Boat Building Plans And Kits | Anthony Steward Around Alone in an Open Boat

Boat Building Plans And Kits

More than 20 years ago Anthony Steward sailed around the world on a tiny open boat. He took the mould plug from my TLC 19 trailer-sailer and turned it into a boat to circum-navigate the world. Nobody had done it before him and nobody has done it since.

Ant Stewards little boat shipwrecked in the Seychelles

Anthony has always been very modest about his achievement and has done very little to publicise it. Most of the publicity that it has received has been through articles that I have written for magazines, the article on my website and his chapter in my book "Shaped by Wind & Wave".

I am pleased to see that this has now changed. A video that was made 20 years ago, documenting his voyage, is now on YouTube. It is worth the 30 minutes to watch it, to understand just how tough this voyage was.

Anthony modified my little boat extensively to serve the purpose that he needed. We have many designs to take you more comfortably around the world or just to take you across your local pond. Please visit http://dixdesign.com/.

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Boat Plans Skiff | BOW SPRITS and Yachting PENIS envy

Boat Plans Skiff

 

 Anchored in Antigua this past week has been great to see all the new Yachts and old favorites.

Going to shore in the dinghy I spotted a great big huge blue masking taped penis on the stern of the motor yacht " NERO". Never got the story behind this as yet but I wanted to share it with you all plus some other favorites.

I hope you can see it . Its just under the sheer cove stripe.

A nice phallus sprit 

A new schooner with a modern one

Your basic one

Oh... Its So big.

Modern one

Heres one coming out of the deck.

Id show you a picture of Hogfish Maximuss bow sprit but its so small compared to these I will refrain for now. Too embarrassing.

 Oh  , Ok...here it is. Dont laugh !

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Yacht Boat Plans | Ready to move

Yacht Boat Plans

The day after we pulled the hull out of the barn, we moved the wheel house over to side of the barn with the now  modified door. The rest of that second  day was spent jacking the wheel house up high enough to allow our trailer to get underneath it.

Using a floor jack, the wheel house end of the super structure was  lowered down on to one of the 6x6s that were removed from modifying the barn door opening. 2" steel  pipes were first  placed under the 6x6. The aft side of the super structure was raised up enough to get pipes under it by using a block and a crow bar. For some reason, I thought Id be able to move the super structure by having  Shannon and I push on it. After about 5 seconds of pushing, we figured another source of power was going to be needed. The John Deere tractor we use to mow was the perfect tool for the job. We move the structure as far as the tractor would allow, then used the skid steer loader to bump it over the rest of the way from the other side.

Jacking the super structure up for the trailer to fit under it was pretty straight forward. Using the skid steer loader with a set of forks in the front, and a floor jack in the rear, it took about 4 hours of lots of moves to get the job done.

The nice thing about building in metal is how rigid the structures are and how things dont rack when you pull on them. When I hooked the tractor to the super structure on one end, and pulled, the whole structure moved.

The wheel house is ready to transport as is the hull. I spent the last weekend doing some work on the dolly, and tidying up the inside of the boat. We  had about three inches of rain the other day, and while we had spent some time taping and tarping openings in the deck of the hull, we  still got some water inside. The good  news is that all the water tight bulkheads are indeed water tight below the sole, the bad news is that I had to spend Sunday getting the bilges dry. Its really no big deal as this is still a construction project, and its not weather tight yet, but I hate seeing the weather getting to her.

I have the permit to move in hand, and for the most part I have the strategy were going to use to make it happen. The permit expires this Sunday, so the move has to happen between Wednesday and Sunday. So, this time next week, I should have both pieces down at the boat yard ready to join them together.

Cheers,

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Boat Plans Catamaran | Cape to Rio 2014 Black Cat Preparations

Boat Plans Catamaran

Start day for Cape to Rio 2014 draws near, now only 4 days away. Preparation of our radius chine plywood Didi 38 "Black Cat" continues. Most of the big jobs have been completed but somehow the list of smaller ones never ends.

