Building The Magic Class 30

Forgotten Photos

2010-01-30T13:41:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple more beauty shots of the boat.

- PHOTOS - The First Cruise of The STARRY NIGHT

2010-01-30T07:17:00.003-08:00

Starry Night is dropped off at Pier Side Boat Yard in the North end of Charleston.

Immediately, Oliver, Alfie, and I get to work. here we are installing the new stainless sail track.

I re-arraigned some things on the compass box to make room for the digital instrument readout.

Alfie was busy cutting a hole through the boat. A new thru hull for the depth, speedo, and water temp instrument.

A view from aloft.

Pier Side Boat Yard. Not many wooden boats in the South.

The crane comes on Friday to step the mast and launch the boat.

In the water for a scrub down.

The next day, Oliver and I motor her over to the City Marina.

In front of a familiar boat from Nantucket, Starry Night on the Mega Dock in Charleston.

Alfie's entire family comes to see her!

Upon leaving Charleston, we notice a friend from Nantucket on his own solo cruise in the Delfina, Noah Keller.

Alfie and Sandi together at the helm for the first time.

A memorable sunset for our first anchorage in the creeks of South Carolina.

Almost every morning greeted us with very still waters and crisp cool air.

Passing through a swing bridge in northern Georgia.

Sandi sails under her first bridge!

A southern creek photo shoot. With the board down, the Starry Night is still able to sail right up to the creek's edge at high tide.

Crossing the Savannah River to get back onto the ICW.

There is always time for an artsy reflection shot.

Gurgling water at the stern marks her first cruise, Charleston, SC to Cumberland Island, GA. January 2010.

A long needed update 10/3/09

2009-10-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since i've last posted any text, so its about time. Looking back on the pictures up on the site, its clear that a lot has happened, specifically, the launching of the boat. Before that, we spent the week working under Alfie, as Brendan, Drew, and Dave focused on the new tender they're building. With Alfie, Oliver and I were busy installing cleats, winches, and blocks around the boat and on the two masts and booms that arrived during the week before the launching. We also installed and secured the pulpits and the stanchions around the boat. Small teak blocks needed to be made specially for each stanchion and pulpit base. The sail track for the spars was screwed on and on thursday the crane arrived to step the main mast. Only weighing roughly 130 lbs, it might have been possible to step it under human power, although its length would have been awkward to handle. The mizzen on the other-hand, was easier to step with two people then a fourteen foot dinghy's mast.

Oliver and I gave the deck a final sanding with 120 grit to remove the rest of the dried glue, and any scuff marks left in the deck since it was installed months ago. Then the clouds came and spurting rain over the boat, which revealed the most beautiful colors in all the wood throughout the boat.

Meanwhile, Alfie was busy installing as much PVC plumbing as he could.

The launch date, needless to say, was a spectacular event. It was held on Saturday, September 12 and under light rains three beautiful speeches were given, and she was christened first by Bill Eddy, an interim minister with some boat building experience of his own, and finally by Sandi Holland with a wonderful smash of a champaign bottle. Once in the water and with the crowds departed, we really got to stand back and see the boat in the water and although she float a little high in the bow, we were all very happy.

That monday, I used my boat to tow the MC-30 through the bridge and out across Nantucket Sound to Alfie's pier in Nantucket. Everything went smoothly and she is resting safe on Nantucket where we continue to work on her, putting on the finishing touches.

Since the launch date, I had a feeling that the project of recording the work done to STARRY NIGHT was complete. But it is not. It has been a lot of work updating this site, but it has been satisfying to me over the last year, and I will do my best to get a few more updates in until she is sailing under her own power.

-WEEK 50 PHOTOS- Spars Arrive, Cleats Go On, Christening The Boat

2009-09-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Brendan's hand drawn lettering up for placement.

Oliver works on installing the bow cleats.

The product of my work on the main sheet winch, blocks, and cleat.

On Tuesday afternoon, the main mast arrives from Orleans.

A detail of the Main Mast.

"STARRY NIGHT" gold leaf lettering by Brendan.

Alfie spends a couple weeks with us teaching us how to install the mast hardware. Here he installs the head with the LED lights.

Stepping the Mizzen mast, an easy task for 2 people.

Readying the Main Mast for stepping.

Alfie's fancy feathering two blade prop.

Baxter brings in a crane to lift up the main mast...though it only weighs roughly 130lbs.

Stepping the Main.

The main in and secured with temporary line stays.

Alfie works on splicing in the thimbles in the wire stays for the main mast.

She is now a yawl.

With the booms rigged, Alfie shows Oliver the placement for the centerboard pennant blocks.

On Friday, Alfie installs the Tiller and the rain washes the deck down.

Saturday afternoon, September 12, the crew of PBW, designers of the MC-30 for a photograph.

She touches salt water for the first time.

And rests safely at the dock at Pease Boat Works, with the boatyard in the background.

On Monday, I help Alfie tow the STARRY NIGHT to Nantucket.

Rounding Brant Point.

The Last Shot Of The Week. After a year of building, she rests at Old North Wharf in Nantucket.

-Week 49 PHOTOS- rudder, centerboard installation, masts arrive!

2009-09-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

The rudder with some fresh bottom paint.

Here are the chain plate bases with a teak pad underneath.

Brendan opens up the holes for the chain plate rods.

Theres the rod sticking up without the base on it.

The stuffing box for the tiller attachment.

The final installation of the centerboard.

I went around a filled in some deck caulking, like this aft section.

And these spots with tape and wax paper over them.

Here is where the centerboard pennant comes through the cabin sole.

A custom made exhaust pipe for the engine.

Alfie made this tiller out of black locust with a heavy duty bronze fitting.

A simple sapele plywood base for the head with bolts set in with g-flex.

Its friday and the mizzen mast and booms arrive!

Here I am holding up the mizzen boom for scale.

Alfie designed in a angelique head for the mizzen mast for strength.

The Last Shot of The Week. Here is the mizzen mast center, boom to the left, and main boom to the right.

-Week 47 & 48 PHOTOS- two weeks, many photos-

2009-08-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Dave's beautiful work on the rudder.

The finished companionway ladder.

Here it is getting installed in the boat.

Here is the rough centerboard laminated with Ipe that Brad is building.

Dave closes the door on the rudder and prepares to clamp it shut.

A little shim I built for the bow cap rail.

The first coat of Cetol on the Locust rub rails.

The decks get covered with heavy construction paper before the finishing process so that nothing gets spilt on the teak.

A quick shot of the MC-30 poster that I designed for PBW to bring up to the Maine Boats and Home show last month.

Here are the companion way hatches with stain and cetol.

Meg shows us how to stain the mahogany.

Here is the mahogany with the stain on, before cetol.

Drew begins to apply cetol to the mahogany.

After Oliver and I take a week of for a cruise on the IMPALA, we return to an empty shop.

And a beautiful looking boat on the railway:

While we were gone, the topsides were finished, all brightwork as well.

The water ways were painted.

And the coach house roof as well.

My first project upon returning was adding deadwood to the section of lead ballast that was removed to save weight.

The rudder installed and sealed with epoxy.

Here I begin to kerf cut the deadwood.

And chisel it out.

Here is Brad's rudder, covered in a clear coat of epoxy.

The deadwood installed and sealed with epoxy.

Oliver worked on making the stanchion base blocks and here he installs them with natural bedding compound.

The Last Shot of The Week, the centerboard is finished and painted with E-paint bottom paint.

- Week 45 & 46 PHOTOS- making the companionway hatch, cap rails.

2009-08-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

Here, you can see the two 'dutchmens' that I added of Teak inbetween the teak decking and the bulwarks.

Brendan's beautiful work on the sliding companionway hatch.

Brendan fits the lid for the hatch.

Here are the details of the hatch.

a box of shiny new winches showed up this week.

And brendan began coating the companionway hatch

The mahogany boards that I turn into some sawn cap rail sections for the curvature back aft.

Here they are traced, cut and fitted before any scarphs or shaping.

The final product, clamped and glued.

A detail of the middle scarph joint.

Installing the cap rails, Brendan flexes in the scarph on the full length rail into the aft section that I made.

A detail of the cap rail at the bow.

This is where the full length cap rail joins the aft section. Notice the bedding compound on the left, no glue for these.

The aft section rounded over and bunged.

nearly 100 bungs for the cap rails were put in on Thursday.

Brendan uses a little bit of G-flex to hold the bow pieces together.

The Last Shot of The Week. A detail of on the the aft sections I built.

-Week 43 & 44 Write Up- bulwarks, rub rails, lead ballast, cockpit coaming, etc.

2009-08-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

During week 43, we attached the cedar bulwarks to the Wana base. This was actually easier then it may seem, because we used large wood screws all the way through the cedar to tie it into the Wana, with a healthy schlep of glue to tie it all in. The tops were left tall, but were cut down by Brendan with the jig saw, then final tweaking with the power planer and hand plane. Brendan installed the chocks, both the Lignamvitae in the stern and the bronze in the bow. He also managed to install the cockpit coaming and cut out the cockpit locker hatches.

Oliver and I did a lot of sanding, focusing on the waterways and adding a fillet of thickened epoxy with fairing compound to assist the water flow. This was sanded again and two layers of clear epoxy were rolled onto the waterways.

The next week, Dave begun working on the centerboard box, making insane templates, and drilling out holes in the 7500 lbs of lead ballast that is now sitting outside for the keelbolts.

After Oliver and I milled out the Locust for the rub rails to spec, Brendan passed them through the table saw at an angle to get the classic sweeping herreshoff shape. Oliver and I had a bear of a week getting those installed and were happy when they had bungs in them. The Locust is so strong and hard that it was impossibly to bend them into shape, hold them up to the boat to spile, etc, that we had to make a jig out of plywood in order to find the shape of the sheer of the boat.

We managed to get a little work done on the mahogany cap rails, milling them out to an inch thickness, and ripping them to two inches. Then, while they still had right angles, we cut the ornate scarphs in them that will be seen when varnished.

Brendan meanwhile spent a good deal working on getting the bronze front piece installed. He had to hand make certain pieces to get it all to work, and even had to trim off some of the bronze on the chocks with the metal working jig saw.

A very productive two weeks.

- WEEK 44 PHOTOS- Ballast work, rub rails, etc

2009-08-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Dave removes the centerboard trunk to take measurements and make a jig for fitting the lead ballast.

this is what the bilge looks like without the center board trunk.

Brendan hands off the Locust rub rails to Oliver and I to put in some heavy hand sanding with 40 grit.

