Stanchions and Wires Mounted

Berth Covers Finished

Primering Completed

The underwater ship has been coated with 4 layers EPIFANES EPOXY HB COAT now and would be ready for sliding into water - almost.

 

Primering the Hull

Unfortunately I didn`t bought enough primer.
The total hull requires 3 times 0,75 liter EPIFANES EPOXY HB COAT per layer. The underwater hull requires 1 1/3 cans 0,75 liter EPOXY HB COAT per layer.

Remaining unevenness of the surface became visible after priming. I had feared. That is, after priming, I must fill another time.

2000 Hours Working Time Completed

Today I completed the 2,000th hour of work on my ship. Gradually I'm uncertain whether the launch can still take place this year. It is left to do too much small stuff which takes more time than expected.

Cockpit Primered

Last Spots Filled before Primering the Hull

Lining the Engine Shaft Continued

For lining the shaft opening I cut some pluggable plywood boards. I described it in my Post of February. Now the pluggable plywood boards were glued in place, the hollow space has been filled with foam "VOSSCHEMIE UNIZELL-SCHAUM HR-AT" and covered by a plywood board cut from cockpit floor opening. The T-shaped opening has been covered with fibreglass and all corners were filled with epoxy-fillets. Afterwards I primered the shaft with EPIFANES EPOXY PRIMER.

Left: Plywood boards were glued in place. Centre: Hollow space has been filled with foam. Right: Foam surface planed by using a oscillating saw

Left: Foam surface covered by a plywood board. Centre: Edges of the T-shaped opening rounded. Right: T-shaped opening covered with fibreglass and corners filled with epoxy-fillets

Left: Surface sanded. Centre: Outboard mount glued in place. Right: Primered

Scoop Filled and Primered

Scoop after filling with YACHTCARE HIGH BUILD EPOXY FILLER followed by WEST EPOXY plus filler type 410 

Scoop after 2nd time filled with WEST EPOXY plus filler type 410 

Scoop after primered with EPIFANES EPOXY PRIMER

Fairing the Sheer

The sheer stringer has been covered with a 8 mm plywood cap followed by a 10 mm mahogany cleat. In order to fair the sheer-line at some sections a second layer of mahogany cleat was required.

After fairing the sheer was covered with two layers glass fabric. The transition to deck and hull was then smoothed with epoxy putty.

Making Hatch Covers for the Aft Stowage

Lining the Shaft Opening

For lining the shaft opening I cut some pluggable plywood boards. The removed board from opening the cockpit floor has been reused as cover. Unfortunately I could not glue because it is too cold. The hollow space is to be foamed later. The three web-boards of the T-shaped opening are cut out at the end.

  

Why an Electric Outboard ?

For a long time I thought about the question on the engine type. A diesel engine was not an option. Too big, too expensive, too heavy. The engine should be installed in a shaft. Therefore an outboard motor would be suitable. The designer recommends a 10-hp outboard for the DIDI 23. But to my mind such an engine would be too heavy for my Träholm and too noisy for longer trips. And what if it does not start in an emergency? As an alternative, I have long been thinking about electric motors. But a big disadvantage is the small cruising range and long charging time. On the other hand in 90% or more cases the cruising range is not really a problem. 

To resolve the issue, I wrote all the arguments in an Excel spreadsheet and arranged them in order of importance. In further spreadsheet columns for various drives I put rating numbers. I set "+1" for advantageous, "-1" for disadvantageous or "0" if neither "+1" nor "-1" is true. Then I summed the products of the ordinal numbers and ratings for each drive.

It turns out, that for my subjective ranking of arguments an electric outborder is the best solution.
In particular, when I complete it with a generator later on and thus get a hybrid drive.

Fitting of the Motor

Dudlex Dix recommends a 10-hp outboard for the DIDI 23.
I have chosen an 4-kW electric outboard type Torqeedo Cruise 4.0 RS.
In terms of propulsion power the Cruise 4.0 RS is comparable with a 8-hp petrol outboard, or in terms of propulsion force even comparable with a 10-hp petrol outboard.

Rudder Box. Bushings and Threads Inserted

Pushpits Installed

When positioning the pushpits there was almost no degrees of freedom. The fastening bolts must have sufficient distance from hull and bulkhead for the washers below deck. On the other hand the distance to the stowage coaming has to be sufficient to open the hatch cover later on.