Saturday, 10 February 2024

 Cockpit coaming tops glued and filleted


these are the "lids" for the under coaming storage lockers - They are done !!!, this was the most difficult glueup so far, as the access is not easy and glue cleanup and fillets were done in some pretty tight compartments in really awkward positions, boat yoga ??? - backwards downward dog is easy by comparison.









Friday, 9 February 2024

 Glueing and filleting in the under coaming lockers/cuddys and the stern locker/lazarette modification/idea

Today the under coaming lockers were glued in. I decided to use wWEST fast epoxy as I wanted it to cure so that I could glue on the coaming tops. There has had to be a specific order to the cockpit build so that all glueing and if needed filletting but especially access for excess glue removal to easily take place, anyhow using fast epoxy was not a great idea as it was too fast for the fiddly pieces of the lockers that had to be precoated, glued, held in place with all sorts of blackmagicry and skyhooks smoke and mirrors (bendy springy pieces of wood from underneath) and filleted and cleaned up while making no mess  - it was a wrong move, plus the neccesary boat yoga, in and out shoes on shoes off gloves on gloves off, because the undersides had to be glued and filleted as well, anyhow "jobs a goodun"





and from inside looking into the locker


and for anyone wondering about the cockpit modification and the idea behind it - 
this is how it will look, with a watertight hatch on it, that opens to a lazarette storage/foam compartment   - at the cockpit floor level there will be another hatch that will be in a different format , but will also double as an emergency hatch for the one above. Under the cockpit floor will be the usual foam flotation with easier access to the rudder fixings, and in the lazarette will be space for extra foam. The cockpit drains will be 2 x 50mm epoxy glass pipes that run through the lazarette along the sides to the transom. This cockpit  addition will reduce the cockpit volume, add extra foam flotation when needed, make use of the normally unused  space under the tiller, and strengthens the aft of the boat dramatically. It may look a bit old fashioned "70´s boat style" but makes me happy that the unused space is positively used.




the ply cutout is the hatch cutout from inside the lazarette at cockpit floor level to give an idea of the top hatch opening size





Wednesday, 7 February 2024

 Cockpit seat tops glued in

Today and yesterday was the cockpit seat top project, a lot of glueing and clean up and filleting took place with a huge amount of boat yoga involved - getting your head, arm and a clean up / filleting stick, along with a cup to collect extra epoxy glue, into the aft flotation compartment through the  compartments access hatch, all the while trying to remain glue free, while your gloves are mega sticky is a major accomplishment, but - Job done!




creative clamping

Flying Clamping Object


 NMEA connections and the low power interior lights Just some futher pictures from the last few weeks all the NMEA connections are contained...