Earlier this week we were able to go sailing for a few hours to try some of the new sails, all made by the North Sails Cape Town loft. The mainsail and jib are both carbon and are a real treat to use. They set beautifully to the designed shape and are very stable. There was a bit of swell running and I found the sails to be easier to helm to than the previous laminated Dacron sails, with the sail shape not changing from surging in the swell as happens with a softer sail.

North carbon jib. Sexy see-through clothing.

Photographic conditions were not great, so these are not the best of photos. They show the new carbon mainsail and jib. For purposes of optimising our IRC rating for the race, sail area has been reduced in the headsails, with our big (and very old) Genoas with large overlap gone for good, replaced by a jib that hardly overlaps the mast, does not foul the spreaders or shrouds and is very quick to tack. It also sheets very close and allows "Black Cat" to now sail very close to the wind. This will be a great sail any time that we have to go to windward.

North carbon mainsail

The reduction in headsail area is somewhat compensated by the larger roach of the new mainsail. The larger roach and stiffer fabric means that there is a lot more conflict between backstay and mainsail, so she now has a flicker on the backstay, which you can see on the photos, to lift the top of the backstay away from the sail to allow it to pass through.

The new Code zero has massive area and showed itself to be surprisingly close-winded also, able to sheet to a very close reach, almost a beat. With large shoulders, it is also very stable and much easier to steer to than a conventional spinnaker. This sail rates as an asymmetrical spinnaker rather than a Genoa, allowing us to sail to windward with a spinnaker in light to moderate breezes.

I have written previously about some of our crew for this race. Without bio info from the other two, here is as much info as I can give for them from my own knowledge.

Dave Immelman is the normal skipper of "Black Cat" and has graciously moved into the navigator slot to allow me to come in as skipper. Dave is very experienced in competitive sailing, having crewed in the South African "Shosholoza" Americas Cup Team, a Volvo Ocean Race campaign and extensive racing in South Africa, UK and the Med. Dave is very tough as well, having rowed 3000 miles single-handed across the North Atlantic Ocean. It was intended to be a double-handed voyage but his partner took ill and was taken off the boat very soon after the start and Dave decided to continue by himself.  We will have many interesting stories to swap on this next voyage. Dave is married to Susan, an award-winning seafood chef. They have a daughter of 5 and another arriving while we are mid-Atlantic.

Dave Immelman at the time of his rowing voyage.

Adrian Pearson is the owner of "Black Cat". He was my partner in her from during construction through to 2000, when he took over full ownership. Adrian loves to sail on her but does not often skipper her, preferring to hand over that job to someone with more experience. Not that Adrian lacks ocean experience, he was in my crew for the 1996 and 2000 Cape to Rio Races, crewed on her for the return from Rio in 2000 and did many coastal regattas and races with me around the Cape of Good Hope. Adrian is a retailer in Johannesburg, co-owner of a large grocery store.  He is currently unattached and has two sons and a daughter.

Dont forget that you will be able to track our progress across the Atlantic. Go to the official race website Cape to Rio 2014 and click on the tracking link at upper right of the screen.

I should be able to make one more post before we sail away. I hope to make an occasional post while on the water but cant guarantee that it will happen. Our Internet connection will be via costly satellite phones so has to be used sparingly. We will have a separate boat blog for the race and I will post the address of that blog in my next post here.

Read about our designs at http://dixdesign.com/.



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Boat Plans Stitch And Glue | Our 2014 Calendar Stocks Available

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue

A few people have told me that they were disappointed that we had sold out of our 2014 calendars before they were able to order and have asked if we dont have a spare copy that they can buy. Sorry, all were sold and we have none left except for one hanging on our own wall.

All is not lost though. I have set up a link where anyone who wants can order direct from the publisher at the same price that we were charging. You may even get a discount from them if you time it nicely when they have a special offer running.

