I’ve managed a couple of good weekends working on the lapwing in the last month, plus the Queen’s Birthday holiday, so definite progress has been made!

I removed the gunwales, glued the laminates together, taped the planks, and reinstalled the gunwales, to let the epoxy set whilst holding the timbers to the correct shape. In a seek or two I’ll remove them once again and sand them again, and apply the Deks Olje that will be used to finish them.

The centreboard case has been installed. Side panels were screwed to the logs, and offered up to the hull for final shaping. The outside of the case was drawn onto the port garboard plank (the centreboard is offset), and then the internal dimensions of the case were marked by reducing the outside dimensions.

A few small pilot holes were drilled, and then the centreboard slot was cut with a Japanese saw.

The case was then taken apart, and the starboard panel screwed and glued, and fibreglass taped to the keel, and then the rest of the case was screwed and glued and taped to it, with a couple of chocks inserted to make sure that the case was still going to accept the centreboard.

Since then, the bulkhead fillets have also been reinforced with fibreglass tape, and the thwart stringers have been cut and fitted, further reinforcing the centreboard case.

I’ve started fitting the floor timbers, with a few more to go this weekend. With the temperature dropping at night, I’ve had to resort to placing a heater in the boat, and covering the boat with a tarp and old blankets to keep everything warm enough for the epoxy to cure properly.

Cutting and shaping the floor timbers occupied an amazing amount of time, but I needed them to create a level surface so that I can create a floor that can be lifted to form a bed if I use this boat for camp cruising.

In another couple of weeks I hope to be able to turn the boat back over, to finish the bottom of the centreboard case, paint the outside of the hull, and install the keel rubbing strip.

It’s frustrating at times, knowing that the boat is sitting just a few metres away, with lots of little things that need doing, but these annoying people called clients keep getting in the way. :-)