Apple has approved GHA and it is now available on the Apple app store. Just search for “Groundhog Assault” in the app store and it should pop right up. Amy has sent out a mass email and published a small add through Facebook, so hopefully we’ll get a few downloads. Remember, proceeds go to building the schooner.

I didn’t post last week because most of the guys in the shop were on vacation and not much work was done. However this week Steve started working in the interior. He has started painting the bilges and has ordered the plywood for the floors.

Been meaning to get back in the garage and do some work on the dingy but it has just been too hot. However, it wasn’t too hot to order to the aluminum for the dingy spars. The spars should be arriving this week.

A couple of years ago, I made some dorade vents that were two small. So, last year, I made them much bigger and build in a door fore and aft instead of adding a scope. That way they have a lower profile and can take air in from either end of the boat. We were able to bring them up with us this last trip and during some down time, I fit them to the boat. I had to have all manner/sizes of shims to level them and then used a single block to lift the deck lines of onto the vents. After I got the lines lifted, I cut each one down with a jig saw and beveled the edges with a power sander. It didn’t take that long and they all fit real good. Ryan will now have to weld some tabs to the cabin tops so I have something to screw them too.

In July, Amy started fairing the hull. This can be a tedious and tiring task, but Amy cruised through it as fast a she could. I would mix the fairing compound for her, and she’d slap it on and run her fairing board across the hull. In one week, she nearly got one pass all around the hull. A really good start to an extremely time consuming task and she’s been sore ever since.

In our July trip, while I worked on the anchor windlass, Amy was busy in the engine room. She spent much her time the first week putting up paneling. She’d make a template, then cut out a panel, glue it in place with 5200 and molding. She also painted the engine room floor and diesel tanks a few times.

Steve also spent some time with us in the engine room, adjusting the height of the ceiling so we could get the fore and aft engine room doors closed. When YachtSmith finishes launching the boat they are currently working on, Steve is to start putting in the floors, ceiling and define the interior spaces. I’m running out of things to do on the dingy so I’m looking forward to working on interior wood work.

And of course, I’ve been putting in tons of time on the iPhone game in hopes to make some extra cash to complete Tesha.

Groundhog Assault, a game I wrote over 10 years ago and recently dusted off in a port to the iPhone SDK is almost ready to release. Look for it on the Apple App Store shortly, 1 to 2 weeks I’m guessing.

To continue on from last week, after fitting the top. I cut it down and Ryan welded the top on and polished it up. Then I made a door to the box, but got stopped waiting for a .25″ 20 tap and die set. After finishing the box to house the anchor capstan it was time lead the chains to the pawl. This involved cutting out the rail at the tip of the bow and mounting a plate for the chain stoppers. Ryan will blend it the rail and make it look nice later. The chains lead very nice and the capstan can pull up either anchor. We didn’t get to install the chain pipes, that will have to wait to another time.

Amy and I spent the last few weeks up in Halifax working on the boat. I’ll detail the trip over the next couple of week. In short however, Amy one week fixing up the engine room, putting paneling and trim up and painting the bildge. The second week she worked on fairing the hull. She got pretty far with the fairing and we can already see the graceful curves emerge. My first week I spend with Ryan getting the capstan installed and some miscellanous welding projects here and there. I also got the dorade vent fitted, the booms and gaffs capped and cleaned up, and started cleaning up the welds on the masts.

The capstan work started when I cut out the back of the mooring bitt so that the box could be extended to house the capstan. I then split some pipe and various lengths of 3/8″ flat bar which Ryan quickly welded into the box extention. We tried a few test fits to make sure we could get the capstan in and out of the box with the lid tacked on. After we verified the fit Ryan finished the top weld and polished up the box while I made a door.

The dingy is completely primed. Inside and out. The inside has a few coats of bilge paint even. As for the bottom, we need to mark the waterline so we can get some real bottom paint on. After all, the intention is for the dingy.

So, what is the deal with the iPhone? Since it takes money to build a boat (a lot of money) and I am a software engineer by day, (boat builder by weekend), we decided that I should try to release a small game to the iPhone to help support the Tesha build effort. Look for it soon.