Fitting the cover

Decided to scrap the idea of using PVC piping to support the cover and will use the main mast instead. So I built some cradles for the mast, they have since been sanded, painted and I will add some leather to avoid scratches on the mast and deck.
Then we traced the outline of the hull onto the canvas and added some material for the hem, big enough to allow fitting of cleats to the outwale. Final job of the day was to do the actual sewing. Tomorrow we aim to install the cleats.

Longitudinal seam

The main part of the cover is made up of two pieces of canvass with a seam along the centre line. This is the seam we did today, there was a bit of struggle to get the old singer to cooperate. Got it at a flea market many years ago and it did not come with a manual so we had to experiment....

Measuring the fabric

My mother is visiting and since she is a lot handier with the sewing machine than me we figured we would try to fix the boat cover. Today we measured and cut the canvass. It is really to hot to do any proper work.

Not quite done yet

One more thing before Xiao Feng is properly done.... Paint her name on the transom.

It was a lot easier than I feared, I printed out the characters on a piece of paper, taped it to the transom and traced them with a ball point pen. The pen makes is small indent in the transom paint and all I needed to do was to fill in this outline. Instead of using a paint brush (shaky hands) I got a paint marker called 'POSCA', basically a felt tip marker but with paint inside! I heard about people using it to decorate surfboards so why not boats? I will apply a layer of transparent acrylic on top for abrasion resistance.

Auto release

My auto release cleats was delivered today. I mounted them on the rudder and centreboard downhauls (I have no weight in my fins so they float). Also painted the centreboard cap.

Now I officially consider her to be finished (only some tweaks remain)!!

And since this is a building blog the update frequency will drop dramatically. Will still update when something big happens, like the cover, the tent (winter project?) and bigger adventures.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Sailing !!!!!!!

Same procedure as yesterday only today there was less wind and more importantly less waves. Had a nice 3-4 knots m/s of wind as I rowed out, when I had the sails up it slowly dropped to around one knot m/s. After about an hour the wind stopped completely and I rowed back in.
Despite virtually no wind she sailed nicely, the sail set better than expected and I had no problems coming about.
So all in all a complete success!!! Next we will try with more wind.

Too much again

Left work early to go sailing, had a quick dinner, packed up the boat and left for the ramp. Well there I found there was plenty more wind than forecasted and plenty more than at the house (despite being only 500m from the ramp as the crow flies)!!
Have sailed in a lot worse but I would like a nice steady calm breeze for the first sail in a boat I have never sailed before. So I decided to leave the rig ashore and go rowing instead. There was a cross breeze on the ramp so there was a little more problem launching compared to last time. The wind was blowing straight into the harbour and the waves built a bit as the water shallowed at the entrance. It was great fun for about 40 minutes then I remembered the cross wind on the ramp and decided to turn back to save some strength for wrangling the boat back on the trailer. Had a great ride back downwind!! As suspected I could not get her straight on the trailer but it turns out she is quite easy to move about on the trailer (light weight and a flat bottom). I had built up quite a sweat when I was done.

Only one pic today since I forgot my phone in the car, so only one taken after the trip.

So while I still have not sailed her I have confirmed she is great to row!!!