Dave shapes the lead ballast.

And begins drilling some keel bolt holes.

Here is the scarph for the mahogany cap rails.

Dave drilling the centerboard pin hole.

A detail of the hole through to the other side.

Cap rails glued up and ready to sand.

The sanded finish.

In preperation for the locust rub rails, oliver mixes up a batch of natural bedding compound.

Here, we have begun to fasten the locust rub rails in place.

With the bedding compound cleaned and bungs in place, it looks pretty nice.

Brendan works on installing the bronze bow chocks and bow fitting.

Another view.

The Last Shot of The Week. Brendan cleans up the glue from the bow section.

end of JUNE into JULY time lapse clip

2009-07-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

- Week 43 PHOTOS- Prepping Bulwarks, Locust rub rails, cockpit coaming, etc.

2009-07-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

The MC-30 lead ballast arrives at the yard.

A detail of the scupper on the port side.

All Bulwarks are installed and faired.

Here is the silicone bronze bow fitting.

Alfie and Brendan discuss the waterways and chock fittings.

The four Aft chocks are made by Alfie out of Lignumvitae.

I got the doors open for a profile shot with the bulwarks on.

Brendan cuts out the cockpit hatches with a jigsaw.

Voila.

A detail showing how the cockpit coaming corner post is held in.

Brendan prepares to glue and fasten the mahogany cockpit coaming.

And here it is finished.

Another view.

Where the two edges meet at the aft port side.

A detail showing the coaming attaching to the coach house.

Two layers of clear epoxy were laid in the waterways and inner bulwarks.

The Last Shot of The Week. Bulwarks are installed, locust rub rails fitted, cockpit lockers cut, and coach house coaming installed. A big week.

-Week 42 Write Up- Sanding the Deck, making and installing the Bulwarks

2009-07-17T18:28:00.000-07:00

This week started out by dusting off the random orbital sanders and sanding the teak deck down with 36 then 80 grit to remove the mess we left with the caulking guns. Once all the black stuff was removed, a beautiful result was shown; the finished teak deck.

Brendan finished his forward hatch and Oliver and I milled out the Wana I cut up a couple weeks ago to create the base for the bulwarks. They need to be full length, so we scarphed together two 20 foot sections. And sense the shape of the bulwarks change as the shape of the hull changes, there is a compound bevel throughout the 40 feet of Wana that constantly changes to accommodate for the shape of the sheer. Oliver did a wonderful job of shaping these with the power planer while I milled out the Cedar for the bulwarks.

Brendan was busy making a complex jig for laminating the cedar bulwarks around the aft section because of the severe shape. Once that was finished, we laminated up the two sections and Brendan shaped them to fit and scarphed them together.

The Wana was installed on Wednesday, glued and fastened to the deck. Thursday was spent shaping the Cedar bulwarks. Since the shape of the sheer changes, and it would be difficult to bend the Cedar into place, a lot of shape had to be cut into the wood using the jig saw, block planes, and finally the file board. Three sections of bulwarks were scarphed together to fit the length of the boat, and then scarphed into the laminated sections at the stern.

At the end of the day friday, the port side bulwarks were shaped and installed with glue and fasteners.

In other news, Dave drove the lead ballast to the shop so we could take measurements. Alfie brought over the silicone bronze bow piece. And the rudder stuffing box arrived. In the mail are the bow and stern pulpits.

Lots to do.

-Week 42 PHOTOS- Sanding the deck, installing the bulwarks.

2009-07-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

We begin the week by sanding the caulking in between the teak deck.

It really makes a difference...

And cleaned up easily.

Here the whole boat is sanded from 36 down to 80 grit.

A detail of the bow section.

Another perspective.

Laminated cedar for the aft bulwarks.

Brendan explains how to shape the changing bevels in the Wana bulwark base.

This shows the blocking used to clamp together the bulwarks.

Here, we fit the forward section of Cedar for the bulwarks.

A detail of the Cedar resting on the Wana base at the bow on the port side.

The Cedar laminate for the aft section.

Brendan trims it down on the band saw.

The Last Shot of The Week. Brendan scarphs the two aft Cedar bulwark sections together.

-Week 41 Write Up- Teak, Caulking, Wana and the forepeak hatch

2009-07-11T17:18:00.001-07:00

The last of the teak planks where glued in on Monday, and Oliver finally got to join me in the laborious and uncomfortable task of sanding the glue in between all the teak seams so that the black caulking would get a good bond.

After the seams were sanded, we applied almost 80 tubes of caulking to them, making sure to wipe with acetone to remove the teak oils first. The caulking job was easy, I used a pneumatic caulking gun while Oliver struggled with a battery powered one, then switching to a manual one. It took a solid day to get all the seams filled. A putty knife was used to press the caulking down into the seams to try and reduce air pockets, although we do expect some.

Brendan worked on building the forepeak hatch, which is almost finished and looking very nice. At the end of the week, Oliver and I had a chance to begin milling out the Wana for the base of the bulwarks. Working on these bulwarks is the next large task for us.

After that, we have the centerboard to build, as well as the rudder, the installation of the rudder post, the companionway hatch, and many pieces of hardware that needs to get installed. We are narrowing in on completion, but still have a lot of work to complete.

I will be sure to let everyone here know of a launch date as soon as I am made aware of one.

-Week 41 PHOTOS- finishing touches on the deck, applying black boat life to the seams, milling Wana

2009-07-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

Oliver installs the last teak planks.

Brendan working on the forepeak hatch.

Another angle.

After sanding the seams we applied black caulking.

It took a solid day to fill all the seams and about 80 tubes of caulking.

What it looks like before it is pressed into the seams with a putty knife.

Working up towards the bow while brendan works on the forepeak hatch.

Heres Oliver squirting in the last of the goop.

...and spreading it out.

Alfie stops by on Friday with the rudder posts and talks with Brendan about the forepeak hatch.

The Last Shot of The Week. Oliver and I begin milling out some Wana for the base of the bulwarks.

-Week 40 PHOTOS- finishing the teak deck, lazarrette

2009-07-03T22:26:00.001-07:00

Finishing up the teak planks aft between the lazarette and cockpit.

A detail of the teak wrapping around the coach house.

A detail of the nibbing in the foreward king plank.

View forward looking aft.

Forward looking aft.

A view from above, narrowing in on those planks.

My aft section almost complete.

My last piece of teak to place.

And place it I have...

View aft looking forward, all teak finished.

Another view.

Brendan fits the lazarrette hatch.

The last shot of the week. All but 3-4 teak planks are glued in place. 1/3 of the seams are sanded out and she is really looking nice.

-Week 40 Write Up- Finishing the teak deck, starting the hatches

2009-07-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

Well, we're not quite finished with the teak deck, but close enough to put it in the title. As of 5pm on Friday afternoon, Oliver just has 3 planks, each a foot in length to glue on. To stand back from the boat and admire the two weeks or so work on gluing down the teak to the deck, it feels nice to revel in the beauty it adds to the boat.

At the end of the week, after finishing the aft section that I was working on, I began to sand in between all the seams of all the teak planks with 40 grit to eliminate the last of the glue build up that we missed.

During the week, Brendan was busy in and out of the boat. Tying up some loose ends, he trimmed some bungs inside and spot varnished areas that needed it. Then, he built the hatch for the lazarette, aft, and had it gluing by Friday.

A pretty easy week to summarize. Also in news; the mast lady in Orleans has begun construction on the masts and booms. The lead keel ballast arrived and is ready to install. Alfie is brining the rudder post over on sunday. And we have a mountain of boxes of various wiring, port lights, plumbing, and other toys to start installing. As well as building the bulwarks. Stay tuned...potential launch date, first week in August. Pictures will be up by Sunday.

-Week 39 Write Up- Lots of teak, plumbing, Dynel, and exterior trim

2009-06-28T07:15:00.001-07:00

We came up a little short of our goal to finish the deck by Friday. But we are damn close. Oliver and I went at the deck all week and after we had put on the last of the full length planks, we were able to split off into different sections: Oliver taking the bow, and me at the stern. This way we could work at double the time. Although now that the planks are smaller, they need much more custom attention to fit them around the coach house, the hatches, cockpit, and lazarette. As I worked in the stern, I shaped all the planks that hung off the end of the boat to follow the shape of the stern. Then I made a mold out of plywood in order to make a solid teak plank in sections that wrapped around the stern. This was pretty tricky and took me most of a day to finish, but the result looks wonderful. Then we just plugged away at the teak planking, trying to get on as many as possible in a day.

Brendan, meanwhile, worked on installing some thru hulls for the engine exhaust and others to Alfie's specific specifications. Instead of using a bronze thru hull, we are using a very thick PVC type of thru hull, which wont rust, fade, or wear, and is just as strong. Brendan also installed the exterior mahogany trim around the coach house. He covered the coach house roof perimeter with 6 inches of fiberglass cloth and epoxied it down. After fairing that and applying a couple skim coats of fairing compound micro balloons, he was able to fair the raised edge of the cloth into the roof. The roof was also coated in epoxy to soak in before it was covered in Dynel cloth which will take the place of canvas as the surface of the coach house roof.

As you all may have realized by now, the project is taking longer then originally expected. I think this is usually something to expect with such a large custom project like this. We havent talked much about a launch date, and I dont want to let anyone down, so just stay tuned and as a date comes nearer, I will let you all know. Thanks for checking in and sorry for the late posts, I am living aboard IMPALA at the moment, without internet, so it is a little more challenging now to update on time.

-Week 39 PHOTOS- teak decking, dynel cloth, and plumbing

2009-06-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

Here is where the teak planks hit the king plank in the stern, ready for glue.

Here they all are together, glued and held down.

Brendan and I rolled on some fiberglass cloth around where the coach house roof meets the coach house.

My aft section, cutting away the excess teak to follow the shape of the stern.

The finished product.

I made a mold for the curved stern teak sections.

Here they are after being cut, sanded to shape, and glued down.

Here is a nice subtle detail of where the teak plank intersects with the coach house.

Another detail of the other side where some custom fitting was needed. Oliver did a beautiful job here.

Oliver's bow section really coming together now.

The last plank where it joins the coach house is only but a sliver. Here I am scribing with a 3/16" block to get the correct shape.

Here is my little sliver plank dry fit in place.

After it is glued, it came out pretty well and finished off the starboard side of the boat.

Here is the thru hull for the engine exhaust.

A detail of the stern section where the planks pass by the cock pit and hit the lazarette.

Here, I nib the planks into the king plank in the stern. Where the pieces are so small, I can fit many at a time before I need to glue.

