The Cradle

In the two weeks that have passed since the turning, I have cleaned out the inside of the hull, removing all the cobwebs and epoxy that had squeezed through when filling the holes. The next step here will be to fill all the joins and do fillets where necessary and then the fitting out can start.

In the meantime I have also constructed the cradle and layed concrete blocks for it to stand on.

AWESOME!!!!!!

That is how Saturday was. The turning went better than I could have hoped for and a great time was had by all who attended the Turning and the after party. Thanks to all those who came and made it such a great day. It is sometimes unwise to thank people individually in case you leave someone out who might feel hurt, but there are a few people who need special mention. First and foremost my Father who taught me all I know and Maureen for support and encouragement along the way. The diggers, Theo, Brendon and Skatie who pitched in and dug out the ground as she was turning. Patrick for steadying the ship as she went over and all those who assisted in turning. All the ladies who assisted with food and salad preperations and Skatie (once again) who took it upon himself to organise the fires and braai the meat. Christine and Roy for taking pictures to capture the moment (attached pictures by Roy).

More pictures of the turning coming soon.

TIDIDI has a list.

Work has been going on at a frantic pace over the past few weeks, getting everything ready for the turning. Phineas spent the past two weekends digging a hole under the boat to allow it to turn. Fortunately the ground is soft and apart from having to dig through some Wattle roots it went quite smoothly.

This past weekend I removed the last of the supports which the boat was still resting on and she settled onto the A-frames perfectly. I was able to swing her slightly with very little effort by hand, which made it easier to dig the last of the ground out. If the way she turns on the pinions is anything to go by, then turning on the 5th should go without any hitches. If the balance is right all we will need is one block just to stop her from turning too quickly and if everything were perfect we would probably not even need that.

Final preparation for turning.

I am busy now with final preparations for the turning on the 5th of December. The Bow and Transom pinions are complete and fitted, together with their respective A-frames. These are ready to fully support the boat once the building stocks have been completely removed.

This coming weekend, I will be getting some help to start digging underneath the boat in order for it to turn. I am also getting the underside, below the waterline ready for the second coat of primer and will be completing this together with the waterline by next weekend. Topsides will be finished off once the boat is upright.

Getting ready to turn

The last two weeks have been very productive, having sanded, sealed and painted the hull with the first primer coat. I had originally taken a week off work for this but extended it to two weeks in order to achieve this. I have also now completed the aft pinion assembly and am ninety percent finished with the bow pinion and A-frame. The only other thing that remains with these is the A-frame for the transom pinion. In theory this should work and Roy from CKD has used this method in practise successfully, so here's holding thumbs.

Now it's really starting to look like a boat.

Albeit upside down still, but we are getting closer to the turning on the 5th of December. Pictures show the first coat of primer going on. This should be completed tomorrow, after which any imperfections will be filled and sanded ready for the second coat. The vertical lines which can be seen in the top picture are the overlapping spray lines which are not completely dry.

Sanding and Sealing

The hull has now been sanded and the process of soaking and sealing with epoxy started. This will be completed this morning. Once this is set it will be lightly sanded ready for the first coat of primer.

Drilling the Keel Holes

In order to make the drilling of the 22 holes for the Keel bolts easier, I made a guide which helped keep the drill straight.

Countdown to Turning

Finally, all the holes have been filled and all that remains is to sand the hull, seal it and paint. There are a few other small things which need doing, like drilling the holes for the Keel and Skeg, making a cradle, making the frameworks for the pinions and A-frames and doing a bit of excavation. If all goes according to plan we will be having a huge party on the 5th of December.





I have now also completed a scale model of Tididi as well as the boat shed in order to get a better understanding of how it will turn and to work out where there is excavation needed. The top of the box depicts the ground level with relevant slopes allowing me to work out exactly how deep I need to dig to accomodate the arc the boat will take.

Keel and Skeg packing blocks

Finally, another update. Inclement weather as well as being involved in making cabinets for a paying customer have slowed progress a bit. However in between all of this I have finished and fitted the Keel packing block and fitted the rudder and skeg packer ready to be flattened. All that now remains is to finish filling the holes, before sanding and sealing the entire hull with epoxy.

