Who Needs a Gym…

When you’re building a boat?

Bad weather for most of the weekend kept progress to a minimum. The first iako was covered in glue from the laminating and I anticipated that there would be a lot of sanding to get back to bare wood. And unfortunately sanding needs to be done outside, in the rain. Not a recommended activity with power tools!

But I did manage to laminate my second iako, which was a good thing because by Sunday afternoon it was dry enough to work on it.

Sunday morning we went to French bay out past Blockhouse bay, the weather had cleared up and it was promising to be a good day. That was until we loaded everyone into the car. With a few warning drops, we got a sudden down pour! Luckily I was able to shout a warning to Cecile and she got inside the car in time. There went my day.

French bay is one of these lovely forgotten bays that dot the Manukau Harbour, the tide was in and there were ducks and seagulls on the water. Nicolas was in heaven! Every month the French Bay Yacht Club hosts a French market which we had to check out. Alas the market was small with not much of a selection. That said, Cecile still managed to buy some sausage and mustard along with the obligatory pastries.

Back at home the weather was still hit and miss, so I thought I might as well see if I can use a plane to get this glue off. As you can see it worked well and it was a nice physical job to warm me up.

After I’d finished with the plane I risked the rain and took them outside with the orbital sander. I managed to get one finished before the rain started to threaten once more.

So at the end of week twenty six I have two nearly finished iakos. This week I’ll get the wood to make the boom, rudder % lee board. I’ll also order the styrofoam to make the ama. I’ll also need to make some time in the evenings to clear up my work space to cut the ama template.

Over all I’m happy with the way the iakos have turned out.

Wrapped up in a Blanket

Sanding and more sanding. Took her out on the drive again on Saturday and sanded the gunwales and decks to remove some of the rough edges. I was planing to glue the seats in that day but in a moment of clarity I realised that it will be much easier to paint the inside without them in the way.

So with that decision made I decided that my work on the main hull was done for now and it was time to move her out of the garage. Cecile was so excited at the prospect of the hull going outside that she even helped lift it off the strong back and carry her to her new location.

Nico helped me unfold and spread out the tarpaulin so that she remains protected from the rain and sun.

Once I have finished the iakos and the ama I will finish them and the hull off with a coat of paint and installing all the fittings.

Unfortunately for Cecile, the strong back will stay in the garage a little bit longer, I need it to laminate the iakos and hold the ama.

Sunday I got the first iako done, I had hoped to be able to do two in one day but low and behold I didn’t have enough clamps!

I’m glad I didn’t even try as doing one was a bigger job than I expected. Because the iakos take a lot of strain I wanted to be especially sure that the laminates were strong, so before applying a coat of glue, I first wet each side with epoxy before then laying on the glue mix.

Next week I’ll have the second one done and then I’ll order the styrofoam needed to build the ama. Then extra wood to make the boom, leeboard and rudder. A lick of paint and we’re done, the end is so close that we’re starting to enter a personal danger zone. In the past I start to get impatient to get the job done and get sloppy. We’ll see how we get on here.

 

 

End of week twenty five and here she is all wrapped up: