Bottom is complete..

Nothing too exciting yesterday. I was up early, so I put another coat of Cetol Marine Gloss on the ladder steps, and then taped the inside joints of the fridge box. I was thinking I might not bother putting glass tape on the outside of the box, because it is pretty solid. However, now that I think of it, I may be better off just getting it done. If the box is ever going to have problems, it will be in the seams, and I can't glass the outside after is already installed.

 Then Serena and I went down to the boat to get the last coat of bottom paint on. So now the hull is complete. We could launch her the way she is, if we had to. That is, after the knot log sensor is put it, the cotter pin is put on the prop nut, and the stuffing box is put back together. Mind you, I would like to finish the boot stripe first. The port side needs 3 coats yet, and the starboard side needs 1. Funny thing is, the only way to tell the difference between the below photo and the other pictures from the first coat is that this one is from the front, and the tape is missing from the edge.

 After spending 3 hours or so at the yacht club getting that done, we went shopping for the afternoon. What fun. Serena did however talk me into keeping the $50 labeler I bought for labeling all of the wiring in the boat. I am so glad she did, because it will make it so much easier to get the job done right. I am really anal about wiring. It must be done right, it must be neat, and it must be labeled judiciously. I have seen what happens when wiring goes bad. In fact, I would bet that almost every boat in our club has improper wiring, and most will have 16 awg lamp cord in them somewhere. Wiring burns more boats, and yet people are worried about gas engines. You can smell gas at least, and know enough not to light a match, but bad wiring gives no notice until it has burnt the boat to the waterline. Sorry, ranting again, I did say I was anal about wiring!

After we got home I was going to coat the fridge box with fiberglass cloth and epoxy, but the joints on the bottom were still a little tacky. I had set it on the concrete floor before we left, and I think that may have retarded the curing process. So I moved on to the drink holder that will be attached the binnacle support tube. I made it out of hickory, because I had it laying around, but also because I am seriously thinking about converting to tiller steering, although that's a discussion for another entry. If I made it out of teak, it would have been expensive, just to turn around and throw it out later. It needs to be dry fitted, and trimmed, then it will get 6 coats of Cetol as well. Might get to the cockpit table today if I am lucky.

After getting into my comfy's last night I worked on new wire drawings. I need a master schematic, but I also want to write out each cct, how it runs, connections, sizes of wire, terminals, etc... Maybe anal is not a strong enough word.....

Later. Rob