News & Progress Part 5

News & Progress Part 5

Photo Gallery News & Progress Part 4 News & Progress Part 6 01-Feb-10



01 Jan 09. Happy New Stubs!
	Sanded smooth the mast where the old stubs were and put on the new spreader to mast attachments. See Jan Pix.
28 Dec 09. Happy Holidays!
	Attached the keel chainplates this last couple of weeks as I have managed to find some time free. Vacuumed out the boat and cleaned up a lot of the mess inside. Attached the floorboards to the hull and started to figure out how to mount the cooler and port-a-potty. Also cut the stubs off the mast.
14 Dec 09. Odds and ends.
	Have been working on a bunch of different things this past two weeks. Cut the boom to length and inserted the end fitting. made up a bunch of foam plugs for the mast. Drilled the holes, made G-10 inserts and epoxied them in place for the chainplates to attach the keel controls. See Dec Pix.
29 Nov 09. Mast wires.
	So I got the data bus figured out. I hooked up my laptop to the NMEA bus and could read the data streams. The GPS is putting out good data. I had miss wired the lines going to the A/P head and it now can read the GPS data, it just does not know what to do with it. The VHF still does not see the GPS data and the AIS box is completely out to lunch. Waiting to hear back from their tech people. So with that at a standstill I got all the wires together that will run in the mast and tied them in a neat bundle, using an arcane aviation method of tie sting. No plastic zip ties to chaff on the halyards. See Nov Pix.
24 Nov 09. No data, no bus?
	So the last big bug to work out of the electrical system has been that the GPS is not talking to the VHF & A/P. I have checked and double checked the connections and all the wires are good. I have changed configurations and settings with no avail. In the middle of all this I gave up and installed the 12vdc outlets. Time to keep it simple and just drill some holes. I put one the the main panel and 2 under the side above the water tanks. A suggestion from Jacopo in Italy was to put in a USB outlet. I took that and found a 12vdc to USB adapter the fits in the standard 12vdc outlets. That's it in the main panel. Thanks Jacopo.
21 Nov 09. Bleeding A/P!
	Bled out the air from the autopilot hydraulic system today. The test box worked great. Wendy sat inside pouring fluid in the reservoir as fast as I was pumping it out the bleeder ports. Not shown is the mess of hydraulic fluid all over the back of the boat when the hose popped off the bleeder port and shot up about one meter into the air. After I cleaned up the mess the A/P initialized and I was able to move the tiller with the remote.
20 Nov 09. Test box
	One of the problems was the A/P would not initialize on the nke bus. Seems the pilot likes to be able to run a check on rudder movement before it allows it to be hooked in with the instruments. I needed to get all the air out of the hydraulic system before that could happen. The only way to get the air out is to run the pump. The computer will not allow the pump to run if there is air in the system. Arg! So I made a test box that bypasses the computer and allows the pump to run manually. And better yet I made it from parts I had laying around.
15 Nov 09. "I can not do that Dave"
	That's what I imagined what the computer said to me today as I powered up all the electrics at once today. They all worked, just that none of them would talk to each other. I plan to ring out all the wires to be sure I don't have any opens or misconnects then see if I can reconfigure the NMEA bus settings.
14 Nov 09. A bad habit.
	That I have found myself in. In wiring the boat I have generated loads of trash, so I have just been tossing it in the wet box and it then falls out of the boat. Convenient, yes, environmentally sound? No.
10 Nov 09. More wiring.
	Still have been working on wiring. All the wires have been run and I'm now terminating them. I also have lighting inside the boat so working is a bit easier now that I can see what I'm doing. Have also been cleaning up the wire bundles and securing them. See Nov Pix.
30 Oct 09. That looks better.
	We got the forward navigation lights on the correct sides now. Have still been busy this week running wires. I've got most of the wires run and routed and I'm just starting to terminate them. We have reached a milestone today as we have 3000 hrs into the boat. See Oct Pix.
25 Oct 09.Whats wrong with this picture?
	Have been busy this week running wires. Installed the hull nav lights & wired them up to the panel. They worked fine except that some time from when I pulled them out of the box and to when they got stuck to the boat, they got switched.
18 & 19 Oct 09. Pumped!
	Installed the A/P Pump and attached the wires. Have also been drilling holes for the tie wraps to hold the wire bundles. After drilling a bunch of holes I them come back and coat with epoxy. Have been routing all the cables for the A/P and instruments.
16 Oct 09. Speed of sound?
	Wired the single combination speed, depth, temp transducer to replace the two separate units that came with the nke A/P. Installed the box and ran the wires.
15 Oct 09. Boxes.
	Started installing the various boxes for the A/P, GPS, Instruments, etc.
13 Oct 09. Fill and paint.
	Filled the screw holes with filler and painted the doublers on the inside of the boat.
12 Oct 09. Doublers
	Made up some doublers to go under the cockpit seat edge for reinforcing where the keel & runner clutches will mount.
11 Oct 09 Compii.
	Installed the 2 compasses today.
10 Oct 09. Compass holes.
	Cut the holes for the compasses (compassi?) See Oct Pix.
08 Oct 09. Re-route
	I was trying to route/stuff the cables up to the panel and they would not behave. So I made a terminal where the 2 cables meet and separated out the negative wire and just ran 1 to the panel.
06 Oct 09. Power to the panel!
	Ran the battery cables up to the electric panel and hooked them up. Yea electricity! And yes, I need to charge the batteries.
05 Oct 09. This and that.
	I did a bunch of different things today. Got a second coat of paint on the aft rails. Installed the bulkhead fittings for the hoses to the A/P ram, and then hooked up the hoses. Bolted down the aft rails. Ran the battery cables from the batteries to the panel and hooked them to the battery and battery switch.
04 Oct 09. J/24 Maintenance.
	That's Craig in the cockpit of the Bad Idea while I'm up at the top of the mast straightening out the Windex tabs. Today was the day we got the J/24 ready for the fall race season. Other then the mast work we spent most of the time cleaning and Teflon polishing the hull.
02 Oct 09. Paint the rails.
	Painted the aft rails. Epoxied the "sticks" for mounting the various A/P boxes to the inside of the cockpit wall. Used the trick of covering the sticks with epoxy and then dabbing some 5 min epoxy on the ends and putting them in place. No clamps and only had to hold them in place a few minutes. Drilled the holes for the ram hoses.
01 Oct 09. More of the aft rails.
	Epoxied the G10 tubes into the aft rail mounting holes. Shaped the ends of the aft rails and prepped for paint. See Oct Pix.