Brendan covers the coach house roof in Dynel fabric and epoxies it down.

Brendan installs the exterior mahogany trim.

At the end of the week, Oliver is almost finished nibbing in the foreward king plank.

The Last Shot of The week...and I am almost finished with the stern. Another day or two and the teak will be completed.

-Week 38 Write Up- Interior hand holds, Coach House Roof, and Teak Decking

2009-06-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

This week, Oliver and I focused primarily on the Teak Decking. Brendan stuck around with us for half the week showing us how to cut nibs into the king planks using a very sharp chisel and to help figure out a system for fastening the teak deck planks. After that, he let Oliver and I loose and we laid down plank after plank. It is a little tricky and is definitely a two person job, at least as long as the planks stay full length. We have 15' and 10' planks and we space them specifically to stagger the butt joints where they meet. The first plank was difficult because it had the most bend in it as it followed the shape of the sheer. As there was nothing to clamp against with this first plank, we had to create a system of screwing down blocks that we could wedge off of. After the first plank, however, we could use a clamp to pull in the next plank to the one previous. After the teak is wiped down with acetone to remove the oils and help the glue stick, we lathered both the hull and plank with G Flex and then bent and held it into place. A series of blocks are then used to hold it out board and down, given a 3/16" space between it and the previous plank, which is held consistent by using plastic 3/16" spacer blocks. By the end of the week, we had installed mostly all of the full length planks, which puts us nearly half way down.

Brendan, after getting us situation, worked on cutting and fitting the mahogany hand holds that I had just varnished. He got those installed with G-flex and bunged. He also put another puff coat of paint on the coach house roof. Then, he installed the coach house stringers and we helped him on Friday to install the coach house roof, which went smoothly. We used the chain hoists to raise it over the deck and after dry fitted it and making sure everything was going together correctly, we lathered the perimeter of the coach house and the stringers with a generous amount of 5200 and laid the roof down. Then we fastened it with wood screws and cleaned up the mess.

With the roof on, it gives you a whole new perspective on the interior. It with the interior of the coach house painted, I think it will bring in a lot more light, especially considering thats where the light enters the boat from the port holes. I can stand up fully in every area of the coach house and at six feet tall, thats not too bad.

-Week 38 PHOTOS- Hand holds, coach house roof, teak decking

2009-06-28T06:36:00.001-07:00

Here is a nib in the king plank being chiseled out and with the help of a forsner bit, removed.

A clamp in the foreground helps bend the plank into place as we screw the blocks that hold it down.

Brendan and Oliver discuss how the nibs are looking.

Our trash barrel after one week of putting on teak.

A detail showing how the planks meet around the lazarette trim.

Brendan cleans up G-flex after he installed the mahogany hand holds.

A nice detail of the hand holds.

The bow section.

Late in the week, we dry fit the painted coach house roof.

And laid down some 5200 to secure it.

After cleanup on Friday, Oliver and I got a chance to relax down below.

The Last Shot of the Week. Coach house roof is on and rough trimmed, and nearly half of the teak decking is down.

-Week 37 PHOTOS- interior and exterior coach house moulding, coach house roof and the first teak planks

2009-06-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

Three layers of 1/4 " plywood is dry fit for the coach house roof

Setting up a fence on the routing table for the interior mahogany trim.

The beginning of what will become the interior mahogany hand holds.

After some help from Brendan on the table saw, this is the finished (sanded) result.

The coach house roof comes off after being glued together and gets some paint.

The lazarette and cockpit get trimmed in Teak.

The king aft king plank gets glued down.

As well as the fore king plank.

Brendan gets a couple coats of paint on the interior.

My first real varnishing job. Here are the mahogany hand holds.

Brendan trims out the coach house in Teak.

Here, he shows us how to chisel nibs into the king plank.

Prepping the deck with G-Flex for the first teak plank.

The Last Shot of The Week. On goes the first teak plank. Remember, no fasteners here, just those blocks you see holding the planks down.

-Week 37 Write Up- Making mahogany moulding, the coach house roof and installing some teak decking

2009-06-12T17:02:00.002-07:00

This week was spent working on some tough wood work. Brendan put me in charge of making the hand holds that will line the coach house on the interior, or mahogany moulding. These are very similar to the mahogany fiddles that I made for the interior surfaces, but more complicated. Brendan came in a helped me with a difficult cut as he passed the planks through the table saw at an angle to get a certain shape in the wood.

Alfie stopped as we were fitting the plywood for the coach house roof, and we decided to add an extra layer of ¼” okume for more structure. We but joined them with a total of 3 layers of ¼”. These were piled atop each other, with a generous coating of epoxy and fastened into some false stringers that we installed strictly for that purpose.

The next day, we were able to remove the coach house roof and place it alongside the boat to sand, skim coat with micro balloons, and eventually paint. Now she is ready to be glued down and fastened perminantly.

I got my first job taking wood from bare bones, through to the final coat of varnish, which I am proud of. I sealed and varnished the Mahogany moulding and two Fir stringers for the coach house roof.

Meanwhile, Brendan had been dry fitting, and laying out where the teak decking is going to go, and figuring out the order that it will go down. He trimmed out the coach house with teak, and then later Oliver and I glued down the king planks, which run down the middle fore and aft. Brendan also trimmed out the hatches, lazarette, and cockpit lockers.

Oliver was busy skim coating the sheer and around the cabin house with micro balloons and doing a lot of sanding. The mouldings alone were a work out in themselves, being taken from 40 grit to 120.

On Friday, after a puff coat of varnish was laid on the moulding and stringers, we went full force with the Teak decking. We laid Teak down along the entire perimeter of the boat, which will give us something to push against when it comes time to filling in the rest.

I presume that next week will be spent mostly on laying up the Teak decking…something I have looked forward to for a long time.

Here is the time lapse video from 5/11-6/13:

Week 37

2009-06-12T17:02:00.001-07:00

-Week 35 & 36 WRITE UP- on goes the deck and coachhouse

2009-06-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

To re cap the last two weeks, which is almost three weeks from this post date, I have to think back to when we hoisted the plywood deck onto the boat, which now seems like so long ago.

Painting the deck was easier then expected in curious location alongside the boat, suspended from the chain falls. We rolled on two layers of primer and then after puff sanding her with 280, we rolled on the finish coat of semi gloss white. One coat was all that was needed to get a nice surface. The deck beams were all in place from the week before, and we easily hoisted the deck up with the chain hoists, using carpet alongside the sheer to protect the paint finish. With some quick jig saw work by Brendan, the plywood was notched around the head bulkheads, fit into place, and tacked down.

Once organized, we broke out the white 5200 caulking and hoisted the foreward half of the deck to caulk the beams, then laid down the deck and fastened the plywood directly into the deck beams. Then the aft section as well. We didn't waste any time in cutting out the hatches, lazarette, and cockpit lockers. Then the excess hanging over the edges was rough trimmed with a jigsaw and then eventually cut closer with a hand saw, block plane, and finally sanding board.

At this point, everyone was feeling pretty good. I took a few days off to see my girlfriend, Amelia, in Washington DC for her birthday, and when I returned a coach house had been built and fit to the boat! But a lot of work was still needed. When I returned on Tuesday, the coach house was dismantled in order to install a series of Fir blocking around the perimeter of the coach house. This Fir blocking is fastened to the deck beams, and also glued down to the plywood deck. Then, 6 inches of bi-axial fiberglass cloth was used to even further secure these blocks, which will eventually hold in the coach house, to the deck.

Looking ahead, I dug out some old Wana that was brought to Pease Boat Works years ago by sail power from another country ( south america?) and milled out some nice long boards that will be used in the bulwarks.

The other big news circulating around the boatyard when I returned was the hole that Drew almost drilled through his hand with a Forsner bit. Fortunately, he didnt poke through the otherside, but he will be out of commission on the MC-30 until his hand heals. So we are essentially one man down.

With the fiber glass set up, we were able to put the coach house back on the deck and fasten it. All necessary bungs were placed and the following day was spent sanding.

Although the launch date hasnt been mentioned at the boat yard yet, the generally suspicion is in the air, and it is very exciting.

As a side note, I took a trip up to Orleans with Aflie to see the mast maker, and although no progress has been made yet, she will be going at it full force within the next week or so. I was very impressed with her shop and I expect to see a very wonderful mast come out of it.

-Week 35 & 36 PHOTOS- plywood decking, coach house, laying up fiber glass cloth

2009-06-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

Brendan gives us a demonstration on how to roll primer onto the plywood under decking.

Oliver and brendan work on the engine box.

Brendan and oliver deliberate over the hinge system for the engine box.

With two coats of primer and a finish coat of semi gloss white, the plywood under decking is ready to install.

Brendan installs Fir cleats for the forward hatch.

A nice view of the deck on, with hatches cut out. No photo opportunities were available when putting it on, which was very exciting, but without incident.

Here is the port section of the coach house with port lights cut out.

A detail of the port light.

More Fir cleats are fastened to the deck to support the coach house. These will later be fiber glassed to the deck as well.

Six inches of Fiberglass cloth was also laid over the edges of the boat all around.

Brad and Brendan pick out some Wana for me to slice up into long boards for the bulwarks.

Viewer discretion advised: this is what happens when a Forsner Bit finds its way through your hand. This puts Drew out of commission on the MC-30 for a while.

Brendan laying out the fiberglass cloth that will tie in the coach house cleats to the deck.

Another view of the cloth before it is smothered in epoxy.

Here epoxy has been applied and clamps and a stick is used to push it tight into the corners.

Brad and Brendan consider the work at the end of the day.

The forward port light. Photographed when the house was dry fit in place.

Here it is glued down and fastened to the cleats.

The Last Shot of the Week(s). Oliver tidies up the deck after gluing on the coach house.

-Week 34 Write Up- installing the deck beams, scarphing plywood for under decking

2009-05-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

This week was kicked off with the break down of our panel and bulkhead fitting and gluing station. It was a big deal to take apart the table which we had worked at for over 3 months, bring it up stairs and sweep up around it. This was in preparation for gluing together up to six plywood sheets for the under decking. The forward section was five sheets, which we worked on first. Brendan had already cut the scarphs and labeled the sheets to Alfie's drawings, so all Oliver and I had to do was lay them out on the floor carefully and make sure the scarphs fit well. Then we tacked them into the floor with a couple of sheet rock screws so they wouldn't shift while we glued them with a thickened epoxy mix. Once glued, we laid down a plywood sheet the length of the scarph and about 6 inches wide and screwed it down directly into the scarph in order to get good pressure. This sat over night to dry.

