April 2024

 April 5,

I have not posted in awhile but work continues. I've had other priorities lately but I'm getting back into the swing of things. I have decided to concentrate my effort on getting the middle of the boat finished on the inside. This means I have to figure out how I am going to install the sole. As you can see in the photos below, I have a system. Two things are critical: I wanted the sole to look good but have plenty of access to the bilge. The table saw was set up to remove the tongue on select pieces while the router table was set up to add a groove (for the tongue) where there was a tongue. This way, I can turn the tongue and groove flooring around at will making a square hatch hole with the tongues all facing in. The hatch had all the grooves facing out and the bottom of the groove removed so the hatch fits neatly in the hole supported by the tongues. I really need a diagram for that. 

Four access hatches to the bilge with one hatch in place. I can access the keel bolts and all the plumbing. 

All four hatches temporarily in place to check fit. I'll remove them and glue them into one piece on a jig to keep them square. I'll use West System epoxy as usual.  

I have been thinking a lot about the sliding door that acts as an entrance point for the cabin above. I looked into marine grade rails and hardware but they were very expensive and did not look very durable so I decided to build my own. My first thought was to build everything out of wood that I already have. The upper rail where the door would hang just seemed too clunky (design not shown). I decided that a metal square tube with a slot cut down one face would be better. I sourced some 6061 T6 aluminum from Metal Supermarkets (metalsupermarkets.com). They had what I needed for less than $70. All I had to do was machine the slots. 

The sliding door is on the far left hanging from a 1/5"x3/4" aluminum square tube with a 3//4" slot cut down on face. The door and wall are 1/4" and 3/8" panels respectively. The rail and styles are similar to the cabinets with the exception that the ones used on the wall are 1" thick. The door rides on two 3/4"x 1.4" HDPE blocks that are screwed into the top rail of the door. Additional HDPE blocks (light gray) are shown elsewhere to stabilize the door. 

The door is shown on the bottom left from a top view. The rail (1/5"x3/4" aluminum) with two slots cut out is shown above but artificially rotated and displaced upwards to show the channels. The light gray blocks will ride inside the channel. The area labeled 'opening' is the actual door opening.  

Close up of HDPE slide block. You should also notice that the slot is offset from center in order to minimize the space between the sliding door and wall. 

April 9,

Back to the sole. I have avoided installing the sole because a) I knew it would be a pain in the ass and b) I wanted to have access to everything in the bilge before the sole is installed. I decided that I'd have more access to the bilge by way of access hatches that act as decorative mosaics and just get it done. One of the inspirations was using the router and table saw to make double sided (groove on both sides instead of tongue and groove) boards so that I can have a tongue exposed completely surrounding the hatch that acts as a lip the hatch can sit securely on. The hatch has a groove around their perimeters with the bottom part of the groove cut away so that it sits on the tongues of the hatch opening. 

 

Three of the hatches are glued together and placed where they are suppose to be. Wooden mallet is on one, drill is on another, and rusty framing square is on the third. The fourth is being glued up. Near the entrance at the upper part of the photo, I have started a new opening for a hatch that will be in front of the shower. That one will have access to the plumbing run and one keel bolt. 

                                                       

The hatch in front of the shower laid in place. I glued it up yesterday and it is still in its jig. The next access hatch will be for the through-hull seacock for the head and another keel bolt. 

 April, 21.

Continuing working on the sole and miscellaneous projects. The wiring for all the plumbing has been run and paths for all the electrical have been created below the shear clamp.  All wiring will run under the starboard shear clamp, high and dry. 

All four access hatches complete for the port cabin.

This photo shows the simple hinge and latch mechanism.

I made a template from a short piece of flooring to test the latch placement. The aluminum flat bar is for the catch. 

Another photo showing the top side of the latch.

In this case the aluminum catch plate serves to also tie the two boards together although they are also glued.

Also, working on the chain locker. I have rounded all the corners with thickened epoxy and performed some initial sanding. I'll roll on a few more coats of epoxy to thicken everything a bit.

This will be where the through hull (shown upper right) will be installed. I glasses a small section of the inner hull and will build it up with epoxy. Sanding it smooth will create a stable surface to seat the through hull fitting. All through hulls below the waterline have bolted flanges and seacocks. The glass only has its initial epoxy layer at this point. 

Working out the starboard cabin sole (left looking aft). The farthest access (top of the image) is for a keel bolt and head pluming. The next is for the seacock for the head and another keel bolt. The remaining access hatches are for additional keel bolts and storage. In the foreground, you can see another seacock. This one is for the port head. I am glassing a surface on the inside of the hull for it as well. 

October 2023

 

Oct, 14.

I got the stainless steel hinges for the cabinets in on Friday. Time to hang some cabinets. 

