Two half days

 Only half a day on Friday and a wet one at that. Scott from 1 Degree West came over to talk about wiring and steering, talked me out of fitting hydraulics and agreed on various details for the battery circuits. It was too wet to do much outside so I finished off the plumbing under the galley: pressure pumped water and a sink drain.

That meant drilling a large hole in the hull for the skin fitting, and the boat was floating. Although I triple checked dimensions it was a very odd feeling to be drilling a hole in a hull from the inside. However it all ended happily, and it gave me a chance to see just how strongly built this boat is - check out the thickness of the core I drilled out. This is at least twice as thick as the Trophy hull in the same place.

 

 As I was feeling totally frustrated by the weather, and knowing Saturday would offer a nice sunny window, I was up early to fit the mast. At last!! The culmination of much planning, preparation and general worrying. All went fine although it took a very long time , because however many tools I took up on the roof with me, the one I actually needed was always back in the cockpit. The only blip was that I couldn't fit the VHF antennae, because I couldn't separate the old one from the old base to fit to the new base so I'll either have to get a new antennae or clean up the old base. Guess which will cheaper. Yes, I'll be doing that. The budget has stretched far enough already. Here is the result of four hours honest labour.

 

 

That might look finished but wires to all that electronickery has to go somewhere and this is what the inside looks like. I'm looking forward to the next rainy weekend because I'll be spending it routing all those cables. There's half a ton of the stuff in the sink.