December 28, 2023

Calliope Girl 31

Thursday

I started off by giving the new tabbing a quick wash and light scuff with sandpaper, which prepared the area for whatever was next.

I continued by gluing and screwing the top support cleat to the port side, along with the vertical cleat to support the port side divider bulkhead.  I’d already cut the basic template for this bulkhead, so now I scribed the base to fit the hull and, after a satisfactory test-fit with the template, transferred the shape to the final bulkhead, which I secured to the support cleat with screws so I could mark and trim the top edge level with the rest of the structure.

Once I’d trimmed the top edge, and cut a large opening in the panel to allow for wire runs from the battery selector panel that would be mounted aft of the bulkhead, I permanently secured the bulkhead with glue and screws to the support cleat, and epoxy fillets where the bulkhead met the hull.  I originally installed a hot glue block on one side of the bulkhead, to hold it in place, but determined I could remove the block and hold the bulkhead successfully with just a bit of glue at the very top corner where it met the hull, which meant I could finish off the fillets now.  On the starboard side, I used leftover epoxy to finish off the fillet where that bulkhead had been supported temporarily with a glue block.

I cut strips of 6″ tabbing to fit, then installed them on both divider bulkheads–one layer on each side of each bulkhead.

I recycled the template from the starboard berth top to use on the port side, flipped over as needed.  I scribed a line to match the hull and cut the pattern to fit.  Then, satisfied, I transferred the pattern to 12mm okoume and cut out the actual berth top (leaving a bit of extra to overhang for later trimming), catching the port side up with the progress to starboard.

Total time billed on this job today: 4.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: 39°. fog. Forecast for the day: Fog, chance of showers, then rain, 41°