Things are moving along.

The days were super hot most of July and August, so getting down here was pretty hit or miss. Being a lot older than when I started this rebuild, getting heat exhaustion or heat stroke is a pretty serious thing. The few times I tried, the two thermometers inside read 100f at the bow, 95 in the galley. I last about 2.5-3 hrs in that. Even drinking mineral water and taking salt tablets doesn’t do much. The heat literally sucks the energy out of you.

Enough whining. I have just about finished epoxy coating the skin in the main cabin and partially under the cockpit. There are a couple of awkward spots that can wait. Laying down on the crawl way and twisting round like a snake tends to make you roll off the crawl way and onto the fresh epoxy. Completely wrecked 2 tee shirts and a long sleeved dress shirt so far 🙂 I also started on the port side skin, using what epoxy was left after finishing the starboard side.

I’ve taken the seat covers for the starboard settee, and laid out the holes and cuts that need to be made to make the seats hinged. Next step is to drill pilot holes, route out the recess for the hinge and cut the seat into two. Hinge piece and the seat itself. Maybe today, more likely tomorrow. I also finished rough fitting the replacement panel that will make up the back cabin wall above the chart table as well as the missing plywood where the main hatch was raised up. Cut to fit, need to put shims in before bolting them in place. The aft panel also needs a tab welded to the under deck stringer to support the panel. The photo shows the two areas that now have plywood panels to fill the gaps. The photo is ancient, my camera is down on the boat and I’ll get some more recent ones next post.

The DC panel is now rough cut from that piece of mahogany, and the hinge reinstalled, next step will be to fit it and mount it. It will likely still need a bit of trimming. The template for the panel cut out is made up, so once the panel is mounted in it’s final position, I can place it and make sure the DC panel is perpendicular to the chart table surface before I cut out the hole.

It’s about time to mount the two solar powered Nicro fans (should have done this in the spring), gotta cut a 4 3/4 inch hole for each, through 1/8 steel. Since I’m basically installing them offset from the smaller original vents, I figure it’ll be a bunch of 1/16 holes around the perimeter, and then the sabre saw. Another thing to get going on, is the base for the forward hatch. Once the main bulkhead is in place, the forward cabin is going to be like a tomb. No hatch, no port holes. This is a bit of a pain, the curve at the aft side is a lot milder than the front. I have to mount the base, placing it on wax paper and then build up the huge gap on either side at the front. To that end I’m going to rely on my old standard filling mix. I call it Muffin Mix, as it is epoxy mixed with saw dust. It literally looks like a bowl of bran muffin mix. Good solid material, I’ve faired the keel on several boats with it, and it’s never come out, even with the expansion/contraction cycles of a Canadian winter.

Below is a photo of the hatch frames being built. Now imagine that the arc at the back side is 1/4 inch across that width. The backside sits solidly on the deck. Now imaging that the arc on the front comes up so the frame is 1 1/4 inches across the span, and the two sides are a good 1 1/2 inches above the deck. 😦

I just ordered half a dozen empty caulking tube for applying the “muffin mix”, should get here beginning of October. In the mean time plenty of other things to do.

’til next time.