28 & 29 Sep 09. Decisions, decisions.
	So I got the new aft rails welded up (again many thanks to John), and had to decide go with version 3 or 2. Stuck the motor mount and motor on to check for clearance. Went with version 3. Drilled the bolt holes, epoxied backing plates in and cut up G-10 tubes. Got the connector wiring for the RockBox and the electronics together and mounted the RockBox and the NKE autopilot head to the panel and screwed the panel in place above the main hatch. See Sep Pix.
20 Sep 09. Yea, aft railings!
	I got the aft railings all welded together this week, thanks John. And started to fit them to the boat, when..... I also mounted the A/P ram to the deck & painted the area above the main hatch where I removed the panel and filled the holes. Also painted the filled holes in the deck from the old rails and track. So I was fitting the aft rails when I took a break and was looking at some of photos of the Minis finishing up the 1st leg of the Transat, when I saw how one of the boats had done their aft rails. Much lighter and simpler. So I cut up the rest of the leftover aluminum tubing and will see if John can weld these up. Wendy says I can not look at any more pictures of Minis until I get mine finished!
13 & 14 Sep 09. This & that.
	Finished all the bits for mounting the rudder position sensor. Added fillets for the panel stop blocks & sanded area to ready for painting. Drilled holes for the A/P ram mount through the deck and made up a backing plate and epoxied it in place. Figured out where all the A/P box, interface boxes & AIS receiver will mount. Made up stringers to screw all that stuff in to and prepped the area for gluing.
07, 08 & 09 Sep 09. Instrument panel version 4, revision 2?
	So I started with a new panel idea by mounting the instruments from the back. All well and good, except that after cutting the holes there would not be enough panel left too stay together. I must be getting a bit smarter as I used a piece of scrap 1st. So I tried to mount some stringers but I was not having any luck cutting the angles needed. So then I went back to the original panel and trimmed some off the top and bottom and moved the hinge up. All was fine until I attached the hinge and then it interfered with the hatch again. Arrrg! So I cut a rabbit for the hinge and it then fit. Epoxied the stop blocks in place. We also passed the 2900 man hour mark.
30 & 31 Aug & 01 & 02 Sep 09. Looks good, well not so fast there.
	Worked on a bunch of little things. Mounted the pump reservoir. Made a spacer block for the ram. Attached the ram pivot point to the tiller. Figured out how to mount the rudder position unit. Made a block and epoxied it in place for the compass sensor. Cut the holes for the A/P head & RockBox. The RockBox is a battery powered unit and I did not think that changing the batteries at sea would have a good result. So the good guys at Detroit City Marine made up a 12vdc power supply, thanks Chris. I just had to install a connector to the back of the RockBox. All was going well, I had sealed the edges of the panel and screwed it in place. Then I mounted the nke A/P head and RockBox in place. It looked great and they could be seen anywhere in the cockpit. Then I closed the hatch, or at least tried to close it. The heads stick out a bit too far and will not allow the hatch to close. Shit! Back to the drawing board. See Sep Pix.
25 & 26 Aug 09. A lot of head scratching.
	Mounted the pump bracket to the underside of the cockpit. Then set about to figure out how to mount the A/P ram to the tiller. Along with routing the hoses and placing the rudder reference unit. See Aug Pix.
23 & 24 Aug 09. A/P Pump.
	I have been working on the auto pilot pump and it's mount. 1st was to move the reservoir from on top of the pump to a hose and then to a remote location. (easer to fill). Then a made a bracket to mount the pump under the cockpit.
11 Aug 09. Bilge Hose.
	Hooked up the hoses for the bilge pump to the "Y" valves. Installed the thru-hull fitting in the aft deck.
10 Aug 09. More holes.
	Cut the holes for the inside operated bilge hoses. Then covered the exposed wood with epoxy. To make up for the holes I made, I plugged the ones from the traveler and aft rails.
02, 03, 04, 05 Aug 09. Traveler track rev2.
	I'm still having connectivity issues with the windows machine that I'm running the website on. Maybe it's time to move it off of windows? Anyway I cut the G-10 tubes for the traveler inserts and epoxied them in place. Made some new mounting bolts for the track to replace the ones that were just a bit too short and the two that the threads galled on removal. Then got the track bolted down to the deck in the new location. See Aug Pix.
27, 28, 29 Jul 09. More of the rails.
	Continued with the new aft rails. This has taken longer then I thought it would, as I could not find a good way to support the rails in position to find the points to bend and the angles needed for the uprights and supports. Here I'm fine tuning the rail to fit the taper at the back of the boat. I think their ready for welding. I also took this opportunity to remove the old rails and the traveler track. The traveler track will be moved aft about 35mm to provide a bit more clearance for the tiller.
20, 21 & 22 Jul 09. Tubular.
	Worked on the tubing for the push-pits this past week. I used a thicker wall tube and a step down in temper. Had none of the previous problems with kinking and cracking. Or maybe it was because the temps here have been over 110 deg and the aluminum is softer? Got both railings bent and the support tubes cut and notched. Cut the aluminum for mounting plates.
14 & 15 Jul 09 Not so fast there.
	More repairs before I can go further. The ongoing saga of the cradle wheels continue. I had gotten larger wheels before we left and had put them on as the 3 other sets of wheels were not up to the weight of the boat. For some reason the 350 lb rating as listed on the wheels may be for the wheel or the brackets but not the hub bearings. So on with bigger wheels. The problem is the caster offset is also larger and put more torque on the cross beam. So I cut up the 4x4 I used to shore up the attic and made corner braces. So maybe next weekend I get to do boat work?
