The Sloppy Copy Blog lives on!
Lots of work done without posting. Oh well. Better to put the time in the boat, rather than the blog, eh?
Yesterday day was a big milestone as Ian and I flipped the boat and popped it off of the molds.
I had intended to use a system of pulleys set into the ceiling, but I got nervous in the end and decided to just use a couple of small hydraulic jacks and slowly lift and then drop the two ends. Lift, drop, block, repeat. I had a very modest jack slip in the end which proved completely uneventful in part because I had the rope backups. After I took apart the frame I stepped in and took a few practice casts. The only thing biting was the air, as the day broke with temperatures at about -10 F. I spent the whole day bundled in my insulated suit looking like a 55 year old toddler ready for his first sled ride. Today we have prediction of snow and then tomorrow we should have rain and mid 50's. Welcome to New England. I kept the inside form and the length long rails in place for the roll. Ian and I were able to roll it over without drama. There was a loud 'crack' at one point and I thought at first it was the rail, but it was just the corner of one of the OSB pieces making up the frame. I had rounded the edges, but it still gave way. I did manage to split off about a 2 inch sliver of the top of the outer stem while moving the boat around upside down in prep for the roll. Glad I left a little on the top.
It is about 14 months since I unloaded the kit. My last post was in late Spring 2015 -- June I think. I did not do much of any work in the Summer on the boat. Other things take up the time, including a 23' Grady. I had the week off between Christmas and the new year, which enabled me the opportunity for a big push to get the boat ready to flip. It has been ready to flip for about a month, but this long President's day weekend is the first chance I've had with a sufficient block of time to tackle this task. Once I get the boat on a cradle of sorts I will be able to spend the odd hour after work or on the weekends getting the inside done.
One other big change in the shop was the installation of a heat pump last week -- one of those things I should have done when I moved in (and didn't have a spare penny). With the outside temp in the 20s on Saturday I was able to work inside with temps close to 60 after letting the system run for a few hours.
I have lots of pictures of all the stuff done in the past few months. I will work to insert them and put in what comments I had always hoped to add at the time.
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