White beauty: update photo

Photo taken this morning in our backyard.

We're now working on the floors and floor soles.   Next: seats and coaming.  We also have to finish off the side decks.  There's also the rail and toe rail to fit, to finish off the side decks.
The white paint is just an undercoat, to waterproof in case of rain.  Final colour scheme will be British Racing Green on hull, cream inside and trim in the green, similar to John Brookes' boat, above.  Will probably leave the front deck in white.
Then... to make the mold for the lead keel and cast it, at the Yacht Club.

Floor frames and fillers, now fixed in.  Next is floor cleats and floor beams,
then scribe and install the sole. That big lump of wood in the middle is
Batu (chao mu), a kind of Chinese mahogany, which will be trimmed
and shaped to be the top of the centreboard trunk, with a hole for the
centreboard lanyard.

UPDATE (19 Jan):

Floor frames and fillers installed

I decided not to screw the Floor Frame battens in by screw from below (as per the book), because I'm concerned about any through-hull fasteners (flexing could lead to leaks methinks..).  Instead we put in extra fillers, made from left-over marine ply stock from the planks.  We ground back the paint to make sure the epoxy and epoxy putty held.  They seem to be pretty solid.  Now for the floor beams and then the soles, which we're going to make with the 4"x 3/4" Douglas Fir cut to 2". 

Stern deck installed

The stern deck beams and mini-stringers, as we did on the bow.
Note that we didn't do the side knees, just chocks.  That's the
deck sitting there on the centreboard trunk.

Stern deck installed, epoxied and the bulkhead dry fitted.  

This is the photo from the Somes Sound website.  See how much
ours above looks like this!  

In the "miscellanea" category: the tool box I made at the beginning of this
project.  Note the special place for the tape measure, boxes for screws, etc
and the end pieces for screw drivers.  It's worked really well.

And our constant companions on this build, sheltering
from the "cold" (12 C), hunkered up against the
only heating we have here in HK... Marcus on the seat,
Basil and Nikki...

Next three steps: (i) fit floor battens & soles, (ii) fit seats and (iii) fit coaming.
Then to work out how to make and fit the lead keel....

Catch-up photos

This is a couple of weeks back now.  I put the deck on cross-ways
rather than lengthways, as that made best use of the ply sheet.
Then covered with epoxy.  And now painted with undercoat.

Marcus is our Chief Technical Adviser and here he is checking that the
deck has been screwed and glued properly.

After painting with epoxy, we filled the boat with water to check for leaks.
We found a small one at the join of the centreboard trunk, now fixed with
the magic of epoxy putty.

And this is the "arty-farty" photo of the water in the boat.
Reflecting our Poinciana (aka "Flame Tree")

This is the Coaming Knee, cut to the Full Scale Plan.  If doing it again,
I wouldn't bother cutting out the triangle at the bottom, but leave it full
so that it sits against the Sheer Filler; that way makes the camber of the
decking there better, and helps with the epoxy connection to the foredeck.

Yesterday in the drizzle. The painted up boat: undercoat-sealer only at this stage.
We're waiting for the weather to improve to finish the aft decking.

And I don't seem to be able to pass the IFC tower without
taking a photo: 108 floors, the very elegant
Ritz Carlton at the top, the world's highest hotel.
Good place for an afternoon tea set: visitors to HK note.

Finally, she gets a name: "Gabrielle", the Battling Bard of Potidaea

Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle, in Xena: Warrior Princess

You know those car bumper stickers?  "My Other Car is a Mercedes"?
The transom sticker on this boat could be: "Our Other Boat is an X-Yacht".....
And she's called Xena.
And in "Xena: Warrior Princess" the TV series, Xena's close friend, confidant and co-warrior is Gabrielle. (Wikipedia: "She is referred to by fans as the Battling Bard of Potidaea")
So that's what we've decided for a name for our little Somes Sound 12 1/2:  Gabrielle.
It's taken a while to come up with a name, mainly because I wanted to wait until we had a "boat", that is, something that would actually float if put on water, and that's about now.
So: hi to Gabrielle.

Christmas Drinks

Sam and Juhi at our Xmas drinks, 15th December...
The only photo we have of the party!

Gabrielle in full Xmas regalia

Have re-started work on the boat, after our time away at King's Cup, and the Xmas drinks party: with centreboard trunk yesterday and today with the floor boards.
Some of our guests thought that we'd brought the boat in especially for the party!... and were amazed to be told that, "no", we'd built here right her in the backyard from scratch and with all Hong Kong woods...

Christmas Boat

Marcus, our Chief Technical Adviser, making sure all
is well with the Keel.

Deck fitted

Here is the deck on and screwed/glued down (1/4" ply).
Note our Chief Technical Adviser, Marcus, overseeing work,
and Basil, the Deputy Technical Adviser behind him.....

Our Chief Technical Adviser is making close measurement of the plywood

Before putting on the deck, this is how we did the deck frames. Its not
according to the book, which has a single deck stringer, but very strong.
The Breasthook (at bow) is of ChaoMu, a Chinese mahogany.

I added a couple of extra frames near the Breasthook, to make sure the
join between two pieces of plywood would be tight, as I joined the
plywood widthwise, not lengthways, as that made best use of the board