Completing the Cuddy of my Gypsy 28 catamaran

After my tour of duty in East Timor I had 4 weeks Off. Now, this is a good time to continue my boat building project. From my last Off days I had finished constructing the cuddy. Now comes the not so difficult but labour intensive part..SANDING down the layer of glass to get a good finishing.

The spirits were high. I wanted to make this boat the smoothest and best looking Gypsy around. BUT the work never seem to end!

By the time I get a reasonably good finish I had already sanded too much..almost to the wood. So it is repair time again.apply another small patch of glass cloth and epoxy and then carefully sand it down again. However, the skill level improves as I get along.

I had a local fisherman Yee to help me a few days in the sanding work when he was not at sea.

But it is still a long and tedious process. I used a Bosch orbital sander to ease the process.

From the top to bottom....

At last I am almost satisfied with the smoothness. I always remember what Richard Woods (The designer of ths catamaran) told me about building a 50 ft boat....Build a boat that will look pleasant to the eyes from a distance of 50 ft! I used a 2 pot mixture PU paint from International paint.

The actual painting is actually quite easy .With a high quality roller the job can be completed in half a day.

Painting the top of the cuddy.

Hmmm it turned out to be quite nice. Feels good too.

I had to employ the services of my bitch Ciku to guard such a master piece.

The interior looks good too.

Overall I am happy with my work . Now the next stage is getting interesting..laying up the composite foams and building the hulls.

The Day my Cat Sailed Off

Well, actually it is now my previous catamaran. I had owned this Strider 24 racing catamaran for a few years and have had a good time sailing it. It was sailing this catamaran that prompted me to build a bigger and more comfortable catamaran. Over the last two years I had hardly used her as I was busy planning and building my new catamaran , a Gypsy 28 which is 4 ft longer and has a central cuddy. I passed the word around that my catamaran is for sale and there were quite a few interested parties but it was finally sold to Phillip Tinker and his wife KC in January this year. As they had to go back to Australia to settle some domestic problems, they will only take delivery of the catamaran only in May 2010. Presently they are in Malaysia on the M2H program (Malaysia my second home).The catamaran has been moored amongst the fishing boats near the bridge at Bukit Kuang so everyday when I pass by it is reflex action that my eyes will automatically turn toward the boat to see that it is still there. Actually I had appointed a local fisherman En Yee to look after the boat and nothing had gone missing the last few years. Well done and Terima Kaseh Yee. Yee was helping out in the loading of the provisions for the trip. The Tinkers are sailing the catamaran all the way back to Lumut on the West Coast.It is a journey of about 500 nm and they plan to cruise back in about 14 days.Phillip and KC Tinker.. a wonderful couple. They have a combined age of 126 years old and I thought I was a rugged and tough person BUT after seeing the Tinkers, I am no where near their category. Nothing seems to worry or scare both of them!The local fishermen were kind enough to allow us to use their jetty and also to use their boats as a pontoon.This makes our life a little easier but the sun was merciless!Fuel, Food water , maps, charts, radios etc had to be loaded up the catamaran. The boat will be home to this couple for about 2 weeks.All the items had to be stowed in its appropriate position. A catamaran is very sensitive to loading and Cof G. Riggings had to be checked.They used to say the happiest day is when a man buys himself a boat and the second happiest day is when he sells it. Well, in this photo both the seller and the buyer looks very happy! Phillip's wife KC looks happy and is looking forward to the trip. To be honest Phillip and KC are no strangers to sailing in Malaysia. They had owned and raced in a Young 88 sailboat named Mutz B Nuts in the 1980s.

The Suzuki 8 Hp started with just one pull. Ahem ..a good omen for them.Alright..bye for now..The mooring rope was then untied. Today is the 4 of May 2010 and according to the stars it is an ideal date to start a long journey. "TAKE CARE OF MY EX..." These were my parting shouts. I will meanwhile remain on land and shepherd their progress and giving local knowledge advices when required. That ends one era of my boat ownership. I looked back and saw an empty mooring lot. My new boat under construction will need another 2 years before it can get wet.