13 Jul 09. Back at it, well not really.
	Thanks to all the people who were worried about my kidney stones, they passed OK and I'm fine. So what the heck have I been up to this last couple of months. I built an aluminum frame for measuring Mini's. It was used in Newport before the start of the Bermuda 1-2. I then got the truck ready for a long road trip. We drove to Huston and the home of Third Coast Composites, Sam Ausmus, Katie & Drew. We put Katie & Drew's boat "Wafi" on a trailer and with the new 3C series mini "Eko" in tow behind Sam's truck we headed to Newport. A week in Newport measuring boats, in the rain, helping the racers get their boats ready, in the rain, and then out on the water to watch the start, in the rain. Did I mention it rained a lot in Newport? For a couple of desert dwellers it was nice to see so much rain but I think most of the people there are sick of it. We then flew to Bermuda to wait for the racers to finish. We had a great 2 weeks in Bermuda and made many new friends. We would also like to thank Brian Oatley and the St. George's Dinghy and Sports Club for their hospitality and Roy Guay for letting us help out. We then flew back to Newport, where it was raining, and picked up the truck and made our way back to Phoenix. Which gets us to the subject of the picture to the left. After we got back, I got Wendy's car un-wedged from the garage. The next week on my days off I went out to put the shop back together a figure out what to do next. I went to pull down the attic steps to get to all the stuff I stored up there and noticed that the ceiling was not right. Some words were said and I quickly got a 4x4 jacked in place to shore it up. The small connector plates that hold the trusses together had pulled out on 3 of the ceiling beams. Another trip to the lumber yard and some metal straps and bolts to put it all back in place. Of course it is Phoenix in the summer and it was over 120 degs up there. That was last week and so after this morning the shop is all put back and we will be able to work on the boat tomorrow. Now were was I? See July Pix.
30 Apr 09. Not much done....
	....in the past 2 weeks. Have been working on passing a kidney stone so working bent over in the boat to secure all the tube ends was not a lot of fun. I used the Clamp Tight tool to make hose "clamps" out of stainless wire. I also build the bracket seen in the picture for a mast head strobe light. And have been attempting to bend aluminum tubing for new rails on the aft deck. See Apr Pix.
10 Apr 09. Down the re-tubes.
	Got the pump hole re-drilled and the pump mounted. Found that the clear tubing I was using was too easily kinked and would not work in the small area for the pump and valves. So off the the hardware store to try the fiber reinforced stuff. That worked better but it had to be soaked in hot water to get it to cooperate. All of the main plumbing is done, just need to hook up the bilge intake and outlet.
02 Apr 09. Down the tubes.
	So here is a picture of the tubing from the aft tank to the manifold. About the only one that would behave. I'm thinking that I should have just used rigid pipe as there would be no expectation of being able to flex it. Had to add 90 deg elbows to hook up the main tank. Also discovered that the hole I cut for the pump is too low and the fittings on the pump interfere with the tubing for the tank. Arrrg! so I plugged the hole and will try it again.
01 Apr 09 Plumbing fun!
	Have I said how much I like plumbing.... Didn't think so. That has been my April fool's joke on me, trying to make 1 1/2 tubing bend in small places. The manifolds and valves are all glued together and in place in the boat. Just down to hooking up the tubing. See Apr Pix.
25 Mar 09. Pieces, parts.
	Of plumbing. Sorted though all the bits and tried to figure out how all of this will works. Cut the holes for the two bilge pumps. Have been working on the fairing of the hull hole.
19 Mar 09. Disaster or just a slight setback?
	Well after all the tugging around with the front wheels falling off the cradle has slipped back on the boat. I got new wheels with longer screws on the front crossbeam and then I set about to reposition the boat to the correct spot on the cradles, when the aft starboard corner of the boat goes down with a loud bang. I look under to see that caster has fallen off. So I jack up the aft crossbeam and see the boat is still down by that corner. WTF? So I crawl under to find the support pad has punched a hole thru the hull. @^#%$$(@&@!!!. Seems the pad lined up just right without being on either a stringer or bulkhead. &^#$!!!. After getting the boat on the right spot on the cradle and the aft end jacked up so I can work on it, I cleaned out all the busted wood. The good part of building your own boat is the repair is fairly easy. I routed out sections on the stringers and made doublers and a patch. Epoxied all this in place. See Mar Pix.
15 Mar 09. Stick up!
	The gin pole worked and we got the mast up. And back down again. We had to stop the first time and make some adjustments to the gin pole rigging, but the second time worked fine and it was less effort then when we step the J/24 mast. We then set the boom and bow sprit and took measurements for the sail maker. We then took it all off and and started moving the boat back it the garage. Then the wheels fell off. No really the wheels fell off. As we were pushing the boat in to the driveway the wheels on the front of the cradle did not make the bump. After 3 more stops to either put the wheels back on, or finally put a movers dolly under the bow we got it back in the garage. Thanks to Craig, Paul, Walt, Georgia, Beth, Ethan & Wendy for all the help! See Mar Pix.
13 & 14 Mar 09. Gin pole.
	Got the aluminum tubing for the gin pole today and made the base for it and figured out how to attach it to the deck. Then rigged the line on the gin pole. With that done I went to work on the mast. Drilled the halyards exits and attached the halyard blocks. Then ran chase lines for all the halyards.
03 Mar 09. A bit more of the cap.
	Here is the top of the mast after the epoxy cured and I removed the screws and cap. Yea mold release! Not as nice as Ryan's but it should work. The nuts shown were removed as they were only there to hold the screws in position until the epoxy set. I would have liked to leave them in place, but the inside diameter of the tube was not big enough to fit the screws in with the nuts.
02 Mar 09. Mast cap.
	Built the mast top cap and wind instrument adapter plate and then epoxied the mounting screws in place. Also made up and epoxied some reinforcements for the main halyard sheave. Finished the last bits on the Nav light bracket and painted it black.
01 Mar 09. A busy section.
	Of the mast. This is the hounds and there is a lot that attaches here. Shrouds, forestay, runners, jib halyard block and spin halyard downhaul. We got the Olivier Links from Precourt Rigging riveted to the mast today along with the Harken exit block. Made a masthead bracket for the Nav lights and VHF antenna. See Mar Pix.
25 Feb 09. Rotisserie boom.
	Painted the boom today with clear paint. And yes that is a BBQ Rotisserie that has been "adapted" to hold the boom. With it on the boom turned nice and slow so there were no drips. Also got paint on the mast in the areas of the spreaders and gooseneck. While waiting for the 3 coats of paint to dry I trimmed the ends of the jockey poles to fit the sockets.
24 Feb 09. More of the deck hole.
	Finished trimming the deck hole and cut a notch for the antenna and electric connectors to fit. Then coated it with epoxy, along with some touch up areas inside. Trimmed the inboard side of the spreaders and made the outboard ends for same.
23 Feb 09. Mast base and deck hole.
	Made up the mast base adapter and assembled that. Then cut the hole in the deck for the mast.
18 Feb 09. More holes in the mast.
	Set up the boom and mast together and laid out the hole locations for the runners and halyards. Drilled and sanded all the holes. This is the section where the shrouds, forestay, runner, spin halyard and jib halyard all meet. See Feb Pix.
17 Feb 09. Well that's more like it.
	Got all the boom aft end plates cut, fitted and epoxied together.
