The winter westerlies have finally arrived in northern Tas, so our days have been punctuated with squally showers. Thankfully the winds have been moderate compared to last year, and now that we are working inside we are well protected. The shelter is doing an excellent job at keeping Selah dry, with no leaks, except on especially frosty morning, when it can “rain” on the inside! An advantage of working behind a joinery workshop is that we have access to plenty of packing sheets, so we have laid them on the floors to protect the plywood.

Progress has been steady as we are now working on detailed work. We are rapidly approaching D day for making some final decisions. This week we have been researching plumbing, toilets and shower options. All this takes time, as we stop work to discuss the issues involved. This is so that Pete can begin building the shower sump, and make provision for the holding tank.

We have finished fabricating the cabin sides. These are doubled up, with a second layer of plywood. We used offcuts cut to fit and laminated to the inside, as specified in the plans. The laminations were glued to the windows oversized. We could use a bearing router bit to trim flush. Rusell has lent us his spare trimmer, and we have used it extensively. It is smaller and lighter than the router and can fit into tighter spaces.

Additional layers are specified for the chainplate attachment points and have been laminated in place. The whole structure is so robustly constructed that no ring frames or additional re-enforcement are required. The chainplates are simply bolted to the cabin sides. Peter Snell has designed the Sarah to be light, for a cruising catamaran. This has compounding benefits. Compared to similarly sized production catamarans, her rig seems moderate, but she is around two tons lighter, so does not need the big roached mainsail so common with heaver cats.

Deb has completed filleting and filling around the stringers, which have all been doubled. Next week will be all about with sanding and fairing.