This week has been mainly about getting some paint on in the heads, galley, main cabin and quarterberth. 2 coats of undercoat and 1 of gloss - frankly it gets a bit tedious after a while, but it's gotta be done, so there's only one thing to do - keep at it!

I've written earlier about my investigations into charging Bosch 12v cordless tool batteries from the boat's batteries, and these investigations have now been brought to a successful conclusion with the release of this week's video :-)

Finally, the big news that Hazel has released an EP of her self-penned songs. 5 songs in total on the EP entitled 'Fallen Too Far'; artist name, Hazel Brown. It's available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and all good digital sources!!!

Building a boat involves quite a range of different skills, and this indeed is one of the fun challenges of such a project - trying to do as much as possible of it yourself. Of course, there's a line to be drawn somewhere about how many parts you make yourself and what you buy in ready-made, and we all draw that line based on our own preferences...

Welding is something I've done on and off for several decades, unfortunately more off than on though. I often feel like I'm starting again when I pull out my very basic welding kit. Anyhow, in this week's video, both Kerry and I do a bit more stick (arc) welding practice, and, largely speaking, it goes well. There's that idea that you need to put in 10,000 hours to something to get really good at it, and there can be no doubt that we've put in significantly less than that, but we're keeping at it....

Perhaps obviously, one of the goals of sail boat life is to get away from it all and live 'off the grid'. Our experience in Miss Molly I showed us clearly just how possible this is, and gave us plenty of opportunity to practice the sort of simple living that makes such a lifestyle entirely possible on a small sail boat. Back in those days, cordless power tools didn't really exist, or at least were not particularly good. When it came to working on the boat whilst at anchor, everything was done with hand tools - which, most of the time, is perfectly possible, comfortable, enjoyable... However, on the odd occasion, something needs doing that needs significant endurance or perseverence if done with hand tools; on these occasions, it would be nice to be able to reach too a power tool. 

Nowadays, cordless power tools are a significantly improved, and I am particularly fond of the Bosch 12 volt professional range (their value for money impresses, IMHO). What is needed, however is a method of charging the batteries of these tools whilst at sea. An inverter is the obvious answer, but that involves expense and inefficiencies. Surely, it would be better to be able to charge the 12v batteries from the 12v boat battery system.

Up until recently, the chargers that Bosch supplied were an integrated transformer/charger unit that you plug into the mains. However, this year, they brought out a new and significantly cheaper charger that has a seperate transformer and charger. The transformer is a 220 v a.c. in and 12v d.c. out model feeeding into a very simple charger unit. The obvious thought is to cut off the transformer, fit a plug and plug it into the boat's 12v d.c.system. This I did, and this weeks video, along with boat building progress in the heads, looks at the initial results of that.

It is indeed that long already - doesn't time fly?

But, progress is good; she's coming along pretty much to plan. The goal of getting significant amounts of interior work done this winter has been successful - I'm currently working on the heads -- worktops are in, the new sink has arrived and will be loosely fitted tonight ( all being well!), the floor is sealed in position, the door frame is in....

And at the moment, I think I'll just continue - at least until Easter or so - and get as much of the interior done as possible.

Here's a look around the boat after 2 1/2 years of building :-)

I've fitted some stowage midships on the starboard side and am very pleased with the outcome - it tidies up the under-the-nav-table area, makes it useful and continues the monocoque-furniture/hull-reinforcement theme. I also decided, on a bit of a whim, while I was in the hardware store, to invest in a new shop vac (the old one has been driving me nuts for a long time!!). Unfortunately, on unpacking the new appliance, it turned out to be damaged, so back it went. Some new LED lights arrived for the fore cabin and I fitted them after straightening up the bulb in one of them.

Here's the latest video of all of that, along with me airing some toughts on various items...

Over the last couple of years, I've tried out different approaches to my posts on Patreon. I think I've settled on the idea of making all of my content - videos and writings - free and available to everybody. However, I do still want to post things uniquely on Patreon, so that the wonderful people who support me via that platform get notifications whenever a 'Patreon-special' post is up. These posts tend to be photos, outtakes and snippets of thoughts or background to the build. I am also more than happy to answer any questions from patrons in video format posted there. The posts themselves are public - anyone can see them - but purely on Patreon and the video pages here (in chronological order, between the regular episodes).

Here is the latest episode, along with an outtake video I put up on Patreon a few days ago...

I guess it's the nature of the beast, but some weeks I seem to achieve quite a fair bit and other weeks I look back and think "Is that it?..."

This last week has been such a week. I feel like I worked hard, put plenty of hours in, worked fairly late into the evenings, and yet, what do I have to show for it?, some undercoated boards and a couple of fiddles... well, and a saw sled..

But, I think we have to learn to accept that progress is like that sometimes and not get frustrated; just keep at it. On the positive side, the saloon fiddles are now fitted - I made them twice - the first set didn't do it for me when I came to fit them - they're too low - they'll do for the galley though, so at least I've got those made ready for when I get that far - and now, I'm free to make a start on a bit of stowage below the nav table, which will be the last step in the saloon construction (electrics and fittings not included). After that, I'll be moving aft into the galley and heads...

