PocketShip in Russia

[Dmitriy]

It's me again )
I have been actively working for the past time. At the end of April, I had a two-week vacation and I covered the upper part of the hull with fiberglass.
Then there was a long and tedious sanding. Now I have the upper part of the hull ready and I'm making a side rails.
The next vacation will be in the middle of July and by that time I want to turn the boat over to start fiberglassing the bottom.

When I cut the holes for the hatches, I smelled the smell of the past. I glued the deck in February 2023 and after that the hatches were sealed.

An unpleasant situation during sanding - the places of overlap of fiberglass were damaged during sanding, as they were thicker. Therefore, I re-coated some places with epoxy. But when I sand them repeatedly, sometimes the fibers peek out next to them. It's a complicated process. Therefore, I think that I will cover the upper part of the hull again with several layers of epoxy and sand it to achieve a high-quality surface.

[Dmitriy]

Ouch! My boat capsized.
Now the sails are under the concrete. It's not very convenient to work with sails when they are under concrete. So I have to make an effort and turn the boat over to its normal position as quickly as possible. With paint on the bottom.

[BillR]

You are making great progress!

I need to get moving. I still haven't finished stitching the hull together. Oh well, it is supposed to be a family project, and if they aren't working on it, neither am I.

Take care and Happy New Year!

[Dmitriy]

Hello, builders!
Happy New Year to all!

Thanks for the well wishes, Bill! I wish you success in your project too.

This week I celebrated the 3-year anniversary of my "one-year yacht building project" ))))
At the moment, the hull is still upside down, completely covered with fiberglass and partially sanded. Sanding such a size is a very tedious task. At these moments you think: "what a giant liner?!"
Such slow progress is due to my laziness and emotional fatigue. In addition, various life tasks distract me and there is not always time to build a boat. But I intend to bring this project to the finish line.

Intending to work in the garage this winter, I started arranging the heating. The first winter I used electric convectors with a 3 kW summary power and this was enough to keep about 17 Celsius inside. The average power consumption was about 2.5 kW per hour. But the power consumption was high and later the chairman of our garages did not allow me to use this technology, as it exceeds the limits that we are allowed for garages.
This winter I decided to buy a small Chinese diesel heater. It is a copy of the Webasto heater. Chinese sellers promised 5 kW of power. Wow, I thought - I can arrange Africa in my garage. Hah, how wrong I was.

Several days in a row of operation of this miracle stove did not raise the temperature in the garage above 15 Celsius. Moreover, this year we have a very warm winter. Based on the results of the experiment, I came to the conclusion that the real thermal power of this stove is about two times less than stated by the sellers. Fuel consumption is true - 0.5 - 0.55 liters per hour at maximum mode. As a result, in two weeks of experiments with the stove, I spent as much money on it as I spent on electric heating in 2 - 2.5 months. And did not achieve the desired temperature of 20 Celsius. So the experiment was stopped. Perhaps I will start using this heater again in the spring, when it is warmer outside, to quickly reach the required temperature for working with epoxy. Another interesting nuance - the exhaust of this heater makes noise like a jet plane and attracts the attention of passers-by to the garage.

[Dmitriy]

Oh, I completely forgot to write about the real reason for the long work on the project.
Life difficulties, laziness, etc. are insignificant circumstances. The main reason is the violation of the manufacturing technology.
When my friends helped me turn the boat over, they then refused to drink beer or other alcohol with me. Thus, the requirement of the "building manual" was violated. Therefore, the speed of construction slowed down.

[Hooky]

Hey Dmitriy,
HaHa your so funny, love your sense of humour. Next time get a bunch of Australians to help, they definitely won’t be in violation of manufacturing techniques, your problem then will be making sure you have enough beer lol
Cheers mate
Terry from down under

[Dmitriy]

Hi Terry!
A sense of humor helps to cope better with the difficulties that arise.

Thanks for your offer, I will keep it in mind. If I invite Australians, we will make an additional delivery of beer to local stores ))

Cheers!