CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS / FIRST YEAR
10/14/00 Begin Construction This is the first day
of full-time construction. A bulkhead system was devised that includes using PVC foam against the
hull to which we are attaching the 1" marine plywood bulkheads. As each bulkhead
was put in place, Seayanika's separate rooms began to take shape. 11/2/00 Finish Bulkheads The last full-width bulkhead
was put in place today. There are six bulkheads; (from the bow) one
separating the chain locker to the forward cabin; another between the forward
cabin and the forward head/library area; one forward of the galley/dinette area;
another aft of the galley and separating the engine room and passageway;
one behind the engine room; and finally one between the aft cabin and the
lazarette. 11/6/00 Cabin Sole Placing the cabin sole is
making a huge difference in our ability and ease of walking and working
inside the boat. 
First the stringers had to go in. Most of the stringers
are made of fiberglass over wood. Over the stringers we are placing 1/2 inch
plywood, to which we will later attach 3/4 inch teak and holly plywood.11/14/00 Salon Grid System In the galley/dinette area, which is the largest expanse of floor space, an aluminum grid system was built for the stringers.
The aluminum is light and rigid and designed for ease of installation and
removal of the fuel and water tanks which will be located below.
We also designed some great storage areas in the floor of the galley for
canned food. 11/19/00 Run Engine A friend came over
to assist with starting our new (circa 1974) Ford Lehman 80 hp diesel engine.
First water was added to the block and the oil pressure was pumped up. Then the true test began. One short push of the button....and voilá...the engine that
hadn't been started in over 25 years started right up. It ran really smoothly but sounded pretty LOUD to me! 11/22/00 Forward Salon Rough Decked The plywood decking in the forward salon was finished and we began the same process
in the forward stateroom today. These rooms have conventional fiberglassed
stringers. 12/2/00 Stem glassing Today's job was to
repair the damage at the bow of the boat caused by a helper who got carried
away trying to remove old fiberglass installed by the previous owner.
He managed to put three holes in the hull with a crow bar. But, the damage
was repaired, and the hull is as good as new again. 12/7/00 Anchor locker glassing The anchor locker has been separated into two sections; one for the main anchor chain and
the other for auxilary anchor rode. Each anchor locker will have a
tube which will carry the chain to a lower area in the boat. This is to keep
the weight as low as possible. Also the anchor compartment has been set up to
include a recessed area to stand in while on deck to make it easier and
safer to work at the bow of the boat and store extra anchors, fenders and
dock lines. 12/8/00 Aft cabin floor Flooring was
completed in the aft cabin today. It's a big room! I suppose that's a good
thing since that will be our stateroom in which we will be living for the
next 10 years. 12/13/00 Deck beams We have started the
process of cutting and fitting the side, bow and stern deck beams. First we
installed double beams at each of the bulkheads. This took all day because of
the many angles and cuts that needed to be made. 12/17/00 Carlins & coamings Another friend
came over today to help epoxy in the carlins and coamings which had
previously been cut and fitted. These pieces were made out of mahogany because they will be part of the finished woodwork inside the cabin. The side deck
beams will be attached to the carlin (or is that the coaming?). Seayanika is really starting to look like a boat now. It is easy now to see where the cabin house starts and how wide our side decks will be. 12/22/00 Decks sheeted Today all the side decks were sheeted, the bow deck and the stern deck with plywood. The rest
of the decking on the boat will be part of the cabin house. Now we can walk
around the whole outside of the boat as we will when at sea. 12/23/00 Christmas vacation We have decided
to take some well-deserved days off for Christmas while we wait for parts. 1/3/01 Happy New Year We finally got back to work on the boat yesterday. We began by removing the decking previously fit into place, and using epoxy to permanently affix the side decks. Just before Christmas we picked up our first of many orders of equipment. We purchased two Jabsco Electric Designer Heads, a hot water heater, two aluminum propane tanks and a three burner stove with oven. 1/12/01 Fuel tanks It has been raining the past couple of days so we decided to hole up in the workshop to build a 20 gallon gas tank for the lazarette and a 12 gallon oil storage tank. These tanks were fabricated from 5052 aluminum with a .160 wall thickness using a tig welder. 
