Bottom fairing

Notch coat sanded down:

Sanding the keel area was done by climbing on top then kneeling down - I couldn't reach much of it otherwise.    This was too bad since the keel area had a lot of areas that will be needing fairing attention and I don't think I did the area justice (yet).

First fill coat on:

A fly decided to donate himself as reinforcing material in the fairing compound:

The next day I got busy on sanding the above areas again.   This is where things get hard, dusty, and sore, and you just have to suck it up.   I climbed up on top and started sanding down the keel area....well, the hard-core attitude lasted about ten minutes - at which point I quickly decided that it would take forever to sand the keel area from above and started thinking of a way to prop up the boat at a better angle.    I decided that my cradles, turned on their side and cushioned with baby mattresses, would do the trick:

Note the 2"x4" scraps screwed to the OSB floor sheeting to stop the cradles from sliding.   This new position definitely allows better access and productivity - I wish I had done this to begin with.  Better yet I was able to do all of this myself; the hull is nicely balanced and not too heavy for one person to maneuver. 

This evening I did some more block-sanding and then put on another very thin fill coat (my notch & fill coats didn't work as well as I had hoped, but at least I'm headed toward a fair surface):

It's starting to shape up.   I still have the port side to do after this part is done, but one thing at a time.

First boat flip

Went back to work last week, so progress has slowed.    I sanded the aft-cabin area again today to a reasonable surface that I think is ready for primer (I hope), along with a few other areas.    Then it was time to flip the boat over and start on the bottom - no more waiting since I am starting to run out of summer and nice weather.

I wish I had some sophisticated cranes or whatnot to assist with the turnover, but alas no such luck - this was a manual job.    My nephew Daniel was visiting so of course I drafted him to help out (actually no coercion was necessary - thanks Daniel!).    This is after removing the cradles and sliding the boat over to the side of the tent:

Starting the flip:

We then slid the boat again over to the left, to have room for the flip.   I don't have any pics of the boat sitting vertical on the cabin-side since I was busy either running around or holding the boat.    Daniel was the "pusher" on the flip (and supplied most of the effort to be honest).    Once we had the boat almost on its back, I told Daniel to stay put (lol) while I took some pictures:

Once flipped, I cleaned up the laminate rough edges on the bottom of the boat, as well as some light sanding to scuff things up in preparation for the fairing compound.   I then managed to get a notch coat on the keel area and starboard side before dinner time:

You may notice that I'm not using the candy-bag method.   I have to plan these steps carefully therefore, because if I don't sand the notch coat tomorrow and apply the fill coat, I would then have to deal with the secondary-bonding issue (ie, would have to sand in between the notches).    So far I have had successful timing\scheduling throughout the fairing process and haven't had to deal with that.   First thing tomorrow morning I'll be out there sanding...

Cockpit fairing

Halfway through sanding the fill-coat in the cockpit:

The (extensive) patch coat after finishing the above sanding:

In the picture above notice that most of the interior joints do not have any added fairing compound - those joints take a lot of time and work to produce - so I prefer to leave them alone once they are done, and blend any adjacent flat patches into the joints as needed.

And after more sanding:

I applied a bunch more fairing patches (the fourth "coat") on the cockpit today - the patches are getting smaller which is a good sign that I'm getting closer to done.    Everyone tired of sanding pics yet?  :)

The traveller has been laminated to the supports, here it is with its initial bog coating:

More later...

More top-side fairing

I'm inching closer to flipping the boat upside down...the main cabin interior is mostly faired (that word "mostly" is a scary one, I now realize):

The forward-most deck and under-settee areas was just a nightmare - you can see on the left where I started to spread some fairing compound, but then called it all off when I found I had almost zero access to the area.  I could stick my arms up there but had basically no leverage for sanding.   So I called it good enough on the spot :).  Will have to live with just a quick primer coat, minimal sanding, then a topcoat finish in that part of the boat. 

I haven't touched the aft cabin yet though - I am trying to resist the temptation to leave it "unfinished" since I don't think I'll want to start dust-production activities in the middle of an otherwise finished boat.  

The final patches on my window cutout fix:

I'm pretty happy with how that repair turned out...it is fairing nicely into the other well-faired portions of the cabin-side.

