2455Hrs – Cutting Through

A really good work session today helped along by the fact that for the first time in ages the sun showed its face and the temperature was 10 degrees above the freezing day we had yesterday.

I figured it was about time I got productive again and given that I’d extracted my plywood stock yesterday I thought I might as well start cutting it up!

I didn’t rush into it mind, I got the plans and cutting sheets out and took my time measuring, marking and checking before putting any wood near a saw. I’ve learned a hard lesson over the years with cocked up tumblehomes and beam webs wasting some expensive marine ply. I was working with 12mm (1/2″) today and that’s not cheap so I didn’t want any cock-ups.

Mind you I chose any easy bit to start with, the deck pod floor, made up of two pieces I cut them out and then glued them with a 12mm plywood reinforcing strip as per the plans.

For the rest of the day I worked through various pieces of the deck pod, engine boxes, side decks, engine wells and mast boxes. It felt a bit odd to think that these are some of the last big pieces of ply I will have to cut for ‘Gleda’ and just as I was getting the hang of it as well!

I’ve held back on some pieces of the deck pod because I’m thinking of making a small modification, namely lowering the floor by 3 0r 4 inches. It’s something I discussed with Jacques on ‘Pilgrim’ and it’s intended to give a bit more headroom for a shade/canopy over the pod. I have an advantage in being a bit of a short arse anyway but I’m keen to make the pod as sheltered as possible particularly given the possibility of a few seasons of sailing in UK waters. I’ll be playing with some drawings over the next few days to see what I can come up with. That said if I’m at all doubtful about my change I’ll revert to the plans.