13 Feb 09. Good idea, bad assembly order.
	Should have drilled the plates before gluing together. As the drill broke through the last plate it broke the glue bond. Not only that but I had drilled the hole crooked. Sigh. So I re-cut new plates and also cut plates for the mast base. I drilled the holes 1st this time, then started to cut it to fit the boom. 1st plate was went ok, then I could not get a straight line on any of the next. Shit. That's when I found all the plates I cut were not square. Shit, Shit. So I sanded something to calm down. Tried the plates again. No luck, I could not draw a square line to save myself. So I cut the thru bolt for the gooseneck. Managed to get that right. Gave up before I messed up anything expensive. After getting cleaned up Wendy discovered why I was having so much trouble. It was Friday the 13th!
12 Feb 09. Mast step  Done!
	Received the mast step and base from Dean Wood of Marine Machine in Longview WA, this week and mounted the step in the boat. Worked on a different way of assembling the plates for the aft end of the boom. Cut the line slots in the mast end of the boom.
05,06,07 Feb 09. Gooseneck version 2.
	Finished with the fit of the sheaves at the mast end of the boom and then attacked the bar. The aluminum bar. Cut, ground, polished and assembled the goose neck fitting. Sounds simple, but it was most of 2 days before it was finished and fitted to both the boom and mast.
01 Feb 09. Holy mast.
	Laid out and cut the holes for the shrouds and forestay. I will be using the Olivier Link from Precourt Rigging to attach the standing rigging. See Feb Pix.
30 Jan 09. 1 step forward 2 back.
	Opened the slots in the mast part of the gooseneck fitting. Started with the little die grinder, but soon gave that up and went with the cutoff saw. More power! Some time with a file and it was done. Again I looked like I had been in the coal mine. Now for the steps back. I started to fine tune the fit of the gooseneck to the boom when I discovered that the plate divisions were too thin to get a good epoxy bond to the tube. So I mixed more epoxy and laid in some fillets. So on to setback #2. While fine tuning the fit of the gooseneck to the mast I ground too much out of the mid section and it now flexes. Arrg! Since I seemed to be having better luck with the mast I went back to that and sanded the spreader stubs and trial fitted the spreaders. Then added fillets to the stubs and rough cut the spreader ends. And just to prove to myself that I could get something done I finished the GPS bracket. See Jan Pix.
26 Jan 09. Not much to show for a day's work.
	That is the mast end of the boom with the sheave spacers fitted and epoxied in place. Today was a lot of fiddly sanding to get the spacers just right. The plywood is there to simulate the sheaves. The good part is I also made the spacers for the aft end and will glue those in once the boom is cut to length. I also fine tuned the GPS bracket latches.
25 Jan 09. Working in a coal mine.
	By the time I got the gooseneck fitting ground down it looked like I had been in a coal mine for all the carbon dust. The fitting is mostly done, may need some fine tuning to fit it to the mast. Made up some spacers for the boom blocks. Also made some backing blocks for the latches on the GPS mount bracket, then epoxied them in place.
19 & 20 Jan 09. Boom Bits.
	Worked on the blocks and dividers for both ends of the boom. Lots of head scratching and fitting of many loose parts. I lost count of how many times I dropped the sheave bushings. When I got too lost, I epoxied the GPS mount in the cabin for a diversion.
14 Jan 09. On track.
	Or the main sail track is on. Cleaned up the carbon laid up yesterday at the gooseneck area. Started on the gooseneck fitting it's self, but it was slow going and I quickly got bored, so I decided I would have something to show for this past week. Used Extreme Adhesives 360M to glue the track on to the tube as well as rivets. All went well until about the halfway point, the rivet gun jammed and while reassembling it I dropped the main piece and the little jaws inside went flying. ARRG! After looking everywhere and the clock ticking on the glue, I started to put things away so I could run and get another, when I found the little bastard. After that bit of drama everything else decided to play nice. See Jan Pix.
13 Jan 09. Gooseneck?
	Well, or at least the parts for it. Added carbon fiber to the tubes I stuck on to the mast yesterday. And wrapped up the other tubes to make the gooseneck fitting.
12 Jan 09. Bits and Pieces.
	Cut up stainless tubes to use for the gooseneck fittings. Then epoxied one of the stainless tubes and two G-10 tubes to the mast. These will then get covered with carbon fiber. Started to lay-out the mast track sections on the mast.
02 Jan 09. Gluing on the spreader stubs.
	Epoxied the spreader stubs on to the mast. Made up blocks to hold them at the correct sweep angle and dihedral. Covered the wood blocks with package tape so the epoxy would not stick. I also made a bracket for the GPS unit.
01 Jan 09. A new year, a new project.
	Time to start on the mast. I got the mast down from side yard eves and identified all the locations of the spreaders, Gooseneck, hounds and other bits. Then drilled the holes for the spreader inserts. See Jan Pix.
31 Dec 08. Flattening the holes.
	Without flattening my fingers! Got the lead bulb halves off of the adjusting bolts, flipped over and on the skate boards. The bolt holes that hold the two together were cone shaped at the bottom of the holes so I had to make a nice flat bearing surface for the bolts. Since the router worked so well I decided to try a Forstner bit in the drill. Worked well and soon I had added another pound of lead shavings to the 8 pounds all ready removed. See Dec Pix.
27 Dec 08. Shaving the Bulb.
	One of the things that had to done was to trim the lead bulb halves where they join together and have the plate on the keel fit. I figured my router could do the job, but how to hold the bulb half flat and level and steady. A four long bolts with washers and nuts for adjustment. I then built a frame and mounted the router on a piece of plywood. A few modifications after the 1st pass and by the end of the day both were done. See Dec Pix.
21 Dec 08. A step back.
	Not on the the motor mount but on the lead bulb. The solder I added to the bulb keel slot today just fell right out. Seems like I got a real good cold solder joint. So out with propane torch and tried again. While it cooled I worked on the holes for the motor mount. Drilled, cut inserts, and epoxied them in place. Then back to filing the slots and edges. I have now gone over 2500 hours so far.
19 Dec 08. Lead and Carbon.
	Laid up the carbon inside the boat for the jockey pole sockets and keel. That was a mess and I think it will require some grinding when set to look good. Then worked on the lead bulb. Cleaned up the slots for the keel plate and checked alignment. Added some solder along the edge for the keel plate. See Dec Pix.
15 Dec 08. No pix today.
	Worked on cutting carbon fiber reinforcements for the keel canting blocks attach points. Also some carbon for the jockey pole sockets. Was cold and rainy today and did not want to work with epoxy, so I started messing with the bulb. Those things are heavy and a pain to move around. Weighted both halves, one was 338lbs and the other was 348. Flipped them both over and started cleaning up the flash around the keel slot.
13 Dec 08. Get the lead out.
	Lowered the boat and cradle back down on its' wheels, so I could roll the skateboards out with the halves of the lead bulb. Moved a lot of the things that I had got out from that side of the shop and were to much of a pain to put back, back. Painted the other side of the foils orange.
08 Dec 08. Now that's orange!
	Started painting the foils orange. And yes they are orange. Used epaints EP2000 and it went on very well. Also painted the area around the keel slot. While in the middle of all that I got the other cockpit winch mounted.
01-03 Dec 08. Hardware Store?
	Looks like I was running a Hardware Store from the back of the boat, but I was just digging though all my collection of 5mm & 6mm stainless screws and nuts to mount the winches and mainsheet cleat. Of course I was 2 bolts short to mount the 2nd winch. I had previously epoxied in the G-10 tubes in the holes. Also final sanded the keel, rudders, and daggerboard and all are ready for the final paint. See Dec Pix.
25-27 Nov 08. You call that a rudder!
	Not really. That is the test rudder, to check to be sure if the rudders can be moved from one side to the other. Important if something should happen to one of the rudders. See the Nov pix to see if it fits on the port side. Spent this week remounting all the transom brackets between the final coats of primers on the rudders and keel. Also drilled the pilot holes for the mainsheet cleat and the cockpit winches.
21 Nov 08. Figuring out where to put....
	...the cockpit hardware. Long time crewmember Craig stopped by today and we sat in the cockpit and determined where to mount the winches, clutches, and main sheet blocks. We also were looking and where to put the motor bracket. I quick made up a test rudder to check clearance of the prop when I discovered that the rudder brackets on the transom do not line up well enough for the pins to go in. So I will have to loosen all the bolts insert the pins and bolt it back together. Arg! And the primer I put on yesterday came out looking better, so I gave the foils another couple of coats of primer.
20 Nov 08. Fair and paint.
	I'm really getting to like this sanding thing! &^%^$. Faired the rudders and keel again. Then coated with primer. We'll see how it looks this time.
19 Nov 08. Spotted rudders
	Filled the bad areas on the rudders and keel. Drilled the holes for the battery disconnect switches. See Nov Pix.
13 & 15 Nov 08. Nothing much to show.
	For 2 days of work. Its amazing how something that looks pretty good, when after painting looks like shit. So more sanding on both rudders and on the keel slot. I'll have to fill some areas with more fairing compound, then more sanding. When bored with sanding I loaded the 2 batteries in the boat and figured out how I will hold them in place. Also drilled the holes for the battery cables.
03 Nov 08. A forest of foils.
	Faired the rudders today and then primer painted them and the keel strut and the bottom of the boat by the keel slot. See Nov Pix.
28 Oct 08. Cherokee!
	We were in Newport RI for the Mini Class North America general meeting and stopped by the Museum of Yachting new build of the 6-metre "Cherokee". Wow what a boat. Pictures do not do it justice. See the Web site here. And follow along with the build on Tom's Blog. More pix here.
22 Oct 08. Tether anchors.
	Faired the keel bearing fairings. Try saying that fast. Covered the blocks of mahogany with epoxy and filleted. Then drilled the holes for the 3/8" dia stainless rod that the tether will hook onto. Drilling the holes was fun. Ha. I had drilled a pilot hole in the block before epoxying it in place so I figured that drilling would just take a long bit and follow the pilot hole out in the cockpit then into the side and though the other block. Yeah right, like it would be that easy. When the drill came out the floor and hit the side at 45 deg angle, it skipped up about 13mm and then continued drilling. When I then drilled it out to 3/8 it was obvious that something was not right. Luckily I spotted before blindly following the pilot hole. So I carefully re-drilled and will plug the bad hole. Did the other side and knowing what to expect, it came out ok.
16 Oct 08. More of the keel bearing fairing.
	Sanded the bearing fairing foam and then covered it all with fairing goop. Made up blocks and epoxied them in place for cockpit tether anchors.
10 Oct 08. Keel bearing fairing.
	Made fairing fillers with foam and epoxied them to the bottom of the boat. worked on the rudders a bit as well.
04 Oct 08. Getting closer.
	Ground the G-10 tubes in the wet box to final size and countersunk the ends. Continued to sand the rudders.
03 Oct 08. Rudder fairing.
	Continued with fairing the rudders.
02 Oct 08. Tubes in wet box and keel.
	Cut G-10 tube to length and epoxied them in to the bolt holes in the keel and wet box. Had so much fun sanding the keel slot that I got out the rudders and started with what I hope to be the last round of fairing. See Oct Pix.
30 Sep 08. Holes in wet box and keel.
	Drilled the holes for mounting the bearing holders in the wet box. Had to cut down a drill bit and use an angle drill to get in the box to make the holes. Drilled the hole in the keel for the control lines. Also mounted the electric panel in place. Have now put in 2400 hours! See Sep Pix.
29 Sep 08.  Keel wet box installed!
	The past week I have been mostly working on the fairing around the keel slot. Made a pattern for the boot that will go on the top of the wet box and keel inside the boat. Then today I epoxied the wet box into position inside the boat and filleted on the inside.
19 Sep 08. Sanding!
	Sanded the T-hull fitting and keel slot. Added some more compound and was able to get the final fairing on the T-hull. Keel slot will require more compound. The stryrofoam came out without a problem. Cut holes in the top of the forward plate for cup holders, then coated the exposed styrofoam with epoxy. Finished up the initial wiring on the electric panel.
18 Sep 08. Fairing!
	Started fairing in the T-hull fitting for the speed/depth sender. Faired the keel slot with the 1st round of compound as well. Epoxied the FR4 plate and the styrofoam together. Hopefully did not glue it to the wet box. See Sep Pix.
13-14 Sep 08.  Thru-hull fittings done.
	Got the holes for the t-hull fittings covered with epoxy and then sanded and the fittings installed. Cut and fitted the FR4 plate for on top and the insides of the wet box. Fitted the styrofoam with the plates. Started the initial wiring on the electric panel.
07 Sep 08. One big hole deserves two more.
	Cleaned up the vacuum bag stuff from around the keel slot. Then drilled the holes for the thru-hull fittings for the speed/depth sensors and the ballast water intake Sofo Scoop. Cut styrofoam for the wet box.