Finally got the hung straight.

One of the items I needed to put the drawers and cabinet doors together was syringes to get the epoxy in the grooves. It worked great.

When closing the drawer, the entire drawer rides up that wedge and then drops, locking the drawer closed. To open, you just lift the drawer and pull.  Easy and no hardware.

No one likes a drawer that tips when you open it. This also acts as a stop, so the drawer will not pull all the way out.

Grove under drawer face allows you to easily open the drawer, again, with no hardware.

Putting the drawers together.

August 2023

 August 13,

I've spent quite a bit of time preparing the chain locker for glassing. I'm using the same material that I used for the hull; one layer of mat glass underneath a layer of woven. I struggled coming up with a good technique to manage the glassing in this terribly hard place to work. What I ended up doing worked as well as anything I can think of. 

I filled all the screw head holes with thickened epoxy and gave everything a good sanding.

I made paper patterns of all the section of glass (mat and woven) that I would need. 

Carefully cut out all the patterns in the woven and mat glass and rolled each piece carefully to avoid the mat or woven to fray. 

I started with the back of the chain locker so I could still stand in the bottom. A clear departure from earlier work, I rolled on epoxy on the section that I was working on. This made a sticky surface that I was able to stick on the mat glass. The wet epoxy allowed plenty of adjustment once the section of glass was put in place. I lightly rolled the mat with notched application tool (shown below). This eliminated any wrinkles and gatherings and made sure the glass was in the proper place.

The woven glass was hung on top of the mat and held in place with a batten affixed with staples. Another gentle rolling with the application tool to get the woven to lightly adhere to the mat.

Using a chip brush on vertical surfaces and a combination of chip brush and pouring on the other surfaces, I applied the epoxy and spread it across the surface of the glass with the roller application tool. The chip brush is great in corners and areas that were too dry. The roller application tool was great for making sure the mat and woven glass was properly soaked with epoxy.

I used a four inch putty knife to sharpen the corners. The corners will be filleted later for a smooth transition. The purpose of sharpening them is to make sure there are no air gaps.

I'll try to add some pictures later. I was unable to take any during the process. It took 4 hours of constant, messy work. I had no time to take pictures. 

July 2023

 July 10, 2023.

I spent the weekend of the fourth finishing up the floor in our cabin in North Carolina. I worked a bit on the boat last weekend, July 8 but I had to replace the timing belt in my Subaru Forrester. It was time to give the Forrester a little love. I spent a leisurely Sunday replacing everything possible on the front of the engine. New hoses, water pump, new timing belt, tensioner, idler sprockets and wheels, etc. The Forrester is such an easy car to work on. It really has been designed that way. 

On the left is the threshold for the starboard shower. Note the cut to match the existing jam and curbs. 

The shower floor is glassed in along with the platform that the head will be mounted too. The shower drain was temporarily reinstalled while the epoxy was wet to form the gasket seat. A piece of wax paper acts as the mold release. Note the excess glass around the perimeter. 

A waited about an hour and a half for the epoxy to set up. It was still plastic but tough. I used a sharp knife to trim all the excess glass around the perimeter except at the front opening. I only lightly trimmed there since the glass wanted to pull up. Once cured, the opening will will be trimmed and sanded. I have also applied a second coat of epoxy so that I'll have a chemical bond to the first. Once cured, I'll remove the drain, clean with soap and water and lightly sand before adding an additional coat or two. 

June 2023

June 3,

Working on interior cabinetry now that all the rough plumbing is installed. This is new territory for me. I know I will make a few mistakes along the way so the idea is just to take my time and minimize the carnage. So far so good. A few miss cuts but nothing that could not be quickly remade.  

Setting up the cabinet front for the port cabin. There are only 3 drawers and 3 cabinets on this one. The far left will have a lavatory.

 

Prototype drawer. This is going to be our basic drawer design except that the grain of the plywood sides is going to be rotated 90 degrees. The slots cut for the bottom create too much splintering when cross cut. 

Drawer openings with HDPE guides for smooth operation.

Stile and rail cabinet doors made in bulk. Set up takes a long time so you better make a lot of parts at once.

Rail and stile door for the oil skin locker.  It is made exactly like the cabinet doors.

All the parts laid out.

I thought cutting the stile would be difficult because it is cut on the end grain.  With the fence set at the stile cutter roller you can make a nice approach and even use two passes to cut the full depth. I used a "T" gauge (not shown) that I made with a backing piece to prevent break out. I'll include a picture of the method later.

Front of port berth cabinet glued together and installed.

Finish cut the companion way and got the trim that covers the plywood edges installed. The piece at the top actually follows the curvature of the beam there but it is subtle... not subtle to build and install, just subtle on the eye.

Complicated cuts for the trim that lines the companion way.