Sanded notch-coat in the cockpit:

With the fill-coat on:

And I finally glued on the traveller:

Note the arrow on the end of the traveller to indicate the top-edge (with the embedded aluminum plate).   Truely it would be a travesty to tear out the traveller only to tack it back on tomorrow.

Otherwise, progress today was minimal due to maintenance tasks around the house (mostly mowing and weed-whacking) but I'm feeling good about where I am.

F44SC plans

As has been noted in many places, Ian Farrier will stop selling all F-boat plans as of September 25th;  see yahoo F-boat group announcement here, but here is the pertinent excerpt:

The production F-22 is now not far away, which will mean an increasing amount of work required to both implement full production, and do all the necessary marketing and boat shows etc. This is going to leave little time for anything else, and thus it has been decided to withdraw all Farrier plans from sale as from September 25th, 2012. This will then allow full time attention to all the many aspects related to the production F-22, and any other future production designs. 

Building my F22 has been one of the more fun activities in my life, so I am saddened to see this announcement (even as expected as it had to be someday...) since it will terminate the dreams of many...but I cannot argue with Mr Farrier's reasoning (it's his time, his business, and his life's work after all!).     Regardless, this marks the end of a fantastic era for amateur multihull boat builders.    

So with that all said...I must admit to being one of the dreamers.   I've mentioned before (here and there) my desire to someday build an F44SC.   After explaining the situation to my wife (ie, buy the plans now or forever hold my peace), she agreed to purchasing the plans so I can keep the dream alive for now.  (It wasn't even a difficult discussion, which surprised me, but I guess this is one of the benefits of having a wife that truly loves you!)  I wired the cash yesterday and am looking forward to poring over the F44SC plans - although not too much - I have an F22 to finish first!!!  :-)

If things don't work out, then I guess I'll be putting the F44SC plans up for sale to a private party (presumably at a loss - I'm not looking at this as an "investment" opportunity) - but obviously I hope things work out.  

Window cutouts

I decided it was past time to finally get the window cutouts done.    I confess to being quite conflicted over the precise placement of the windows...but in the end decided I could not afford hours or days of contemplation on this chore (and didn't want to even if I had the time).  Here's one side marked up and ready to cut (in pencil, may be hard to see):

Port side windows after being cutout:

I did have a major *!#$@$ screwup though...I forgot to take the main cabin aft bulkhead into account when drawing the port aft window cutout, causing me to jigsaw my way all the way into and partially through that bulkhead:

Sigh...I admit to being tempted to slap some bog in the crack and just move on (the urge passed quickly).  The right fix is to re-tape this area on the inside and outside.   Which means having to grind away the fairing compound on the outside and re-fair the area (dang it).    (The inside wasn't faired very well yet, thankfully.)

Otherwise I spent most of the last few days doing battle with the interior.    I think the boat is winning the war though :) - I'm getting tired of trying to sand in weird positions with no leverage.  I am trying to save some energy to fabricate a couple of storage shelves in the aft cabin, but otherwise I'm keeping it simple.   On a positive note, my Fein Multimaster has been a godsend in the small spaces and corners. 

I am fairing and sanding everything up to the deck-line; the overhead will be saved for when I flip the boat over.  Otherwise, everything forward of the fwd beam bulkhead is ready for primer though (IMO, using my "good enough" standard), and I am getting very close to fairing the deck (floor) in the main cabin.   This picture was taken through one of my new windows:

(I'm curious, did any other builders fair the underside of the settees??   I'm not going to! :-) Unless someone gives me a good reason to do so...)

On a personal note, several nieces and nephews are staying with us this week so I've had lots of curious company checking in on me as I've been working.  I have to remember that fairing compound looks mighty tempting to little fingers!  Also, I am BBQ'ing a couple of pork shoulders for dinner - I put them on our BBQ (Weber Smokey Mountain smoker) around 6:30 am, which means I had the tantalizing aroma of hickory smoke wafting through the boat all day long.    Life is good - I'm building a boat, my granddaughter is visiting, and a tasty bbq dinner and a well-deserved beer (or three) are in my very near future...

(Edit:   this is my 200th post!   Feels good - although maybe if I posted less the boat would be done by now... :) )