Finishing
Sept. 2006
(Continuing on interior finishing)
Framing in the V-berth area, for supporting the sleeping bunk. This also further strengthens the bottom-to-hull joint and provides improved stiffness. Floatation foam will fill this area under the bunk.
Cockpit, finished. The seats hinges up to provide access for storage. The seat-covers are lined with gaskets to provide water-tightness in the event of a knock-down. The covers are held down by bronze dog-latches. They are a pain to lock/unlock, but very dependable.
Seat cover hinged open:
Electrical panel and fuses for controlling navigation lights, cabin lights, charger, and main battery switch.
Cabin interior finished. Behind the forward bulkhead, the top section is the anchor locker. The bottom section will be stuffed with floatation foam. This baby is going to be unsinkable!
Cabin roof is done. It's made of two layers of marine ply, one 1/4" and one 3/8". Since most likely I will be walking on the cabin roof to reach the forward area, given the narrow side-decks, I want to make sure that the cabin roof is rock solid. After the hundreds of screw holes (needed when the two plys are glued together) are patched up, the roof is glassed - which in hindsight is completely unnecessary.
The sliding hatch:
The skylight-hatch. The transparent piece is 3/8" tinted Lexan, held in place with Silkaflex 4000. The frame is made of cedar. The frame curves to match the exact curvature of the cabin roof.
The side decks are glued and screwed down with SS screws, and then glassed with the fiber glass overlapping the hull to ensure that there will be no leaks. The rubbing strake will overlap the deck-hull joint and further strengthens and seals the joint.
The cover piece over the center board trunk, and stoppers for the sliding hatch. Made of mahogany. The 'cross-bow' area is for mounting the cleats for the sheets. Since this is also going to be a convenient area for resting the feet, this block is glassed over to better withstand wear & tear.
All the trimmings in place. The bulkhead-mounted compass has an internal light connected to the navigation light switch. I like night sailing!
Here's the bowsprit installed. The bronze hardware is custom-made by Bristol Bronze, shockingly expensive. Three years later, nobody notices. Next time I will just use stainless steel...
The bowsprit with all the hardware. Hardware is mostly bronze. The bracket holding the anchor roller is custom-made stainless steel.
A small snubbing winch is mounted on a solid block of Mahogany. I find that the jib sheets for even a small jib can be a handful in a stiff breeze, and this winch should help to ease the strain.
The aft-area. The tiller is made of ash and cherry laminated together. I really like it! The tiller rests on a block of smooth nylon. Also, after much debate, I mounted a boom gallows which will also hold the traveller for the main sheet.
There she is, all dressed up, ready to leave the garage...
