Hello!
As I write this, the first thunder of the spring is rolling over our sleepy hometown Tartu. It is great yoy, for some undescribable reason. The nature seems to like it too: birds start singing, leaves turn greener at a faster pace. Boom! There we go again, this one was close, windows are thumping. Now comes the delicate dance of raindrops. So, today we put on four polycarbonate cabin windows. Nothing comes free. It turns out that polycarbonate and acetone do not mix well. Unfortunately the knowledge diffused too late, as we now have a white smudgy stain on the left window. Other than that: some transom shelving, rudder works and general prepping for boxing up the frames. Only one stringer left to glue. Then there is the sweet goodbye to climbing into the boat from either of the sides. Lets have it:
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- Joosep went web sopping and returned with: stainless steel countersink bolts, wasers and nuts. Then there are three heavy duty rudder hinges and two canisters of Sikaflex, which is supposedly godlike for adhering cabin windows. Smells good, like eating an apple, and has no “kills on touch” warning labels. Contains no cyanide, good to know!
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- We grooved our window frames, this, it turns out, has benefits. A) keeps the bead in place b) acts as a reservoir for adhesive, yielding an even dispersion when contact surfaces are pressurized.
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- Uku laying a Sika bead.
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- Looks like whip-cream. It is not.
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- A shot of the aft shelving progress.
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- More aft shelving. The tape rolls are going to be replaced with a gas stove in the future. In the left of the image is a watertight buoyancy compartment. To be covered.
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- A fitted cabin window. The white smudge in the upper left of the window is from contact with acetone, which we intended to use as a residue cleaner. Not a good idea, keep away!
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- A generaalshot. The plank is test fitted, but the stringer behind is not, that is glued.
Come on. Where’s the next installment?
I hope that you haven’t lost interest in your Fafnir? Click on site every couple of days expecting to see a finished boat????
Fafnir is hot, we’ll get to it as soon as Joosep and I meet up again.