Started on the cabin the last few nights just going off a photo, (as the mechanicals are sorted and working well), and made a bit of progress with it. All balsa so far, but may make the roof from ply. Might f/glass the sides when done with some thin cloth to give it some durability and prevent dents.

The drawing was made of the cabin by measuring various areas on the photo and transferring the proportions to the cardboard template, which gave a reasonable idea of the shape. All the balsa edges have been reinforced with 3x3 spruce and 5x5 balsa (ripped down from a sheet, - much cheaper than buying the strips)

Such an ugly boat, nothing can look out of place😁. A lot to be done yet.

First 'sea trials' went ok, - reverse and forward jets work well, only problem is the leaks in the diverter box. Back of the boat was filling up after 15 mins of running, as I forgot to start the bulge pump, - hence the bow up look towards the end. A bit windy to try it out, as it made it hard to steer, but with more weight should be a lot better. Once the cabin's done the weight of that will help also..

Only a bit over 1/2 throttle used in the test at the fastest. Not supposed to be a speedboat, and would normally be working slowly,- towing, pushing etc.

A bit more cabin work yesterday, now starting to look like a block of flats😁 Made a servo operated micro switch unit for turning on the bilge pump. This runs off one side of the rudder stick (mode 1). At least now I can give the bilge pump a run for a few seconds to drain the 'sump.' Tried to inject some sealant under the rear of the jet unit to hopefully seal the main leak, which is in an impossible place to reach.

Also made a slot in the deck to hold the 2s pump battery, and will be doing the same on the other side for the accessories battery (lights etc). Two rear hatches to make, wheelhouse roof to finish, and wheelhouse rear window panel to make, and that will be the shell of the coamings done.

More cabin work done,- roof panels fitted but not glued yet, lower front panel re fitted and glued in and rear hinged hatches made. More 3x3m spruce reinforcing strips added to any flimsy balsa edges. Rear wheelhouse window cutouts to fit, and will try to add some floors for later internal details.

Before the test I had added rear crash bars to the rudder box, and managed to cyano gel some small brass angles to the tops of the rudders, to stop the water coming off the tops of the rudders, which it was doing in the tank tests. Seemed to work quite well.

Had a bit of a play with hand rails yesterday, I was going to make them from 3mm brass rod or tube, but at around $75 for the material, I thought dowel might be the cheaper option ($15). Not as nice or strong, but there comes a point where cost can force you make a change.

I cut 20 8mmx30mm plugs to go through the deck into the foam, and drilled them all 4.5mm on the lathe for the stanchions. 8mm holes were drilled though the glass into the foam, and the plugs glued in with PVA and pressed flush with the deck. I cut all the stanchions from 3mm dowel, and sanded the plug ends of them to be an easy fit into the plugs.

They were all marked with a line for the correct insertion depth to keep the tops level for the top rail. The tops of the stanchions are filed with a hollow for the top rail to be glued into. I am not going to solid glue the stanchions in, but will just put a ring of UHU or balsa glue round the tops of the plugs, to make replacement easier if any get broken (as they probably will)

If I can assemble them (including a center wire) and remove them carefully, (before they are glued in) I'll paint or soak them with timber preservative resin which will give them some extra strength, then I can fit them back in in their sections. I'll have to make a drilling jig to drill the center holes, as it would be impossible without one. There is a big cross bar (towline guide,-assuming it's to stop 'girding') to go across the stern as well.

This boat has unusually tall railings, presumably to stop crew falling into very cold water in their working areas and being swept under log rafts etc.

Spent the day fencing the farm (safety rails) which took a bit of time, -lots of 2mm holes to drill. I used a simple system for drilling all of the 3mm dowel stanchions which worked well. I drilled a hole for the center of the dowel in the aluminium angle, clamped it in the mill vice, marked the hole on the edge of the angle, and marked all the stanchions for drilling. Lined the marks on the dowels and the angle up and had them all drilled in a few minutes. They were all mounted on the boat before starting assembly.

The tops of the stanchions are cupped to take the top rail 3mm dowel, which was attached with fast Loctite cyano gel. Some 2mm soft galv wire was pulled off a reel and 'straightened' to give it a used look, the it was fed through the holes in the stanchions and each hole was flooded with thin cyano.

The 'farm gate' on the stern is removable, as are the rails, for ease of work on the boat if necessary. It is attached at the bottom of the V legs with a split plastic tubes which clip around the stanchions, and the V cutout acts as a flexible hinge to be able to fit the legs in. The top rail is cupped on the ends, and is held in place by 2mm L pins which intrude about 20mm . The holes are reinforced with thin cyano. The pins are folded onto the top rail and held with a split plastic tube, which is just slid along to lock them.

Yet another test. the 60A ESC kept overheating and cutting out (as it should, but only managed that twice before dying, (think it had a fault, as it started getting hot just sitting there ) so it was replaced with a 100A ESC which stays quite cool.

Tested the reverse system again, leaving the rear flap open, which seems to work ok. Will have to have a 'sea trial' to see if it has the power in reverse to overcome a bit of wind. I can close the valve for more reverse thrust if necessary.

The reverse is quite good in this mode, as you can keep the motor running but keep the boat almost in one place by tweaking the valves, (keep your eye on the diverter box to see it operating this way.)

Painted the hull with an auto primer, then with a spray enamel. Also sprayed the hand rails, and have made some tyre fenders on the lathe from 35mm dowel. Soaked them in black lacquer and dried them immediately with a paper towel to matt the paint. Haven't faired the hull, as I wanted a knocked around but repainted look. Also have fitted the rear wheelhouse window panel. 'Glazing' will be done when it's all painted.

The main leak under the valve box seems to have stopped after having sealer pumped in, which is a good thing, now only the valve shaft seals to work on, as they still leak slightly.

A bit more done today, engine space louvers and fender whips for the tyres. threw the rails on to see what they look like painted, and tried a few fenders. Fender whips are made from hemp string with Dubbin waterproofing rubbed in, and the fuzz burnt off over a candle.

Cabin is sitting up as the masking is still over the internals for painting the deck.

Painted the deck yesterday with a quick drying metal paint. Also managed to get a scabby rusted re-painted look by sprinkling talc over the wet first coat, then applying another coat over that. The tiny blobs of talc end up looking like rust scabs. A bit hard to see in the pics.

Also made the nav light 'boards' which hang off the back of the wheelhouse on brackets. These hold 3 lights and a horn,- and a siren on the cross bar between them ( smaller Russian boats/tugs etc have coded siren signals rather than air horns ) There are 2 lights on top of each board plus a nav light. I assume the top lights (which seem to be blue) are working lights for towing. The boards were pre drilled for fitting for the wiring through to the wheelhouse.