Cover of 2014 Calendar

To order, please Click here. From this page you can also order my book "Shaped by Wind & Wave" if you dont already have that, either in hard copy or ebook format.

Our website is at http://dixdesign.com/, where you can see all of our designs.

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Boat Plans Aluminium Australia | Update on Didi Sport 15 and Didi 950

Boat Plans Aluminium Australia

I have recently added two new radius chine plywood designs to our range and wrote about them on this blog. Here are updates on both boats.

Yesterday I visited the prototype of the Didi Sport 15 (DS15) that is being built by Hunter Gall in Virginia Beach. I hadnt seen it in the flesh for a few weeks and wanted to see how the deck is looking as it comes together. Hunter is doing a really nice job of his project, working slowly but meticulously.

His boat, "Scallywag", is looking very pretty. He stained the hull surfaces blue and the deck surfaces red before doing the epoxy coatings and these colours will be highlighted by areas of clear-finished timber. It all entailed a tremendous amount of extra work to get it right than if he had painted it in the normal way. The final result is very attractive and she will be an eye-catcher when complete. Hunter can be pleased with the overall results.

The deck configuration that I designed is unusual, with a raised mast deck and wave-breaker above a flat foredeck and the open self-draining cockpit. It gives a decidedly retro image to the deck, over the thoroughly modern hull. It reminds me somewhat of the Lightweight Australian Sharpies that my Dad sailed in South Africa when I was a child. That makes it  somehow fitting that Hunter Gall is Australian, I am South African and we have ended up working together on this project in USA.

Hunter Galls DS15 project nearing completion

Other news on the DS15 is that work will start in the next few weeks on moulds to build a composite version in Europe. I will release more information about it after I return from the Cape to Rio Race, by which time the builder may be ready to start receiving enquiries.

The other boat was the Didi 950, for which the prototype kit has been cut and will be delivered to the builder in the next week or two. It appears that this is going to be a popular design because we have sold plan packages for another three boats since announcing the design.

Didi 950, bigger sister to the DS15

 One of those boats will result in a variation on the design, with a lifting keel. A lifting keel was part of the original concept for the builder of the prototype but he decided in the end on the simplicity of a fixed keel. The lifting keel proved to be a very viable option, using the same basic keel support arrangement as the fixed keel with no structural redesign. The major difference will be moving the motor aft to a position under the companionway, driving a saildrive rather than a shaft. This is to make room for the lifting keel to rise through the galley central locker unit.

The prototype of this design is to be built in Ohio, USA. The others that have been ordered will be built in Australia, Latvia and Greece. There is interest from other countries as well.

To see our full range of designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/.

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Kayak Boat Plans | Opportunity to Own an Aluminium Shearwater 39

Kayak Boat Plans

Looking for a classically-styled cruiser that has the robust strength that will allow you to sail anywhere in the world that your cruising thoughts might take you? An aluminium Shearwater 39 might fit your bill nicely. It has the ability to bounce back from altercations with rocks, coral, ice or logs as can only come from a metal boat.

We can navigate our way around solid bits if they have a precisely known location but when they are not where the charts show them they can eat most boats. Heavy flotsam that drifts right at the surface can be anywhere on the ocean, lying in wait for boats at night when even the most vigilant watch wont spot them.

"Skylark II" in idyllic setting in the Pacific.

An aluminium Shearwater 39 has come available, one that appears to be well-worth the asking price. She is "Skylark II", the very first Shearwater 39 that started construction. Her first owner was to have the first GRP boat out of the moulds but production delays led to him commissioning the aluminium version, which was built for him by Jacobs Brothers in Cape Town.

"Skylark II" is fully equipped for world-cruising. Her first owner sailed her from South Africa to New Zealand via the Caribbean and Panama. Her current owners have cruised the North and South Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Red Sea and much of the Med. Their transit through the pirate-controlled waters of the Indian Ocean was particularly scary and is recounted in the book "A Harrowing Journey : Sailing into Danger".

