Stitched up

After glueing and taping the butt joints I cleaned up the excess tape and epoxy and was ready to start stitching the panels together. I made a gauge from a piece of plastic and some M3 cap screws that allowed me to set the drill hole distance in from the panel edge by 6mm and 200mm apart. This helps to ensure the holes line up between the panels.

Drilled the bottom panel and lower bilge panel and stitched them together using copper wire. Only managed one panel as time was getting on so will have to finish the others later.

One thing struck when putting the panel on was that this thing is longggggggggg.

Hoping to order some hatches from a US supplier and get them delivered to my office in the US in time for my manager to pick them up whilst he's over there on business. That way I can cut the holes in the bulkheads for them prior to fitting the bulkheads in the boat.