Dear readers
In all truth, there are many things that you could do for me, but, the one that will take the least effort on your part would be for you to subscribe to my channel on YouTube. YouTube's latest policy says that a channel needs 4000 viewing hours in a year and a minimum of 1000 subscribers in order to be able to monetize it. I am currently just about on target for the 4000 hours in a year, but nowhere even near the 1000 subscribers. So, please help me by subscribing to my YouTube channel (there's a button on the right side of this page that'll take you to the subscription button). It doesn't mean you'll actually have to watch any videos, although of course it'd be nice if you did :-). Should you watch a video or two, please feel free to ask any questions or make any comments, either in the YouTube comments section, or here somewhere. I will answer any questions asked and quite possibly pick up on your question for a bit of a video witter.
Thank you!!!!!!!!

Not much progress this weekend - we went down to Düsseldorf and visited the boat show there. An excellent show - really big - there were 16 halls filled with anything connected to watersports. Lots of good things to see, but rather tiring after about 6 hours of poking about. I resisted buying anything much - I did pick up an overview chart of the French canal and river system -but I did get a few leaflets on interesting bits of kit - solar panels, that air breathing stuff for under matresses, navigation software. All in all, most enjoyable.

We got back Sunday midday and I headed pretty much straight down to the boatshed. Hazel and I shot some video and I cleaned up the glue on the aft side of the station 9 bulkhead. That's all finished in terms of its construction. It just remains to glass and epoxy it and put a bit of filler around as necessary. I'll do my best to get that done by next weekend and then make a start on the station 10 frame.

Episode 20 is out now. It looks at the station 9 bulkhead and then I talk a bit about some ideas on cruising boats.

These two photos show the forward side of the station 9 bulkhead. As you can see, the raised deck beam is in position, as are the side battens and various pieces of mahogany trim. The pieces around the main cabin entrance came from an old door I picked up years ago. It's really good quality wood - lovely and oily - the sort of mahogany that's very difficult to get hold of nowadays.

I've had these stairs in storage for quite a while, so I got them out again and measured them up and it looks like they'll be a perfect fit in Tapatya. They're solid teak and I bought them secondhand from Popeye's in Vancouver, Canada. They were in my first boat, Miss Molly I, and came on our adventures (see pages on this website). It's really nice to be putting pieces of Miss Molly I into this new boat. I have quite a few and will build in as many as possible so that there's a continuity between the two boats.

The title says it all. This is my first video with my new audio recording set up and I think the audio quality is much better. I talk about the station 9 bulkhead and reveal a mistake I've been making in the station lofting, plus a bit more!! Hope you enjoy it. Your likes and subscriptions are very much appreciated!

I've made a start on the station 9 bulkhead. Its quite cold out (unsurprising in January really) and I've had a few other things to attend to, but the progress so far can be seen below;

I cut the pieces for the station 9 bulkhead from the lofted lines. As you can see, there are 3 pieces that need to be joined together. While they were still lying on the lofting lines, I glued a doug fir batten on the forward side, which will be the support for the floorboards and also serves to join the two main bulkhead pieces.

I then cut grooves using a router in the edges of all the pieces that form the bit between the motor access and the main entranceway and glued two plywood tongues in the grooves to assemble it all. Various pieces will reinforce this joint, including the recycled mahogany trim that you can see being glued around the motor access hatch. The piece of wood at the very top is just clamped in position to support the panel in its current state.

Bit of a slow day today.

It started when I tried to shoot some video using my new audio recorder for, unsurprisingly, the audio recording. I couldn't get the audio recorder to work with my Shure clip-on mic. After trying to make sense of the user manual that came  with the device, I then downloaded the online manual (far better) and, after a bit of trying things out, discovered that the external mic socket on the recorder (TRS) doesn't work with the plug on the mic (TRRS). I've now ordered an adapter and will try again once it arrives.

It's also quite cold today (1 deg C), so I was a bit reluctant to try gluing anything much. I did cut out the ply pieces for the station 9 bulkhead and drew lots of lines on them as I conceptualised what all is going to go where on them. And that, basically, was about it for the day, apart from the usual driving kids around and picking them up that seems to be a part of modern-day life.

Am still a bit frustrated. Weather forecast says cold for the next 10 days or so.

As the title suggests, the station 8 bulkhead/frame is now standing in the finished stack.

I've also lofted the station 9 bulkhead. This is quite an involved piece as it has the entranceway and the engine access hatch, along with the coachroof beam on the forward side and the aft deck beam on the aft side, and possibly a bunk going aftwards on the starboard side. Quite a bit to think about!

Episode 18 of my video blog of the progress on this Benford dory building project is out now. Your views and comments would be greatly appreciated!!

So, I flipped it over and glassed and epoxied the other side this morning. It's only 1 deg C outside, but I did it anyway. I've left it now with a little electric fan heater running underneath it. Should be ok.

I got one side of the station 8 bulkhead/frame glassed and epoxied today. Hopefully, I'll get the other side done tomorrow and that'll be finished for that one :-)

The station 8 bulkhead/frame is now complete in its form. I'll finish cleaning it up tomorrow and should get the first bit of glass and epoxy on. If the weather plays, I might get the other side glassed the day after.... Forecast says chilly :-(

I've just posted episode 17 of my video series of this build. Check it out if you want to know more details of how it's going.

So, station 6 is done and in the finished pile, as is the station 7 frame now. I've also lofted the station 8 frame/bulkhead and will start putting that together tomorrow. At the moment, I'm just editing episode 17 of my video vlog series. Look forward to posting it soon!!