Visit with Jim, Carlene and Doug MacKenzie

A long overdue 2 1/2 hour drive to London, Ontario to visit with Jim, Carlene and Doug finally happened this past weekend. They have been making good progress and as I am finally planning my own main hull build I wanted to see a F22 main hull in person.

We helped Jim move a float from storage into the garage for, I suspect, some work on putting in the access and storage hatch features.

They have room to swing the main hull into any position in their very roomy build shed. Jim shows how easy it is to push the hull around. Height is no issue for this team. My first impression is that the F22 main hull has a great deal of beam that pictures published around the internet do not really indicate. Obviously, I like what I see.

Here is a picture taken from the stern into the main hatch companionway. You can clearly see how the newer beam designs has opened up the forward v berth area. They have opted for the centre board version which opens up the living area even more. The MacKenzie's have a great deal of experience cruising on their trailer tri and this experience is stimulating discussions about how best to utilize this space. It will be interesting to see their finished layout.

How can this space below the cockpit floor (no aft cabin) be best used? For example, I had not thought about where the outboard gas tank will be stored? In fact, talking to Jim and Doug has made me realize I will have lots to think about.



Doug and Jim showed me how the cockpit panels fit up. I joked that a F22 kit would go together very fast. After a quick lunch and a cold beer with Carlene it was off for a sail on Lake Fanshaw.

So .... I finally have had a chance to helm a Farrier trimaran. She handles wonderfully with the shifty breeze this sunny day.

My son Cameron discovers a comfortable place on the wingnet.

Fairing float hull sides

My float hull sides are actually pretty fair to start with. So like Roger Bonnet I decided to fair the hull sides by applying thin skim coats of fairing putty. After a couple of coats, applied with a wide 6" trowel and fairing with the long board, the hull looked pretty smooth. I found the best way to see/identify the low areas was to look for the differences in light scattering.




I try to apply putty sparingly to minimize the amount of material I seem to sand off the boat.

Here is the hull after 5 applications. No obvious low spots. It is true that you can sand System Three Quickfair putty after 4 hours, it is quick curing. The problem is to find the strength and stamina in yourself to keep working. I find that I am sanding hard for 20 minutes, resting for 20 minutes and so on.....

At a point you say it is good enough and wipe all the dust off, and pronounce it ready for the thin sealing coat of epoxy resin.

Completely off topic, here is a link to an interesting mashup between google and nautical maps. Pretty soon our smart phones will be all we need for sea navigation.

Fairing port side float deck and gunwales

As with the starboard side float, the deck fairing on the port side float was a lot of work. Here are a few shots of the faired deck with a thin sealing coat of epoxy resin applied.

Next, I will be setting up for work on the hull sides. I hope they go easier and faster.