After 3 days of hard labour (and the tiniest over-stressed freak out by me) the boat was ready for Maia's party...

It finally feels like a home. Could be because there is no scratchy fibreglass dust clinging to every surface. But I think it's because we were able to host 20 kids and their families and still feel sane at the end.

Honey, Maia's going away party is in 3 days you know?

yup, 3 days...

Our rig - to help answer a question on the SSCA board

Exciting Plumbing photos for all our fans out there




The propane on demand hot water heater
The "long drop" gravity discharge holding tank. Diane insists that such vulgarity as actually seeing your own excrement drop into the tank is simply "not done" and wants to fit a nice curtain around it.


Evan takes apart a perfectly good Spectra watermaker, with automated timer, automated fresh water flushing, automated salinity detector and more relays, solenoid valves etc. than Chernobyl. He replaces all this with a few extra manual valves and little handheld TDS meter you put under a spigot to test the water. This is the same sort of system as the Volvo RTW race boats use - nothing electrical or electronic to go wrong. Except about 70 pipe joints....

More work in progress:

Little lockers at the head of our berth. You know, things you might like when you get up in the morning. Di informs me it will be for jewelry and the like. Oh well.



Radar display, fan, stereo. It's nice to have music when I'm working - but when you're painting for 2-1/2 hrs, it's hard to change a CD! Must get that iPod hooked up soon.

I also have the stereo installed w. outdoor speakers under the stern arch. But they are 8 ohm impedance and not as loud as the 4 ohm car type in the cabin. Still nice to have tunes inside and out - and not have to worry about kicking the cord of the boom box out of the power bar all the time.

Solar panels added to the stern arch. 375 watts of 'em. Woo hoo. That should run a fan or two.

Ikea Locker Bins

Maia's bedroom built in custom furniture - bins from Ikea. Not too classy in the world of raised panel yacht joinerwork, but easy to clean, super lightweight and cheap. And you can swap the coloured bins around when the mood strikes.

Ah, a new windlass is installed. Got to take a picture before it gets all scratched up and dirty. The deck is rather mossy, though, isn't it?

Stern Arch with GV10 Dinghy from www.bateau2.com (I design these as a sideline)

The new fiberglass ladder/carbon windsurfing mast arch. Going to be used for solar panels and hanging the dinghy under (like davits). Uh, we're going to paint the ladder :)


Tubing joint detail up close. The joint is made with thin strips of carbon uni wrapping around both tubes like a lashing or a bandage. Then peel ply and overlapping layers of electrical tape inside out



I bought a few charts.... about 1000. That's not all of them. The total stack is about 4' high and about 500 lbs at least. It filled the car trunk, the entire back seat and front passenger seat. Took hours to move it was so heavy.