PocketShip in Russia

[Dmitriy]

My construction is progressing slowly again. I'm waiting for a shipment of epoxy, delivery is delayed.
I sanded the aft and forward compartment, which I cover with fiberglass.
We've got beach-friendly weather, not work-friendly weather. It often rains and the sun is hot, resulting in very high humidity. The temperature in my garage is 30-33 Celsius. Any work generates rivers of sweat. I use portable air dehumidifier, but air conditioner will be better in this conditions.

[Dmitriy]

Today I finished a big stage - fiberglass inside the hull. Some areas have already been sanded.
I wanted to do a lot of fiberglass work before the cold weather hit, and I did. The garage keeps a stable 25 degrees, although it is already cooler outside, especially at night. I suppose that in about a month it will be necessary to do heating. I think it will be electric heaters.

[Dmitriy]

It's sanding time.
"Sanding here, sanding there, sanding and sanding everywhere. Hundreds of sanding, thousands of sanding, millions and billions and trillions of sanding" - that's words today in my mind.
When I was a little schoolboy, we learned this fairy tale about millions of cats in English lessons
In order not to go crazy from the monotonous work, I alternate these works with gluing cleats in the rear compartments.

[Dmitriy]

Hello everybody!
I'll tell you a little about my progress.
At the moment I have finished fitting the floorboards. I use spruce floorboards 95 and 105 mm wide. It's terrible, but it took me a month and a half to work with floorboards. Although, all this work can be done in a couple of days.
The unstable world situation is also very depressing and knocks down the working mood.

My original plan to assemble the hull before winter is failed. Now I want to try to equip my garage to work in the winter time. I closed all the vents and built an additional foam wall with a small door where the gate was. The size of the gate is 2 * 3 meters, in winter it is superfluous, I left the door 60 cm wide. It doesn't look very nice, but it's just frost protection for one winter.

For heating, I use an electric heater with a 1.5 kW power. Now it's about 6-10 Celsius outside and it's enough to keep about 18 inside.
To prevent a fire, I installed 2 self-activating powder fire extinguishers and a smoke sensor with a GSM channel.

My wires will allow me to connect another heater the same when it gets colder, in total I will be able to have 3 kW of heat. I understand that this will still not be enough to keep +20 inside at a time when the outsude will be -20. Therefore, I am considering the possibility of purchasing a diesel air heater with a power of about 5 kW.
I hope that my efforts will allow me to work with the boat longer than it would be without heating.

[Creekboater]

Hang in there Dmitriy. Your floorboards look great. That’s a stage I’m very excited to get to!

[Dmitriy]

Thanks for the good vibe, Martin!

I want to tell a little more about the floorboards. I made a mistake in my previous post. The floorboards are pine, not spruce.
Why 95 and 105 mm? Boards of this size are sold in our shop for builders. These boards already have rounded sides, so all you have to do is cut them to length. I used 95mm in the middle and 105mm around the edges where the rounding needed to be done.
I also decided to expand the floor a bit and made the edges of the floorboards follow the profile of the bottom. This gives a few centimeters on each side. Therefore, my floorboards do not look as rounded as everyone in the top view photo.
The only feature I'm worried about is the small gap between the bottom and the floorboards. I'm afraid that sand or other dirt can get into this gap and work like sandpaper. I plan to stick a special film in this place, which protects the headlights of the car, so that it protects the bottom from sand damage from the inside.
The photo shows the floorboard profile.

[Hooky]

G’Day Dmitriy,
Your build is coming along well, I’m so jealous that you have soared so far ahead of me. (Well done).
Mate don’t get bogged down with what’s happening in the world, there are many things we can’t control and may or may not agree with BUT we are part of a big family that shares the love of working with wood and building a beautiful little yacht that we will share with our family and friends. So keep that goal in sight and keep motivated.
I’m always amazed by the challenges that climate causes builders over the globe. You are preparing for -20 deg whereas I’m working in +30 deg, (mind you I have never experienced -20 deg in Australia) but it does create different challenges with our builds when it comes to planing around epoxy curing times.
Look forward to your future posts.

Cheers mate Terry from down under

https://hookypocketship.blogspot.com

[Dmitriy]

Pre New Year's post.

To all forum members, I wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I wish success to those who build and interesting adventures to those who already use the boat on the water!

Terry, thanks for the support in the previous post!

My project is moving slowly again. This time I plunged into the choice of materials for interior decoration. I have never chosen paint and varnish so carefully, it has become a real challenge for me to study all the characteristics and many offers on the market. I wanted it to be eco-friendly and durable.

First, I painted the aft compartment with the most affordable and popular paint we have. This is alkyd enamel. It turned out to be a very smelly paint and I did not paint the living compartment with it. Then I decided to try water-based paint. It was acrylic polyurethane enamel. Strange combination. I painted a small piece and waited a week for it to gain its strength. It turned out well, but there was a problem - this paint was damaged if rubbed hard with wet clothes. I had to re-sand the area covered with this paint.
As a result, I chose Tikkurila Miranol alkyd enamel.
Now I have painted the interior in 3 layers and I am satisfied with this paint. It covers well and doesn't have a strong smell.

Since I work indoors, I use a 3M respirator and #6051 filters with pre-filters.

I have a similar situation with floorboards. Unfortunately, I can't get Danish Oil, so I have to choose from what is available in local shops. First I found an oil similar in composition to Danish Oil. I painted a test board with this composition. I didn't like the result. Now I'm thinking about varnish. I look in the direction of Tikkurila Unica Super 20 or 60. However, it seems to me that oil would be more practical for these purposes.

Summary - I spend too much time choosing materials and experimenting.

As for the temperature in the garage. November was quite warm, the temperature outside was about 0 Celsius during the day and up to -10 at night. I use two 1500 watt electric heaters and have been able to keep the temperature in the garage up to 18 Celsius.
Winter came on November 30 - it got colder. Now we have a temperature of -12...-15 Celsius during the day and -20...-25 Celsius at night. In the garage I have +12...+15. This is sufficient for comfortable work with paint, plywood and epoxy, but not enough for covering with fiberglass. If I have to work with resin, I put the resin canister on the heater and warm it up a bit to make it more fluid. At the moment there is no work with fiberglass, I am satisfied with the temperature and I do not plan to increase the heating. The average electricity consumption is 2...2.5 kW/h.

[Dmitriy]

Hmm... looks cold. Looks like you should wear a hat and gloves

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Despite the weather, work continues. The floorboards are screwed into place. Footwell sides and bottom are glued in. The front compartment is half filled with foam.

As for the floorboards, I chose varnish. Two coats of Tikkurila Unica Super 60. Before that I tried local oil for wood and ZAR Clear Wood Sealer. I didn't like the result. Also, the CLC team gave me good advice on oil selection, but... I didn't want to experiment and just bought varnish.

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[Dmitriy]

Hello builders!
A small progress report for the month.
Forward deck and cockpit deck are glued in. Seatback frames are also glued in.

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I made an addition in the bow - I glued a cleat in the center at the top between BH 2 and 1. This helped to make the flatness of BH 2 as well as additional support for the front deck.
Also added cleats on the sides between BH 2 and 1, where the manual says to make just a fillet. I have seen this with some builders.

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I want to say a few words about footwell. I expanded it by 2 cm on each side. When I saw the result with my own eyes, I realized that it really takes up space in the cabin and creates an unnecessary obstacle.

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Now I really understand that the option that Brent described will be much more practical and beautiful. Widening the footwell
I advise everyone to listen to this.