"Skylark II"

Now they feel that they have achieved everything that they wanted to when they bought "Skylark II" and need to get back home. They have her priced for a quick sale, which makes her really good value, at US$110,000.

If you are interested in acquiring a cruiser that has exceptional sailing qualities and an international reputation as a wonderful boat, you can see more info on my website.

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Boat Plans Bruce Roberts | Americas Cup Value to Sailing

Boat Plans Bruce Roberts

I have recently been quite active on the LinkedIn forums about Americas Cup. It is not in my nature to participate in forums because I have found that it is all too easy to get drawn in and become embroiled, fending off attacks by Internet trolls whose great ambition in life is to be destructive to others. LinkedIn is a more closed community and less apt to show this nastiness and aggression. If I feel strongly enough about an issue then I will have my say and keep up with the rest of the discussion.

Just such a discussion came out of my last blog entry, about Race 13 exceeding the time limit. You can read that entry by scrolling down the page or go to the blog archive on the left of this blog. The response was that races should not have time limits and should just continue until there is a winner. It referenced baseball as a comparison. Discussion then progressed to the format that is being used for this current edition of Americas Cup, AC34. Some of my posts have been well received and it was suggested that one post in particular should be read by a wider audience.

I responded to the following question. I dont want to name the poster, I dont have his permission.

"So I am going to go back to my question on the cup. Forty minutes time limit for an Americas Cup race? I would like to see the last race ground out for say 2 hours of excitement vs. just 40 minutes. Are we an ADHD society that if it goes longer that 40 minutes we loose our audiance (sic). I dont care. Its the Americas Cup. It should be raced with sweat and tears to the end. It should go as long as a football game or basketball game(including time outs and media breaks). Shouldnt it?"

Here is my response.

"We all have our own ideas on what should be and what shouldnt be. Whos to say which is right? I agree that 40 minutes does seem too short a time limit but I understand the aim of the organisers to popularise sailing competition with the non-sailors and the parameters within which they were working.

Sailing is its own sport and it is evolving rapidly with technology. Do you really want to watch these two boats sailing back and forth upwind and downwind for 3 hours or more each race and potentially for 17 days (19 days including the 2-race penalty) in a row? That will drive the TV viewers back to whatever they were watching before AC34 came along.

I grow thoroughly bored watching football and baseball. They are stop-start games and they hold the attention of the audience for very short periods of action. The players get to rest for much of the duration and only work in short bursts. They can go on all night if needed, without burning themselves out. The crews on these boats are working hard the whole time, every race.

I think that it will work to compare AC racing with cricket. Test cricket takes 5 days of play, broken into 4 sessions each day. With no limits aside from the 5-day time limit, it often ends with no winner. It bores most people to tears. Then one-day international cricket was introduced, featuring 50 overs (300 balls) bowled by each team against the other batsmen. Suddenly cricket became interesting to a much wider audience. Now they play international 20-over games and the games are very exciting to watch, with massive viewership.

Rugby was always an exciting running game but it has also gone the same route of short, very fast and exciting games with the Rugby Sevens. This is what is needed to hold the attention of the modern world, where there is always something else trying to grab attention. Why should sailing not be right there in the fray also grabbing attention with short, fast and very exciting races.

Sailing is a sport of ageing players and needs new and young blood to survive. This event is likely to attract new people to sailing in one form or another. We can watch yacht racing as we knew it 20 years ago until it goes the way of the dinosaurs or we can embrace the new world and regenerate sailboat racing as a viable sport.

There is still a place for 5-day test cricket, for a much smaller audience than the other forms. Likewise, there is also still a place for the longer duration sailing races. I will be skippering a 38ft sailboat across the South Atlantic in January. We will be racing flat-out for 3 weeks from Africa to South America. There will be exciting times for me and my crew far away from the eyes of any TV audience. I enjoy that racing immensely, as a participant but I dont expect our slow progress across the ocean chart to keep anyone rivetted to the edge of their seat the way that AC34 is doing to us right now.

