Even Keel

Since the last post lots has been going on. Starting with the delivery of 630kg of lead keel which was fettled such that it had a flat top to marry up to the deadwood as it was rather wavy when it arrived. The hull was then raised on boat legs and the keel manoeuvred into place and bolted on. All was then faired (keel and deadwood) and then sheathed in epoxy and fibreglass and then primer. Then D returned to the interior and has manfully started varnishing and sanding and varnishing again. We are using a slightly satin finish varnish which is looking good. And now the foredeck is going on and the cockpit structure is being worked on. D is also working out what skin fittings will be needed. And in the middle of this we had a visit from the prospective builder of G138 which was nice. I will shortly be starting on the above deck rigging items. I am starting to compile the list of what will be needed and we have ordered the berth cushions.

Photos

Below is the keel as deliverd



Here is the keel in the process of being flattened on top
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And here it is finished



And here is the device used to winch the keel under the hull using short pieces of scaffolding pole to roll it over. The made the job quite straightforward and better still no one got bits trapped under a large lump of lead.




Here is the keel positioned under the hull.

Here the deadwood is completed

Deadwood at the aft end of the keel

 

Here is the keel enclosed in fibreglass and with a coat of primer.




Here is the ply layer of the deck going on the bow section

 

Bye for now.

 

 

Time flies....

I have no idea where the beginning of 2016 has gone. I can only apologise to my followers for the lack of updates. It's not that I haven't been taking photos.. anyway enough of that let's get on with the interesting stuff that you come here for !

The forepeak is now fitted out and ready for varnishing, the fiddly bits of trim are going into the main saloon and D has started to bury his head in catalogs of 'boring bits' - various electricals, pumps, tanks and all the other stuff I know I ought to take more interest in but can't summon the enthusiasm for.... now give me a bit a rope..... Oh yes and a keel is allegedly on its way to us at some point. Watch this space.

A view from bow to stern shortly after turning over

A view of the galley and nav areas

The forward bulkhead and trotter boxes and the big deck beam

The aft deck supports

Cockpit side deckbeams 

On a roll

Another milestone reached today as we managed to round up enough friends to turn the hull the right way up. The manoeuvre involved removing the hull from the 'shed', resting one side on trestles and lowering the other down onto an old mattress, then setting up a restraining rope through the keel bolt holes and attached to an obliging tree via a block and tackle. The hull was then pushed over and shuffled a bit and carefully lowered onto the deadwood. Ropes placed underneath were then used to lift the boat back into the shed where the old building frame was taken out and new supports put in. It all went pretty smoothly with nine people involved. We know it has been done with six people but eight to ten makes it quite easy. The team the retired for beers and lunch.  Here are the photographs. Oh also this week, the engine arrived. It won't be going in for a while but it is a tight fit and having it in the shed will allow D to take measurements off it as he starts the fit out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Just Right'

Lots has happened since Christmas, starting with a lovely pile of bronze fittings arriving courtesy of Classic Marine. They are, starting from centre top and going clockwise, tabernacle, gaff saddle, stem fitting (more of that later), goose neck, mast band and bow fitting. A helpful hint we received was to get the fittings and then make the parts to fit due to tolerances not necessarily being perfect.

You may have noticed that the stem fitting is not as shiny as the other fittings as this is a 'pre-owned' item and in fact came from 'Just Right' the Golant Gaffer adapted and built by Gus Davidson and sailed in the 2010 Jester Challenge in aid of the Macmillan Cancer Charity http://www.boatshed.com/transatlantic-for-macmillan-cancer-support-blog-3704.html. Although 'Just Right' didn't complete the full transatlantic she got to the Azores and back 
We understand Gus recycled his boat and we are the happy beneficiaries of his well travelled stem fitting. I rather like the idea of having a bit of Golant Gaffer history incorporated into our boat.

The other job completed over the Christmas break was two coats of primer (Nautix HPE epoxy primer) on the hull which was quite quick and straight forward with D applying paint with a roller and me tipping in with a foam brush. 

D has also been manfully sanding the inside of the hull which is rather cramped but done in short burst is not too bad.

Then D turned his attention to the mast, and here is a bit that he made earlier which graced my kitchen for a while !

Then for the real thing. The timber  was scarfed into long enough lengths and cut to shape.

This is where you need space twice the length of the mast to run it through the saw.

Then the pieces are glued together with epoxy and cable ties hold the pieces in place.

And finally, the mast is planed to final shape and size.

The mast is hollow and contains a plastic conduit into which the electrics will run.

 

 

One year on.....

Christmas always seems to be a time for reflection. Technically it is the first birthday of Golant Gaffer 134 in the sense that it was Christmas day last year that we sat down to work out what it would take to build a boat of our own and decided that we would. We had admired our friend's boat for a while, got to see her in more detail when we both took our boats to Holland last Summer and had pondered since our return of the possibility of building one ourselves. Events had conspired to delay our Christmas celebrations last year which left us with time on our hands on the day itself and it seemed an ideal opportunity to finally decide or let go. One year on where are we ?

Well the hull is built, sheathed and sanded. The waterline is in place (the prescribed technique is epoxying a piece of string along the waterline - nothing over technical there then ! see photo). D has been working out how best to construct the mast and we have sought a quote on the timber. We are after spar grade Douglas Fir and are thinking of using the bird's tooth construction for the mast as it is more economical on timber and should result in a strong mast that is a bit lighter and allows for wiring down the centre. Below is a diagram of a cross section of masts showing different types of bird's tooth construction. We are going for the one on the right.

We have also started the process of ordering some of the fittings. We were advised to order the fittings and then make the relevant parts to fit given slightly variable tolerances so we have. Also on the horizon is the ordering of the 650kg of lead keel. Whilst others have told us they have cast their own, we have decided to leave it to the experts and have it cast and delivered ready to go which avoids us having to heat up a bathtub of lead in the back garden.

In terms of the blog, I finally found time to work out whether I could enable followers to subscribe and I checked today and found I have two. Welcome both of you !  That's it for now. Happy Christmas everyone.



Sheathed and sanded hull

Waterline marked with string applied to the hull with epoxy. It will get tidied up when dry.

Epoxy party

The time has come to sheath the hull. Earlier this week, D coated the bare hull in a layer of epoxy and when dry, keyed it ready for applying two layers of fibreglass matting. It was our good fortune to have an offer of assistance and it was a long day for two people cutting the matting and laying it in strips down the hull and then carefully coating it with epoxy so that it was completely wetted out with no dry spots. This exercise took a good day to put two layers on one side of the hull.

Curisoity....

Well curiosity got the better of some of our sailing friends and we have had visitors this week who have come to view progress, offer helpful advice and in one case wield a moisture meter. Why's that ? you ask. We were are at the stage where the lovely cedar strip hull gets covered with fibreglass, yes I know... but that's the way it is with a Golant Gaffer. The moisture meter was very helpful and determined that whilst the cedar strip is lovely and dry, the iroko deadwood is holding a bit too much moisture so discussions with a well known yacht surveyor resulted in a plan to sheath the hull upto the deadwood, turn the hull and sheath the keel and deadwood when the iroko has dried out a bit.... well that's the plan anyway.  Oh yes and the transom has had a sealing cote of epoxy. I will add a picture when I have taken one.....