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Another compartment painted. It’s nice to see parts of the boat completely finished.

I found a good place for the batteries. I will put them in the frontmost bunk-compartment.

While I’m finishing the compartments under the bunks I fitted the bunk-tops.

I started painting the inside of the compartments that will be closed soon.

I started with the frontmost compartment. After the first brush strokes I realised that was not very clever because I can’t do all compartments in one go: where do I stand while painting the last one?!
I will do the last one next time…

Dry-fitting the panels for the cabin sides.

The angles of the battens are all correct, the panels fit nicely.

I will not glue the panels in just yet. I have to decide how I want to do the windows first. I don’t know yet if I will make them myself with plexiglass or if I will buy ready-made windows.
Speeking of decisions: I think I found a good place for my bilge pump.

We were hit by a massive heat wave. Temperatures in the shed reached 40°. That’s too hot for me to work with epoxy (too hot to do much at all).
I started fitting the battens for the roof.

I’m also working on the inside of the boat. It’s time for some important decisions: Where do I put the batteries, where the bilge-pumps, the electronics,…

I started work in the front of the boat. There will be five separate watertight compartments under the bunk. The front two of them will be filled with foam.

I fitted foam blocks to fill the front compartments.

Meanwhile I did a mock-up of the kitchen.

Big day for me and my boat!
I gathered my friends and together we flipped the boat.

All ready to go. I put wheels under the assembly jig to get it out of the shed.

Outside for the first time!

A couple of old tires are a good pad to roll the boat on.

We used the forklift of our neighbours to lift it on one side.

We put two ropes around the hull to help slow down the roll.

That’s when it starts to roll.

The boat rolled very smoothly, no problem at all.

It went slower and more controlled than expected.

The right way up.

The proud owner, having his first drink inside his boat!

Put wheels under it to get it back inside.

Back inside she goes.

Nice little boat!

Big thanks to all my helping friends!

I put a thick layer of epoxy on the hull. After sanding (there will always be sanding) I marked the waterline. Easily done with the help of a laser.

I covered the under water part with another layer of epoxy. I changed the color for that layer.

That’s how it looks after sanding (before cleaning):

I am now ready to turn over the boat.

Done with filling! I just have to round the edges.
It took a long time but I’m really happy with the result.

Next step will be a layer of epoxy. As a test I started painting at the bow. I added a little color to the epoxy. It’s to make sure I cover everything and I don’t sand too deep (yes, this layer has to be sanded as well…)

I’m still sanding…
After adding filler for the third time I’m finally getting to the desired shape.

I now have the right tool for the job. You absolutely need a long sander. This one is 400x70mm. It’s much faster and gives a more even surface. Should have bought it two months ago, would have saved me a lot of time…

I covered the entire Hull with filler. I used epoxy thickened with a mixture of cotton fibres and micro-balloons. Looks like a huge chocolate cake.

The Idee then is to sand it down as far as possible without damaging the glassing.