I have been shopping.

I have been away for the week in the motorhome.  On my travels I picked up some goodies for the boat.

B&Q are revamping their lighting dept. and are clearing out old stock.  This was exactly what I wanted so I picked up 43 light fittings for £45 with 240v bulbs.  These will be replaced with 12v LED's.  

My local B&Q didn't have enough of them so I rang customer services and found what I needed at a store 95miles from home, but right on the first leg of or trip needing only a 5 mile detour of the main route.

I also picked up some 12v recessed mini LED lights that will be used under the gunwale for mood lighting for £15 for a string of 10 inc. a transformer. 

I also picked up a Whale Gulper 220 and a Jabsco domestic supply pump.

 

Kitchen Agreed

After a great deal of debate and reasoned argument between me and my wife, its been agreed the kitchen will go at the rear of the boat now.  It was originally planned for midships.

I am having a week away from the project in the Motorhome with my wife and dogs.  I need a break from it.  We plan on visiting Brighton and Bath, then for the last few days we will go to out NB to close it up for the winter.  Having said that I hope to do a bit of winter cruising, but best to drain down just in case.  We've already had a frost this year.

When I get back the engine and bow thruster will be ready for delivery :-)  I don't need them yet but decided it was better to get them paid for before the VAT goes up in the new year.  On that note there are some other expensive things I need to get sorted out.

Another Tricky Shaped Panel

The last front chine panels are an even more curved shape than the rear swim ones.  A template was necessary.  Last time I made one out of hard board but this was time consuming so I decided to try wallpaper.  It worked a treat.

 

Portside being templated

See how curved it is in different direction

Starboard side fitted

So apart from the front and rear bulkheads which will be done later, the lining is done.  That made short work of 27 sheets of ply.  I have loads of offcuts though.

You will notice one of the windows is out.  This is so the oak window surrounds can be made so they needed a window frame as a template.

Below Gunwale Cladding

Today I clad below gunwale on most of the boat, I still have the last lower parts at the front to do as they are curved like the back  part I did last week, and need special shaping.  

I have only fixed them in place with a couple of screws each as they need to come of as I fit service pipes and wiring.  Although the precut sheets were stacked vertically, I am surprised just how much room there now is with them fixed in place, either that or the cladding has opened out.  Feels like progress again after the hold up last week.

Topside Cabin Cladding

After a short delay which I won't go into, I have spent the last couple of days cutting and fixing the topside cabin cladding.

Now I've done this I will be ordering the window trims.

I think I have finally found the product to finish coat the ply as I have seen on other boats. I have a test pot which I am going to have a ply with soon.  Seems its not a paint, its a pigmented lacquer.  I will post the results.  My experiments with various paints has been a bit disappointing.

Where Does The Time Go? & Internal Cladding Started

Where does the time go when you are building a boat?  Well here's an inkling.  The bit of ply in the photo below took me 2 hours to work out the shape.  I used a piece of hardboard to template it.  It don't look much, and when its looked at it isn't.  The shape is curved top and bottom but the top needs to be flat with the baton line to accept a flat topping.  Took me a bit of working out.  Certainly didn't look right but putting a small bit of ply on top confirmed the shape was right.  Still the one for the other side will be only a matter of minutes.

With the help of my 75y/o mum, I sawed up the sheets of ply for the side cladding this afternoon.  She is amasing for her age and was just the help I needed.

I've started cladding the port side.  I have devised a method for cutting the window holes.  This involves offering the sheet up, then with the glass out, marking some datum lines from the outside for the template to line up to.

The notches in the template line up with the datum lines

Hey Presto! 3 sheets up

Rear Doors

I'm still experimenting with surface finishes to the ply.  So far I haven't been able to match the finish I have seen in boats such as Northwhich Boats.  I will keep playing.  I will solve it.

I've also been tackling the leaking port fuel tank.  I am getting there, but still have to do it under pressure.  20kPa (3psi)

On a more positive note I fitted the rear doors today.  I've had these since last week but the weather hasn't been favorable for outside welding.

Just need the weather to do its thing on the surface ready for priming.  The hatch lid has been exposed for about 6 weeks now and still only has a surface rust bloom on it.

Started The Wiring

I have made a start on the wiring.  So far I have used nearly 100m and thats just for the lighting.

 

Each zone will have its own fuse.  Lounge, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom.  I have also put the wiring in for the Nav lights.

There's More To Ply Than Meets The Eye

I have been looking at which ply to use for the internal cladding.  Now you would think like I did to start with this would be a simple trip to the builders merchants......... No.

As the ply will take the decorative paint finish for the contemporary design we are going for it was important to me to get the 30 sheets of ply as near perfect as possible.  For me this was, excellent surface finish, consistent grain structure, no filler, no plugs, no telegraphing (lines where under laminates show through).  

Initially I thought this would be long grain Birch ply.  But I couldn't source a supply that would let me hand pick 30 sheets and I was told under British Standards even BB grade Birch ply could still have filler and plugs and at £26 a sheet I thought that sucked.  So much for customer service!

After a bit of Yell.com I took myself off to reasonably a local wholesale timber merchants that have HUGE stocks of all sorts of sheet materials as well as timber.   Their stores are aircraft hangers.  I told the sales desk what I was after and they directed me to a pile of ply from Malaysia.  It was perfect it met all my requirements and they were happy for me to hand pick the sheets, even providing me with help.  I found the 30 sheets I wanted out of a first batch of 52.  Best of all it was only £14.45 a sheet.  The surface laminate is quite thin, but will take a light sanding ready for the paint.

I also got a sheet of crown cut oak faced ply to play with surface finishes. I am thinking Briwax. Thats the sheet over the left.