Then we all worked on fitting deck beams. They were originally made oversized and now had to be cut down and beveled to match the shape of the hull fore and aft. There is a deck beam at every frame and most of them extend over to the other side of the boat, whereas others tie into the taller panels. They get fastened down into the sheer clamp with a 2 inch stainless screw and into the deck stringers which are already fastened into place. Once each deck beam was fit and dry fastened, it was time to get rid of the extra sheer. We went around the boat with a long batten to get a good fair line along the sheer down to where the top of the deck beams come in. Then, Drew cut off the excess with jig saw, changing the bevel at every frame to match the constantly changing shape of the hull. Brendan zoomed around the freshly cut sheer with the power plane to get it down a little closer before we went around with the 3 foot file boards and sanded it down. This took a real eye, and as Brendan told us, this was the part of being a boat builder where you really use your talent to see the correct and fair shape of the hull. And as Alfie put it, shaping the sheer is where your reputation lies.

Afterwards, We broke out the huge eight foot two man file board to fair out all the deck beams around the entire hull. This will ensure a nice fit for the plywood to lay on top.

Oliver and I worked on installing some extra blocking for the chain plates, while Brendan installed the gas tank mounts and cut some plywood to act as a "shelf" at the stern.

On Friday, we installed the finished surfaces, vacuumed out the interior and began the process of removing and reinstalling each deck beam with G-Flex to keep it down for good. We also glued down the chain plate blocking and stern shelf.

Next week we will work on the deck!

Here is the timelapse video from April until May 15th, 2009:

-Week 34 PHOTOS-

2009-05-17T15:01:00.001-07:00

Brendan cleans up g-flex after installing the gas tank mounts.

Oliver and I figure out the layout for the forward section of Okume plywood decking.

The forward deck section glued up and screwed into the floor.

A detail showing how and where the deck beams fit around the boat. These get fastened into the sheer clamp and deck stringers.

All the deck beams are cut to size and dry fit with their fasteners in place and ready to be glued.

Oliver and I layout the aft section of plywood decking, 6 sheets scarphed together. Here we check for a good scarph joint.

The aft section of plywood decking dry fit and ready to get glued and screwed to the floor overnight.

Alfie visits to work on the engine and survey the work.

A detail of the deck construction. Here the deck stringer comes in to meet the sheer clamp and the deck beams lay on top side to side.

We use a long batten to check for the fairness of the sheer in preparation for cutting it down to size.

Drew uses a jig saw to cut off the excess sheer. Check out that eye protection!

The forward plywood deck section dwarfs Drew as he shapes the sheer.

With the sheer cut, Brendan demonstrates how to fair it to match the shape of the deck beams and to keep it pleasing to the eye.

Meg finishes up varnishing the mahogany surfaces and I attach the fiddles and put them in place in the boat.

A nice detail of the fiddles on the surface and the nosing which hides the plywood core.

The end of the day Friday, all deck beams and glued in place with G-Flex and fastened with stainless screws.

Brendan and drew butter up the stern where a stern shelf will be fitted.

The Last Shot of The Week. Brendan and Drew finish up installing the stern shelf.

-Week 33 Write Up- Engine box, Fiddles, varnish, and installing the deck stringers

2009-05-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

When we first flipped the boat over, it was a little awkward moving around, trying to place your feet on the stringers and move down to the flat keelson. Then, the teak deck was put in and getting around to work on installing the bulkheads was a breeze. Then, the bulkheads were installed, which made it a little more difficult, things started falling behind the stringers and falling into the bilge. After that, the panels needed to come in, and bracing was installed to keep the boat from flexing inward and moving around with those large panels was very difficult. Now, the deck stringers are installed, the cockpit is dry fit and deck beams are starting to get installed, making it nearly impossible to move around as elegantly as we once had. And when your screw slips out of your hand and you see it roll behind all the stringers and fall into a pile of dust in the bilge, its frustrating.

But anyway, its all part of the deal, and it strengthens your patience. This week, we all worked on getting the engine box and adjoining seat built up. We had to go through the old familiar process of laying out Alfie's plans onto plywood, cutting butternut trim, and gluing it together. All in all, it happened fairly quickly and without incident.

The fiddles that I began making last week got their final fittings, sanding, and now have two coats of beautiful varnish.

Drew and Oliver worked around the boat, cutting off excess wood from the bulkheads to make room for the deck, and notched in where needed the deck beams and dry screwed them into the sheer clamps.

I caught up on some panels that never got made at the foot of both pilot berths. After I installed the cleats, cut and fit the plywood surface, I managed to get a coat of polyurethane on them.

Brendan carefully installed the brass hardware on the doors and cabinets that still needed them, finished up with the thru-hulls and began building supports for the cockpit.

On friday, we managed to install, with glue, the outer deck stringers. They are screwed into the sheer clamp at either end, with g-flex, and screwed through the small oak blocks I made up and seated in natural bedding compound.

Next week we will install the rest of the stringers, deck beams, and construct and install the plywood under decking.

I will try and get motivated to open my video editing software and get some new time lapse footage up...

-Week 33 PHOTOS- finishing the fiddles, installing deckbeams/stringers, dry fitting cockpit

2009-05-08T17:51:00.001-07:00

Dry fitting the cushion fiddles.

The fancier fiddle, which will go on the counters.

A detail of the nice brass hardware.

Everyone helping move the cockpit in for a dry fit.

The engine box and adjoining seat.

A detail of my clamping setup for the oak blocks where the stringers will tie into.

Drew installed these copper nails into the counters receiving the fancy fiddles. The fiddles are laying on their side behind the nails and will fit into them snugly.

A detail of the copper nail. Notice the pointy end was ground off.

Here are the small oak blocks for tying in the stringers to the bulkheads, with a coat of penetrating epoxy.

Catching up on some missed work, I laid out from my mold the surfaces that go at the foot of each pilot berth.

Here is the same surface cut and fit.

A deck beam that has been notched into the bulkheads and screwed into the sheer clamp. No glue yet.

This is natural bedding compound that goes between the deck stringer and each bulkhead. This stuff will not go off like epoxy and will make it easy to remove the bulkheads later, but also prevent water from moving through.

Meg shows off her bright work at the end of the day Friday.

The fiddles for the cushions with a couple coats of varnish.

The Last Shot of The Day. A couple coats of varnish on the fiddles I made for the counters really make them stand out.

-Week 32 PHOTOS- Fiddles, surface veneers, ceiling installed...

2009-05-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

Drew prepares the ceiling planks for the final coat of varnish.

Oliver straightens a Teak board for the deck planks.

The product of a day and a half of milling out Teak for the deck.

The surfaces catch some sun as they dry with their second coat of sealant. Note that the surfaces without a coating will be getting a 1/8" of mahogany veneer.

A simple jig I made to keep my drill bit straight and level when drilling the 1/2" holes through the chain plate blocking.

Drew and Oliver talk to dave after dry installing the first deck beam.

Here the 1/8" veneers are being clamped onto the surfaces to dry overnight.

Oliver and Drew shape the deck stringers to the sheer clamp.

Here are some of the Fiddles I spent friday making.

Here the fiddles are sanded down with 80, then 120 before being varnished.

The ceiling planks get installed and add a very nice touch to the already stunning interior.

Here are the ceiling planks opposite the picture above in the forepeak.

The Last Shot Of The Week. The thru hull for the engine exhaust is drilled out.

-Week 32 Write Up- Fiddles, Deck Beam Installation, Ceiling, and more

2009-05-01T18:43:00.001-07:00

This week was full of different activities around the boatyard. With four coats of varnish on the ceiling planks, Brendan and Drew worked on Monday to install them in the boat, mostly above the areas where the bunks are, to keep things from rolling behind the stringers and into the bilge. And boy do they look stunning.

While they were busy with that, Oliver and I had the task of taking the rough sawn teak that arrived and milling it down to 1 7/8" strips, 3/8" thick. It took nearly two days, and when we were done, we had a huge bundle of teak strips, the yard smelled wonderfully of teak candy dust and the planer blades needed replacing.

Next we applied two coats of a polyurethane sealant to the surfaces, sanding in between. The surfaces which are getting an 1/8" veneer of mahogany were brought up stairs and the veneer stock was cut to size and laid out on the surfaces. These veneers were glued on by Oliver and Drew later in the week and really look great. The seams are barely visible, and this will add a nice and elegant touch to the interior.

I went around the boat and drilled 1/2" holes at each chain plate station. I made a simply yet nifty jig to keep the drill bit level and square side to side which produced perfect holes each time. After that, I was given the task of creating the surface Fiddles, or the pieces of Mahogany that will keep things from rolling of the tables. A fairly difficult task for my skill level, but by the end of the day Friday, I felt pretty good about their outcome.

Also by the end of the day Friday, Oliver and Drew began installing the deck stringers and beams, dry fitting them and fastening before a final gluing.

After Brendan had finished installing the ceiling planks and getting everyone else started on their own projects, he had time to install the plywood thru hull backing plates, and drill out a couple thru hulls. One for the engine exhaust and another for the head. He also shaped the cockpit for the deck beam which will lay across it.

A truly productive week. I will be heading to Nantucket on Friday night to meet up with Alfie on IMPALA to sail her to Chatham on Saturday where she will be serviced before our scheduled race in Figawi later this month. My first proper boat ride of the season!

-Week 31 Write Up- Surfaces installed, touch up varnish, and ceiling planks

2009-04-26T17:04:00.001-07:00

With all the surfaces shaped and fit in the boat, it is time to remove the countertops and tables in order to apply an 1/8" veneer of mahogany to them. The other surfaces which make up the bunks, will get a single coating of sealer. All the the bulkheads that got extensions put on throughout the installation process, or any that got scuffed up were removed and the varnish was touched up and blended in seamlessly and are now ready to install for good.

The hardware arrived this week, and Brendan got busy attaching the cabinet doors, and other areas where hinges are used. The holding tank also arrived, as well as a shipment of Teak for the decking, and Mahogany for the veneers and ceiling planks.

Oliver and I milled out the Mahogany for the ceiling planks, routed the edges, and sanded them smooth in preparation for varnish. We were lucky enough to get to spend a beautiful friday outside to apply three coats of varnish on them. I also got the first sunburn of the season!

Drew installed the breast hook in the bow of the boat, and did all of the touch up varnishing on the bulkheads and panels.

On a side note from the MC project, if any are interested, we had a successful haul out of one of the largest boats to be hauled at Pease, the 60 Crocker Schooner, TYRONE...quite an impressive vessel. She was hauled out at around 11:30pm Friday night in symmetry to the highest tide of the month.