Setting up the Chines and Gunwales

Whilst the filling of holes continues, in between the incescant rain and wind which we are experiencing at the moment in the Western Cape, there is nothing much to add to the blog by way of current progress, so I will continue from where I left off with the setting up of the Keelson.

The next step was to set up the Chines and Gunwales. these were both made up of two layers of 69 x 22mm timber which first had to be joined with scarfs to form the lengths required. Once the first layer had been fixed to the frames and checked for fairness, the second layer was then glued and screwed to this to form a strong continuous curve. Once this was complete, the Chines were then chamfered to the correct angle.

Template for Keel packing blocks.

Whilst I have been busy "plugging" away at the holes - which is well over half way complete now - I have also been busy with the Keel Packer block. This is being cut and shaped at the moment, after having cut and set up a template from which to transfer the profile (shown in the photographs above). Once this is complete the same will be done for the Skeg and Rudder packer.

Mini Tididi

While the hole filling is continuing, and during periods where the weather is too bad to work on the boat, I have been constructing a scale model of TIDIDI. This is mainly to assist in the planning of the hull turning, in order to see which is going to be the best way of doing this with minimum effort and manpower, and without too much modification of the boat shed. The most likely method is going to be one suggested by Roy McBride, which he used successfully on his own boat, whereby a pinion is fitted to both the transom and the stem, which then rest in "A" frames, allowing the hull to turn much like a "Spit". The model will assist in getting the best position for these pinions so that the hull is balanced throughout the turning process. It will also allow me to see where the ground needs to be excavated to allow for the widest section of the hull.

Filling the Holes

With roughly 6400 holes to fill this is turning out to be quite a time consuming process. However after experimenting with a couple of ways of doing this, including a putty knife and a large catheter syringe, I have now come up with using old silicon tubes in a caulking gun. This is by far the best method so far and I can fill up to 430 holes with one 100/65 gram mix.

Rounding the last Mark and heading for the Finish

I am well and truly on the last leg now heading for the big day when she gets turned over. Another weekend of brilliant Cape Town weather allowed for all the sanding to be done and the last seam filled. After some difficulty trying to fill the screw holes with Teak powder using a catheter syringe, which tended to clog too easily, Theo suggested I try the powder which came out of the sander after having sanded all the joints. This turned out to be the answer as it makes a much smoother paste which does not clog. In effect it is also recycling the Teak powder already used to fill the joints thus minimising wastage.

Mascot - Tididi Bear

The boats mascot is a teddy bear - obviously then named "Tididi Bear" - which was made by my sister Maureen. She makes and sells teddy bears dressed to suit any occasion or theme.

Filling of Joints almost complete

Joints in the foreground have been filled and sanded in the picture above.

All of the joints have now been filled except for the one that runs from stem to stern over the keelson and stem post. Some of these have already been sanded and finished and those that were filled this past weekend will be finished off this coming weekend. Joints are filled with a paste made by mixing epoxy with a graded teak flour (sawdust), which I get from Roy at CKD Boats. All that still remains to be filled are all the screw holes before final sanding.

Planning for the Turning.

Things are progressing well at the moment and planning and preparation for the turning are already afoot. Filling and finishing of all the joints and holes should be completed by the end of next week, and I have already started stripping and removing parts of the building stocks, some of which will be used to make the cradle and also skids for the turning. All that then remains after the filling is completed is to fit the packing blocks for the keel and skeg and then seal the hull.

Planking Finished.

At 16h35 this afternoon after a day of perfect weather, which was one of quite a few over the past two weeks, I finally fitted the last panel to the hull which completes the planking. This was one of 216 panels which went into planking the hull. All that remains now before turning is to fill all the gaps and screwholes, fit the packing blocks to take the keel and rudder skeg and then seal the entire hull with epoxy.

Slow progress on second layer

With the rainy season well and truly upon us, it has been slow going with gluing the second layer. I was hoping to have had this completed before the rains came, but unfortunately did not make it. However there have been a few gaps in the weather which have allowed some progress and there is only about two thirds of the bottom which remains to have the second layer glued. Hoping to have this completed by the end of next week so that I can do all the filling and sealing before the end of June.