Just an update, I added 8 ounces of ballast just forward of the transom and raked the mast a little more aft, had another sail trial today, very happy with her now she no longer tends to bury her bow when going about, not a lot of wind today but what there was she used very well.
So what next with Bella finished I've been pondering what to build next, with winter coming and Corvid still making it's presents felt I need something to do other than watch repeats on the Telly there's only so much I can take of that, So I've spent the last few days at the drawing board , if you can tell what it is maybe I've got close to what it should look like, I'm no marine draughtsman or any other kind of draughtsman for that matter so I've no idea yet whether this project will work, there's about 70% guesswork, 20% intuition and 10% knowhow, I only had two measurements length and beam being 66 feet and 18 feet, I've drawn and scratch built Springers and hard chine boats but this is my first attempt at a traditional displacement hull so the whole thing could end up in the bin, There are a lot of flat areas on this hull so I'll be cladding it with thin ply and some planking this is why there are fewer frames as I'll be fitting stringers between the wider spaces that will be clad with ply all the bow and stern frame shapes I guess you could say are educated guesses, the shape keel is straight forward enough so when it's all assembled maybe with a bit of trimming and bodging I'll end up with something resembling the photo I've been going by, Just ordered the wood from Slec so I'm committed now, although if the project dose go pear shaped the wood will no doubt be used on something else, she'll be 12 volt with a 6 to 1 reduction motor and of course you can't have one of these without smoke.
Joe.