Here we are in the "Bodega" with our new tanks. I am not the one with the funny looking hat.1/20/01 Engine room This past week we have been working primarily in the engine room. We have been building engine stringers and enclosing the sea chest. Because we are working with fiberglass, our clothes need to be washed separately and we try to brush off before coming into the house. But those fiberglass fibers stick to everything. 1/26/01 ROBBED! Thieves broke into the boat last night. I guess the fence wasn't enough to keep them out. They took our generator and about $2,000 worth of power and cordless tools. An expensive lesson...but we will learn from it. Today we placed motion sensors all around the boat and yard. We also went to the Humane Society where we fell in love with a 100 pound watch dog, Taurus the Terrible. Thieves beware! He is a lean, mean, biting machine! 2/07/01 To Florida We are leaving today for the International Boat Builders Exposition in Fort Lauderdale and the Miami Boat Show in Miami (go figure!). We're going on a cruise to Cayman Islands and Jamaica in between the two shows. A full report when we return. 2/19/01 Return from Miami IBEX was great! We met tons of manufacturers and distributors of marine products. We ran into our friend Dick Davidson of IMTRA who will be providing us with our bow thruster. We also attended a few seminars, but found them to be more sales pitches than informative. The Miami Boat Show was also well worth the time spent. 
After much comparative shopping for an onboard generator, we finally settled on a BMZ, 12.5kw diesel. Freddy Pereira, the designer and manufacturer, was by far the friendliest and most knowledgeable person about generators at the show. He is going to design our generator specifically for our needs. Here's a picture of all of us smiling, right after we wrote a (BIG) check to Freddy. 2/20/01 An extra hand Today we hired Jose, who used to work for us, to help on the boat. He will be doing a lot of sanding, grinding and painting. We are also going to be employing Cory, a friend's son, to help out on the weekends. Progress should pick up substantially. 3/10/01 Rain It's been raining ever since we returned from Florida. Jose has been busy grinding and painting the bilges. We have been fiberglassing more of the deck, permanently attaching the cabin sole and adding more of the cabin house. We've ordered the tunnel for the bow thruster which should be here in a couple of days. And, "Taurus the Terrible" is keeping the nasty thieves away. 4/23/01 Progress Finally an update! Things have been progressing well. The front head is now enclosed, and it's big. Two people will be able to take a shower at once, and the large window above will allow one to look up at the sails while showering. The engine room is also now enclosed, so the only "wall" left to install is for the aft master head. We now have most of the house sides on and may complete that today. It's strange but the more enclosed the boat becomes, the bigger it looks. 4/30/01 Bow thruster Since we had decided to add a bow thruster, we determined it was time to install the tunnel. Sawing a hole in the hull was a scary thing (for me). We designed a tool to mark the area to be cut, and although the tube is perfectly round (and the hole looked oblong), the tube fit in exactly as planned. After inserting the tube we glassed it in. Total labor time: 8 hours. 5/28/01 Bilges All the bilge areas are complete and painted with three coats. W have also completed welding two of the three large aluminum fuel tanks which will soon be put in place. Each of these tanks is custom shaped to fit the curve of the hull. 6/27/01 Decks
Now we are finishing up sheeting and fiberglassing the remaining deck on the fore and aft sections of Seayanika. Once this is completed all but the center section will be enclosed and weatherproof. We also built in two small compartments aft of the cabinhouse. This area is going to be my "sun deck" and the compartments can be used as small ice chests with drink holders, and/or a place to put a book, shades, oil, or whatever. Can't wait to try it out. A couple of days ago we purchased the aluminum for the mast step. Jeez that material is expensive! 7/15/01 Cockpit
A few days ago, we finished roughing in the cockpit. Now I can sit up there and imagine being surrounded by the ocean. We have decided to locate the helm on the port side at the forward end of the cockpit. Many may not agree with this positioning, but we prefer to have the wheel out of the way of any cockpit traffic. Also, we incorporated a well for the helmsman to stand in, which will allow us to keep the doghouse roof low. 7/18/01 Flyover
Jason Austell, the helicopter traffic reporter from Channel 8 News in San Diego, did his fourth flyover interview with us today. The view of Seayanika from the helicopter is wonderful and really helps us see our progress from a different angle. We sat in the new cockpit for this interview, along with our two French foreign exchange students Claire and Elodie, and finally Nika (my daughter) decided to join us for the telecast. Doris, a family friend was also on hand to lend support. 8/19/01 Cockpit, cont.
More work has been done in the cockpit and it is nearly ready to be fiberglassed. We have made a nice "U" shape for the seat backs so there are a lot of curves and it looks really nice. And, we’re almost finished sanding all those curves. It's been really hot the past couple of weeks and we have had the tarp off to help cure the epoxy and to be able to stand up in the cockpit. At about 1 p.m. every day work starts to grind to a halt because it's too hot. 10/1/01 Fairing
The entire deck and cockpit is now covered with fiberglass. For the past week or so we have been busy fairing the deck. This includes mixing resin, hardener and filler and spreading in on the portion to be faired with a large spatula. After this layer dries, we sand it and start the process all over again. It's very time consuming and I imagine we'll be doing the same thing for the next couple of weeks or so.
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