Blog

As I write, I’m on my way back to Tarka to resume work. I’ve been away this past week studying celestial navigation, ocean passage planning and meteorology as part of the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean theory course.

When offshore I plan to use celestial navigation as one of my primary methods of navigation (alongside a more manual approach to coastal work), supported by a backup gps fix from the radio/personal locator beacon. When one calculates their estimated position from landmarks ashore and in the sky they become intimately aware of what’s going on around them – infinitely more so than blindly following the chart plotter (not to say it’s always one attitude or the other). Similarly one often finds oneself blindly following the satnav in the car and having absolutely no idea how we got there or how to get back to where we departed from – without once again following the screen. I find this approach prudent given that a comprehensive understanding of your surroundings is vital in an emergency situation, and gives a much richer and more fulfilling experience.

In other news, the bunk fronts are cleated and bonded in, and the bunk dividers are cut out.

From today I will be bonding the dividers in, cutting and bonding-in the rest of the v-berth structure, cleating for the bunk tops, and then cutting the tops out.

This week has been productive. Whilst there is progress everyday, it’s not everyday that the appearance of the interior changes so quickly. I keep reminding myself not to rush – as a reaction to my alarm at this rate of progress – but then backtrack and remember that the progress is simply proportional to the time spent working, time I now have in abundance. I’m relishing this time, well knowing that there will be months ahead when progress will seem tediously slow and far less tangible.

The four main bulkheads have now been glassed in and I continue tomorrow with spiling and cutting the bunk fronts.

This week’s niggle has been the storage of anchor chain, which I had to finalise in order to build the V-berth around it. I intended to run the chain through a deck fitting, down a hose-pipe along the centre-line of the boat to the forward end of the bilge. This required choosing a chain (of suitable strength) that had clearance inside a pipe, which was of a size that allowed it to be securely fastened to the underside of the deck fitting. On looking into it I was surprised to find myself looking at diameters of chain at this relatively early stage in the refit. Funny how one has to look so far down the line and cement tiny details in order to take steps forward in the present.

Having finished my degree and the furniture making course in Lyme Regis, my calendar is clear for an intensive nine-month burst of boatwork with the aim of getting afloat by May/June 2026. From the conception of my plans to the present day, they have consistently had to take second place to other commitments and responsibilities, so it feels amazing, and is a huge privilege to be finally able to dedicate my whole self to the project.

Since coming back from Lyme I’ve been spiling, cutting and fitting four bulkheads, positioning them square to everything else and grinding the last remnants of old gelcoat (so the bulkheads can be bonded to bare fibreglass).

Spiling aims to capture the imperfect curve of the hull side on a ply frame. This is then transferred to a solid ply template, and then to the final 12mm marine ply sheet which the bulkhead is cut out of.

When bonded in with fibreglass, the bulkheads form the structural skeleton of the boat and provide surfaces which the four sleeping berths can be bonded to; thus completing the rough interior installation. The job wasn’t particularly difficult but often required one thing to be held in place while measuring or adjusting something else. This was made much easier by an extra pair of hands; my friend Nick came to help for a week.

One unexpected job was to grind away a narrow channel of gelcoat on the coachroof where the forward bulkheads meet the ceiling. This required introducing the concept of precision to the angle grinder, which when added to working in a confined space with mask, goggles and headphones on, and above one’s head, turned out to be quite a job.

I’ve also been designing the rest of the interior to make the best use of space and have enough drawers and lockers so all my worldly possessions don’t fly across the cabin if the boat was to be knocked down…