Do I have heroes?

I began sailing at age 12 years and have carried the interest ever since. After raising babies when my sailing was limited to off the beach type craft, my interest was stirred by reading about Mingming and more recently Mingming II. Here she is, all 23 feet of her, returning from her first voyage into the Arctic Circle, junk rigged, engineless, liferaft-less, with the understated Roger D. Taylor at the helm. 

           MINGMING II

"The voyage (from Whitehills to Kong Karl's Land at 79 deg. North) was 55 days long, and noon-to-noon positions totalled 3332 nautical miles. Mingming II was a delight to sail; quick, easily handled and relatively comfortable".

MM II can be described as a 23' GRP wreck that was refurbished cheaply & in the most basic fashion, albeit to the highest standards of seaworthiness. She has a recycled lamppost as a mast. 

Rear Side Panels

I've just cut up a perfectly good sheet of 12mm Marine Ply! The stingy, frugal side of me was very nervous about stuffing up the measurements for the Rear Side Panels. Both are made from the same sheet & they come within millimetres of one another so a misjudgement could lead to tossing away $120 bit of firewood. 

But it went okay thanks to some useful advice in the Paradox Builder's Guide. The advice, to mark both sides of the sheet while marking out, was aimed at having reference points on both sides of the sheet in order to make assembly easier. I found that marking both sides of the sheet acted as a blind test that the marking out was correct. Once the marks on each side of the sheet were cross checked, I felt a whole lot more comfortable attacking the cuts with a sabre saw. 

The only advice I would offer with marking out is to take your time; mark off twice & cut once was too cautious for my liking. I marked out & double checked twice over! Another tip when marking off curves is to put tacks into each strategic point on the curve to hold your batten against. This gives a nice fat curve, just make sure you pencil in on the same side as the tacks... 

Look, there are some tricky measurements on the Sides that you need to mull over before marking out. Basically. Apart from the scarf edge & the a Transom edge, both sides end up curved. Use the edge of the sheet as a reference to mark your Datum, I did my datum 28mm in from the edge, The Book suggests 50mm but I couldn't follow that reasoning. In metric countries, like Australia, the plywood sheets are actually smaller than in Imperial Countries, so a 50mm datum may produce only firewood. Don't rush it!

"The Book" also advises to cut 3mm outside each mark. This is excellent advice which I took & was glad I did. Back a few years before sabre saws boatbuilders used jigsaws, a lightweight version with blade width a maximum of 6mm. These skinny blades would wander to over 20mm offline on the underside of the cut if the blade was dull, the wood grainy & tough or thicker than usual. Of all my boatbuilding tools I had the least  confidence with the jigsaw. Nowadays, the sabre saw is way better, but it can still roam so give yourself a fighting chance, take 3mm less first up. 

Okay sides cut, I clamped them together for sanding. This saved time, but ensured I had to of the same Sides, the idea of having an asymmetrical sailing boat freaks me out. Imagine having to hold the tiller to port all the time? Okay if you want to circumnavigate islands by the right all the time I suppose. 

 TWO REAR SIDES BEING SANDED AS ONE

Finish Sanding & Sealing Bulkheads

Back at it today, my Mach II Bulkhead 4 is completed & just needs sealing. Sealing, for me, means giving both faces two coats of thinned epoxy resin. I reckon a few hours work, with drying times in between, are all that's needed to complete this part of the build.

Here you see my pile of four bulkheads (B4 on top - not sealed) & transom. My Plans book is there too, I just printed everything on recycled A4 paper & wallow in the "Apple-like simplicity" of this build.

What you may not see is that these parts are made from 15mm ply instead of 12mm. I found all the locally available construction grade 12mm ply to be warped. On the hull's Side Panels I am going for Marine Ply because I reckon that being in contact with the sea & being susceptible to damage, I prefer that luxury. I'd have to say though, apart from a fluffy surface, I am pleased with the quality of construction grade. If it's soaked in epoxy inside & out, I can't really see the need for marine grade. You'll make up your own mind, that is, what your fear of the sea demands & your pocket allows. Each to his or her own, as long as you're building or sailing who cares?

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Bulkhead 4 Mach II.

Owing to the fact that I erred when marking out Bulkhead 4 first time around, I had to make another one today. It's pretty amazing really, given how many hours it took to do the first one, I've now all but completed its replacement, cleats, floor & all, in just one afternoon. 

Gets me thinking ... you could load up the fridge with frozen lasagna or pasta, pats & powdered milk, put everything else in your life on hold, & work around the clock of a Paradox build. I reckon it could be done in weeks! It would have to be inside, with all the materials laid on. If could be done. I'd like to have a crack at it. 

Anyway, right now, all my Bulkheads & Transom are complete, & they've mostly had at least one cost of epoxy. Now, I am ready for the Side Panels, marking out, scarfing & so on.  

Deck beams & bulkheads!

Still going, though beginning to do the sealing up bit too. I have Bulkheads 1, 2 & 3 as well as the Transom all assembled, beveled & sealed on one side. Bulkhead 4 will be a complete rebuild because I made a mistake adding up while lofting. 

I am super happy with BOTE Cote epoxy at each stage, it glues well & with the Preservative added to the base coat it seems to penetrate the plywood quite nicely. Oh, by the way, for those considering using Construction Grade Plywood; the reason given against using this grade is the number of voids. Phooey, I've seen next to none certainly no more than Marine Ply. So with the ply sealed with epoxy, what's the problem? 

Good to see flooding rains gone which we had over the last two weeks. First day's sun today for soo long.