January 2021

IMG 4558 right way up I’m starting to feel like the kid in the back of the car, asking “are we there yet?”

I am getting closer, but there’s still a long way to go.

In December and January I was able to take advantage of my down time, and devote quite a bit of time to the boat.

The outside of the hull was spray painted, sanded, spray painted, sanded, and so on over several days. Eventually, after a final cut and polish, I was happy to leave it alone.

As this was the last time the boat would be the wrong way up for some time, I installed the bronzw keel rubbing strip, and also refitted the rub rails, to help reinforce the hull whilst turning her over.

I decided to add another bouyancy chamber in the bow, so I had to add some extra timbers between the side bouyancy chambers, and then cut ply panels to fit at each end. This area will also give me a bit more storage.

The bases of the five hatches were fitted, and glued and clamped in place, making use of the lap clamps I made at the beginning of this build. The sides of these hatches also serve as drainage channels for the seats.

The plywood seat tops have been cut out, dry fitted, and then glued into place, epoxy coated, and painted with several layers of clear Bote Cote. Following the advice of the manufacturers, this was thinned with 50% water, and rubbed on with a damp cloth, using a technique more commonly seen in French polishing. I have to say that I was very impressed by how effective this technique was! By the time I had worked my way around the boat, the first section was dry enough for me to start again, and the entire inside area of the boat was completed in a morning.

Both masts have now been epoxied, and in the next couple of weeks will have their ends sealed. I had debated whether I would epoxy the masts or use Deks Olje. Eventually, it was the decision to use sleeved sails, as I had previously used on Kirsty Ann, that made me choose epoxy.

By leaving the ends of the masts open for now, I was able to support them with steel rods, and rotate them whilst applying the epoxy. Several coats were applied over a few days.

The hatch lids were made, and rubber gaskets glued into them, hopefully making them watertight. The hatches use full length piano hinges, and some time was taken ensuring that these were fitted into the hatch frames and lids at the right height, to ensure that the lid tops were as close to level with the seats as possiblre. Shock cord is used to pull down the hatches - a simple, and hopefully effective closing mechanism.

The last of the long pieces of Oregon, plus some scrap I had put aside a few years ago, has been cut into strips, to make floorboards. These have been sanded and shaped as necessary, and as soon as I have ordered more screws I will drill the needed holes to hold them in place. The floor boards are going to be coated in Deks Olje, once I have finished the drilling.

My trailer won’t be ready until March (I couldn't get a registration appointment until early April), so the boat won’t be at Rye this month, but the end is, if not in sight, at least not that far around the corner...

The last view of our Lapwing 16 before we turned her over to complete the internal fitout. Painting of the hull is finished. The bronze keel rubbing strip as fitted, and the laminated rub rails were screwed to the gunwales prior to flipping the boat, to reinforce the hull and avoid splitting the sheer plank.

Back off the saw horses and down onto a padded cradle. The wheels mounted to the cradle made it easy to move the boat around when needed.

I decided to add extra buoyancy up towards the bow, past the point where the plans called for a bulkhead if the standard, decked, layout is followed. The timbers for the top of this area were checked into the top of the side bulkheads.

The hatch frames were clamped into place, using the clamps I made to hold the planks in place.

More clamps, and timber strips, were used to hold the tops of the hatch frames flush with the bulkhead reinforcing timbers.

More clamps, and timber strips, were used to hold the tops of the hatch frames flush with the bulkhead reinforcing timbers. I had already used a router to trim the inside frame edges, to remove most of what was required to allow the hatch lids sit flush with the seats.

Another view of the clamps and timber strips that were used to hold the tops of the hatch frames flush with the bulkhead reinforcing timbers. Any epoxy squeeze-out was removed before the epoxy had cured.

Because I extended the side bulkheads, I was able to include another couple of hatches, giving me five hinged hatches, plus a removable hatch in the bow.

All of the hatch frames had extra timbers paired with the edge of the frames, extending to the batten running along the inside of the hull.

The additional buoyancy and storage towards the bow starts at the centreboard side rails. As this area extends across to the side bulkheads, but doesn't run all the way into the bow, I had to add drain tubes into the forward and aft edges of this chamber.

The tubes were eventually passed through the drainage notches I had cut into the floor timbers while I had thought to keep this area open.

I decided to cover the side seats as separate pieces, so to glue the forward centre buoyancy top securely I needed to glue more timber to the inboard side of the bulkheads, to rest the plywood top on.

There is a small bit of open storage between the front of the centreboard and the buoyancy chamber.

Dry fitting the side seats on our B& B Yacht Designs Lapwing 16. I didn't glue the seat tops in place until I had dry fitted all of them.

The hatch openings were cut in situ, using a router bit with a roller at the tip, letting me cut to the edge of the hatch frame without cutting into it. I had to be very careful to be sure that this dry-fitted ply didn't move whilst I was cutting out the hatch opening.

The side seats dry-fitted, and the hatch openings cut out.

Gluing the plywood underneath the thwarts. You can see the reinforcing timbers that are glued in place where the masts mass through the thwarts. I've included the reefing mast step, to allow the mizzen to be moved forward of the centreboard when the main is completely furled.

The bottom of the forward buoyancy area has a floor made from two pieces of plywood, which are held in place with a couple of screws. The can removed and taken out through the hatch.

I raided many of my shelves to find enough weight to hold down the the seat tops while the epoxy set.

gluing the sides to the hatch lids

The forward hatch is of the same design I used on my Core Sound 17's foredeck: a box lid that is held down with internal shock cords looping onto screw hooks inside the lid.

Six hatches provides plenty of storage space. Each hatch opens into a separate buoyancy chamber, reducing the risk of several flooding at once.

Several coats of epoxy were applied to the inside of each hatch.

The floor pieces for the forward storage area just fit through the hatch. This is why I cut the floor as two pieces.

Final sanding of the birsdsmouth masts for our B&B Yacht Designs Lapwing 16 before I started coating them in epoxy.

Metal rods were inserted at the ends of each mast, to act as axles, allowing me to rotate each mast as I coated it in epoxy. Each mast had four coats of epoxy, with each coat added after the previous was touch dry, but not hard, allowing me to recoat without having to sand in between coats.

Rubber gaskets were epoxied into the hatch lids to form the (hopefully) watertight seal for each hatch.

After the seat tops had received several coats of epoxy I applied clear coats of AquaCote diluted with 50% water and rubbed on with a damp cloth, using a French polishing technique recommended by the manufacturer. By the time I had worked my way around the inside of the hull the first section was dry, and ready to be recoated. I completed the internal painting in one morning.

The hatches pull down into place with a shock cord looped over a screw through the bulkhead. Simple and effective. The piano hinges are fitted to the hatch frame and back of the lid, keeping the hinges off the seats.

All five hatches fitted.

Without being pulled down by their shock cords, the hatch lids sit a little proud of the seat tops. The Oregon slats were spaced out for the aft floor, and then drilled and countersunk. These slats came from the pieces remaining from the staves cut for the masts.

Oregon slats being spaced out for the forward floor. These slats came from the pieces remaining from the staves cut for the masts, plus a couple of pieces salvaged from a piece I had been storing for almost 20 years, looking for the right project to use it on.

Our B&B Yacht Designs Lapwing 16: Pitthirrit

January 2021