I think that with AC34 they have hit a winning formula and I am enjoying every short minute of it."

Thank you for taking the time to read my viewpoint. It is often a bit off the beaten track but I think that it is valid.

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Wooden Boat Plans And Kits | Wrap up of Georgetown Wooden Boat Show

Wooden Boat Plans And Kits

Last weekend we exhibited our Paper Jet on the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show in South Carolina. This was our 2nd time at this show, having been there in 2009 and won a special award for our Paper Jet. This time she wasnt lonely and was in the company of two sisters from the area. The show was on Saturday 19th October, on the Georgetown waterfront.

Three Paper Jets at Georgetown Wooden Boat Show

In the photo above, the yellow boat in the middle is my prototype, which you have probably seen many times before. The turquoise boat on the right belongs to Ted Bullock of Barrier Island Boatbuilders in Charleston. His boat is not yet complete and was displayed with the mast free-standing and no sails. The white boat in the background belongs to Bob Turner of Pawleys Island and was completed the week before the show, with the mainsail being set for the first time at the show.

Bobs Mylar sails were supplied by i-Sails . My sails are Dacron and supplied by Baxter Sails but they also offer them in Mylar. For those who are interested, you can compare the two sails in the photos. Mine is a fathead sail shaped to my original design. Bobs Mylar sail is a more modern squaretop sail to the i-Sails design that is being used in Europe. It has a marginally wider head and considerably less roach.

It will be interesting to compare the efficiency of the two sails when we can sail against each other. We intended to do that the evening before the show but heavy rain washed that plan away.

As always, my good wife, Dehlia, was at the show with me. Over the years she has become very competent and knowledgeable of our designs. She is a big help to me for talking to existing and potential builders of our boats and only has to refer the more technical questions to me.

Dehlia chatting to a visitor at the show.

We had a good flow of visitors all day. We were pleased to be visited by a few people who are already building our boats, including one who is building the Didi 29 Retro with cruising rig in North Carolina. Thanks to all who came to chat, we will be back again in a few years.

To see our full range of designs, please visit http://dixdesign.com/.

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Boat Plans Aluminium | Today is the good ole days

Boat Plans Aluminium

Ive  had a good life. My mom and dad brought me up in a camping , hiking, pack mule traveling and eventually sailing cruising lifestyle. I was brought up with the adittude of if you wanted something you could not afford than build it yourself. Want to travel long distances on a Bycycle with an open time frame ..then do it on your own and not wait for a group to hang out with. This simple mind thought has  enabled me to just get things done and keep moving ahead. 

Looking back in time its nice to have all these memories of places seen, things done and felt. Like the time when bycyling through the Grand Tetons in Wyoming at the age of 19 .I awoke in the fall morning haveing just slept in my down sleeping bag on top of a picnick table that night. The morning air was so crisp when poking my head out of this cacoon. My sleeping bag was completely frozen solid from my perspiration during the night. I was a popsicle outside with a warm inside.

I have been lucky many times in my adventures, from close calls from vehicles during my bycycle touring days, my hitchhiking adventures, hiking and backpacking trips to my singlehanded ,and offshore sailing trips. Ive cheated death a couple times or as I like to put it I was not ready to die. So I never gave up and Iam still out here looking around the next bend to see whats there.

 

Today finds me in the Leeward island of Dutch St. Martin waiting for Rachel and our dog to fly in. This is a hectic place for a guy like me, but its very dog fly in friendly so here I wait doing boat chores, some design commissions and ponder the present , the past and what the future holds in my sailing lifestyle.

