I have been in a working frenzy for the last couple of days as I am about to take off for a ten day kayak trip in the Baja. I'm looking forward to this trip. It will be good to get on to the water. I hope to visit the Sea of Cortes one day in Tsunamichaser. Over the last couple of days I have pretty much finished all the work on the inside hull below the bunk level, including all filleting, taping and instalation of diagonals. I had to bust into my second supply of resin and went through a lot of filleting compound. Work has gone much faster this time as I understand what needs to be done, had most of the pieces premade and with warmer weather could wait a few hours for one batch of epoxy to set up and then move on to the next task. One exampleof how fast fast things can go is with the intermediate bunk height bulkheads I added in the battery compartment and the footwell. Last time these took me a day to figure out. Yesterday I had them both in in less than an hour. Cleaning up with rubbing alcohol has sped things up too. You don't need to do endless sanding this way. I use a brilo sponge so I can shape or remove excess or spilled epoxy with the green brilo side and smooth out with the yellow sponge side. Today I will just clean up the shed and secure tools and supplies incase there is lousy weather while I'm gone. I may get one or two tasks done but I have much to do before I am ready to leave tonight.

I've been busy since 5 am making fillets, smoothing them and then adding biaxial tape over top. Mid-morning my order for mast lumber arrived, 24' clear Sitka Spruce. It is very beautiful lumber, didn't even fit in the truck!

If you take a close look at this photo you will see that I screwed up. I installed bulkhead #2 backwards. I discovered my mistake this morning. Luckily I had only wired it in. It took only a few moments to fix. How many have done the same? You get your head down and it is easy not to see the whole task. Working in a small space you can't really stand back and admire your work from a distance.

I had an interrupted day of work, a lunch meeting and chores but I managed to get all the bulkhead fillets done and finished them up by using a sponge and rubbing alcohol. They turn out really nice this way. Tomorrow I hope to do the keel and then start in on the glass tape that I've been installing over the fillets.

I discovered a total time/hassle saver yesterday when I set all the bulkheads thanks to Scott Williams who is building Element 2 a Tiki 26. SCREWS! instead of clamps. Assembling the hulls and fitting the bulkheads was much easier this time round. first I screwed the tops of the hull together instead of using clamps like Wharram suggests. Second I used the straps I haqd used to rotate H1 while finishing it to hold the flat side panels upright while setting them up on their chocks and inserting the bulkheads. Once I had the hull upright and I removed the screws, I wrenched the sides out, got inside and started pushing bulkheads into place. It took all of 15 minutes to have them pushed down and in place then about 1.5 to 2 hours to clamp sides together where I needed to torque things around and adjust the hull spread. When it looked good I started wiring it all in place working from the ends to the midde. I checked that everything was consistent on H2 with H1 with two tight lines (keel and bunks), three levels and a laser. I have centerline marks on the tops of the bulkheads. I set the lasere on the stem and lined it up. The alignment was less than 1/16" out. I also used the bunk templates I made for H1. They fit perfectly. Consequently I was able to go from loose sides to epoxy poured into the keel in six hours. I've definitely learned a few things since I started in on H1.

I pushed through a pile of loose end work today. There are so many small things that need to get done. Trimming down rough edges and glue joints, glassing beam parts, planing the tiller bar and cutting the semi-circular notch in the rudders to mention a few. The work I've managed to do since I moved Hull 1 out of the shed on Wednesday has me ready to start stitching Hull 2 together tomorrow after I get back from the dentist -fun fun fun! All the work making duplicate parts back in September/October has paid off. It took me fifteen days of work to get to the stage that it took me four days to reach this time. I've definitely also learned what matters and what doesn't. Endless sanding to get pieces smooth that will later get buried in a fillet makes no sense. Sequence makes a big difference too. Internal pieces that can be measured and cut to a rough or final fit before assembly will save much time templating etc. That is what experience is all about. It will be great to see two hulls sitting side by side and it will be great to keep up this pace if it is possible. There is plenty left to do on the long road ahead.

I'm working on everything right now. The beams are coming along well, I've started gluing up the tillers and the tiller bar and I've got the panels and bulkheads ready for assembly for hull two. It's a lot to manage working on so many things at the same time but a checklist helps. Limited space means I have to spread out so yesterdays good weaather helped as I could glue up pieces and stick them outside to cure. Unfortunately I got a couple of runs on the bulkheads but I'll sand them out before I assemble the lower part of the hull. Today I'll do a little work but mainly I have to get ready for a kayaking trip I'm taking in the Baja. It will be nice to get south into warmer temperatures. I just updated the spreadsheet I'm keeping on the cost of the project. I just crossed the $10k point. That includes sails, some hardware and almost all the epoxy and lumber for the hulls. It will be interesting to see what the final cost will be compared to what I estimated. I've added a few things since then but I think I'm pretty well on track.

