April 22, 2021

Lively Heels Phase 3-44

Thursday

With the extra materials I needed, I finished up work on the laptop desk for the pilothouse.  With a short 3/8″ screw, I secured the rubber clamp beneath the table, and with a 1-1/4″ (70mm) M6 knurled screw to replace the original screw, the clamp became easy enough to install and remove without tools.  This concept worked, but left the desk at a slight forward angle.

To allow the desk to sit more level, and be better supported by the console at the forward edge, I milled a strip of cherry 1″ wide on the short end, with a bottom angled to match that of the console.  I secured this to the front edge of the desk with screws.  This helped, but to further enhance it, I added some flexible rubber beneath the wooden support, which not only raised the desk just a  bit, but cushioned and stabilized the desk against the console.  With the cushioned wheel clamp in place, one could turn the wheel just slightly till the action essentially forced the desk more firmly into position, creating a pretty decent platform that was easy to install and remove, and satisfied the core job description.

My main complaint was that the wheel clamp was a bit harder to install than I would have liked, since the longest knurled hand fastener I could find was only just long enough to allow the clamp to spread open without removing the screw completely.  A different type of hand screw might be available that could give the extra length desired.

If nothing else, this sort of Beta version, using the existing desk, could serve as a way to refine the concept going forward.  While the owner and I discussed building from scratch, ultimately he decided that it was worth using the existing, modified table to see whether any refinements were necessary.

With work wrapped up, and a transport date only a few weeks hence, I unloaded my tools, lighting, and the like from the boat and cleaned things up before making other final preparations to move her outdoors in the immediate future, so the owner could finish his pre-launch chores.

Total time billed on this job today:  1.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, snow shower.   Forecast for the day:   Snow and rain showers, then cloudy, windy, 42°