The custom build continues; A photo update.

[Nauti Natured]

Wow ... you can really start to see the final product coming through. Fantastic. Thanks again for the detailed reporting here! It is so much fun to follow.

[SteveK]

Mike,
Like everything else on the boat, its great to see the teak deck done the right way too. What I mean by that is that the guys have taken the time to "frame" each opening and each cover with teak borders. I see too many teak decks that just run straight lengths right across the hatches and then cut them in for the openings. In this case, you again are taking the time to do it the "old school" way instead of taking the shortcuts. Very nice.

If the helm pod looks that nice, I can imagine how nice the sliding hatch will look.............

Steve

[Fortunate One]

Originally Posted by Nauti Natured

Wow ... you can really start to see the final product coming through. Fantastic. Thanks again for the detailed reporting here! It is so much fun to follow.

It's been a lot of fun to document and post.

When I started posting I thought there'd be people that would love to follow the experience.

Most builds are turned over the builder and they do their thing with some input from the owner. This build is different in that I'm so involved with design and decisions that it makes it an experience that can't be duplicated. I get to tap into local knowledge and information and feedback from the web that was invaluable. I got to play with and make mock ups to see what looked best and what worked best. It’s been a big part of my life and an experience that I’ll always remember.

I can’t wait to get the tower started. I will have some input there but the guy that’s going to build it has been doing it and perfecting his art for years that I’m not going to make much input. However there are a couple of things that he hasn’t incorporated into a tower that I’m going to bounce off of him to see if we can get them to work.

I keep teasing my wife that I’m going to have to start on the plans for the 65 Convertible soon.

She thinks I'm crazy anyway because as I was going through the boat build, over the last 8 months I went through the same process on a commercial building that I own. It turned into such a fantastic space that people are blown away by it. Add to that running multiple businesses through this recession and getting involved with designing a new architectural glass product and you get the picture.

[Fortunate One]

Non-skid



Air Intakes or Shark Gills as the wife refered to them as.





Kitchen Sink and Cook top.



Exhaust being glassed to the hull.



Head being put together permanently.

[Fortunate One]

Well it was a nice afternoon to get over to the shed for a couple of hours and since I was in the area for business I thought why not.

As I was walking around the boat looking at the rub strake stainless steel protection strip, Dave showed up with the exhaust trim rings fresh from the fabricator.

More jewelry.





Getting prepped for the bottom paint



Struts have been back filled.



Hardware on the Bow.




Hinges on the deck.




Latches installed on the hatch.



Solid nosing installed on the bunk steps in the master stateroom.






Cabin starting to really come together. The boys were busy sanding and fairing.



One last shot of clear is being sprayed on the chart table.

[triniswordfish]

AWESOMEEEEEE!!!!!

[shoefish]

...completely unable to sleep at night with this coming together so well- I wouldn't be able to take it.

[rabcoman]

great job guys, good luck with the boat.

[Fortunate One]

Originally Posted by shoefish

...completely unable to sleep at night with this coming together so well- I wouldn't be able to take it.

Shoe,

I hear you. It's been pretty exciting lately. A friend of mine compared it to getting prepared for a new family member.

I told him this is a hell of a long pregnancy.

I can hardly stay away from the shed. I've been leaving the office after work and heading down there almost every night.

There's still some things that I need to decide on and I have to keep up with things if I want to make changes at this point since things are going so fast.

Friday I decided to change the hinge styles on the hatches. I wasn’t to happy with the butt hinges installed on the mock up to the galley cabinets. Even though it was a traditional look I thought a more modern concealed hinge would provide more emphasis on the mahogany trim around the doors.

The fact that we're so close to completing really set in yesterday as I was measuring for the glass door in the shower, laying out speaker locations and deciding how many rods I'm going to hang off of the master cabin frames.

I have to pinch myself at times.

It didn’t help much after seeing that Shark and Tuna video on the New England board this morning. After looking at the videos on the Mass Bay Guide site I’m anxious to hit the waters.

All my focus has been down south, Next season, I’ll be able to head north and south when I want to and I'll have plenty of range to do it.

But until then, I have some more play to do on the "Stradivarius".

I can't wait to see some new 50 wides with custom rods hanging here. It's the best way to decorate and put the final touches on her. Gold reels with black rods are going to look sweet living here.

These walls don't even have any varnish on them yet. This is just epoxy. When they're done applying the varnish they're going to have a deep finish.

There are mahogany fiddles about 6" in height that will wrap around the bunk and hold the matress in place which will tie the 2 mahogany hull sides together.

[Hatterized]

she is absolutely gorgeous with no detail overlooked.....i would have a hard time splashin her......instead i would hang her on the wall or display her......since she is a piece of art