Undoubtedly this was the worst week of my entire life. I appreciate all the support

I know you guys will be waiting.

I just witnessed something that noone should ever witness. I’m quite numb at the moment, but I know I’ll soldier on. I’d appreciate it if everyone just left me alone for a while so I can work through this.

Thanks.

Got a ton done on the Darby, the worst of which was sanding the main deck.  Putting 2 layers of glass down before sanding helped a lot.  Hell, the more I do it, the more I learn what not to do.  Also fabricated a mixer thing for my drill.  Overkill on mixing the activator for the glass resin is kind of an oxymoron.  You can’t mix it enough.  At any rate, the main deck and hatch are ready for the next phase.

I got the battery deck made, and gained a keel compartment underneath it.  I still need to reinforce the false bottom to take the weight of the battery, but that’s no biggie.  Both hull fittings are in place, with the fire monitor system complete up to the pump outlet.  I’m still pondering how to affix the bilge pump to the hull bottom.  

Doesn’t sound like much, but it was a full weekend of boat building.  19 new pix in the build gallery.

I think I wet myself.

Not my video, so don’t bitch at me.

I added more pix to the Darby build gallery, then I noticed that I’d passed the 1st hundred mark.  

Almost done with the basic decking.  I didn’t get the chance to take pix of the fiber glassing on the main deck this evening, but it’s glassed and hardening right now.  I’ll probably start sanding it, and the hatch, tomorrow.  

Next up will be fitting the main deck to the hull, then working on the bulk heads and interior decking.  I’d like to get it in the water soon, but I don’t know if I have enough ballast to get it to the waterline.  At the very least I can test the control systems and drive it around a bit.  I’m sure I’ll get some video of it in the water.

Finished machining the rudder pull-pull wheels and installed the complete rudder control system in the hull.  Using the larger wheels seems to provide a very strong, accurate setup that returns to neutral with little effort.

I got the main deck assembled today.  I still need to finish gluing the members, and I have to make the hatch, but it went together pretty easily after climbing the learning curve with the forcastle deck.  The hatch is going to take some work, since it’s a pretty tight fit (and I haven’t even started glassing it yet), and the kit wood isn’t square on one end.  Meh, it’s all part of building I guess.