I've been a bit lax recently when it comes to keeping things up to date with my YouTube videos here. So here goes...

And a new decade!!

Obviously this is not evidence of anything... and yet, I've been living here in northern Germany for over 20 years. In the early years, we often had snow in October and normally had significant snow falls and icy temperatures for at least several weeks, sometimes months, in the winter. As the years have gone by, the snowfall has got markedly less and markedly later in the year - recent years have seen no snow before Christmas. This year, so far, we've had a few frosty days and absolutely no snow; temperatures have remained (with a couple of small exceptions) on the positive side of the Celsius scale. Are we going to get any snow this winter? The forecast for the next 10 days says not.... We'll see!!

It certainly looks as though climate change is real. The next question then must be, "Is it caused by human activity?" Again, when you look at the industrialisation that's taken place over the last 150 years or so and its effects on the immediate environment, it's hard to believe it's not...

This, naturally, leads to the next question, "What to do about it?" Well, small changes are easy to make - a few years back we were all encouraged to change to "eco-friendly" light bulbs. As I say, easy... Has it made a difference? - Not much, it seeems... It really looks as though we have to tackle the big consumers of energy - industry, transportation, heating and cooling... And that, it seems to me, is going to demand a significant change in our lifestyles, and potentially even social and governmental systems....

The time arrived when I had to get the final sections of bilge painted. The weather played nicely, giving me a convenient 2 day time slot of temperatures around 10 deg C, so I went for it. The painting itself is easy enough, but the question then is, what to do in the 2 days that you're waiting for the paint to dry?

Well, I had a look around... Clearly, I could get on with the lazarette hatch cover, so I did... And then, there's that old Volvo Penta engine under the bench that's been beckoning to me for quite some time now. Kerry and I pulled it out and carried it through to the workshop, and I got to thinking that it needs a stand so I can get it up together and tidy and running.... Hmmmm....

After a good bit of thinking about it, a while ago, I made the decision to make all of my video content available to anybody who's interested (and indeed anybody who's not interested!) free of charge. In fact, this has been the case for a while now, as the video content that I have exclusively on Patreon is also public and unrestricted.

Now, these Patreon videos tend to be even more special interest than my YouTube stuff, so I suspect that they're not particularly interesting to many people, but, as an experiment, last night, I decided to see what happened when I made one of those Patreon-only videos publically available on YouTube. So, I opened up the video about drogues and boat design thoughts to the general YouTube viewing public - a bit risky because it really was aimed at patrons, but what the heck!

Perhaps unsurprisingly it has received a bit of a mixed reaction. There are quite a few positive and supportive comments from many of the delightful people who often comment on my vids. There are a couple of well-thought comments from people adding their thoughts on drogue deployment (excellent!), and, on the other hand, the video has more 'thumbs downs' than usual and my subscriber count has dropped slightly.

I don't (and never have) claim to be a font of all wisdom on boat design and sailing (or anything else). My thoughts are my thoughts at that time and can (and do) change as I learn. But I feel that airing thoughts and hopefully inspiring others to think about these topics (they certainly do not have to agree with me) is a positive thing to do, and I suspect that I shall continue to do that, as and when...

Here's the vid...

I've got the galley water pumps and handles in position, although they'll be coming out again to formica the worktops and paint out the cupboards before their final installation. The water pumps are old pub beer pumps and are solid bronze and quite delightful - they came to me as fittings on Miss Molly I, and will be staying with me, if I have anything to do with it!

I've also made a start on the lazarette hatch frame and, as a little side project, have begun to make an iron frame to mount a Volvo Penta MD1 that I have had for a while (also a Miss Molly I relic). I've also managed get the bilge painting completed; so things are ticking along nicely...

Here's the latest vid

I've made a decent start on the galley worktops and cupboards. the hard-chined hull makes fitting pretty straightforward because it's straight lines in 2 direction at least.. A sliding bevel gives you the hull angle and this can be transferred to the piece of board easily to cut the fitting angle. I'm using CLT (cross-laminated timber) for the bulk of the construction, together with battens and cleats of doug fir, and wood-on-wood gluing using Titebond 3. Gluing to the hull is done with epoxy and it's all being sealed to the hull to give a thorough monocoque construction - the whole thing adding strength to the hull structure.

Here's the latest video;

To celebrate this years "thank you patrons" day today, I've put another montage together with clips from all of the videos from the last year. Enjoy and THANK YOU!!!

The weather's taken a turn for the colder, but fortunately I've managed to get the closing-in of the boat essentially finished and I can now start working on the interior - I've got a small ceramic heater that takes the chill off, making it ok to work and glue down below.