-Week 31 PHOTOS- installing surfaces, hardware, and building the mahogany ceiling planks

2009-04-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

Here is the surface that will make up the starboard bunk.

The aft cabin desk.

Here is the STBD water tank and strapping that will hold in in place.

Here I will take you through my project of building the aft cabin bunk. 1st: layout and shape cleats so that they provide a level space for the surface of the bunk to land on.

2nd: install a cross beam approx. half way between for added support. This is also level and plumb and as you can see here, it ties into a stringer.

After using a jig to find all the distances and shapes to be cut out to accomodate the cleats and trim, the plywood is cut and placed in. The aft cabin is made up of two pieces...

Here, the first piece is in on the right, and my jig is set up for the second piece on the right. Small sticks are hot glued to a larger board to find all the points. These points are then connected and traced onto the ply.

A detail of the jig in a difficult area.

Another detail of the jig to get the spacing around the trim.

The bunk is finished. It is also strong, level, and fits pretty well.

Unfortunately, I only had a moment to rest.

The bronze hardware arrives and Brendan gets busy installing the cabinet doors.

In go the galley cabinet doors.

A shipment of Teak arrives for the decking.

Oliver and I mill out some Mahogany, 2 1/2" with rounded over edges to make up the ceiling in the boat.

The Last Shot of The Week. Oliver and I got to spend the entire day Friday outside in the beautiful weather applying three coats of varnish to the ceiling planks.

-Week 30 Write Up- Installing the surfaces, cleats

2009-04-22T04:24:00.000-07:00

After getting all the bulkheads and panels installed and situated, it was then our task to custom fit the surfaces for the bunks, settees, and counter tops. All of these surfaces, especially the bunks, needed some sort of specialized cleat along the hull where the frames and stringers are. I worked mainly on making a new counter top for the galley, because when we re-installed the panels, things had shifted. Then, I began shaping, leveling, and installing the cleats for the aft cabin bunk, a fairly daunting task for someone of my boat building skill. The cleats curve and have bevels cut into them for the surface to land on. Where they meet the hull, they are split up into two sections because a single piece would not take the bend. since it is so long, the shape of the hull raises one end of the cleat up on the frame, so a wedge is needed to hold it down flat. A jig of two straight edges clamped together so you can extend it as you need is used to find level throughout your cleats, and once all this is done, with only your two hands, the cleats are screwed into the frames. I am still not finished with the cleats in the aft cabin, but expect to have the surfaces layed down early next week (4/20-4/25).

Meanwhile, Oliver and Drew work on the surfaces in the forepeak and main saloon. Brendan installed the water tank cleats and began working on the strapping which will hold it down.

Pictures next week!

-Week 29 Write Up- Installing the finished bulkheads and panels.

2009-04-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

This marks the end of a very exciting week. After a month of gluing and fitting trim on the interior bulkheads, the time finally came to begin installing them in the boat. After moving so slowly for such a long time, installing the bulkheads was very refreshing. By lunch time on monday, we had every bulkhead installed in their proper locations. It went so quickly because of all the preparation we had given them in the weeks before. All we had to do was simply fit them into place, apply some silicone, and slip a bolt through and tighten the nut. Once they were all in, we could begin fitting in the panels.

The panels are a bit trickier then the bulkheads because they have to fit in between, and in a perfect world, all our measurements and cuts would be 100% correct and they would simply fall into place. However, in reality, this is just not the case. Each panel has to be given some time fitting and fudging to get it into its correct spot. By the end of the week, we had mostly every panel in the boat and her ambiance was starting to show through.

Alfie stopped by on Friday to see our progress and noticed a few errors in our placements. In order to correct these, we had to remove all the panels and install the Fir cleats that we otherwise would have tried to install in place. The method of installing them first and then fitting the panel in the boat will help us line up all of the trim and have the panels in the right spot. So Friday was spent removing panels and installing 1" x 3/4" Fir cleats in the specified locations on the panels. These cleats will be used to fasten panels to bulkheads, and also support the weight from the surfaces. The panels will be ready to go back in the boat on monday. Thanks again for checking in.

Here is march's time lapse clip:

- Week 29 PHOTOS - finally installing the finished bulkheads and panels.

2009-04-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here are all of the bulkheads, finished with three coats of varnish and ready to install in the boat.

By lunch time on monday, every single bulkhead was installed in the proper locations.

A detail forward, where the bulkheads land on the stringers and in some cases the cabin sole.

A detail of the head, looking aft, with the chart table and hanging locker to the left.

With all the bulkheads installed, we begin installing the panels.

An alternate view of the interior bulkheads.

Detail of a corner post where it meets the cabin sole

Oliver, Drew, and Brendan use the model to solve a location issue.

Here, two bulkheads are clamped together to tighten up on the panel in between.

Here is the galley surface that I worked on. This is where the ice box will go, with the stove to the right and cabinets above.

The forward berth in the forepeak.

When all the panels were installed, we had to remove them in order to clear up a few issues, such as installing Fir cleats, as Drew is doing here.

1" x 3/4" cleats are glued and fastened to the panels in the appropriate locations

The Last Shot Of The Week. On Friday, Oliver finishes gluing on one of the last cleats. The panels will start going back in the boat on monday, this time under Alfie's supervision.

-Week 28 Write Up- Sanding, installing chain plates, and mast steps

2009-04-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry again for the late post. This post corresponds to last week (week 28). We spent most of the week focusing on the finished bulkheads. They were sealed with a penetrating epoxy on the edges only, then stained, before being varnished. Because of a time constraint, instead of sanding in between each coat of varnish, we applied three coats on top of each other, then sanded it down to apply the final coat. It was nice spending a few days in the finishing shed with Meg doing some sanding for a change, since we had spent the last month gluing and fitting trim. Now we could finally see some of our hard work turn into objects of beauty.

By the end of the week, Brendan had constructed mast steps for both the main and mizzen masts out of Locust, a very strong and heavy wood. Perfect for such a high stress area like a mast step. I stayed late on Friday to help Brendan install these in their locations on the stem and horn timber while he installed the chain plate blocking for both masts as well.

-Week 28 PHOTOS- sanding/varnishing bulkheads, installing chain plate blocks and mast steps

2009-04-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here is the last bulkhead that needs the stringer notches cut out.

The same bulkhead, with notches cut, being fit into its place in the bow of the boat.

Brendan checks for plum as we install the largest bulkhead with the corner post.

Drew sands one of the bulkheads before the final coat of varnish

A sanded bulkhead ready for varnish.

The bulkheads are sanded down to 320 grit before the final coat.

Meg hoses down the floor to get the dust to settle before varnishing.

Quite a sanding production in the finishing shed.

Drew lays on the final coat of varnish on one of the bulkheads.

A finished bulkhead.

Brendan installed these chain plate blocks for the masts.

The main mast step, made out of Locust, ready to install.

The Last Shot Of The Week. The mizzen mast step, also Locust, installed to the horn timber.

-Week 27 Write Up- Fitting the bulkheads before varnish, on go corner posts and mast steps

2009-03-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

This week was great. We glued the last piece of trim on, and sanded the last bulkhead before fitting. Now, it all depends on setting up our trusty jig to get a correct measurement of the location of the stringers to which the bulkheads "clip" into. Then, we lay the jig on the bulkhead, adjust the old mylar lines, cut them out, and see how it fits. It usually fits pretty well the first go, but does require a little bit of sanding here and there to get our 90 degree plum edge and a tight fit. Then, we screw an oak block to each stringer which the bulkhead butts up to. A hole is then bored through the bulkhead and the block where a bolt with a nut will eventually secure the bulkhead to the block. Once this is all finished, the bulkhead is essentially ready to be installed for good, but first, they will get sealed with penetrating epoxy and get 4-5 coats of varnish. Out of the finishing shed, they will just plop into place and get secured.

Brendan has been busy building corner posts and installing them onto the bulkheads which will be receiving more lateral force then the rest. Also, he's built up a mast step for both the main and mizzen masts out of Locust, an extremely strong and tight grained wood. Brendan said that a stone would wear away before this wood. But it is also very heavy, so it is used sparingly, perfect for mast steps where a lot of load will be.

-Week 27 Photos- Final fitting of bulkheads, corner posts, mast steps and varnish

2009-03-29T15:13:00.001-07:00

Here is a sanded bulkhead ready for its final fitting inside the boat.

The jig that we use to find the stringer locations. This is it in is final form, which works very well.

Meg is busy varnishing the deck beams.

Meg's shed, full of panels, bulkheads, deck beams, and deck stringers to varnish.

Gluing up the trim on the last bulkhead!

Brendan's got the corner posts gluing up. Solid Butternut with a plywood core.

Oliver and I fitting in one of the bulkheads. Not much light coming in between the bulkhead and stringers, a good fit.

Drew puts the finishing touches on the last bulkhead to receive a thorough sanding.

Brendan shows us where to screw through the bulkheads into the blocking on the other side. A bolt will go through this to secure it to the block which is fastened to the stringer.

A beautiful corner post attached with fastenings onto a bulkhead.

The Last Shot Of The Week. The first bulkheads to get splashed with varnish!

-Week 26 Write Up- Continuing with Bulkheads, Getting Ready To Install

2009-03-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week. My trusty camera has gone missing along with all the photos I have taken over the last week. Hopefully it will be found soon, and the pictures will be uploaded.

In other news, this past week has been a little more of the same. After weeks of fiddling with the bulkheads, I feel we have finally found the correct method of going about it. We have learned to fit the plywood bulkheads into the stringers after cutting the notches from the locations found with the jig. Fitting the bulkhead, leveling it, and pluming it to 90 degrees before even cutting the trim saves us a lot of sanding and tweaking later on. When the bulkhead fits perfectly and we are satisfied, we then fit the trim, and cut accordingly. Then, when the trim is glued on, there is no time spent on trying to sneak up on the correct locations and bevels. A lot of time is saved. Too bad we didn't come to this conclusion five bulkheads ago. Those done previously to discovering this new method, will be a bit tricky fitting into place.

Brendan installed some beautiful and large bronze scuppers in the cockpit and Drew has been sanding bulkheads like crazy.

In the finishing shed, Meg has every saw horse and staging plank set up supporting all the panels as the varnish dries to a beautiful finish.

Please expect a time lapse clip at the end of the month. Once we being installing bulkheads and panels, the time lapse clips will continue to be updated weekly.