06 Sep 08. Carbon around the slot.
	Covered the slot and the outside hull with carbon fiber, then vacuum bagged the mess. Could not get a good seal and could not pull much vacuum. Also got the final topcoat on the floorboards.
05 Sep 08. Hooray and up she rises.
	Jacked the boat up today to have better access to the bottom. Sanded the area around the keel slot.
01 Sep 08. "After 3 years of building a boat that is watertight you did what?"
	"Cut a hole in the bottom, a big hole!" That was what Wendy had to say about the latest project. I cut the hole for the keel today. After marking the hole I then rough cut it with my trusty saw and then used the dremel tool to cut the ends and a plane to finish. See Sep Pix.
31 Aug 08. Keel and Box.
	After days of sanding, grinding, smoothing and a big hammer, the wet box and keel with bearings are all fitted together. See Aug 08 Pix.
27 Aug 08. Fine tuning of the keel bearings.
	Worked on the fit of the keel bearings to the keel today. A lot of detail sanding to get everything to fit with out binding. Also drilled and sealed the mounting screws for the instrument panel.
25 Aug 08. Now where was I?
	Not doing any work on the boat or having fun. I have been doing long put off maintenance on my truck, new timing belt, spark plugs and other things like that. Today I finished the sanding on the floorboards and epoxied the mounting blocks, for the the instrument panel, in place.
01 Aug 08. Keel fairing.
	Got the primer sanded on all of the keel today. Coated the remainder of the backsides of the floor boards with epoxy. See Aug 08 Pix.
26 July 08. Instrument panel in place.
	Worked on the mounting blocks for the instrument panel, sanded the one side of the keel and sanded the underside of the floorboards and epoxied some of them.
25 July 08. Instrument panel epoxy.
	Painted the other side of the keel strut with primer. Also sanded the instrument panel and coated it with the final coat of epoxy.
24 July 08. Keel primer.
	Back at work! Did some final sanding and then painted one side with primer paint. See July Pix.
5-17 July 08. West Coast Race!
	We were at the start and finish for the 2008 West Coast Race for Minis. 3 boats made it to Victoria BC for the start. Due to forecast weather, the start was delayed. The 3 boats then had a short in harbor race in light wind and foggy conditions. By the time the forecast cleared the start was set for July 10th. With the shorted time constraints in was decided to end the race in San Francisco and to race double handed. We got the 2 boats that remained started and then took off to SF. This is a shot of Craig and Tom on Skyweb Express as they came in under the Golden Gate Bridge, shortly before the finish. See Race Pix.
21 June 08. More keel fairing.
	Finished with the keel fairing today. Sealed the exposed core cell foam in the axle area with epoxy. Also sealed with epoxy, the LED light bars for the inside. We are off to help with the West Coast Mini Race from Victoria BC to San Diego CA with a stop in San Francisco CA. See June Pix
19 & 20 June 08. Drilling holes.
	Thanks to Dean W. for some great advice on how to drill in thick stainless! The key point was slow speed. Also using good cutting fluid and carbide bits. I started with the battery powered drill in the screw setting, so it was running slow. Only problem was the battery could only do two holes before needing to be recharged and because I used the battery up so fast is was hot. So it would have to cool down before it would take a charge. Switched to the cord drill motor and was very careful not to run it fast. Because it was turning slow with a high load it too quickly became too hot to handle. The fact it was over 110 degrees here did not help any. So drill a couple of holes, fair keel, drill a couple of holes, fair keel......
09 June 08. Back to fairing the keel.
	Tried a dry fit of the keel, bearings and wet box today. Found that the keel will not fit through the slot in the box because it is not faired. So out with the longboards and fairing compound.
08 June 08. Light switches.
	Started the day by drilling the mounting bolt holes for the keel bearings in the wet box. Then tried to drill the holes in the stainless plate of the bearing holders. Well 6 burned up drill bits later and all I had was 3 holes. Ordered new bits and moved on to a funner project. Built up some LED reading lights and switches for general cabin lighting.
02 & 03 June 08. More of the keel bearing holders.
	Continued with grinding the stainless steel keel axle bearing holder and polishing it smooth. Also ground out the corners of the carbon fiber box and finally I was happy with the fit of the holders. Covered the holders with mold release and packing tape. Make a wooden dowel to simulate the keel axle as I put epoxy bog around the holders for a good fit in the box. Also covered the back of the floorboards with epoxy. Just knocked out the holders from the epoxy before it got too hard. Some work involved to get them to break free. But after the packing tape was pulled off, I've got a good fit. See June Pix
28 May 08. Wet box work.
	Cut the slot for the keel in the bottom of the wet box. Finished with the grinding off of the corners of the keel bearing holders. Then worked at getting a good fit with the holders and the bottom of the box. See May Pix
26 & 27 May 08. Floor boards and  Single point lift point done!
	Installed lock in the main hatch. Drilled the holes for the single point lift point bushings and epoxied them in place. Covered the floor boards with 2 coats of epoxy.
22 May 08.  Aft railings done!
	Bolted the aft railings on today. Mounted the tiller extension on to the tiller.
21 May 08.  Traveler track done!
	Got the traveler track and bar bolted in place today. No real problems other then mashing my little finger with the hammer. Drilled the holes for the aft railings. Also drilled the tiller for the extension.
20 May 08. Standoffish.
	Made the standoffs for the traveler today. The traveler where it crossed the deck needs to be supported, so I cut some Delrin rod square on one end and angled to match the deck on the other. The other problem is that the bolts to hold down the track ant the ends are not available in stainless in the length needed. So I made bolts by using stainless all-thread cutting it to length and then Locktighting and staking nuts on one end.
16 May 08. Hatch back on.
	Covered the instrument with carbon fiber. Then painted the traveler bar and cabin top teak with clear paint. Sealed and mounted the hatch in the new direction. Made the electric panel closed stop block and epoxied it in place.
15 May 08. Take it off and turn it 90 deg.
	The main hatch that is. After weeks of climbing in and out of the cabin I decided that having the hatch open to the side was not going to work. So off it came, the sealant was cleaned off and new holes and G-10 tube were made. Not all was a step back as I had extra epoxy and I made filler with it and filled a bunch of spots inside. See the May pictures to find out what way the hatch will open. See May Pix
14 May 08. A bit of everything.
	Last week I picked up the keel axel bearing holders from the machine shop. Thanks for the great job Bobby! So today I started grinding the corners down to match the wet box radius. I could only grind for about a 1/2 hour or so before they would get too warm. So in between seasons of grinding I finished off sanding the traveler bar and gave it a final coat of epoxy. Also epoxied and filleted the backing blocks for the traveler bar ends and stuck in the G-10 tube in the holes. Fitted the instrument panel above the main hatch.
