Plans? What plans?

How the day started.

It's late, just about 4am, and I've just finished laying down the centerboard trunk blocking. It was surprisingly fun; I got to use just about every power tool in the shop and I think it came out OK. In the scheme of things, it's pretty simple. But the blocking started with a varied-width 5/4 length of pine that had to be milled down to 1" and then ripped to the requisite widths. That meant I got to fire up the thickness planar for the first time. That thing can make some noise and throw some sawdust, that's for sure.

Earlier today, I sanded down the insides of the trunk to the "uniform grey" that's recommended for such sanding. It doesn't look like there's fiberglass on there anymore. Part of me wants to keep it bright so I know I didn't sand through the whole shebang.

It wasn't all good today, though. I called around a few tire shops for those magical lead balance weights I keep hearing about. Yes, they have them, says the tire shops, but the ones I called are under contract with battery manufacturers. Others said they only use steel these days. I found some on eBay for about $1 a pound. I need about 108 for the keel, 10 for the centerboard, and 200 for the ballast. I cried. This was an unprepared expense (and doesn't include the cost of the cast iron pot and heating elements.) I'll just have to bite the bullet here and likely forgo the stainless steel mooring cleats. Plastic is just as good, no?

I wound up buying 25 lbs to get started. That should be enough for the centerboard itself, which will give me time to figure out what to do about the other 100 lbs. I won't need the ballast for another year or so, likely until right before launch. But with the way the EPA and Sierra Club have been pushing, lead seems to be an endangered species, so I plan to stock up on it now. Lead shot bags from Cabela's (a major outdoor/hunter supplier) cost $65 for 25 lbs. While the advantage is these will be "pure" and free of the crap that a tire shop weight will have, it's also almost 3x more expensive. Cabela's math vs. eBay math works out to $780 vs. $300. The sounds you hear are my pockets emptying.

To add to the pain, late last night, as I was preparing to mill the keel blocking, I was really confused as to how do that. The manual says there's a pattern in the kit but it's not clearly labeled. I assume it's the tapered item just above the gaff puzzle piece? So I did what all PocketShip builders do: I went to the forum. After a few hours without an answer, I wrote Chris. He said check the plans.. I said what plans.. he said, the ones that come with the kit? I've been through the boxes and rest assured, there are no plans. I think we found the problem, said Chris. Partly vindicated, I wrote CLC Friday, but with this being a high holiday among certain folks (Easter - which means you've spent all day painting eggs, or you're preparing for an early mass tomorrow followed by brunch), I don't expect to hear from them until Monday at the latest. Since the centerboard trunk blocking is fairly straightforward (no tapering) I went ahead and did that tonight.

Dry fit and the first few feet of frog tape.

Close up of rounded edge, cut with band saw.

Not all the clamps I own, but close.

Close up of clamps and squeeze out of aft trunk.

I briefly used the centerboard as a table top. Bad, bad!!

In the meantime, Chris offered to head down to my boatshop with the plans I need. Turns out, at this stage in the build, I need those plans quite a bit. The keel nose, keel blocking, and centerboard blocking are all covered in those pages. If I get far enough along, the rudder blocking and bulkhead cleats are also needed. These are all things I can do in my basement while the weather struggles to get above 45 degrees.