The GV10 is my design that is for sale at www.bateau.com. I've designed a number of stitch and glue boats for that site, and the owner Jacques has done many more. Check it out sometime.

The outside seams are done; another 3-1/2 hours. Total time is 14-3/4 hours. The temperatures in my friend's garage are rather cold - epoxy put on one night is still quite sticky the next night.

Galley Progress

The galley is coming along very nicely. The port side is the more challenging; the counter has an angled bend at the fwd. end, and the fridge had to be built in, and chart table above.

The fridge was built using an old refrigerator liner and insulated all around with 6" of extruded polystyrene. (The pink stuff). Polyurethane foam has a better R value (about 20% better) but over time it absorbs water from condensation very easily and loses insulative value.

In the picture the lockers above the counter will have hinged doors, the ones immediately below will be sliding plexiglass ones, and the lowest ones are open veggie bin lockers (like for potatoes and onions).

Oh Bugger!

We went down to the boat this weekend to sort out some interior details. A neighbor of the dock owner told us the bad news that another boat on the dock had come undone during the high winds we've been having recently. The other boat sat across our bows for a few minutes. Bashed in the foam false bows, ripped off the anchor roller, and really busted the forward cross beam.

We have lots of structure left so the boat isn't going to fall apart but it's going a mean a trip to the shipyard to get damage that is near the waterline fixed properly. Insurance should cover everything but it's a pain to have this happen...

We have paint.
(ta-dah!)

We now have some primer on the cabin. It looks much better than I had thought, now that the fairing compound is all covered up. Lots of little pinholes, a few areas where it isn't very fair, but overall I'm quite pleased. It also decreases the "visual bulkiness" of the cabin to have it painted.

Today I was sanding the primer. Nice high build epoxy, but it's hard stuff. I'm using 150 grit and it eats discs pretty fast. But it's very smooooth when you do sand it. Very nice tactile feel on the rounded corners. Thank god I don't have to sand the whole cabin top (which will be non skid) because it's half the surface area of the whole cabin.

The cockpit shot here has the battery box/see over the cabin step/bench seat shown.

Finally the adjoining boat is out of its slip and I got this good shot of the boat with windows in place. Fairing is coming along well and I hope to paint in about 1 month... (famous last words)

Windows, windows, windows...

The view...

So how should we paint her? Stylized waves running down the hull? Something more abstract? It is never too early to think about painting - especially if you have an extreme negative reation to the thought of living on a blue and white boat. In searching for inspiration Ev found me some boat owners who think like me. Go to their photos page and click on May's "Pimp My Ride."

ONE YEAR LATER

It’s been a year since we hauled out and chopped up the boat. Progress has been steady and expensive (but thanks to ebay we're still below budget.)

Ev is taking the week off to work on the boat and I gave up the glamour of the writing life for a few days and got dusty and dirty too.

We decided that our goal of being sailable by September was stupid. The boat may be ready to go out by then, but the amount of work needed to clean her up and drag all of our belongings out of the lockers and bilges makes the idea very unappealing. I would rather go hiking - and save unpacking and cleaning the boat until it is completely finished.

We are also rapidly moving into detail work. There are very few large holes left to chop in the boat - so after the hatches are in it is time to work on the finishing details. Ev’s been fairing for weeks and looks forward to painting the cabin. I want to make curtains but I think installing the scuba compressor (yay! Ev came up with an ideal place), hooking up the engine, redoing the rigging, building a table, ripping out the galley etc need to come first. Ev suggested the fun home project of building an 18' sea anchor to ward off writer's block though...

Windows Windows!

We have windows. And hatches. After agonizing over the shape we drew them on yesterday and made the cut. It sure changes her appearance. Ev and I will attach the windows this weekend. The view from the forward salon seats is awesome.

More GV10 dinghy progress. Glassed inside hull and frame seams last night. Another 4-1/2 hours of work. It was really hard on my back - because the hull is on the floor and I have to bend over to get at the inside seams. This is the hardest part of stitch and glue boat building for me.

Total time spent: 11-1/4 hours. Going fast so far.