December 31, 2005


For Evan - for the days when he wonders why...



Up in the bridgedeck cabin. Visualize if you will comfortable seating for 6, a chart table, and a wet locker/closet.


Looking down from the bridgedeck cabin into the port hull. The head is through the arched doorway and Maia's cabin is aft of Evan. The area he is working in will be Maia's school area.



From the galley looking forward in the starboard hull - currently the settee area/rubbish heap but imagine it as a future cabin for Ev and I. Aft of the future gourmet galley is the starboard guest cabin.


The view from the port hull, across the cabin, looking to the starboard hull. Spacious, modern, carbon-nomex comfort to come.



The view from the starboard hull looking across to the port hull.


Some day we will call all this home...



December 14, 2005


Absolutely nothing to do with the boat, but I liked this photo I took of a foggy Vancouver from midway up Cypress Mt.

December 12, 2005

Not much to report on the boat building side of things - I was in Baltimore last weekend and this past weekend we went to Port Townsend, WA to buy some materials. A long day of driving and ferry lineups but it was worth it.

Another multihull boat builder had a shipping container full of surplus aircraft carbon fiber/Nomex cored panels. These were "scrap" in the aircraft industry but fine for boats. His boat is a work of art but it's taken him 9 long years to get to where it is nearing completion. Anyway, he had a bunch more panels than he needed and I kindly offered to take them off his hands for what seems like not enough money. He was super generous and was glad to see them go to a good home; and I gave him all the cash we had brought.

Now if I can just convince Di that an all black carbon fiber saloon seating would look really cool....

November 24, 2005

Ceilydh's Particulars and other stuff that boat owners might find interesting

Length Overall 40'
Beam 23'
Draft about 2'4" with daggerboards up, about 5' - 6' when down
(haven't got around to checking)
Weight 4 tonnes (empty)
Displacement ~6 tonnes (full up)
Sail Area 877 square feet (main + genoa)
Rig traditional cutter

Water 2 x 40 gallons
Fuel 1 x 27 gallons diesel, 1 x 6 gallons gas

Motors Yanmar 3GM30, 27 HP diesel in port hull
17" Autostream 3 bladed feathering prop
Yamaha 9.9 High Thrust 4 stroke outboard against the starboard hull on the aft beam (the docking motor/auxiliary auxiliary motor)
Motoring speed ~5 knots with one Yamaha 9.9,
~7.5 knots when we had two of them,
probably about 7+ knots with the Yanmar but only had it running once back from the shipyard and the pitch was wrong (4 knots @ 1000 RPM)

Sailing Speed quite quick. Top speed reaching so far is 15.4 knots but have hit 11 knots
very often. Faster than typical condo cats :)

Anchors 33# Aluminum spade, 22# Danforth, Fortress FX-37
Rode 5/16" chain x 80-100' + 5/8" double braid on the primary anchor. Still trying to decide how little chain I can get away with for South Pacific cruising

November 19, 2005

It's been a busy weekend. Diane and Maia are visiting cousins, great-grandmother, aunt, and grandmother on Vancouver Island. That leaves me free to stay up late, work extra hours on the boat, and make some progress.

So... the deck over the hulls has been cut away on both sides now and it appears super roomy (until all the main saloon furnishing go in). All the inside seam taping is just about done. Tomorrow will finish it off. Then I either start bogging the inside seams or build a nice carbon fiber transverse beam across the saloon roof. Probably do the beam first since it will cover up some areas that will otherwise be bogged.

The inside finish of the saloon will be painted in a mat or satin white paint (no lining like "gerbil fur" carpeting). This saves weight & cost and is simple but it does mean a bit more fairing. Having a non-glossy paint hides a lot more than the exterior, which will be glossy like shiny new car glossy.

I've got one little damp spot that keeps coming back - I suspect a pinhole leak from the gutter just aft of the aft cabin bulkhead. Will try to isolate the source with some water and food colouring tomorrow.

N.B. A Saloon is the part of the boat where you go to sit down, have a few too many drinks, smoke and generally misbehave. A Salon is where women go to get there hair done. There ain't one on a boat.

- Evan

November 13, 2005



A badly done composite image of the starboard hull. I hate digital cameras that have a 38mm equivalent "wide angle" lens.

The deck above the hull, inside the cabin, has been cut away so you can see down into the hull rather well. This won't last forever as there will be a refrigerator forward and a chart table midships that will block the view. There will still be 9' of headroom in the hull under the cutout though!

Lots of nasty grinding to smooth out the join between deck and cabin side. After I took this shot I spent about 1/2 hour vacuuming the dust.

I have about 1 gallon or less epoxy left, from my original 55 gallon drum + 15 gallons of hardener. Time to order some more!

-Evan

October 23, 2005






We haven't updated for a bit but progress is continuing. All the side windows are installed, most of the seams are taped and the cabin is now more or less waterproof. Evan spent more than a few demoralizing days bailing the port hull and trying to figure out where all the gallons of water were coming from. Eventually he discovered that one of the original ports had it's seal broken during the deconstruction phase and water was pouring in.

September 15, 2005



We are at the stage where nothing dramatic will happen for a while. The windows will go in over the next week or so, then a door, then it will be time to sand and fair - again and again. I guess we will just work away at it then suddenly it will be time to rebuild the interior, and sew curtains. I like making curtains. We did buy the oven though! I've told Evan he is now formally banned from ebay until we rebuild our savings. He has to use up/install everything else he bought first.

I have a story out in the September Pacific Yachting which is nice to look at when the work gets me down and I would rather be sailing. It all has a purpose.

September 7, 2005

The taping of external seams on the cabin is going well. All of them are done with the exception of the new little overhanging lip I added above the cabin door. Last rainfall only dumped a few cups of water in the boat, probably through one window.

This coming weekend we'll visit the boat with some black construction paper and try to finalize the shape of the side windows. I'm looking forward to putting in the windows (using a high tech silicone glazing material without screws) and a door, making the boat watertight for winter.

Then it will be time to fair the external seams a bit before painting the outside of the cabin. Hope to get it done before fall rains hit in earnest.

Evan