Laminating the tiller

 A few days ago we went in a sawmill to look for the right piece of softwood to build the tiller. We bought one plank of the so called "abete netto" which translates in "clean fir". We preferred to laminate two layers because solid wood is subject to warping. This plank is 4 m x 20 cm x 25 mm. We first cut two pieces long 2 m each, we selected the cleanest and ripped it lenghtwise obtainig two planks of 2 m x 10 cm x 25mm, and then laminated those with epoxy resin charged with microfibers and silica. 

The tiller is 1.65 m long and almost 4 cm thick. Unfortunately, starting next monday, we will be in strict lockdown again...

Total work time to date: 746 hours

Cockpit porthole

One our of work (the shop is slowly getting warmer) today to cut the recommended porthole in the cockpit. Interestingly, when the drill finished going through the 12 mm plywood of the cockpit floor, there was a hiss for several seconds due to the different pressure between the sealed part of the boat and the exterior. For sure, this boat IS watertight!

Total work time to date: 745 hours

Vaka hull turned

After a long interruption due to miserable weather, we were finally able to turn the vaka hull rightside up for painting deck and cockpit.

 We then cleaned the shop and put the boat in again. 

Total work time to date: 744 hours

Vaka hull painting completed

 Today we removed the masking tape and the plastic sheets protecting the graphite bottom.

Vaka hull: second coat of enamel

Two hours of work today to give the vaka hull the second coat of enamel. We first gave the hull a light scrub with 240 grit sandpaper and then cleaned the dust.

We will wait for the paint to dry and turn the hull rightside up for painting deck and cockpit. 

Total work time to date: 743 hours
 

Vaka hull: first coat of enamel

 3 hours of work today to give the hull a first coat of paint.

We started giving a light scuff with 240 grit to the primer, and removed the dust with an anti static cloth.

 Then we prepared almost 0.6 liters of Boero Altura TC one part polyurethane paint diluted about 7% with Boero 703 thinner, and painted with a short hair roll

In the past weeks we had made repairs to the misterious defective spots in the primed surface, by sanding and recoating. This will remain a mistery.

Total work time to date: 741 hours

Vaka hull: second coat of primer

 Two hours today for the second coat of primer:

We noticed a very strange effect when coating the port side of the hull which we cannot explain: we will sand it when dry and recoat it

Total work time to date: 737 hours