Blog — Monday , 21 October, 2019

Sun.Oct. 13

Typhoon Hagibis made landfall last night just west of us on the Izu Peninsula. It ended up being one of the largest typhoons ever recorded, with over 200,000 people ordered to evacuate, and the matches for the World Rugby Cup cancelled. It was fairly violent at our location, so we ended up being extremely lucky. Parts of the main tent blew down, and the deck has been saturated with water despite being covered with plastic sheeting. This is a major concern, as we’re in the middle of gluing the planks down. We’ll have to thoroughly dry and clean the deck before finishing the gluing.

Part of the adjacent tent where we’re doing the joinery collapsed under the weight of the water that had collected on top, but fortunately, there is no serious damage to the timber that is inside. There were a few scars and dents from wind damage, but the timber is old—with plenty of scars from its nearly 100 years of use, and there’s nothing that will be noticed.

Mon. Oct. 14

By 10:00am the next day, everything had been restored to pre-typhoon condition, and work is being renewed in all areas of the project.

The crew from Centerline Marine is back laying the deck. Some of them have started caulking while others are still focused on the planking. They are using a liquid rubber compound in the seams to form a rubber seal between the planks.

Tues. Oct. 15

Work is continuing on the interior. Here the original bulkhead framing is being installed in the aft end of the main saloon.

Fri. Oct. 18

The planking and caulking of the deck is finished, and the six-man team, who have been working dawn until dusk, will leave next Monday. The height of the finished caulking actually is higher than the teak planks, but it will shrink over time. It will be left like this for at least a couple of weeks to set, harden and shrink—the longer the better. It will then be cut and sanded flush with the teak planks.

Leaving the sanding as long as possible also protects the teak, since continuing work on the deck will get it dirty. Once the teak is sanded, it must be kept clean or the final appearance of the deck will be spoiled.

According to the plan, Paul and the other members of the crew will do the final sanding around the beginning of December.

Monday. Oct. 21

Nico is fitting two naval brass dovetail plates between the lead ballast keel and the wood false keel. The plates are riveted through the keel, which helps stop any movement between the two. Work on the rudder has begun (below) and the work on the keel must be finished before the rudder is installed.