09 May 08. Traveler bar.
	Drilled the mounting holes for the traveler today. Cut and epoxied in the G-10 tube insets as well.
02-04 May 08. Married!
	In between Wendy and I getting married and the big party the next day I did find time to get some work done on the mini. Spent some time vacuuming out and cleaning the boat. Fitted the floor boards. Mounted the switch panel in the electric panel. Fitted the keel wet box. Then today fitted the traveler support bar to the cockpit sides and epoxied in plugs on the ends for mounting. See May Pix
28 Apr 08.
	Got the traveler bar out of the vacuum bag. Epoxied the electric panel in place. Started cutting the teak and holly plywood for floor boards. See April Pix
27 Apr 08.
	Trimmed and sanded the traveler bar, then cut the carbon fiber and epoxied it to the bar. Then put the whole mess in a vacuum bag. After that I fitted the electric panel to the hinge and drilled / countersunk the mounting holes.
22 Apr 08. Epoxy.
	Epoxied the traveler brace together and while I had the epoxy out I coated the teak and the mounting holes.
21 Apr 08. Boxes from Harken.
	A much smaller piece and a lot of saw dust later, I finished shaping the teak above the hatch. Then the UPS man stopped with the hardware order from Harken. After unpacking and sorting I started on the reinforcing brace for under the traveler where it spans the cockpit.
20 Apr 08. Drill jig and a piece of teak.
	Made a drilling jig for the holes on the mast. Also started shaping a piece of teak for above the hatch. This will be the only bright finished piece of wood on the outside of the boat. See April Pix
16 Apr 08. Drilling the inserts.
	Drilled the holes for the bow railing. After much trial and error and runs to the hardware store, I got the holes drilled in the inserts. A piece of G-10 tube will pass thru the inserts and the mast to tie both sides together.
15 Apr 08. Oops and reshaping.
	Painted the railings and discovered that I had carefully shaped the spreader inserts to a 20 deg sweep angle. We had planed for a 15 deg angle. So back out with the sand paper and reshape in inserts.
14 Apr 08. Trimming and shaping the inserts.
	Trimmed the insert stock to length and shaped them for a snug fit in the spreader tube. Then cut them for the sweep and sanded to fit the mast profile. Also the bow and stern rails came back from the welder after being repaired from the shipping damage 3 years ago. No it did not take the welder 3 years to repair the rails. Just 2 different shops. The 1st shop I took the rails and keel bearings after 4 weeks and the only progress was to move the parts from a table to a box in the corner. Arg. So I got all the parts and took them to a shop recommended by a co-worker. The next day the rails were done and they are well on the way with the bearings. I then fitted the bow railing.
10 Apr 08. laying up the inserts.
	Laid up the carbon fiber on the spreader inserts today. 10 layers of 3k twill weave CF. Also put on another coat of epoxy on the electric panel. Maybe this time I won't scratch it before the epoxy is hard.
09 Apr 08. Spreader inserts.
	After a morning of troubleshooting, maintenance and repair on the J/24 outboard, I got started on the inserts for the inboard spreader ends. Shaped the foam and cut all the carbon and readied it for lay up.
04 Apr 08. Bagging the pole.
	Laid up the carbon fiber uni's to reinforce the pole to the fitting. All went smoothly until I started to pull a vacuum. I had placed a mixing cup on the inside with seal tape to close off the pole. As the plastic closed down on the cup it just squeezed it and broke the seal. So I stuck a cup in the other end. That's when I found the pole is not vacuum tight. A whole roll of seal tape later I got most of it plugged to pull a decent vacuum.
03 Apr 08. More with the bow sprit pole.
	Shaped the sprit fitting and added sections of foam. Then epoxied the fitting to the pole.
02 Apr 08. Cabin top clutches done!
	Started building up the bow sprit pole to forestay fitting today. And mounted the cabin top rope clutches. Thanks for all the interest in the quiz. Andy Abel got it right away. It is the deck opening for the single point lift strap. See April Pix
31 Mar 08. A hint.
	We have gotten a couple of right answers to our quiz so far. So to help the rest of you out before reveling the answer I took a picture of the completed hole. Email me with your guess.
29 Mar 08. Stanchions done! And a quiz.
	Got the 4 lifeline stanchions are bolted down. All was going well until I cross threaded one of the support studs. And then proceeded to bust it off at deck level. Arrg! After much gnashing of teeth, I drilled out the stud, threaded it with a tap and ran a bolt up from inside. Figured out where the line stoppers on the cabin top go and drilled the mounting holes. Also cut a big hole, as seen in the picture on the left, for..... That is the quiz part. Can you guess what that hole is for? Email me with your guess. See Mar Pix
28 Mar 08. Not feeling well today.
	Sanded a bit on the inside where the stanchions bolt thru. And then coated some epoxy on it.
27 Mar 08. Cabin top winch done! Forestay fitting done!
	Mounted the cabin top winch and forestay fitting today. The two aft screws and the eye bolt are thru-bolted. The rest of the screws are bonded in epoxy as per the Gougeon's method.
23 Mar 08. Inserts for stanchions.
	Cut G-10 tube for all the stanchion bases, forestay fitting and cabin top winch. Drilled the holes for the winch and then epoxied all the tubes in place. Sanded the filler on Mike's keel and covered it with primer paint.
22 Mar 08.  Rudder gudgeons and tiller bearing done!
	Bolted on the rudder gudgeons today. Also mounted the tiller bearing plate to the transom. Mike F. stopped by with his swing keel from their O'Day 25. The axle shaft had rusted out completely and board fell out of the boat. The only thing that kept him from losing it was the pennant for retracting it. We sanded off the old anti fowling and faired the leading edge and sides.
18 Mar 08. Keel bearing holder?
	Yesterday afternoon I took all the stuff needed to the machine shop to make the keel bearing holders. They had a hard time from looking at the drawings and the stainless chunks of metal how it all would fit together. So today I build a model of the bearing holder of core cell foam to help them out. Drilled the holes in the deck for the stanchions.
