Merry Xmould...

...or Chrimbo, or Solstice, or whatever it is you celebrate when the days get short and the air gets cold and the snow covers the ground and the booze becomes a necessity.

We've had a fine time in Winnipeg and in Winnipeg Beach and of course out at Wavey Creek. Shilling work started two years ago today, officially, though it would not be fair to say we have two years of work into the build. We're almost done glassing the inside, so I thought I'd put up some pix of the latest. There are nine sections, between frames, on each side of the boat, and seven are now glassed. This is one of the forward sections, mostly finished.

Tara finally got to experience the joy that is glassing, which was most fulfilling I'm sure; her enthusiasm knows no bounds, and she is now stoking it with a beer in front of the fireplace. This picture is one of Tara's sections... still wet but it looks good, eh?

More pix as developments warrant them. For now, stay warm, and drink lots. It helps.

Upright!

It took a while, but we have cleaned up the inside of the hull preparatory to glassing. Courtney, Tara, Buster, Cathy, and Ron (welcome back, Ron!) then turned the boat right side up. In the pictures you can see the lovely Tara standing in the cockpit and seated in what will be the cabin.

Glassing the inside is next, probably a couple of long days this week as Courtney is on vacation. More updates soon, we're past the boring stuff!

Another rollover

So a cast of thousands (well, over half a dozen, anyway) were out on Sunday to help roll the boat over onto her starboard side. Since the topsides now face away from the workbench, we can post a good photo of the interior.

As you can see, most of the glue squeezeout on the port side has been cleaned up, and some of the starboard side as well. What's left should clean up pretty quickly now that we know what we're doing. (There is a wealth of comment on the whole building process in that one sentence, folks, if you care to dwell on it!)

The final picture is a detail shot of the bulwarks and interior planking somewhere more-or-less amidships, inside what will be the cabin. The cabin side (below the deck shelf stringer in the picture) will be glassed and left bright, 'cause Tara wants it that way; this calls for a decent sanding job. The bulwarks we will paint white on the inside, so they're being filled and faired - you can see that the process is almost complete in the section above the deck shelf.

Many thanks to Peter, Trent, and Bruce & Shelly & kids - many hands make light work, and if the light don't work, we can't see to turn the boat over. Cheers!

A linky, a linky!

No pictures, because the work we're doing right now is kind of boring and doesn't produce good visuals. We'll post pictures when the inside of the hull is cleaned up.

However, we would like to draw your attention to a new link in the links section. Sailing Margherita is the sailing blog for willowbayboy's Shilling. His is rigged out as a gaff cutter and is VERY striking. Check it out!

Rollover

Yesterday was a LONG day of work - the longest in quite a while, as applying a coat of paint doesn't take long. Tara and Courtney and friend Tina (a traveler from Germany) headed out to Wavey Creek after breakfast to build the cradle that will hold the Shilling for the coming months of fitting out. The first picture shows the blue bulwarks with their last coat of paint.

Working from a rough sketch we started work on the cradle, building a base of 2x4s and fitting the central beam to the keel. This part progressed kind of slowly, because Buster was busy installing new sliding glass doors to the deck upstairs and needed to use some of the same tools. It was a busy day at Twin Oaks.

We had figured on about six hours to build the cradle, and it took all of that. The third photo shows the cradle partially constructed, with vertical posts long enough to support the boat upside down if need be. You can also see the beams running across the sheer - we'll remove them when we work on the gunwales, as the diagonal braces (not yet in place) should hold the boat securely when it's resting upright in the cradle.

Buster, temporarily finished with door installation, applied his drawknife skills to said diagonal braces, giving a nice fit where they support the hull. They were the last pieces to be added to the cradle, which should be strong enough to hold the boat upside down, upright, or standing on either side.

By the time we were done building the cradle it was time out for the usual Wavey Creek feast, with a cast of... well, not thousands, but Courtney's sister Lee was there, and her kids Tim and Heather, and three more helpers showed up for dinner and heavy lifting: Kyle (bass player in Courtney's band), his partner Carmella, and Courtney's colleague Colin.

The next job was to remove all of the old construction frame, which took a little while - and a lot of work from Tara, crawling around under the boat. Here you can see Tina, Colin, and Kyle (well, Kyle's head), along with the finished cradle. Note the shop floor, which - with no construction frame - is cleaner than it's been for well over a year.

The next photo shows the boat halfway to its side - you can't see much of the guys doing the heavy lifting on the far side. We held the boat roughly balanced there while a couple guys scuttled 'round and let it gently down onto its side. The whole rollover was completed in a minute or so, though the preparation had taken all day.

With the boat resting neatly on its side, we had a good look at the inside and contemplated our next moves. Plenty of cleanup, there's lots of glue squeezeout on the inside, and then we have to fair and glass the inside, and then there's fitting out the cabin, and and and and...

But it feels pretty good to reach this major milestone! The last shot shows Colin, Tara, and Tina checking out the interior, with Kyle looking on. Then it was all over except for the whisky and songs. Many thanks to our helpers, we know who you are and we'll be calling you again! Heheheheheh...

(Adjusted and updated the photos. Note to self: edit all photos on the good monitor at work! - CW)

Rollover coming!

So the white Brightsides went on well, and after that two coats of dark blue on the bulwarks. We'll probably do another coat of each before we launch, just in case we nick or ding the paint during construction.

So our Shilling is ready to roll over so we can start fitting out the interior! We plan to build the cradle tomorrow and roll her over tomorrow evening (with friends to help and whisky to toast her afterward). We'll post lots of pictures tomorrow or Monday. W00T!

A picture, a picture!

Just the one, though: here's a shot after the second coat of Brightsides has been applied. You may note the bulwarks are not yet painted; they'll be getting the blue stuff next.

Still undecided as to whether there will be another coat of white (probably) and when it will be applied (maybe later).