A work space was created next to the boat on deck level, 3 meter above the ground. A 5 meter workbench with a bench saw was on it, plus most of the tools.

Forepeak

The galley is coming away quite nicely

It starts to look like a boat again. Most deck beams are in and some beams in the cabin have been fitted. The cockpit is a waiting game. Waiting for people to deliver the goods they promised like tanks, brackets for the shaft etc. All of that disappears under the cockpit sole
 

The engine sits in its final place. The shaft bearing is fitted, the stern tube and the strut. The diesel tank is now lowered behind all this and the lid closed.
 

End of May 2006
 

Most of the deck is on, although only one layer of ply. It will need 2 layers. The ends have seen some work done too. Its easier now than wait until the deck is on.


Once finished there will be 33 sheets of ply in the deck and cabin roof

 

The dodger is getting into shape. Pads for winches and stoppers have been fitted. The main entry hatches have been made and fitted

A lot has happened even though it is not that visible. The shed has been modified and scaffolds built right around the boat. A lot of sanding has been done to fair the new timber in with the hull.

About 80 sq meter of glass has found its way onto the boat and has been covered again by a layer of epoxy

Lets join the Navy. Why is undercoat always gray??

That looks a bit better. Almost white this time

After acres of sand paper and many hours of hard labour, it does not really look good. But it sure feels good!
 

 Most of that will again end up on the floor!
 

And it already looks good!

By Easter we had the shed cleaned up, a fresh load of metal on the ground and finally the last coat of paint applied.

It looks great!

21 April 2007
The next thing is the teak deck. That will take at least 6 weeks to do. It is a lot less dependent on the weather than the painting was. Anything over 10 degrees will be fine. The epoxy will set anyway. It just takes longer!
 

Progress in 2 weeks!

The finished result!


Now the cockpit.....

9 July.

 
Apart from a few bits of sanding the cockpit is finished. Because of the weather some parts had to be cured inside the house, but in general all went well. There will now be some hardware fitted to the boat before continuing inside.

26 July
Fitting the windows was a bit of a challenge, specially clamping them. Luckily there was a shed around the boat. All hatches were fitted so the interior is closed off. That means the heater can be switched on inside.
 

How many clamps can you fit on a floor?

All of them!

20 August

The floor boards are all in now. More importantly, the things you don't see, like the plumbing, piping for cables etc. Also everything under the floor got painted white, so it will be easier to clean and to see if it needs cleaning.

All hatches have been fitted, although they still need locks, so the don't fall out if we turn turtle. (Worse yet, the beer may fall out).

Next is finishing the furniture. In the front the bar is taking shape, flanked by the basis for the stereo, a sizeable Subwoofer.

One compartment back the chart table is evolving. A lot of fiddly bits in there. I have to get the layout right first time, since I don't want to have to modify it later. It has space for a full size Admiralty chart on the top, a dedicated space for the navigation computer and lots of storage under the lid for paper charts.

Above the chart table switch panels, instrument panels etc will come once I figured out how I want it.

Some deck hardware has been fitted too. The genoa tracks have around 50 machine screws all the way down into the hull timer embedded in epoxy. I hope to never have to replace those. Needless to say you can lift the whole boat up on these...
The gates worked out nice. They were even exactly vertical without having to modify them.

1 October.

There is not a lot to see on the pictures but believe me it sure looks different. The main cabin is finished. All edges are on, door trims are done and all is sanded and polyurethaned several times.

The fridge box is almost ready to go in. Toerails have been made and fitted. A stainless piece of art is lurking on the bow. A lot of little jobs done.
 

It is now December and a few very visible jobs have been completed.
Some very expensive shiny stuff found its way to the bow.

Also the Galley has been almost finished. There will still be some additions once we know exactly where everything goes.

And last but not least the hull has been brightened up, first with lots of news papers and now with a decent stripe. The first coat looked like lipstick, but it got darker with each of the five coats we put on.
 

The whole hull was now sanded, filled where needed and coated with epoxy based undercoat, about 2 layers, some more in places.
I decided to get an antifouling that would last longer than the standard season, to prevent having to haul out in dodgy and/or expensive places. After a lot of research, I decided to go for Coppercoat, since it had the best references on the Internet, mainly from people who were very happy with it. One cruiser had it for 17 years and it still worked.

It involved Jim and me coating the under water part of the hull 4 times in one day. It was almost dark when we finished. I hope it was worth the effort.

Also a good view of the new rudder. We also coated the prop and shaft after treating it with undercoat. It may just work!

Paul and the boys were ready waiting with the mast. A big crane had to come in to put this 20 meter piece of metal into the boat..

It is now April 3rd. I did not update the website, since there was not a lot to see. A few kilometers of wire has been pulled in and connected. Plumbing and pumps have been installed. Teak trims have gone in. Sails have been added and a lot of invisible things have been done.
The soft bits have been put in and tried out, including the new bed.

At the moment the cupboard doors and the table are still missing, but they are being worked on in the shed.

The launching party will be on 3 May and she has to be ready for it then!

Speeches were held. The original owners of Tauhara presented us with a reproduction of a painting of Mount Tauhara, which will find a place on board.

And then the big bang....

We have been living on Tauhara now for over half a year (January 2009). Here are some pictures of the interior and a few at anchor and while sailing (courtesy of JP).

The other problem was going astern. It basically did not work. The boat would go sideways with lots of water movement and the engine would do full revs without moving the boat much. It looked like the folding propeller was not opening properly, possibly because of the skeg and the slightly offset position of the shaft. We decided to get a "KiwiProp", a feathering prop with composite blades. (www.kiwiprop.co.nz). The result was astounding. When lowered back into the water, I put the engine in reverse and we shot out of the travellift bay at high speed. We never looked back!

February 2010

To address this we decided to add some lead to the keel. Since the draught is already 7 feet, it had to go on the side somewhere, as low as practical. So the idea was born to add 2 half bulbs to it. After some googling and a hefty streadsheet a mould was made.

The top of the keel and part of the bottom of the boat were grinded down to bare wood. The seam was routed out to about 20mm deep and 10mm wide. This was filled with epoxy with high density filler, so the keel was now supported on both sides. Then the whole join was heavily glassed in and faired. All keelbolts were services and tightened.

The bilge is completely dry now. The keel can't move anymore. Ready for the next adventure......