17 Mar 08.  Aft chain plates done!
	The aft chain plates for the running backstays are mounted. Drilled the holes for the tiller. Tried to mount the rudder fittings, but the bolts I had ordered managed to grow in transit and were to long. Sigh. Made a pattern for the stanchion bases and marked where the holes are to be drilled. Drilled the holes for the forestay fitting and made up the bow eye bolt. Today we are now 2100 hours into it. See Mar Pix
12 Mar 08.  Hatches done!
	All of the hatches have been mounted. All went well except for the main hatch where gravity was extra strong. If it could be dropped it was, many times.
11 Mar 08. Half way hatched.
	Got the two ports, the access plates on the aft deck and the escape hatch installed today.
10 Mar 08. Making holes.
	Have spent the previous days figuring out what kind of fasteners I'll need to mount all the stuff to the hull. Today drilled the holes for the hatches, rudder gudgeons, tiller mount and backstay chainplates. Cut and epoxied in pieces of G-10 tube on all the holes where it will be though bolted. Also faired some more on the keel. We went over 2080 build hours today. If this was a job that would be 1 year!
03 Mar 08. Keel fairing.
	Faired in around the axle and started with the foil. Also cleaned up some drips of paint around the inside of the hatches. See Mar Pix
29 Feb 08. Axel cutting.
	Cut the axel to length. Yes I know the little cut-off wheel is a slow way to do it. Even slower was waiting for the air compressor to catch up. After that I added foam along the axel line for fairing and then added fairing bog to the other side of the trailing edge.
28 Feb 08. Keel donuts.
	Made donuts for the keel axel today. Also installed the axel shaft in the strut. Did not intend to install it but by the time it was in there was no getting it back out. Epoxied the donuts on either side of the keel on the axel for thrust bearings. Faired in part of the strut. Weighed the boat on the moving frame today. With frame it is 993 lbs.
27 Feb 08. Hull painting completed!
	Painted on the last coat of non-skid yesterday. Pulled the masking tape and.... Wow! Look at that! After moving the boat out for some pictures I got back to work. Cut and installed the stainless steel rods for the chain plates. Then started back in on the keel strut. Opened the axel shaft holes up. Mixed up some fairing bog and slapped it on. See Feb Pix.
23 Feb 08. Non skid.
	Painted on the 1st coat of non-skid paint today. Mixed the Perfection paint with non-skid compound Intergrip.
22 Feb 08. Ready for non-skid.
	Masked off the boat today so I could apply the non-skid paint. Then it started to rain. So much for painting today.
17 Feb 08. Final coat of paint.
	Here's Wendy showing off her tipping skills. Rolled and tipped the final coat of Perfection topcoat paint on the hull and cabin sides.
15 Feb 08. Painting the shinny areas.
	Wendy and I got the 2nd coat of the topsides paint on the cabin sides and hull sides. We held off as the weather did not look so good this morning, but by noon had cleared a bit. Well as these things go as soon as I mixed the paint the clouds were back and as we finished it started to rain. Closed up the garage and put on the heater to keep the humidity down so the paint will not blush.
10-11 Feb 08. No more sanding.
	Yeah right! Finished with the wet sanding and with a little luck I will not need to do any more large area sanding. See Feb Pix.
09 Feb 08. A bit more primer.
	Primered the toe rails and the back of the hatch board and electric panel. Oh yeah, more wet sanding.
08 Feb 08 Toe rails on.
	Epoxied the two toe rail extensions in place and made the fairetts around the base. Continued with the wet sanding.
05 Feb 08. Paint 'n Sand
	Primered the toe rails and hatch board. Also got a bit more of the hull side wet sanded.
04 Feb 08. Wet Sanding.
	Wet and cold here today, too cold to have the door open. Or if I want the epoxy to cure. Started wet sanding the hull and decks today. Also covered the toe rails and hatch board with epoxy.
03 Feb 08. Oops and odds and ends.
	Some new rule changes have come out from Classe Mini concerning hatches and flotation volumes. As I was reading these new rules I found that my toe rails do not extend aft far enough. So out with saws and I made up a couple of sections of toe rails. Then ground off the paint where they will attach. I also made a panel to cover the companionway for the new rule, and started cutting the instrument panel for above the hatch. Then covered the parts with epoxy. \ See Feb Pix.
29 Jan 08. Shiny!
	Painted on the 1st coat of the topsides paint. Used Interlux Perfection and rolled it on then tipped it off. Went on very well and looks great.
28 Jan 08. Clean up.
	Finished with all the touch up sanding and moved the boat outside, so I could blow all the dust out of the shop. masked of the bottom and wiped it clean. Will try to apply the 1st coat of finish paint tomorrow, if the weather cooperates. And It looks like we have gone over 2000 hrs. See Jan Pix.
21 & 23 Jan 08. Dull.
	Not sanding, no sanding is fun! The last coat of primer has been sanded smooth and dull.
15,16, & 17 Jan 08. OK, what do we do after we paint?
	I know we've had this question before. That's right, we sand! Sanded the hull sides and the aft port deck.
11 Jan 08. Paint.
	Got the last round of primer paint on the boat today. Other then the mixing mishap all went on well.
3,4,5,9 & 10 Jan 08. You guessed it, sanding!
	Finally the primer is all sanded and cleaned. We have masked off the bottom and are ready for the final coats of primer. See Jan Pix.
30 Dec 07. Sanding.
	I have been sanding the last primer coat as I have had time. Today got 3 hours free and sanded the portside decks and shear.
10 Dec 07. There goes another gallon of primer.
	Covered the decks/topsides with 2 coats of primer. This is a different brand of epoxy paint and for an "off white" color it is more tan then white.
05 Dec 07. Done with that.
	This is a shot of the last section of primer that was sanded. It's done and ready for more primer.
04 Dec 07. Still sanding.
	Continued with sanding primer. Got the foredeck and cabin top sanded. When I got bored with sanding I cut the slots on the carbon chainplates. See Dec Pix.
30 Nov 07. Sanding in the rain.
	Big rain storm in Phoenix today, with a total rain fall forecast to be 2". We have not have this much rain from a single storm in over 4 years. Completed the fairing of the chainplates on the hull sides. Then continued with sanding the primer on the topsides.
18 Nov 07. More fairing.
	Got the fairing on the chain plate area mostly faired. Then added a bit of touch up compound for the last little bit.
12 Nov 07. Fairing continues.
	Over the last couple of weeks, as I have had time, I've continued with fairing in the carbon chainplates. Added more compound to both sides and have sanded both to a rough fair.

Photo Gallery News & Progress Part 4