The past is fun to think back on but it can never be recaptured. I still look back and forth to the present. We first sailed to St. Martin on the Hogfish 24 years ago with rachel and our young daughter Kalessin who was not yet one year old. We spent Christmas in Phillipsburg bay at anchor eating a can of smoked oysters and an avocado . We had sailed here to buy a duty free am radio. Life was so simple then. No email, Internet, GPS , engine, and not very many boats. We had just sailed from St. Barts where we had splurged on a French pizza for $23.00 ! Yes its always been very expensive there. A lot of miles have passed under our keels since then. lots of hard work getting ahead and staying ahead. This we have done as a simple couple not wanting more than we could afford making our kids a part of our rolling stone- vagabond life style. We just have kept on going with the many different opportunities that have come up and have delt with our daughters along the way finding entertainment when young and shore side schooling when older to get them involved in the locals lifes. Both girls have excelled in  schooling both having won collage scholarships based on merit and grades. Growing up with a boat bum like me has not held them back. That was the good ole days.

Christmas Day 24 years go in St. Martin. Looking at a second main Id made from Jim Melchors old Alerts mainsail.

The present brings me to having moved out of the Simpson Bay Lagoon to re anchor off the beach in cleaner water and not so much harbor traffic. I had anchored in a small shallow part of the lagoon to get away from all the mega yachts, and just yachts in general as I keep thinking what would happen if the Hogfish Maximus where to get loose and drift down on a half a billion in yachts. In the Bahamas and other farther flung anchorages Iam used to putting out 2-3 anchors with lots of scope. I call my big fishermans my breaks. Then I feel good about going out on adventures in the skiff. Here there are so many yachts , sailboats ,wrecks and just stuff about there is simply not enough room today.

Right now Iam anchored off the beach in what looks to be shallow water but is about 8 which is shallow for most boats here. Its very rolly and bumpy but I can see the bottom kinda and I could get underway under sail if need be so I feel better here. 

Since arriving here Ive met up with some old sailing mates of ours . Some have gone around the world 

 for the third time since last talking. Our talk now is mostly about whats up with finding work, local crime, the rising costs of clearing in and out of ports and how many f#%king boats are anchored through out the worlds anchorages today. Work is still easy to find if you have skills and work ethic . Local crime is always there , just lock stuff up. The costs of clearing in seems to be a racket now as all these islands are within sight of each other with the locals running their boats back and forth with no hassles but for us and all the day tourists what a racket. 

I realize Iam an old fart cruiser because the growing number of fiberglass huge 55-70 sailboats being run by retired couples that have had no previous sailing experience is overwhelming . These boats are new and are worth from $ 350,000.00  to  a million upwards . By my count I have seen since sailing in here the past two weeks at least 500 + and counting and trying to avoid. Thats just sailboats not power boats .What amazes me , boats dont appreciate like land can so where did all this wealth come from? Wow. 

Now I realize Iam an old fart under achiever. Ha Ill stay simple and keep my freedom.

The wind here is ever present with rain squalls lasting only a minute or two. The locals are still nice and fun to talk to. Eating a huge meal where the locals eat costs  $5.00 with a beer. At the water front bars the food goes up but alchole is still the cheapest thing around. I like to go in the evenings to the St. Martin yacht club bar and watch the yachts go through the bridge at 5:30 opening.

From my observations in life I have noticed that if you really want to show the world how much money you have to spend then you buy a MEGA yacht. A trophy wife are a dime a dozen, a huge house nobody ever sees, the jet you flew in on is parked with the 60 other look alikes at the airport.

 BUT in  a big ole mega yacht every one can see and when it squeezes through the Simpson bay bridge your captain will sweat but you can look down on all the minions waving up at you.

Thats why I like taking my yacht through the bridge .

Milling about waiting for the bridge opening. How would you like to drag down on that yacht ? Ah... Sir I can fix that.

If I anchor 100 away in the same anchoage as these yachts and eat at the same places, er maybe and see the same sights and breath the same air.. Should I consider myself a one percenter?

My skiff is the third one ... No its the white one... No ... What was its name again?