I kind of over did it last night. I was just going to glue up the first upper stringer on the main and aft beams. Then I found myself out in the shed with a cold beer in hand and before I knew it it was 1 am and I had glued bunk and cabin stretchers to the bulkheads, cheek plates on the stem and stern and given the hull panels their second coat of epoxy.

I played soccer tonight. I play in an indoor league. It's crazy how you can use the boards. A little like hockey. It was a clean game though a little rough. I got an elbow in the nose and heard that sound of cartilage crunching. It started spouting blood right away though not enough to sideline me, Now it hurts. One of the guys on my team twisted his knee badly but the real injury was to his wife who was playing on a different field in the women's league. She got a ball right to the eye. It was bad enough that they called 911 and took her to the hospital.

I just finished coating the inside of all the hull panels for Hull Two (H2). It was actually really peaceful. It was good to see all the little reminders I made for where bulkheads are suppose to go. I love the action of spreading resin over a sheet of plywood with a window squeegee. It is a zen like activity. I should head for bed. There is plenty to do tomorrow including picking up the remaining epoxy supplies or so I hope.

More photos of the move and the shop cleared out. I did other work today to including cleaning up my cutting shop after having milled most of the stock for the tillers. I need to make the spacers. I brought the second set of hull panels into the shop and scarfed stringer material for the top of the panels. My plan is to get the panels coated tonight.

I moved Hull One out of the shed today. It took me an hour to modify a handtruck to use as a "trailer" and about half an hour to actually get it out of the shed. I have a video I'll post when I get a chance.

I've been stewing about time. Will I make my desired launch date? I complained to my wife that I could sand for months. She suggested I start hull two somehow that way I could guage time. I got an response to yesterday's post from Scott Williams who has recently started his Tiki 26 build ( see links). His words and those of my wife sparked a sea change in me. I figured out that I can move the hull right outside the shed. So I've switched gears. I sealed up the remaining uncoated wood on the hull today and got supplies to reposition hull one. I prepped the shed somewhat for the move. I ploughed into other work - milling out 2"x3/4" rips of White Oak for the tillers and crossbars. That is hard wood! Oh and most important, I started the keel for Hull Two. Its the long bit of wood with clamps and zip ties (more experimentation - instead of cutting out strips of 1x 3/4 and doing just end scarks which are pretty unstable, I cut out enough 1/2x3/4 to do offset scarfs backed up with a continuous length of wood. I'll try to post a future picture of this. It also uses up rips of wood I have laying around. Why buy when you have.) around it on the floor just to the left of Hull One! Maybe I'll call them Thing One and Thing Two from the Cat in the Hat.

True to my word, I put in some early morning time. Not on the hull featured in this shot but on the mast and aft beams. I unclamped them and set them up to pour a small fillet on the backside of the web-bottom joint. This is to seal up any small openings in the joint. I'll cut the vertical spacers later today, add the full fillet and set these spacers and add the top cord or cords which are all ready to go. Meanwhile as soon as I've got my daugther off to school, I'll begin the sanding and interior coating I need to finish in preparation for deck installation. I need to keep the bits and pieces moving along but the main task is the hull. Material delivery this morning.

I flipped the hull back upright today as the temperature isn't right for spraying the hull with System Three WR-155 primer. As soon as I had it upright and back on the stands it was like, "Man do I have a lot of work to do before I can start number two." This is a huge project! I want to be on the water in 138 days, I've been at it for 132 days. That means this Wednesday is the mid-point. As spring comes atleast it will be warmer and I'll be able to keep at it. And hopefully I've learned a few things. What I need is to increase my production. Building one hull at a time is slower, I'm sure. In the spirit of production I did the same amount of work on the main and aft beam tonight as I did on the front beam over three days. The plan is to get these finished up to the same point as the other beam this week, start on the tillers as the lumber shows up tomorrow and get significant work done on the hull. I having some sanding and coating to do on the inside, deck beams to coat and decks to be made and placed oh and the cabin too. See ---it's a huge project!! I'm glad it's a "simple" project!

I am up late busy building beams. It is almost 0100. I work on the beams today around other activities. I had to go to the marine store to return some stuff and get more screws. I took my daughter night skiing. While I was at the chandlery I discovered a cool new toy. An electric outboard by a German company Torqeedo www.torqeedo.com This may be my answer for auxillary power. It is pricey on capital costs but long term may be the way to go.

I am running out of epoxy supplies. Today I used the last of my System three gelmagic. I have little laminating resin left, ditto on fairing and filleting mixes. I guess it's time to resupply. Drop another $1,500.00! So far I have spent about $9,000.00 and that includes sails. Not bad for a cool 26 foot cat.

I am making good progress. perhaps in a couple three weeks I can start on hull two!