… feel the width. The width of the mould that is. Tonight – or to be exact, tomorrow (Tuesday), at about 4 a.m. in the morning – the deck mould for Gideon’s Green Motion models will be transported via truck to the new factory. The width of the mould is a good deal wider than Butterfly. Having seen the squeeze to get our boat out of the factory and through the gates, getting that mould past is going to be a breath-holding affair. At one point the gap is only 45cms wider than the load. We did briefly consider setting the alarm and going down to witness, but then commonsense won the day and we decided a warm bed is definitely the better place to be at that hour. This tricksy manoeuvre is to be carried out by Reg, the same driver that ground Butterfly’s portside prop into the barrier. But Gideon has threatened to sit in the cab beside the driver (one hand on the handbrake?) to slow Rapid Reg’s racing urges. Apparently, Reg, the driver, used to be a keen drag racer – something that doesn’t exactly surprise us! Also, the route is different to that taken with our boat, so avoiding that narrow stretch where the incident happened; and with the mould, of course, there are no props to wreck … so that’s alright then. (Even so, keep those fingers crossed).
Today, still with a rubbish Internet connection, and suspecting that it might after all be a virus on my laptop that’s causing mischief, we popped into the old factory to try out the wifi connections there. All seemed fairly ok – so who knows what gremlins are at work here at the guest house. Still scratching our heads over that one. But while down at the factory, much boat talk with Gideon, of course. Those buying future FastCats already know, but Gideon has now sourced a supplier of ready lacquered laminate for the veneer panelling. This will make a huge improvement in speeding-up production. With our boat and previous models, the veneering was done in-house and ate up far too much time trying to get it right. By buying in finished, ready-to-cut and fit veneer laminate, such problems become a thing of the past. A Good Move any which way you look at it. Also, Gideon tells us he has appointed a new manager specifically to oversee the finishing of future FastCats – another Good Move which should deliver big benefits both in terms of quality and timescales. FastCats will be faster in every sense of the word!
Got a look, too, at the new basalt battens, made here at the factory, which will help open the sail bag wide to ensure the lazy jack lines don’t snag the mainsail battens. Looking forward to trying them soonishly. And in similar boatgeek mode, forgive us for mentioning that yesterday, Gideon brought in the Wasi Powerball (anchor and chain connection). An impressive and very solid looking piece of engineering. As mentioned earlier – it’s got a lot of anchor and chain and boat to secure, so it needs to be impressive and solid.
The Capi system has been fitted, but two of the panels have been programmed incorrectly by the manufacturers, so Steven has arranged for an entire new set (all four) to be delivered by the end of this week. Much of the woodwork trim has been completed now, and thanks to Steven arranging shore power for the marina berth where Butterfly is moored, the guys are using that rather than by having the boat’s engines on – never a good idea for a long time when not under load. And it seems that today, the boat’s solar panels (we have two at the present time, both 210 watts) delivered a combined total of approx 38 amps. Impressive stuff. There is room for another full, and one half-sized panel on the bimini – so we might add those, if necessary, once we get a better idea of our general electricity consumption when cruising.
Fabulous meal out tonight with Gideon and Steven. We were lucky enough to be able to enjoy and return here to finish writing this, before snucking into bed for a good night’s kip. Steven and Gideon, on the other hand, will have set their alarms for approx. 2.30 am and 3.30 am respectively – for the indecently early morning adventure of transporting that mould. Join us in wishing them both a good (if short) night’s rest – they have a l-o-n-g day ahead of them!
(ps: apologies, no pics tonight – internet connection still painfully slow. Grrrrrr to those wretched gremlins.)
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