-Week 25 Write Up- bulkheads, cabin sole, and engine installation

2009-03-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

This week we had three new projects going on. Drew, Oliver, and I worked on fitting, cutting, gluing trim to, and sanding the bulkheads, Brendan built the cabin sole and sides, and Dave completed the installation of the engine.

Now that the panels are done, Drew, Oliver, and myself have delved into the world of bulkheads. I am glad we started with the panels, because our confidence level going into the much more difficult bulkheads is high. To begin with, we must go inside the boat, and use a jig to find out exactly where the bulkhead will fit onto the stringers before we actually cut the notches into the bulkhead and trim. This can be done with two people and requires a little bit of tinkering here and there. We gather the bevels coming off each stringer and note whether the aft or foreward side is long. Then we take all this information upstairs with us to the bulkhead and layout where the stringers are. In most cases, they line up fairly closely to where the Mylars had put them, but some of them wander off close to half an inch. Then we measure the distance between each bevel and give ourselves that much space extra when we jig saw out the notches for the stringers. Once the notches are cut, we layout all the trim pieces that were cut almost a month ago, clamp them in place, and trace where the stringer notches will be. Then we take into account the bevel, give ourselves the extra space, and cut those out on the ban saw. Then we come back and layout the trim again, making sure everything is in the right spot, and begin the arduous process of gluing and clamping. I will describe this more in detail next week when I have pictures to show for it.

Brendan completed the cockpit sole on Friday, and it really looks beautiful. I tried stopping in and peaking over his shoulder as much as possible to try and pick up and tips and techniques I could. Alfie has decided to glue in the teak boards instead of using fastenings with bungs. The benefit of this is that you will get more life out of the teak. Otherwise, after time the teak will wear down and expose the fastenings, maybe half way through the board if your lucky. By using glue, you can wear the teak down to almost nothing before it needs to be replaced. Although, replacing teak that is set in with G-flex would prove to be a huge bear.

Dave was busy with the engine all week, aside from working on the Pease's own work boat. He got the shaft aligned, leveled, and set. Then he cleaned up the slot it sticks through, applied a few coats of clear epoxy, and then bottom paint. He painted the portion of the shaft that will be underwater to protect it from growth, then hoisted the engine in the boat and connected it to the shaft.

I will post a timelapse clip once we get some more action inside the boat! all the magic is happening outside right now! stay tuned!

-Week 25 PHOTOS- Working on Bulkheads, Installing the engine, Building the cockpit sole

2009-03-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

Meg's assembly line of varnished panels.

Brendan helps Drew, Oliver, and I work out the kinks in using the jig to find the stringer locations before we cut them into the bulkheads.

Our first completed bulkhead gets dry fit into its place before being handed over to meg and varnished.

Dave hoists the Yanmar saildrive into the boat.

He must check the height and level of the drive before fully securing it in.

The engine is attached to the shaft.

Here it is sticking out of the hole in the bottom of the keel.

Fully installed and painted with bottom paint to prevent rust/growth when underwater.

The beginnings of the cockpit sole

Brendan glues and clamps it together.

Brendan coats the teak sole beams with G-Flex.

No bungs here. The idea is to get more life out of your sole. Were there to be bungs, the sole would have to be replaced once the wood wore down to the fastenings. Now, you will be able to wear it down virtually to the glue holding it on.

He uses small spacer blocks to give an accurate distance between each board.

Spacer blocks screwed in place.

The Last Shot of The Week. Cockpit walls are added. Okume plywood with a inside veneer of mahogany.

-Week 24 Write Up- varnish and playing with the engine

2009-03-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the late post. Last week (week 24) consisted of more panel trim gluing for Oliver, Drew, and I. by the end of the week, we started getting down to the last panel. As usual, Oliver and I would glue the trim on, hand the panel to Drew. Drew will sand it down to 120 grit, square up the edges and hand it off to Meg. Finally, Meg got to start sealing the edges, staining, and finally varnishing them. By the end of the week we had a dozen in her finishing shed. Now we get to step back for a moment at the end of a long day and go into the finishing shed to appreciate the beauty of the work we've been doing and get an idea of what the final product will be.

Meanwhile, Brendan is fully finished with the cabin sole. This took a little longer then expected, but the end result is something amazing. Its nice to have a floor down in the boat that we can walk around on now.

Dave was very busy all week fitting the sail drive engine shaft in its cubby hole in the bottom of the keel. The tight space had to be opened up, chiseled and rasped to accommodate the shaft. By Friday, he had the shaft fitting through, but just needed to neatened things and set in the engine bed.

No time lapse this week!

- Week 24 PHOTOS- panels get varnish, cabin sole finished

2009-03-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

Finally, our panels are in the finishing stage. Here, meg sands with 220, stains and seals the edges before varnishing

A detail of meg finishing a small door.

Here, Meg lays down the varnish. These will get 5-6 coats.

Here is one of the larger panels with 3 coats of varnish.

Brendan lifts out one of the sole hatches that will be cut into smaller pieces.

Dave cuts, chisels, and rasps away the area where the saildrive prop will stick out of the boat at the aft end of the keelson.

The shaft end of the saildrive engine in the boat for measurements. This is not the engine but gets attached to the engine.

The Last Shot of The Week. Brendan vacuums the final sanding job on the cabin sole.

-Week 23 Write Up- Finishing the cabin sole and trim on panels

2009-03-01T04:56:00.000-08:00

This week, we came to the end of a long process of cutting and fitting trim to panels and bulkheads, and began what will be another long process of gluing the trim onto each bulkhead and panel. I have talked a lot about the bulkheads and panels in these last posts, and now we are finished cutting them out, and cutting up trim, which is a very good thing because we started to get very low on solid Butternut Plywood and it got a little stressful near the end when we didn't know if we would have enough or not. We ended up having 1 small piece that wouldn't have been usable anyway because of all the knots.

The process of gluing trim on has gotten easier as we've figured out our method, but some of the larger panels and bulkheads will be difficult. Especially where the trim is in the middle where a clamp wont fit. In these cases, we use large Fir boards to lay across the whole panel and clamp it to the table. Even this bends the Fir and its hard to get uniform pressure down on the middle of the panel.

Meanwhile, Brendan nearly finished installing the cabin sole, as you will see in the photos. It looks really beautiful and when the bung tops are sliced, and it is sanded, it will look even better.

Meg joined the team this week and started varnishing our sanded panels with the trim on. She also faired out the two layers of Awlgrip primer that we put on the topsides, filled in any pin holes, and prepares for a final paint coat.

Dave helped out as well by working on the fiberglass engine mount, which will be fitted to the wooden engine bed that Brendan made. It needed to be cut down by about 4 inches in order to fit in the boat properly.

Here are the time lapse clips from the month of February:

-Week 23 PHOTOS- finishing the cabin sole, gluing trim to panels

2009-02-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

Here is Brendan making Teak cabin sole planks while drew finishes up laying out the last panel on Butternut ply.

Drew made up a bunch of cleat stock out of solid Butternut to be used where surfaces rest on panels.

Brendan working on the last section of the cabin sole.

Meg joins the project and begins fairing out our two layers of Awlgrip primer.

Here is one of our almost completed panels. The trim is fit and glued on. Next it will be sanded to 220 grit and varnished before being installed in the boat.

At the end of the day friday we had finished fitting the last piece of trim and began what will be a huge process of gluing and clamping the trim onto the panels.

It took a lot of clamps to hold the trim down. This will be the aft cabin berth panel.

Dave got busy cutting some height out of the engine bed so it will fit into the boat nicely.

Near the end of the day friday, Dave chisels the horn timber slightly to fit in the engine mount and brendan puts some final touches on the cabin sole.

The aft cabin panel with trim glued on and cleat fastened.

The Last Shot of The Week. A nice perspective of the nearly finished cabin sole with bung tops sticking up.

-Week 22 Write Up- making panels, gluing on trim, and installing the Teak cabin sole

2009-02-21T06:33:00.000-08:00

Drew, Oliver, and I had finished cutting out and fitting trim to all the Bulkheads by the end of last week, and now begin to work on the panels. Unlike the bulkheads, where we used full size mylars to trace the dimensions onto the plywood, with the panels, we have to convert Alfie's 1/8'' scale drawings into life size panels. It's not as easy and fast as using the mylars and tracing, although Alfie has made it simpler by giving us to scale drawings and all the dimensions needed, and its a good thing, because these panels need to be very accurate. First, the lines are transposed onto the plywood sheet, the trim is all layed out, then it is scored with a razor knife and cut out with a jig saw. Then, the rough edges are sanded down until the pencil line is cut in half. These panels are then brought over to the table, where we work on fitting trim, just like we had with the bulkheads.

We are about 80-85% finished with the panels, and have already begun gluing up the trim to some of the panels. At first, we tried gluing up a small door with G-Flex, but the G-Flex was very slippery and every time we tried to hold a trim down to the plywood with a clamp, it would shift the trim around. It took Oliver nearly thirty minutes just to get four small pieces of trim down onto a small door. So we asked Alfie if carpenter's glue would do, and we gave it a try on the next large panel with its too small doors. This glue tacks up very quickly, around 5-10 minutes which really holds the trim together and allows us to get some pressure down without the trim shifting slightly. After the first one, we figured out a good system, and the next two went much quicker.

The carpenter's glue may not be as strong as G-Flex, but these are not structural pieces of the boat either. And the carpenter's glue does have weather resistant qualities and will work fine for this job.

Brenden spent the week working on the cabin sole, and will be for the next week. He has installed the forward section of the Teak beams that will make up the sole. After sizing, cutting, and dry fitting, by the end of the week, he had them glued in with G-Flex, fastened with stainless screws, and beautifully bunged. Next week, he will work on the aft section while Drew, Oliver, and I prepare to install the bulkheads.

Sorry for the lack of time lapse clips, I will work on getting them up later this evening.

- Week 22 PHOTOS - making panels, gluing trim, installing the teak cabin sole

2009-02-21T06:22:00.000-08:00

Brendan takes measurements and begins dry fitting the cabin sole.

He uses washers as spacers to get an even seam between all of the Teak sole boards.

This is a panel that has the trim being glued and clamped down. The two large holes will be for doors.

Here are some of the cabin sole floor boards being glued.

At the end of the day Thursday, we were gluing one panel, its two doors (on the left) and two plywood panels together.

Oliver and I spent the day Friday sanding the panel that had the trim glued on and the two doors.

After 220 grit sand paper, the end result is a very smooth and soft finished butternut panel, or in this case a door.

