WAT A WEEK ITZ BEAN!!!

G'day 2 all and sundry!!!,
Itz been anuva big week on Galleycat!
The progress has accelerated again, with lotz of jobs getting attention on the march towards being ocean ready. Again!
The week started with a fishing trip just outside the harbour with Noah (crazy Canadian) he'd been at the pub since lunch thyme Saturday until closing so I really didn't expect him to front at 4.30am for our trip, but he did! He wasn't particularly well though!
We caught a good feed of grunter,sharks and a huge salt water catfish. Noah was busy providing the burley when the second rod went off! Mine was already busy, So he had to stop throwing up and grab the rod. 15 minutes later the catfish came aboard!
 Needless to say he waz as happy as a Cananadian at a Maple Syrup Festival!

 We left harbour just B4 5 and were back just after 7. Not bad really, we had the fish cleaned and in the fridge before it got warm.Gr8 fun and a really relaxing trip.
The fish were used for Friday's lunch  a mixed seafood buffet including Lemon pepper shark, crumbed garlic prawns also squid rings served with a 3 bean salad , coleslaw and chips.I'd also made fresh aioli (garlic mayo),lemon chilli salsa and a chilli soy dip to accompany the fried squid and prawns.We also had a fresh fish feed during the week with slow cooked lemon pepper catfish and whole baked grunter the highlight. The left over baked fish was mixed with cream and egg yolk to make a superb fish terrine.

The Yot then became the main focus of my attention. The 2 blocks of foam I'd glued to the port (left) side last week were ready to be shaped into diamonds. This is an interesting procedure as you have to follow the lines of the original build then blend a totally weird shape into those lines before shaping the foam into the final desired shape. In this case the foam is used to cover the original mounts of the roof support poles.

The shaping process is reasonably simple once you've got your lines 2 work 2. I used an 8ft long length of threaded rod to mark the line and depth of each cut B4 getting out my best chef's knife and carving away at the foam to reveal the final diamond shape.The foam blocks will be covered in fibreglass then a final shaping before being primed and readied 4 painting.Its not a huge task but itz 1 that needed 2b completed. As it makes the added on kitchen part of the original Yot shape,once these diamonds are painted it will appear as if the original lines were made 2 incorper8 the kitchen and roof supportz.

The next major task was to build a multi function table on the rear deck area with the initial task of learning how to weld stainless steel, the main focus. The end result was both pleasing and functional.
The welding side of thingz was not overly difficult. Once the design was worked out, I cut down a piece of scrap 3mm sheet to match our design then added 2 purchased brackets. These brackets will allow the table to swivel through 270 degree's providing both a lure rigging table over the rear fishing platform and a dining table above the day lounge. The original trial  piece of plywood waz shaped as a temporary table top. This top will remain for a couple of months to

work out just how practical the table is and what the final surface needz 2 b.
The table needs to service both functions so I'm currently looking at a stone or laminex top. Still however it goes the over-all concept seems to work quite well.
Then the rain set in and my focus turned towards SOWING!!! with the purchase of a few basic necessities from spotlight I set up Nanna's old sowing machine as a trial to sow the covers,curtains and blinds for the Yot!
It soon became obvious that I can't speak fluid sowing language. However after a few calls back home we managed to get the initial trial pieces sown
together successfully. Now the task of designing and building the material portionz of the rear deck begin!
It was about near the end of this project that the tides finally dropped far enuf 4 us to think about the big task of the week!
REMOVING THE PERGOLA!
So Friday afternoon it was all hands on deck as we lifted the roof off the back of the yot and set it up on some supports, to begin the final task of fibreglassing edges,sanding ,painting then fitting of the solar panels and water collection pointz.

The Yot lookz totally different without the "pergola"!
I'd already forgotten just how much the roof changed the overall shape of Galleycat.That was until the rains returned!
Water everywhere! It is now a major priority to finish the roof and get it fitted again before I end up with a flooded Yot. This is no easy task though as the nydiaplast product has proved to be both awesome and difficult at the same thyme. We've needed to go outside normal design parameters to edge the sheeting with the final solution being fitting 12mm ropes to the edges then fibreglassing them onto the sheets.Itz taken all Saturday just to finish the front  

top edge. So tomorrow I'll tackle the rear curved edge, before sanding and painting the entire roof.
On a sad note, this week saw the passing of our beloved friend "Brandi" RIP ! Her passing was both unexpected as it was quick and she will leave a void that'll be hard to fill.
This coming week will be filled with itchy,scratchy fibreglass sanding so I'm both looking forward to it and fearing it at the same thyme.
However it needz to be done and the only way to complete any task is to start! So I'll just knuckle down and get the job done.
That's all from Galley cat land this week.

If you can't be good, Be good at it!

Captain Felix