Adam F

Laid up the forward hatch last night: And popped it out this morning, away now until the end of the week so will trim it up ready to fit the deck down this weekend. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's all those pies and cooked breakfasts! The aft hatch is easy to slide down and under it's 600x400, the fore hatch needs to be 400x440 as other wise it catches the dash.

Monday 2nd Feb: laid up the hatch mould last night, so was ready to pop out this morning. It was a bit sticky but came out with a bit of gentle persuasion! A quick trim up with the grinder and a light sand and it was ready for a clean down with acetone and a coat of grey flow coat. This done it was time to rebate the deck panel to accept the moulding and give a flush finish to he project. Finished this late this evening so just the actual hatch to make up now. With that done, I dismantled the first mould, chopped it down to size the slightly smaller hatch fore of the other one and prepped the mould for another run. Just managed to get the gel on tonight, so I can lay this one up when I get back tomorrow.

Last day of the shooting season today, so was out shooting this morning. Managed to twist Rachs arm for a few hours on the boat this afternoon. Got the last bit of flow coating done around the deck beams. Then started to lay up the deck hatch mould, first coat of gel applied. Finally got the floor panels flow coated. If I can get the extra cable duct and the eberspacher hoses run this week. I can then fit the deck done properly. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hard week at work this week so not been here much. Managed an hour with my building inspector on thurs to clarify a few tricky details and I'm good to go again. Following that, tonight I've built the mould for the hatch frames. These are moulded in grp and then countersunk into the deck to take the hatches. Should be a quick job, get them laid up tomorrow. Also whizzed up the mount for the compass to sit into the dash moulding. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Had Rob over again Friday. Bit of a different day, as didn't actually build anything, but was very useful as we spent the time making up templates, measuring and planning.... Setting up the wheelhouse for fitting out. Pushed on a bit today and stated to make up the interior panels. Really exciting to see the interior starting to take shape. It's vital to get this bit right. Things like seat heights and depths, helm positions etc can be a real irritation if not right and it's easier to do it now than alter it later. Charlie provided loads of measurements from Alfresco, combined with loads of images online have helped me. Once I've got the main bits set out, I'll know where my cable runs etc need to be, so I can mark them and make sure the under deck set up is right, then I can pull up the deck and refit it down permanently.

20/1 update. Not much progress tonight as got back late but lifted the deck panels, cleaned down with acetone and gave each done a decent coat of resin. Hope this cures in time for Rob coming up on fri so he can flow coat them for me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dave, They will get a coat of resin to seal, and then another coat of grey flow coat to add a second protective layer and match in against the rest of the below deck work. Topside get glassed in structurally around the perimeter (1800gsm) but the rest will just get a single wear layer as I intend to have a synthetic teak deck over the top. Adam

Last few bits of the jigsaw sorted tonight. Bloody cold outside though... I'd guess -3 or -4c! So that's the deck panels dry fitted. They now need a coat of resin and flow coating grey underneath before I can bond, screw and glass them down permanently. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Another update... Feel like I'm starting to get somewhere now. Working evenings this week and then a few hours this weekend, I've glassed in the deck beams, and started to cut the new deck panels. I'm really pleased with the new deck height, much better. The space feels Huge! The final pic of me stood in the forward berth gives it some sense of perspective.

Cheers guys. Just off out to glass the deck beams in and start cutting the deck to size. Dave, their is a proper electric connection under the tape, it's just there the protect that.

Big progress today. Had help from Rob and planned to make the most of the extra pair of hands.... I think he now knows that it's not all about bolting shiney things on! An endless procession of scrubbing, rubbing, hoovering, cleaning, prepping..... The first job was to remove all the old carpet backing and glue residue from the wheelhouse...a job I said would 'take about an hour' we picked one side each and 3 hours later we were done! Phew... Pig of a job. But now she is ready for the interior carpet in a few months time. Next job was to fair off the rear bulkhead, so cue 3l of body filler.... And rob did a great job, whilst I picked up all the bits of glue. Finally, an hour or so of sanding, acetoneing, and hoovering and the hull was clean and smooth and ready for the flow coat. This took a couple of hours, but now under the deck is complete, flow coated and ready for the deck to be cut to size, sika flexed, screwed and glassed down. Cheers Rob... We achieved today what would have taken me a couple of weeks to do in the evenings.

So first update for 2015. No photos as they don't show much, but I've been busy fibreglassing... It's taken bloody ages! At first it seems a quick easy task, just a few strips of grp here and there? Well to comply to Seafish Standards all the structural bits (so anything under the deck basically) needs 1800gsm layup, which is 3 layers of 600gsm mat. Each layer needs to be slightly larger than the last to avoid a big ridge, and to keep a nice stepped profile as well as added strength. So that 'little' job becomes a mountain once you start to cut all the pieces of mat, I had literally a pile of it! I'll never complain about the price of a boat again.... The amount of labour is phenomenal.... I thought the last boat was a lot of work, but that was a basic fit out, this is nearer to a full build. Anyway, so I've been out there every spare hour trying to get the grp lay up complete. 3 layers around the top of the deck shelf, 3 underneath, 3 on each of the bulkhead tops, each side, 3 along each bulkhead where it joins the hull... Equates to about 36m at 300mm wide and about 25kg of resin. The last few bits will be done tomorrow morning and then I've enlisted some hired help from Rob Francis on a Thurs to get the under deck flow coated. Then I can trim the deck to size! I'll be pleased to move on to the next stage...

