Ikaroa Cleaning Epoxy Before the Bulkheads I’m cleaning every epoxy-covered surface yet again, because amine blush has earned my suspicion. Once the sanding and washing are done, I’ll be ready to fit the bulkheads.
Ikaroa Planing Bearers for the Beam Throughs I’m back to sanding, planing and cutting bearers for the beam throughs. Each one gets a slight slope so water can drain, while spreading the beam loads through the bulkheads.
Ikaroa Starting the Upper Hull Jigsaw I’ve got the upper hull in small pieces. Now it’s time to start putting this jigsaw puzzle together.
Ikaroa Two Epoxy Coats, Twenty-Five Pumps I cleaned and recoated the bulkheads, using far more epoxy than expected—about 1.5 to 2 litres across two layers. Resin removal cream remains essential, and I’m finally learning that slow hardener has its advantages.
Ikaroa Why the 12mm Plywood Turned Dark I noticed that the 12mm okume plywood turns much darker after epoxying than the older 9mm and 18mm sheets. I also reorganised the workshop and counted my way towards closing the hulls—apparently not very successfully.
Ikaroa Epoxying Bulkheads Takes All the Space I’ve discovered that even a normally spacious workshop is not large enough to epoxy bulkheads and do anything else. With the major upper-hull bulkheads laid out, I’ll tackle the epoxy first thing Sunday morning.
Ikaroa Making Room for Beamthrough Doublers The slightly larger plywood sheets are paying off, letting me cut all the beamthrough doublers I need alongside the bulkheads. Next comes epoxy, shaping the bearers and fitting the major bulkheads into the hulls.
Ikaroa Turning Drawings into Upper Hull Bulkheads I’m turning the drawings into actual pieces of the boat: two sheets of 12mm plywood have become part of the upper-hull bulkheads, with plenty more still to cut for the other hull.
Ikaroa A Bulkhead Takes Two Days I’m spending days drawing and checking each bulkhead so it fits my hull, with only eight sheets of 12 mm plywood available and no room for mistakes.
Ikaroa Stern Pieces, Bulkheads and Hull Shape I’m getting the stern pieces and bulkheads cut so I can prep the stringers, start epoxying, and make the whole hull shape visible by the end of the week.
Ikaroa Re-Leveling Both Hulls Before the Tops I moved and re-levelled both hulls, using several more or less scientific methods to check the workshop floors and hull alignment. It took two extra days, but I need measurements I can trust before starting on the top hulls.
Ikaroa I Finally Tore Down the Tent Roof I turned procrastination into something useful and removed the ugly, blackened clear-plastic tent roof. The workshop is now considerably brighter, just in time to make a complete mess before putting everything back.
Ikaroa Lockers Painted, Bunks Ready to Fit I’ve painted the lockers, fitted the battens stiffening the bunks and floors, and enjoyed a warm evening aboard. Tomorrow, at least a couple of bunks go in permanently.
Ikaroa Stern Brackets and the Galley Floor I fitted two stern brackets and, with some leftover microfibre mix, quickly installed the rest of the galley floor. Warm weather meant everything could cure nicely while I had breakfast and considered some Flutter lessons.
Ikaroa Warm Weather, More Work on Ikaroa A few extra degrees transformed my productivity: I filled, painted, fitted brackets and sorted the delivery. In another few days I’ll be back to woodworking, cutting bulkheads and the upper stem and stern sections.
Ikaroa A Tight Joint Despite the Cold I managed to make another neat, tight wood joint with the multitool and jigsaw. The cold and damp slowed down the resin work, but a few degrees made all the difference later.
Ikaroa Checking the Double Bunk Alignment I’m doing one of my middle-of-the-work checks, using a laser to confirm that the apparently misplaced double bunk is actually landing precisely on its mark.
Ikaroa Finishing the Stern Cabin Fillets I abandoned my carefully prepared painting plan to finish the fillets in the stern cabin lockers of both hulls. The bow cabin in the port hull can wait, while I slowly get back into the groove of boatbuilding—and warmer mornings.
Ikaroa Painting the Hull’s Hard-to-Reach Spaces I’m painting the bow and stern lockers by brush and roller, because the Jotun epoxy primer is too thick for my current spray gun. I also finished the bow-cabin fillets and fixed parts of the starboard main-cabin floor.
Ikaroa When the Resin Dosing Pump Quit My resin dosing pump finally gave up after almost 100 litres, so I kept today’s jobs small and postponed most epoxy work. I’m also switching from International to Jotun epoxy paint, including for future spray application.
Ikaroa Starting Again with Hull Fillets I’ve finally started proper work again, beginning with fillets in both bow compartments and tidying the stringer finishes. There’s plenty to do before the new timber arrives, so I’d better get on with it.
Ikaroa The Wrong Hardener, Then Back to Work I received 206 slow hardener instead of the 205 I needed, causing a small delay while the correct epoxy arrived. Now I’m finishing the lower hull and preparing for the next stage.
Ikaroa Waiting for Resin in the Cold I’m finally into double digits, but still waiting for the resin to arrive. The workshop is freezing in the gale, though epoxy apparently remains the real judge of working temperatures.
Ikaroa That Bulkhead Is Huge I’m building a Wharram Tiki 38, and this bulkhead is enormous. Honestly, it’s huge.
Ikaroa Drawing a Straight Line Without Straight Edges I used a self-levelling laser to draw a precise 2-metre reference line across a piece of plywood with no straight edge. It was for the main cabin seats in the port hull.