On Friday, Brenden glues the cabin sole in and fastens it to the sole beams.

The Last Shot of The Day. Brenden walks away from a week of installing the cabin sole. Next week he will work on the aft section of the sole where there will be a slight step down.

-Week 21 Write Up- Cabin sole beams are fastened, all trim for bulkheads fitted, almost...

2009-02-13T15:59:00.001-08:00

This week really flew by. Which seems kind of odd since we were stuck with the same task and what seemed like a never ending goal of fitting custom pieces of trim to the interior bulkheads as Alfie has specified. What seems like a simple task, is actually quite time consuming and requires much patience in order to get a nice fit. Otherwise, you will have sloppy lines and open gaps in all the trim pieces. After a solid week, we finished all the bulkheads we could, with the exception of a couple which we have some size questions that need to be answered by Alfie.

All of the dimensions for the bulkheads have come from Alfie's mind, taking into consideration where each drawer, door, or shelf will land inside the boat. All the while keeping the flow of the wood from panel to panel and from bulkhead to bulkhead consistent and pleasing to the eye. So naturally, there are a few corrections that get updated during the week by Alfie, which means we may have to slice an inch off here, or maybe add a couple inches here, so that everything will line up when they eventually get installed in the boat. Because of this, we only have two more bulkheads to place in our finished pile.

On Friday, we had completed what we could with the bulkheads and started moving on to the panels. If you think of bulkheads as lying perpendicular to the boat, the panels will be lying parallel, fore and aft, or the "sides" of the interior.

As we progressed on these, Brendan was busy again with the cabin sole beams. By Friday, he had them all place, glued, and fastened. Now we are ready to start figuring out if these bulkheads will land exactly where they are suppose to on the stringers. If not, the corrections will be made, cut, and then we cat start gluing together the trim.

Hope to see some people at the boat show this weekend, and the time lapse clip will be up later this weekend.

-Week 21 PHOTOS- Custom fitting trim to bulkheads, installing cabin sole beams

2009-02-13T15:51:00.001-08:00

Here, solid Butternut trim is hand shaped to fit the interior bulkheads. These will all be sanded and varnished to perfection.

Brendan spent the week fitting and gluing in the cabin sole beams.

Here is one of the bulkheads that was too large to fit on a plywood panel and is being glued together using clamps and weights.

Oliver shapes a piece of trim.

Cutting trim to width on the table saw.

Fitting trim has to be very precise. It serve as the main decoration in the interior and has to be done right.

The Last Shot of The Week. Here is the interior cabin sole beams all in place at the end of the week and ready to be glued and fastened.

Come see us at the Cape Cod Boat Show

2009-02-08T18:58:00.001-08:00

Pease Boat Works will be at the Cape Cod Boat Show Valentines Weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I will have my time lapse video up to the current date on display.

Aside from that, Pease will have a couple beautiful boats to check out!

2/13 2 - 8 PM

2/14 10AM-6PM

2/15 10AM-4pM

at the Resort and Conference Center in Hyannis/ 35 Scudder Avenue / Hyannis / MA / 02601

-Week 20 Write Up- deck stringers and making the interior bulkheads

2009-02-08T15:05:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of this week, we applied two more coats of clear epoxy into the bilge area, giving it a total of five layers. Since epoxy is only weakened by sunlight, this area in the bilge should be rot free for a hundred years. As the week progressed, Drew, Oliver, and I were given the task of turning the custom butternut plywood sheets into bulkheads.

Luckily we had full size Mylars of the exact specifications and we could trace them onto the plywood using carbon paper and rulers. As Oliver and I traced them onto the ply, Drew cut them out. When all 15 or so of them were cut out, we had to use Alfie's calculations and drawings in order to trace out where each piece of trim will be attached on each side of the bulkhead. Some of the bulkheads will only have a forward face, or vise versa, but most of them will be seen from either side.

After they were cut, we had to go through each one and measure the width and length of all the pieces of trim and put them into a list based on their width. So, for example, we may have ended up with 150 of trim at 3 inches, 80 feet at 4 inches, 110 feet at 2 1/2 inches, and so forth. Eventually, we will rip these measurements out from our solid Butternut supply. But first, our task on Friday, included making straight edges in all of the butternut. After this was done, we were out of time for the week, and will begin next week by cutting all the trim.

As we did this, Brendan built and installed the beautiful centerboard trunk and laid out where each bulkhead will go in the boat, as well as the cabin sole.

Then as a nice surprise on Saturday a tour of some good friends of Alfie's came by the boatyard to see the progress. Nat and Melissa Philbrick, Eric and Betsy Holch, Bill and Eileen Eddy, and of course Sandi Holland. From there, we all traveled to Falmouth to see the progress of Nat and Melissa Philbrick's 40 ft yawl which is currently upside-down and in the cold moulding process. Then, once again, we were off to Bill Eddy's house to see his project of five years, a 50ft flat bottomed boat very similar to a Sharpie. In all, it was a very fulfilling and exciting week of sailboats and sailboat lovers.

No time lapse this week, no one was in the boat!

-Week 20 PHOTOS- working on the interior bulkheads

2009-02-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the week, the boat sits with 3 layers of clear epoxy in the bilge. Two more to come.

Brendan working on the centerboard trunk.

All of the deck beams and cabin sole beams after two coats of penetrating epoxy.

The center board trunk before it gets glued up.

Drew removes the tape around the bilge after 5 fresh fresh coats of clear epoxy.

These are the deck stringers that Drew and I made. Two of them had to be scarfed together in order to get a 35 foot length.

Here are the full size mylars that we used to trace out the bulkheads on the custom Butternut Plywood.

The finished centerboard trunk.

The centerboard trunk goes in the boat!

A detail of one of the bulkheads. This drawing gives us all the dimensions we need to make an interior bulkhead.

Alfie's bulkhead drawings.

The Last Shot of The Week. A warm visit from some Nantucketers to check on the MC-30's progress. Nat and Melissa Philbrick, Eric and Betsy Holch, Sandi Holland and not pictured here were Bill and Eileen Eddy.

-Week 19 Write Up- Lots of sanding, laminating beams, and ripping lumber

2009-01-31T07:10:00.000-08:00

With the boat now right side up, our first task is to clean up the backside of all cedar planks, stringers, and frames we installed over three months ago. Every plank we put on was joined together with a thickened epoxy mix as were the stringers and frames. As we built them back in October and November,we did the best we could to wipe up the backside where they would eventually show on the interior of the boat. There was a lot of glue squeeze out and it made for a difficult job to climb around the molds as the boat was upside down and wipe behind the stringers with a rag soaked in alcohol above your head while it dripped down onto your face.

Now, these compartments are much more accessible, but the job isn't much easier. Getting a sheet of sand paper in between all the stringers and frames, much less a power sander, is very difficult and time consuming. It took us nearly three days of trying new methods, different kinds of sanders (random orbit, half sheet rectangle, or even small triangle sanders), and other awkward body positions to get into those hidden areas. Eventually, we got every visible spots, and mostly all spots that are hidden, to be smooth and beautiful. We concentrated on the areas that will be visible, which isn't much of what you see in the photos now, except for the stringers, bilge area, and stem.

After it was all sanded, we applied three layers of a two part deep penetrating epoxy (weasel piss), which we also applied to the cedar planks when the boat was upside down. This amazing stuff will penetrate the wood and protect it from rot and decay for long after our time.

In between sanding and coating the interior, Drew, Oliver, and I were hard at work laminating deck beams on the jig we made last week. We were able to glue up, and clamp a large section, which is cut into appropriate lengths later, every day and allow it to harden over night.

On Thursday, Oliver worked on coating the bilge area with two coats of clear epoxy to really reinforce its waterproof characteristics while Drew and I ripped some rough sawn Fir into cabin sole beams and deck stringers. The sole beams range from 7 feet down to 2 feet, while the stringers will run the length of the boat, nearly 40 feet long and will have to be scarphed together to get this length.

Not visible in the photos I uploaded is a beautiful staircase that Brendan made for easy and quick access into the hull. He also began cutting Angelique for the centerboard trunk.

No time lapse this week for lack of something to show, really.

-Week 19 PHOTOS- Sanding, Coating, Building Deck/Cabin Beams

2009-01-31T07:02:00.001-08:00

Oliver takes a short break from sanding on Monday.

Brendan surveys the many laminated Fir deck beams that Oliver, Drew, and I made, and cuts them to size.

A detail of the engine bed/bilge after sanding.

Here is out setup while sanding. When Drew helps, there is a third vacuum in the boat.

The product of sanding for 3 days.

Solid Fir cabin sole beams in the foreground while the laminated deck beams are in the background.

Last Shot of The Week. Brendan is trapped around Penetrating Epoxy as he applies the last of three coats.

-Week 18 Write Up - Painting the hull and flipping it over

2009-01-24T12:15:00.001-08:00

This must be one of the most exciting weeks of the project. After weeks of hard work making sure the hull was fair, we were able to cover the splotchiness of the fairing compound with paint. First, Brendan was able to strike the waterline using Alfie's measurements and a laser level. The laser level makes sure a straight line is achieved. It was initially marked with a pen, then taped off. We are using E-paint green for the bottom, mixed with a splash of thinner to make it easier to roll on, and were able to get on two layers. Then the boot stripe was striked, using a combination of Alfie's dimensions and what looked proper to the eye, because as the stripe flows around the stern, it must be wider then at the bow and midships in order to be perceived as the same thickness. As the bottom paint dried, we applied two coats of Awlgrip primer to the topsides, which has a gray color, but will eventually be black, like Alfie's Alerion, Magic. When both the bottom and topsides were dry, we were able to tape on them to paint the white boot stripe.

Just the appearance of our work now seemed more complete then the day before. Instead of seeing multiple shades, tones, and shapes, all you see is one continuous and beautifully precise form. Not only is it easier to get those initial coats of paint on when the hull is upside down, but I presume it is more satisfying when you flip her, to have a beautiful paint job to please your eye.

The flipping process went without incident and was much simpler than I had imagined. Basically, what we did was place two to four foot rolling logs underneath the strong back with seven spaced evenly on each side. The I-beam cross section with chain hoists in the shop easily lifted up one side of the boat to place these logs in. As a test, Brendan, Dave, and I pushed from the stern and she moved freely and easily. We could have pushed her all the way out the shop right then. But when the crane arrived, we set up a towing strap around the molds and connected a rope through a block at the boat running out of the shop to another block attached to the house across the way. The crane lifted the rope which pulled the boat outwards. As the bow moved out, a floor jack with wheels was hoisted to take on the weight of the boat where there were no rollers. this jack was on top of a long board (see the pictures) which allowed it to slide out as it held up the front. Pretty cool.

