Well I’m getting very close to finishing this boat and I’ve started planning the building of the next. I’m hoping someone will order another Ninigret or I have a few more plans for some excellent motor boats and sail boats that I would like to build. I’ll be blogging about them in the future. As you can see, the decks are painted and I’m masking them off for the non-slip paint. I had tried adding non slip additive to the two part polyurethane but it looked horrible and was a disaster to put on. So I got some International non-slip deck paint and had West Cork Paint Supplies custom tint it for me; it turned out so good that the customer thought it was an after-market transfer.

At this stage in the game I have been working 14 hour days, so things have really started to move along plus it is now possible to actually start fixing things into the boat like the deck hardware and the windows. Speaking of which I had intended leaving the windows out until last; but I had some time to use up while I waited for some epoxy to go off; so I popped in the glass. I knew I had a good reason to leave out the glass and that became apparent when I tried bolting on the grab rails. It would have been quite easy without the glass; but with it in I was going to have to stretch my arms by a few feet to be able to tighten the nuts. These long days are starting to work against me.

You can see in this photo that the engine is in (it’s under the blanket and the holes either side are to allow access to the bilge area under the motor well, unbelievably I can get my upper body through that hole. Not something I would want to do when alone it’s a very tight fit and not somewhere I’d like to get stuck. It provides somewhere to store long objects like fenders, boat hook and camp chairs.Here’s the pointy end with the mooring cleat and hatch fitted and waiting for the outer rubrail to be fitted. At this stage there’s a few more coats of green topcoat to apply, the seats have to be fitted and I have to finish off the engine installation. So it’s really starting to come together. Hopefully it won’t take much longer I’m dying to take her for a burn, I mean sea trials.

I built the consoles as designed. The starboard one will have a grab handle and shelves for Binoculars and flasks etc. The steps on the bottom are needed because the forward facing seats are about six inches higher than a normal seat to give a good view over the bow. The seats will be the next thing to be fitted.

Roeboats, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, t:+353 (0)28 38973 m: +353 (0)86 158 69 37 e:roeboats@ymail.com

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