Month: June 2021

Painting done, very pleased. Time for some fun dry fitting. Put in all the through hulls, sink outlet, sea water in for sink tap, toilet waster and toilet sea water in. Also did the speed / depth transducer. All holes cut slightly oversized then filled with epoxy then core drilled to correct size. No ply exposed, all protected by 1mm of epoxy.

The bilge pumps and hose went in, whale subs, low profile and have a good inbuilt water sensor to activate. I’ve exited both into the cockpit. One is in the forward cabin, the other in the main cabin. I’ve installed a manual bilge pump in the cockpit that will drain the main cabin.

The battery boxes are in, one each side in the waterproof lockers under the bunk sides. I’ll run cables in a plastic tube across the floor shortly. Not put any electical cables in yet.

I fitted all the 3 switch panels and 2 battery monitors plus the VHF/AIS and a small stereo, mainly for the radio and some music, couple speakers. Whilst working out the switches I would need it was more than I thought! I wanted to make sure I future proofed it, as adding a new panel next year would be more hassle than having 6 spare switches now.

The sink and taps are in, will secure them permanently next week, they look fine. Need to add some laminated wood around the chart table and galley. I chose a jet boil for my cooking needs. On the gimbal it will swing around without obstruction. Plus you can detact the cooker and on a tripod use it on the galley surface to heat a frying pan when on the anchor / marina. I could not fit in a proper stove and the sink. The white recessed mini sink is just a secure place to put water bottles and the jet boil cup when adding food to it without it tipping over.

Got some cushions in a month or so coming. Must deviate from white and choose a colour, probably grey.

The 600×600 hatch went in for the main bulkhead. It’s huge, but needs to be that size to get through with any degree of ease. I put some hand holds in either side of the bulkhead, seem to work well. The headroom is a bit limited, but fine really.

The Gebo hatch is a great bit of kit, good price and top quality. The stays are really easy to use and effective.

Really enjoyed this part. Next it’s time to run the cabling and get the deck on.

HPE High Build Epoxy Primer. This was my choice for the inside paint job, cabin, cockpit lockers and basically everywhere inside. It is a really good protector of the marine ply. Everything had one or two coats of regular epoxy then 3 to 5 coats of the HPE.

The HPE needed gentle sand back after each coat, does give a nice smooth finish, albeit 10’s of hours. It seems a bit prone to marking by say black soled shoes. Nothing I can do now, maybe next year put some other paint on the inside if it scuffs too much. The HPE only goes super hard after 10 days so see how it plays out.

I must say the painting with rollers and full face mask and suit was hot work and took a long time. Glad that bit is over. It does look very white now. Leaves a satin finish. Might have to do a few bits grey to mix it up a bit.

Someone advise me to us these mirka sanding pads with a foam back. 200 pads for £25, these are magic. Flexi pads. For getting into the corners they really work well and leave a great finish. P150 was my choice.