Ikaroa Fillets, Bunks and Cabin Layout Games The fillets over the floors turned out better than expected, but the resin finally ran out. I glued on the last bunk supports and played with the toilet, shower drainage and holding-tank layout before splitting the starboard moving floor in two.
Ikaroa Honey-Coloured Bunks Shape the Lower Hull I’m finishing the bunks and floors so I can finally see how the lower hull will look. Next I’ll move on to the upper bulkheads, heavier plywood and Douglas fir.
Ikaroa Epoxying Floors While Waiting for Timber I’m slowly epoxying the cut parts and protecting them from moisture while I wait for more timber and resin. The floors will have to wait a little longer.
Ikaroa Fitting Bunks and Locker Floors Aft I cut back the stern bulkhead and started preparing the bunk and locker floors, with the supports landing nicely level. We chose a narrow bunk arrangement for extra locker space, though fitted tanks may mean dismantling it later.
Ikaroa Bunks Bring the Hulls to Life While I wait for the wayward paint, I’ve prepared bunk levels in both hulls through to bulkhead 4, including locker access covers. There’s still epoxy, fillets, knees and paint to do, but this stage is oddly satisfying.
Ikaroa My Spectacular Danboline Thinning Mistake I sprayed almost everything with Danboline mixed with epoxy thinner, having failed to check the tin properly. The results were surprisingly adequate, but I’ve bought myself another day of painting with the proper thinner.
Ikaroa All the Floors for Tiki 38 I’ve got all the floors and hull brackets ready for epoxy. Once they’re done, I can paint underneath and start fitting them before moving higher up the hull.
Ikaroa The Trouble With a 35mm Fillet I made a mess of the first two 35mm radius fillets, using microfibres when I really should have known better. They’ll work, but I’ll always know they’re there—even under the floor.
Ikaroa Our Very Clean Procrastination Workshop Adam and I are masters at procrastinating, but we also know how to keep each other accountable when the tedious jobs need doing. Apparently, our preferred form of procrastination is cleaning the workshop.
Ikaroa Glassing the Port Hull Joints I spent the day glassing the joints in a narrow space, getting resin in my hair and probably everywhere else. Two-thirds of the port hull is done, with the rest of both hulls next before the more adventurous construction begins.
Ikaroa Filling the Backbone-Hull Connection I’m filling the last bits of the backbone-hull connection, then sanding, cleaning and glassing the joints with tape. If the weather behaves, I’ll move on to the floor supports and bulkhead fillers.
Ikaroa Sealing Every Square Inch of Hull Before I close off any more spaces, I need to seal every damaged surface, screw hole and bit of bare wood inside the hulls with epoxy. It is one of those jobs that adds several unaccounted-for hours to a Wednesday.
Ikaroa The Sunday Workshop Coffee Emergency I ran out of coffee in the workshop and only remembered the shops were closed after planning an evening coffee run. Sunday: quietly sabotaging boatbuilding since forever.
Ikaroa Closing the Floor Level This Week I had a good day preparing the small things needed to close the floor level this week. The Patreon video is now public, and support is welcome as I work towards moving out of the workshop by autumn.
Ikaroa Fighting Cobwebs Back in the Workshop I’m back in the workshop, fighting leaves, dust, spiders and the cold before I can get back to work on the boat. It may take a couple of days to get the place properly clean again.
Ikaroa Getting Back to Work on Our Electric Boat We’re getting back to work on our electric boat, and we’re determined to get her out by the end of summer.
Ikaroa Almost Home, Back to the Workshop I’m almost home—workshop home, that is. Back to work on our glorious boat at last!
Journal Back to Working for Myself I’ve officially finished working for others and am starting to work for myself again. The boat work is still a couple of days away, but regular updates are resuming now.
Journal The Value of Being Scared I’ve been scared of this project from the beginning, not just now. Big dreams usually require doing frightening things repeatedly—and waiting longer than a month to see the results.
Ikaroa My Wrists Are Finally Free My wrists are finally out of casts, although they’re still stiff. We’re staying in Edinburgh over winter, but I’ll be sharing how we plan to completely electrify the Wharram.
Journal Our Centre for Controlling the Universe Our office is taking shape, although one desk is still missing. This is where the magic happens, powered by dreams and a huge amount of caffeine.
Ikaroa Working on a Boat, Finding Tools I found this garage-work meme surprisingly relatable to working on a boat. Yes, apparently I still had a few weeks to go.
Ikaroa A Bike Fall Interrupts Boatbuilding I was meant to be re-rigging a Colin Archer near the Arctic Circle, but a slow bike fall left me with injuries to both hands and my knee. Boatbuilding commentary will resume when at least one hand works again.
Ikaroa Dry-Fitting the Hull Floors I’m dry-fitting the floors before the epoxy work, and the best surprise is that the hulls are actually identical at floor level. A floor made for one fits snugly into the other—which feels like an achievement.
Ikaroa The Workshop Runs Out of Coffee It is scary in our workshop right now: we’ve run out of coffee, and the shops don’t open until 10am on Sunday.