Theyre everywhere! 

Cueing up to get through, I went last... Safer

Going through. I have a friends condom boat on deck. They will be here soon to get it.

Now thats my kind of yacht ! Life is good , three big box wines, grocerys, and the whole crew in a 6 rubber condom boat.

 

Its a bit more hectic here now  but I have some change in my pocket and time to explore the new realitys of the present. 

I do have to confess, I have a trophy wife , and very nice house, a yacht and I do get high once in awhile so no jet ,who cares,

TODAY IS THE GOOD OLE DAYS !

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Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport | Im running out of places to stack my tools

Boat Plans At Mystic Seaport

Late on Sunday afternoon I had just nailed in the last piece of shoe molding, and after surveying my build, I sort of realized I had nothing else to nail up. I had nothing else to rip, and nothing else to cross cut. The next thing I did was throw every piece of lumber off the boat to be hauled away in my truck ( well almost every piece... I stashed a few bits in the engine room). Once the lumber was off the boat, I hauled the table saw off the boat and placed it under the hull, covered with a tarp. Shannon had just spent five  hours giving the below deck areas a thorough cleaning, and along with the left over building material and the lumber I just threw off the boat, we had a very full load for my service truck. Throughout the build Ive always had this fear of not having some piece of building material, so I sort of hoard left over material, and today was the day we realized 90% of it had to go. 

I actually have decided to some time soon make a list of things I need to complete in order to launch. Lots of little things have been getting completed along with some big ticket items. I can officially say my bilge pumps are wired, and I have the picture to prove it. I guess I should clarify this a little and admit that two of the three pumps are wired. The engine room bilge pump along with the pump in the cabin area are complete. The pump in the lazzarette is not wired because its not purchased. The two pumps I have wired are big pumps being Rule 3500s. I had to wire these off the the battery switch panel as these breakers are always hot even if the house bank is turned off. I did have to install 25 amp breakers for each one of these pumps. Using #10 wire, I wired these two pumps to the wheel house so I could see when and if they come on. A pump control  panel seemed to  make sense and the Sea Dog panel appears to be what I was looking for. The panel has a manual and auto mode along with having an audible and visual alarm. If the switch is inadvertently left in the off position, and water rises up to the alarm float, the alarm float along with alarming, will turn the pump on.

We have a few intake and exhaust pipes I had to deal with in regard to insect screens. Using a slice of PVC schedule 40 and cross cutting the slice creates an internal clip that works great holding screen in. Youll have to fool around with how much to remove from the slice,but when youre finished, it gives a nice clean look thats easy to get in and out, holds the screen great, and doesnt corrode.

Because the finished flooring is now complete, we were able to move in the reclining love seat. Ive been on too many boats that did not have at least one comfortable seat, and I for sure did not want our boat to be one of those. The recliner sort of buries the book case, but you can still get to the shelves, and thats a small price to pay for a super comfy place to sit.

The counter top fabricators finished the granite tops, and theres not a bad thing I can say about this. Because we have so much wood in the salon, we decided to do away with the wood top on the book case, and use granite. This little detail changes the way this area looks, and is a much appreciated improvement. The guy who made the templates for the fabricator knew what he was doing, and the tops fit like a glove. The installers did a top notch job and we couldnt be more happy. Before we started the install, I had told the template maker we had to glue the tops to the cabinets. True to that conversation, the installers showed up with the adhesive needed to do the work.

We decided to go with an under mount sink, and Im glad we did for the one reason of being able to fabricate a cutting board that will fit exactly in the sink.

As Ive said before, in order to do this boat launch thing the right way, more time is needed on my part to make this launch happen. I keep going back to needing about another year. If we put off the launch to much longer, were at the end of the summer, and at that point we should just keep her at Washington and finish her up righteous over the Winter. It sure would be nice to have her in the water being 100% complete with nothing left to do... I mean its only time, right?

Cheers

     

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