About 3/4 of the way out of the shop, the front 2x6 on the strong back gave out and the boat came to a stop. I assume we would have rolled her out a few feet more, but it wasn't necessary, as it worked just fine. We placed the hoisting straps from the crane around the hull at the center of balance, and the crane was able to pick her up and bring her fully outside. Once outside, we were able to remove the strong back and uprights which probably reduced the overall weight by nearly 600 lbs. We then repositioned the straps so that the port side straps were their maximum low, and the starboard straps were as high as they could go. Then, with a simple motion, the crane operator brought the port straps up and the starboard straps down, as the boat's own weight caused her to roll over. It was really that easy. Once right side up, everyone paused for a moment, stepped back and took a moment to appreciate not only the hard work that was put in, but also the beauty of the shape of the hull.

We set her down on jack stands in order to adjust the crane to have more operational space to move her inside the shop. He was able to get her in, although far to the right wall and a little crooked, but after adjusting once more, he simply brought her in the shop by extending his boom all the way in and put her down right where we specified. Once down on jack stands in the shop, we adjusted her fore and aft to be level and removed the molds inside the hull to show off her beautiful woodwork. Just the color radiating from inside the hull is a sight to be seen.

The flip happened on Thursday, and on Friday, we did not hesitate in rushing in and sanding the cedar planks. With a rough sand, we filled in any screw holes with thickened epoxy to set over the weekend.

With the boat right side up, one is able to fully appreciate the shapeliness of her hull. Before, it was hard to understand what she would actually look like in the water, but now that thought is realized. And it is quite a nice thought. The project now has taken on a completely new direction, as we will start some serious carpentry.

I almost forgot to mention that we made the front page of the Cape Cod Times! Please check it out here.

Here is week 18's time lapse clip:

- Week 18 PHOTOS - Painting the hull and flipping her over

2009-01-24T08:26:00.001-08:00

Using a laser level, Brendan was able to tape off the waterline in preparation for painting the hull.

Putting on the green E-paint bottom paint.

Drew begins applying the Awlgrip primer.

The finished bottom paint, boot stripe and primer on the topsides.

Here is the hull painted, on rollers, and ready to flip. I think you'd agree that she's really looking nice here.

A detail of the rolling logs. With these, we could easily move the boat by hand.

She was pulled out of the shop atop rolling logs and ramped down in the bow on the board in the foreground with a floor jack on wheels.

This was as far as we could roll her out of the shop...and plenty of room for the crane to work its magic.

She moves!

The MC-30 rests in the slings. As the port side is raised and the starboard side is lowered, the boat easily flips around.

It took the crane operator a couple of adjustments in order to sneak the MC-30 back into the shop.

The boat is rested on the ground so the crane can adjust the straps.

Resting on jack stands and blocking underneath.

The MC-30 snug in her shop after some notable crane work by Baxter Cranes.

Drew is the first at the tiller of the MC-30

Master builder Brendan sits silhouetted in front of the MC-30, and admires everyones beautiful work.

Here is the bow of the boat, showing the sheer clamp, stringers, and cedar planking inside.

Last Shot of The Week. With the hull turned over and the molds removed, a whole new outlook on the project has begun.

-WEEK 17 Write up- Building a jig for the deck laminates, more fairing and applying clear epoxy

2009-01-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

Early in the week, we set up a large plastic tarp over and around the boat to help trap the heat in the area to encourage the epoxy to set up faster. There are also three space heaters under the hull as well as a large fan handing from the ceiling above the wood stove sucking in the hot air and blowing it through a tube and under the hull.

In the mornings, we would fair the previous days fairing compound and in the afternoon, we would apply as many coats of clear epoxy on the hull using paint rollers. This will add a nice strong outer shell to the hull and give a little more protection to the wood. Some fairing compound is still being added to very small areas where lows have been found, but they are now far and few between.

Later in the week, we began to build a jig which we will use as a template to bend the laminates that will later be used for deck beams.

Also, we have a flipping date of this coming Thursday, and we plan on striking the waterline and applying bottom paint on monday, so next week should be an exciting one!

Sorry, no time lapse this week because of the plastic tarp covering the boat all week.

-WEEK 17 PHOTOS- Applying clear epoxy to the hull, More fairing

2009-01-17T14:56:00.000-08:00

We built a tarp of plastic over and around the boat to help contain the heat in the area. There is also 3 space heaters under the hull to help the epoxy set off.

The hull very nearly faired and before the first layer of clear epoxy is spread.

One of the first coatings of clear epoxy. Eventually, there will be 6-8 layers rolled on.

The hull shines and reflects the plastic tarp from above. A fan is used to blow hot air from the wood stove towards the boat to help set off the glue.

Another clear coat of epoxy is rolled onto the hull.

Drew, Oliver and I worked on constructing a jig to shape the laminated deck beams.

Last Shot Of The Week. Brendan applies another coat of clear epoxy to the hull.

-Week 16 Write Up- Applying Fairing compound, fairing, and filling...

2009-01-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

This week was all about fairing compound. On monday, after we shaped the laminated skeg and stem shoes, we began coating the entire hull in fairing compound, which is an epoxy base filled with purple 'micro balloons' . This is suppose to be easy to sand, but proved a challenge. We spread it on as evenly as we could, which amounted to roughly an 1/8 inch over the entire boat. Wednesday and Thursday were spent solely on board filing, which is the best way to achieve a uniform fairness over a large area. I kept thinking to myself that some people would pay good money to get a work out as I did these two days, and that kept me going strong.

After 16 hours of board filing spread over two days, we had a few small low spots around the hull, or little dents in the fairing compound that needed to be filled. On Friday, these spots were sanded down, and the entire boat was sanded over with a finer 80 grit on the random orbitals. This got rid of all the large scratch marks from the 36 grit boards.

Then, Brendan and Dave went over the entire boat with a long batten to really inspect and skillful mark out any last low or high spots. The ones that were found are impossible to feel by hand, and only can be measured with this technique. These spots were again filled with fairing compound. This will sit over the weekend and we will sand it down again with board files. We should be nearing the end of the fairing process.

The MC-30 is looking very smooth.

Here is the week 16 time lapse clip:

-WEEK 16 PHOTOS- January 2009 a week of fairing and filling

2009-01-10T13:13:00.000-08:00

A detail of the laminated stem shoe which is Angelique wood, before it gets covered in fairing compound.

Dave helps Drew shape the laminated Angelique skeg shoe before we begin coating with fairing compound.

The last of the bare wood shows through as we move along, coating the boat in fairing compound.

Entirely covered in purple fairing compound.

Brendan, Mike, and Dave look on as Alfie explains some details about the interior.

A detail of Alfie's interior model. This is all done to scale and will help us visualize what we will be doing next: building the interior.

Oliver rests briefly in between sanding.

Wednesday afternoon after 16 hours of board filing the purple fairing compound.

Heres the boat Wednesday night after an entire day of board filing. Fairing compound was spread onto the low spots. This may look like we have a lot of lows, but we are being extremely fussy here...

After weeks of fairing, filling, and fairing, its finally time to use a batten to see how close we are. Still some lows to fill, and we are being very picky...

Here is the boat nearly completely fair. After this, Brendan and Dave will skreet on more fairing compound to the low spots. This should be the last time.

The Last Shot of The Week. Brendan and Dave apply more purple fairing compound to the hull.

-Week 15 Write Up- Short Week before the holidays

2008-12-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

On monday, we sanded the clear epoxy coats from the week before with 80 grit on a random orbiter. This also helped fair the boat a bit. Once that was finished, we milled the Anqelique into suitable sizes for the stem and skeg shoes.

Drew and I applied the first three layers to both the stem and skeg. Angelique is a very hardwood and it took some effort to bend it into place. Then, screws and blocking were used to hold it down and G FLEX epoxy to set it in overnight. Because of the difficulties, we had to attach each laminate one by one and wait overnight for it to dry. Luckily, we were able to get the first set started monday and have it finished by Wednesday before we took off for the holidays.

On Tuesday, a thick combination of epoxy and purple fairing compound was mixed and skreeted over the topsides. This was sanded on Wednesday and will help us achieve that perfect fairness.

Since the holidays were quickly approaching, I took a half day on Wednesday to allow myself to travel to the Island to see my family. We will be back at the boatyard on January 5th.

Happy Holidays!

Here is the short week 15 time lapse clip

-WEEK 15 PHOTOS- fairing and stem and skeg shoes

2008-12-24T10:45:00.001-08:00

On Monday, we began by sanding off all the clear epoxy with 80 grit random orbiting sanders.

A close up of the bow.

Drew vacuums dust off the hull from sanding.

Drew cleans up the laminates for the skeg shoe

Here is one of the two full length Angelique laminates for the stem.

The MC-30 is decorated with lights Monday night during the boat yard christmas party.

A detail of the fairing compound that was scraped onto the boat with a large notched spreader.

Three layers of Angelique laminates are screwed and clamped on. This is glued with G FLEX

Brendan and Dave laying out the full length stem shoe laminates.

Dave screwing in the stem shoe fastenings. These will be bunged and look beautiful.

The Last Shot of The Week. Dave and Drew clean up G FLEX from the stem shoe laminates.

-WEEK 14 WRITE UP- another bottle of whisky for the MC-30

2008-12-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

No, this week was not all about whisky. In fact, we finished the cold moulding process of stapling and gluing on the laminates at the end of the day monday and were able to celebrate the beginning of the week with a very nice bottle of Bowmore singal malt scotch whisky from the famous island of Islay, once visited by Alfie and myself on IMPALA in 06'.

The rest of the week was spent getting intimate with the hull fairing and sanding. We starting with the belt sanders to knock off most of the staples and high spots. Next we file boarded with 36 grit to really smooth her out. Then we used random orbiting sanders with 80 grit, and finally 80 grit sanding paper by hand. Meanwhile, Brendan had been shaping the keelson, stem, and skeg with his power planer, block plane, and pneumatic air powered sander.

Even though we have done a lot of sanding and fairing, there are still slight bumps and variations that will take some more finessing to get rid of.

Later in the week, Drew and I selected a piece of Angelique to mill out for the stem and skeg shoes, and the boat was coated with two layers of clear epoxy. This will soak into the wood, get sanded down and more layers of fairing compound ontop of that.

Its too bad most of our beautiful work on the last layer of laminating will be hidden under thick bottom paint.

Here is week 14's time lapse clip