We now have 4 service batteries instead of 3 (we kept the car battery we bought in Makemo) and as they are slightly smaller than the old ones they even fit into the battery compartment, but only without their separate boxes. Christian therefore decided to make a new shared box out of plywood and fibreglass directly in the locker. We had neither enough fibreglass for the project, nor the right piece of wood, but asking around in Rikitea we soon found a local kind enough to give us some leftover fibreglass mat and a cruiser who had just the right piece of plywood.
An indoor project always means chaos on Pitufa. All the stuff that is usually stored on top and inside the sea berth (where the battery compartment is) had to be moved into the saloon. The orbital sander lives behind the saloon bench, the fibreglass equipment under the mattress in the forecabin, so all the stuff from the forecabin joined the chaos in the saloon and soon there was no free surface left on the boat.
The fibreglassing itself is a sticky mess. You cut the fibreglass matt, put it into place, drench it with resin and it soon forms a resistant, plastic surface. Sounds nice in theory, but the mat isn’t compact, but a loose fabric that looses fibres all over the place, won’t stay where you put it and soon you have resin on your gloves, then on the scissors and the whole mess is then covered with fluffy fibreglass fibres sticking everywhere. Anyway, we almost finished the box yesterday, today we just have to make a few little reinforcements and tomorrow the batteries can move into their new home 