Another 175 fan here. If I went back to a day boat I'd go back to a 175 without hesitation. I had a 165 too, also great but the 175 is in another league, hard to find much to fault really. I had a 130hp honda on mine! I would recommend going for at least 115hp... They need a few hp but they really fly, mine did close to 40 knots but drank around 1l per mile at cruising speed.

Any decent builders merchant will stock or can get hold of it. Be prepared to pay circa £60 a sheet.

Xmas end of year parties and workload have slowed up last few weeks but another step forward anyway. My building inspector (aka Pete R) was kind enough to pop up last week to make sure I was getting the important structural detail correct under the deck. A few very helpful pointers and I was back underway. What you see here is the under deck structure complete. Deck shelves around the outside and beams between the bulkheads. All this now gets a coat of resin to seal the timber, before sheathing the whole lot in grp. It then gets flow coated in dark grey before I can start to fit the new deck. A couple of weeks of over Xmas should see this wrapped up ready to start refitting the cabin in the new year. The last of the toys came this week... An early Xmas pressie... So we will have the new breed of Raymarine EV-100 auto pilot, and a 1kw transducer with Garmins latest GSD26 black box running it.

The main issue I've been having is the short days and colder weather. With the new job, working during 'office' hours isn't really happening, so I'm having to grab the odd hour in the evenings... Tiring work. It's a real bonus when we have a free weekend and amazing how fast things progress given a full day on the boat. The other issue is the cold weather, it's not great for curing the resin... With the amount of heaters and lighting on the boat, I'm not looking forward to the bill next spring! With the amount of work to do, I've basically turned her into a mini workshop, so the boat has permanent power, and lighting and several heaters. Anyway, on with the progress report. First off, I got boarded doing the prep jobs so 'treated' myself to installing a few bits of bling. The main deck lazerette hatch now has gas struts to lift the massive hatch, a new shines, proper locking handle to replace the toy ones. I've also cleaned the filth from the bilge, and started work on the battery shelf. The battery boxes are now all done and complete. If anyone wants the moulds, should before I burn them. Back in the wheelhouse, I've templates and cut sections to fill in gaps in the rear bulkhead, installed the first deck shelf, and fabricated the shelf to take the 100l water tank. The final update is from this evening, where I've managed to template and level in the two main bulkheads. Really pleased with this last bit as it signals closer to getting the new deck in. The new deck will be 8" highest than the old one, storage underneath is cavernous! Im away this weekend, but next week, ill acetone and clean down the hull, foam the bulkheads in and glass them over.

So much for thinking I was nearly there. Another 5 hours of grinding was required to get every last bit off. The only bit built properly on the boat was the toilet cubicle.... The bloody thing would have survived a nuclear blast, absolute nightmare to get that out. I honestly didn't expect to have taken the boat back this far... I'm now left with what isn't far off a bare set of mouldings! Anyway, we are here now. GROUND ZERO! From here on in I start to add things...and the rebuild starts!

Chris, it's a good observation, and another reason I've taken the boat back as far as I have. The boat has 8 bulkheads in total but all have limber holes, so no water tight compartments. My plan going forward is to seal these off hand have 4 water tight compartments will electric and manual bilge pumps.

No, it's not an Ebola outbreak in Dorset.. Me trying my best to protect myself!

Just read the last post and the photos make I took easy! It was an absolute pig of a job. I've even bled for the boat today... Apparently diamond cutting discs are pretty good at cutting leather gloves and human flesh :-((

Major progress today, and not a job I was looking forward to - I'd rather have been out in NZ in the sun with Ian, and not on my back under the deck with a grinder and sabre saw for 5 hours. Despite a full set of PPE I still ended up covered in itchy grp dust, it literally got everywhere. Anyway, I'm now very close to the stage where things stop getting worse and start getting better. The wheelhouse deck is completely gone, just a bit of final grinding and cleaning and then it's time to order in the marine ply and start templating bulk heads ready for a new deck to be glassed in. Wheelhouse dash.... Gone! Forward bunk... Gone! Middle section... Gone! Galley section... Gone Everything... Gone. And hoovered. Mountain of dust. Bloody glad that job is done! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Maybe it was a typo Rob and he meant mileS away......

Only a mile, carry it!

Bit more progress this weekend. No going back now! Managed to strip out all of the electrics and all of the woodwork. All that is left now is the hydraulics and then it's time to done the dusk mask and look like I'm an Ebola doctor before setting to the interior fibreglass with a diamond disc! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD