Problems and progress

Getting the materials was a real pain, since we live in a small mountain village on an island, far from regular supply routes. Plus we don’t even have a street address, full time post office or home mail delivery (thanks, Hellenic Post, I remember when you were a service that made us proud; now, not so much). Plus, as far as I can tell, nobody ever builds boats on their own, so sourcing materials as a DIY consumer (as opposed to a boat yard) is tough. I had to contact a manufacturer/exporter of marine plywood to get the right stuff, and they sold me the sheets wholesale as a favor. The epoxy and related materials ended up in a similarly named island 400 miles away literally at the other end of the Aegean Sea due to someone mishearing my call. Anyway, I managed to get what I needed after dozens of phone calls and lots of waiting.

Another problem is that I have no enclosed workspace, workbench or many tools. I am building the boat in a sheltered part of our terrace under a large roof overhang. We are now being affected by a medicane (that’s a Mediterranean hurricane, who knew such things existed?) named Zorbas, with lots of wind and bands of rain, and so far the work area has stayed dry and safe. I am using four rather flimsy sawhorses for the cutting and backbone building phase, and I will secure the backbone and frames to a strongback secured on top of the sawhorses. It helps a lot that the tops of the CB trunk and four of the frames are exactly 16 inches (403mm) above the bottom line of the boat, because of the tops of seating benches and rowing thwart.

Completed so far:

1. Scarfed two sets of 6mm (1/4 inch) sheets of plywood together. Without proper tools (only a hand plane and palm sander) I ended up with scarfs that look terrible but are strong and will look better after a thorough sanding.
2. Marked and cut all the keel and stem pieces and centerboard sides. A lot harder than it sounds, starting from measurements on a piece of paper. Also cut a mockup of the centerboard from hardboard to make sure it fits and pivots correctly.
3. Since I don’t have a table saw, I had to ask a carpenter friend to cut a few boards into straight and beveled cleats.
4. Glued and nailed garboard cleats onto stem, skeg and CB trunk sides.
5. Cut and fit spacers for the insides of the CB trunk. Making space for a sheave for the lifting of the centerboard proved particularly picky.
6. Cut transom, fore bulkhead and mid bulkhead from 12mm plywood. Four more frames (one temporary) will be cut from 8mm plywood.

I only have just over five weeks before we leave (helping with another grandchild on the way, in Spain this time, then winter in Sacramento), so I hope to have to hull put together but not epoxied or painted. That, plus flipping the boat over and completing benches, decking etc. will have to wait until I come back. I will sew the sail in the US and bring it over.