Top handle winches like this are great for halyards, downhauls and so on, The Sundowners rig being a gaff rig there is a lot of rope, and these are destined for the after end of the cabin top where each will handle a group of halyards ( there are going to be eight plus two downhauls ) through a bank of sheet jammers.

We took a day off to go to the big classic boat regatta at Mahurangi, camped in my tent at teh Auckland Regional Council campground at O'Sullivans Bay on the other side from the regatta headquarters. Heres the view from the tent door of Charlie looking out over the estuary mouth, no doubt smelling the salt air and thinking of the voyage to come.

If you need this sort of machinery companies such as the bigger joinery companies, millwork and wood machining outfits, sawmills and fingerjointing companies and laminated beam manufacturers all use them. If you phone and are very nice they may do the job for you, don't count on being allowed to use the machine yourself though they need a trained operator on both ends.

More planks, back to the cordless drill, this is the beginning of the chine panel, port side. Although you cant see it in the photos the second layer is seriously solid, really good. Charlie gives it a thump with his fist now and again and I can "hear" him smiling when he does as its really reassuring. I've been over the completed area with a wooden mallet sounding for voids or hollows, not a one! The system is working!

Working back from the bow, the second piece on and the screws going in. Across the joints and down the centre of the bow piece the screws are 25mm x 10 g as there is material behind to screw into. But after the glue is applied the main parts of the panel are fastened together with 12mm x 10 c/s head screws on a 200mm grid spacing to ensure that there are no voids between the panels.

With the fibreglass on and wetted out you can see the Kevlar crash mat between the 'glass and the wooden skin. The Kevlar covers the area most likely to be damaged if the boat hits a floating object, whether a container, a dead tree or ice. The intention is that although Kevlar does not add greatly to the strength, it's very hard to puncture and will greatly reduce the inflow of water; improving the chances of effective damage control should Resolution hit something hard.

With the glass on, it's the keel next. Great big lumps of 150mm x 70 mm Kwila. This stuff is HEAVY! There will be about 300 kg of it in the keel structure, plus of course the 720 kg of the lead casting! Here is a view of the area around the propshaft and propellor aperture. There is a lot of shaping to go as yet and although we use an angle grinder with coarse sandpaper to sculpt softwood, it just makes clouds of smoke on this very dense wood so we are looking for a tungsten carbide tipped wood carving disc to complete the job.

The mainsail with its unbattened hollow leach all spread out. Note that this sail has 3 rows of reefing, the storm staysail takes over when it gets beyond this, the boom and gaff can be then strapped down to the gallows and with the small jib the trysail gives enough drive to control the boat in really heavy weather.

Tony and I talking over the fitting up of the staysail, there is a set of reefing points on this sail and there are several options as to how the fittings and reef lines will work. With a boat as stable as Sundowner the reef will not be required until its seriously rough so getting the gear easy to use is very important.

My purchase of an Arbourtech power wood carving tool has made the prospect of having to remove a lot of wood from the area around the propellor aperture a much less daunting prospect. There is a lot to carve out to fair the waterflow in that area, and the Arbourtech when fitted to my little 115mm Ryobi angle grinder made very short work of shaping up an offcut.

The rollover cradle doubles as the boats supports and cradle when upright, and it has to be strong enough to enable the hull to be rolled onto its side, then slid sideways to give enough space for the next half rotation. You can see that we have a lot of gear to move in the morning so we can roll the boat.

Halfway - the building frame is about to come off, and the hull can then be moved across on the pipe rollers to position her for the next stage of the rollover. This workshop is only just big enough to flip the boat without having to drag her outside, but with some care it worked out fine.

Use your imagination here. Right up in the bow is the forward crash bulkhead, Charlie beginning the process of bonding it to the skin with wooden fillets and glass tapes. Forward of that will be an anchor well up at deck level, and an awning locker behind a watertight hatch under that. Just in front of the builders knees is a half crash bulkhead ahead of which is to be a chain locker, with sail storage each side of that. The chain will live in a canvas bag slung from supports low down in the boat, and it will run in through a deck fitting and chain pipe. Where Charlie stands there will be a portapotty, and an area set up as a washroom and ablutions area, each side of that there will be big bins with smaller lockers up under the decks for Bosuns stores. Plenty of room up here.

To port with the little bandsaw on it is the galley, not large, just a single burner stove and a bucket for a sink. The KISS ( keep it simple, stupid) principle applies here while to starboard you can see the framing for the chart table and the storage drawer underneath it.

The Navigation Station/Office iis a particularly nice space, just the right size to enable the skipper to wedge himself in securely, room for the laptop, a chart, books and all the rest to be laid out. As you read "THE BOOK" ( by Charles T Whipple, there will be one, count on it) you will be able to visualise the Author sitting in here while the boat rests in a tranquil anchorage somewhere, hammering away at his laptop composing the words that you read as you sit in your armchair.

Under the chart table you can see a large tray which is chart storage, I'd guess that it will take about 40 charts if needed. There are a couple of smaller lockers under that, set back to give clearance for knees, and the tall opening is for a rubbish ( trash) sack. Its uncommon to see a decent workspace in such a small boat, and even in one as roomy as this its only the specialised singlehanded layout that will accommodate such a luxury. Nice though!