want to have to have exposed wiring in the cabin area.
Your build is looking good mate.
Cheers Terry

https://hookypocketship.blogspot.com

Hooky wrote:Gday Martin,
All wiring will run in the two conduits I laid under the floor boards from BH 2 through to the transom. The wiring will simply go up through the lazarette into the seat back area and the through the conduit to the rear cabin BH. I didn’t want to have to have exposed wiring in the cabin area.
Your build is looking good mate.
Cheers Terry

https://hookypocketship.blogspot.com

Oh, I misunderstood (or didn’t read closely enough).