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It is a cold, rainy southerly blowing kind of day here on the Central Coast today. Better day to sit at the computer and talk about it rather than to open the shed door (faces S.) and actually do it.
Deck & Cabin.jpgDeck & Cabin Side-on.jpg
I finally got the deck and cabin done this week. Actually glassing on the cabin front and the deck and gunnels inside and out only took two days. BUT there was a lot of work underneath that I wanted to get done before closing everything up. Such as:
Sort out foam for collision/floatation chambers
Fair & paint anchor lockers
Fair underside of the deck (easier on the bench than doing it over my head in the boat.)
Install 40mm WRC supports under joins in the cabin front.
Holes in gunnels for fuel
Fuel tank connections.
To foam or not foam floatation chambers
I've been mulling this over for months. If you put in expanding foam, you cant get it out to inspect. If you don't put in foam or something in a water tight chamber, if the chamber is holed, water gets in and you sink. I came up with the idea to line the floatation chamber with black plastic and pour in the expanding foam in sections. That way if I ever had to get in there, I could cut a rectangular hole in the bulkhead and pull out the floatation bit by bit. I went so far as to line the chambers, and buy the foam but I just could not bring myself to pour in the foam. It was always going to be a major operation to get the foam out, even in pieces and I'd never get it back in with the deck on. In the end I decided to cut two 6" inspection holes to each floatation chamber, one from the anchor locker and one in the bulkhead that separates the floatation chambers from the berth area. I've found some very large plastic bags (about 4' by 6'). I'm going to stuff these in the inspection port and fill them with styrofoam packing peanuts. Then I'll tie off the bag and screw in the port covers. The bag will keep the peanuts from absorbing any moisture and I can always vacuum out the peanuts and have a look-see inside.
In this next picture you see the floatation chamber before I cut in the 6" inspection ports. Also shown in the WRC battens I installed. The deck is curved down to the bow and also has a fair bit of camber athwartships, and it takes a fair bit of pressure to force it down. I installed these red cedar battens to give me something to screw into when I first glued down (with cabosil-thickened epoxy) the deck. The glue held the deck in place while I got ready to glass it on the outside. Later, after I cut in the anchor locker hatches, I can use the inspection ports to glass the inside joins.
Port Floatation Chamber.jpgStb Floatation Chamber.jpg
This next picture is of the anchor lockers. I had asked earlier for ideas on what to paint this with (thanks for the inputs). Since I'm coming to the end of the build-the-shell phase and have a fair bit of material left over, I decided to fair these and then coat them with three coats of neat epoxy. I'll probably line the bottoms with some kind of foam to take the knocks from anchors, etc,
Anchor lockers.jpg
This next picture is of the Western Red Cedar (WRC) braces installed along the cabin front. Lots of different angles on these cuts but I finally found a use for my sliding compound cut mitre saw. After cutting and fitting the posts, I glued them in with cabosil-thickened epoxy. Then I glassed them in with two layers of 450 DB glass, which when forming a "U" channel over the brace becomes incredibly stiff.
WRC Braces.jpg
The last thing I wanted to do before glassing down the gunnels was to cut the fuel filler and vent holes and make the hose and electrical connections to the fuel tanks, before closing up the cabinets which provide access to the tanks. (I will always have access via inspection cutouts or ports to these areas, but it's much easier to do the initial installation with lots of elbow room. Here's a couple pics of the port and stb connections. The port side tank goes straight up to the gunnel without much curving. The stb side hoses do have to make some tight bends and although I rounded off all the sharp edges, I also put these inside protective hoses to counter future chafe problems. I plan to double clamp the fuel supply hose today. I also had to make the fuel sender electrical connections and I'd like to note what great service I got from Superior Terminals (Peterbo) in getting me down a complete connector kit (customised to my electrics plan) on a day's notice.
Port Fuel Tank Connections.jpgStb Fuel Tank Connections.jpg
Well, I can't procrastinate any longer. It's 10:30 and I'm off to the shed.
Originally Posted by Smithy