June 10,

Rough framing of port berth complete.

Rough framing of starboard berth completed.

Both "cabins" shown together. The on on the right (port) will have a dividing wall with a sliding door. There will also be a private lavatory to the right of the doorway and a private entrance to a shower and head that is shared with the vee berth forward. The one on the right will remain exposed and have a curtain that can be closed although it will impinge on the walkway a bit. No private access to a shower, lavatory, or head. That is the difference between first class and coach.

June 19,

Cabinet front for the private lavatory in the port cabin. The is a drawer on the bottom and the top will be a fold-out seat with storage inside.

Dry fitting the lavatory cabinet front.

Got the sides installed. This is actually a removable piece so that there is access to the shower sump below.

Inside the lavatory cabinet. The water lines coming up from the bilge and the drain pipe gravity feeding into the holding tank. The notch for the drain pipe is large so that the entire cabinet can be lifted off hanger bolts for access to the shower sump.  

I'm laying this floor in our families cabin in North Carolina. It's hickory and has a lot of character. I'm thinking of using this same flooring for the sole.  What do you guys think?

This lavatory cabinet is removable in order to get to plumbing that runs underneath it. I might as well work on it on a nice bench. Well, once I have the shape established. The floor actually is at an angle to the natural vertical. 

All the cabinetry installed in the two cabins midship. I've put a drawer in below the seat (not shown) that will fold down from the lavatory cabinet. 

May 2023

 May 6,

I finished the plumbing runs to the shower sump and hooked it up to the holding tank. I finished installing the ceiling on the port side and installed the joists for the sole. I also worked out (mostly) the runs for the hot and cold water runs.

The shower sump is connected at last. The 1.5" PVC runs to both shower drains and the Vet berth lavatory drain. The grey water is pumped from the sump to thorough a 1" PVC pipe to the holding tanks. The fitting at the top of the page is a one-way valve or back flow preventer. I also added a ball valve right before the pipe enters the holding tank. I removed the cheap stainless pipe clamps and will replace those with high quality clamps.

May 10,

Running the PEX for hot and cold water. I sure do love how PEX is colored. 

A close up of the run from the galley sink where the hot water heater is to the port cabin lavatory (left, center), the starboard lavatory and shower (right, bottom), and the fee berth shower and lavatory (right, middle).

Under the galley counter is the propane powered hot water heater. I've used this brand of hot water heater in a cabin for 15 years. Very reliable and uses two "D" celled batteries for ignition. It is ventless and very efficient. I might have to put a heat shield under the counter above the exhaust but I doubt it. I'll check temperatures when I fist power it up. 3/4" PEX from the tank to the hot water heater. 3/4" PEX from the hot water heater to where the first branch is in the line. 1/2" PEX will come off the hot water heater to the galley sink.

Hot water heater connected with Tees heading toward galley sink. 1/5" drain is for galley sink as well.

We got the bead board cut into the Vee berth. No easy task.  The 3/4" boards need a good twist and curve to fit.

Removed, primed both sides, and reinstalled.

Finally hooked up the starboard head run to the holding tanks.  Notice the ball valve. Every connection to the holding tank has a ball valve. The tank is vented via a 3/8" braided clear hose. I will use a fuel tank vent through the hull near the scuppers. 

Port head run tying into the port holding tank with a sanitary tee to run to the galley sink. Venting of the tank is through the 3/8" nipple on top that will have a hose eventually.

The starboard head run branching to the starboard lavatory. The blocks of wood behind the 1..5" PVC supports the forced bend in the plumbing until the PVC glue is cured. Once removed, the PVC assumes a gentle bend. 

Port head run not quite finished.

May 28,

Working on finishing up the rough plumbing and adding all the tank vents so the cabinetry can be finished.

Installed the fresh water sending unit (upper right). Removing the access panel to the fresh water tank was really difficult so I added a tee handle. It is so easy now. I still have to add a ground wire to the sender unit so I'm not quite ready to bolt the access panel down yet. The port side is similar.

This is the fresh water vent. There is one on each side. The tape covers a 3/8" nipple where a hose will attached and vent the fresh water tanks under the settee. The blackwater tanks are vented through the hull near the scuppers to avoid odors. The port side is similar.

Fitting the cabinet front for the starboard berth. This is a trial fitting before it is glued up on a work bench.

It fit, so it is being glued up and screwed together from the rear. Yes, workbench is a mess. If you're working, there is not time for tidiness. 

Planing the bevel on the port cabin sole that will be under the berth. 

Measuring for the cut-outs for the plumbing and hull frame in the upper left corner.

A nice fit. I've also extended the supply lines to the port cabin lavatory  (right). 

Cabinet front tacked into place. Three nice sized drawers and three nice sized cabinets.