I'm now in the process of fitting the galley and all that entails. The galley cupboards and worktops in themselves are not particularly difficult, but a lot of thought and measuring is going in to getting the various, very simple, systems in place. The Dickinson Bristol diesel stove - the very make and model recommended in the plans - cannot be fitted as stipulated in those same plans. According to the stove specifications, it has to be fitted facing either port or starboard (so the diesel level control system functions in a rolling boat) whereas the plans show it fitted facing aft. As the hard-chined side of the hull slopes in a straight line, this means the stove needs to protrude further into the galley than I would have ideally liked! It'll be fine though - it just has to be that way!

I'm using softwood CLT for the galley cupboards and worktops - the worktops will be covered with Formica. After some research and thought, I decided to use the the CLT as it's locally grown and D3 glued (waterproof, but not for immersion). I considered using CLT bamboo, but in the end decided against it as it's much heavier and is sourced in, and hence shipped from, China.

I've also noticed that I've got a bit behind with posting videos here, so here is a catch-up post;

It's rather difficult trying to give people an overview of this boat when she's being built in a shed that doesn't really allow whole boat pictures, but this latest video attempts to do just that. Probably my best effort thus far....

I stumbled across a couple of pics of the 1st boat I ever built recently so thought I'd post them here. She's a Selway Fisher Wren canoe; stitch and glue construction in lauan ply, with the joints all taped with glass tape and epoxy. It was great experience and I thoroughly recommend such a project for anyone considering building a bigger boat to help develop practices and ideas.

It's a funny ol' business sailboat building. You're working away; working hard towards some larger aspect of the build, and then, all of a sudden, that's done, or at least nearly done, and you're kinda disoriented for a little bit - looking 'round, wondering where it all goes next. You start thinking, researching, planning, measuring, researching some more, buying materials, doing little bits here and there around the boat, and suddenly again, you're off on the next stage of the build.

And that's kinda where I am at the moment. I've started planning the galley and researched wood for it, I've got some materials in for progress in the heads, I've got cast acrylic sheet on order for the hatch lenses, sealant ordered, glue for interior construction ordered. I've done a bit of sanding and varnishing inside and I'm generally waiting for the next big phase to kick off. It'll all fall in place soon....

Meanwhile, here's my latest video about the construction of the sliding hatch...

This last weekend has seen quite a milestone in this boat build being achieved, although, in a way, not quite. I have now got the second layer of the ply on the deck boxes in place and this marks the final piece of ply on the exterior of the boat. Except, not quite, because the cockpit floor still needs a 2nd piece, but that is so ridiculously easy and will only happen when I'm happy that I don't need easy access to the engine room. It almost doesn't count. So, the final piece of ply is fixed to the exterior of the boat!!! Well, sort of :-)

Here's this week's video for your enjoyment :-)

The push at the moment is still to get her closed up before the colder weather comes along. The first of the main hatch washboards is complete and now I just need to get the sliding hatch construction done. That will give me the final dimensions for the second, upper washboard, which will complete the close up :-)

Along the way, I'm doing a few other bits and bobs, particularly around the aft deck area. I'm working towards getting the deck boxes complete and have put some black locust trim across the aft end of the raised deck, which will prevent rain and spray water running aft into the cockpit/aft deck area.

Here's the latest video, which includes a look around down below on Hazel's Freedom 28. showing how roomy a small boat can be!

Who'd 've thought it! One hundred episodes of the SV Tapatya YouTube series!

We're just over 2 years into the build and it's coming along nicely and pretty much on target. Episode 100 is all about getting on towards getting her closed up for the colder weather that is surely heading our way. The forward hatch is fitted.

And hot on the heels of that, came, perhaps unsurprisingly, episode 101 - the companionway hatch frame and a few other bits n bobs.

Well, it's been a while since I last posted anything here, and there are good reasons for that. We had a little break, heading out to sunny Spain for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Hazel has been busy. She went over to England and did her RYA day skipper license and just after completing that she finalised the deal to buy her first sail boat.

It's a Freedom 28 ketch - originally cat rigged but converted to junk rig. Built in Rhode Island, USA, it's a very fine boat and comfy liveaboard for her.

A couple of weeks ago we headed out to the Isle of Wight, where the boat was moored, and sailed her back to Wilhelmshaven in Germany. The trip took 6 days and was great fun (if a bit tiring!!). The boat proved her seaworthiness, although it might be fair to say that conditions were pretty friendly. We shot some video of the trip that can now be seen here;

The rubbing strake base is in position. I had the option of either scarfing up a couple of 11 metre lengths and putting them on the boat in one piece or scarfing the pieces in position. I opted for the second of these, partly because the bend at the aft end requires either steaming or lamination from 2 thinner pieces - again, I did the second of those. So, with Kerry's able assistance, we fitted 3 pieces each side - 20 mm thick and 3 metres long, each piece - and then finished the aft end off with two 10mm laminates each side of approx 2 metres length each. It has all come out very well, though I say so myself :-)

After a good clean up, I've now put a fillet of epoxy top and bottom along both sides and sealed the black locust with an initial coat of clear epoxy.

This video also celebrates the one year anniversary since we pulled her out of the shed, flipped her over and pushed her back in - a major milestone in the build!!