Weekend progress and a visit to an F44SC project

Yesterday was a day for taping. The pictures are not much too look at, but I got a lot done: all interior taping along the hull seams is now done, including the bow compartment up to about 4" of the (as yet non-existent) bow bulkhead. Much of the taping was done using DBM1708 tape; this was my first experience with the stuff and I definitely appreciate its ease-of-use (especially back in the aft-cabin!) but have some reservations about how much resin it wants to swallow. Next up on the job list will be starting the daggerboard case taping, and closing in the bow.

For fun and a sense of progress, I also trimmed off the extra flash on the front of the aft-cabin:

I had posted a question about hull thickness for the front aft-cabin hatch on the F22 builder's forum, since the Lewmar hatches I was looking at (even their low-profile models) all specify 15mm minimum. I checked with Ian who said it's perfectly fine to add a ridge of foam around the perimeter of the hole to build up to that, so that's good.

For Sunday I had made arrangements with Allen (he's building F44SC #1, link somewhere on the right) to make a trip down to see his project. It is a not-so-secret plan of mine to build an F44SC someday and sail away, so this was an informative trip for me and and I also wanted my wife to see something in person to get a real idea of the size of this boat. The drive is about four hours long (ok, 3.5 if I'm flying low), so we left early and arrived around 10:30am. Then commenced a few fun hours of general and boat-related discussion, and a good look at Allen's hulls. Wow - having seen his lamination work up-close, I can definitely say he is doing a very, very nice job. Here's one of the pictures I took:

Thanks again Allen for letting me come by, much appreciated.

After getting home, I decided to do one more small job on the F22: making then glueing the cabin deck stringer into place:

It should be ready for final lamination tomorrow.