| Bolero
Project |
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 After a morning appointment, I spent the day working on the forward end of the cabin trunk. In much the same manner as a small closet takes as much or more time to drywall as a large open living room, this deceptively simple piece of wood managed to consume the entire day. I began with a simple template. With a clamp holding the cabin trunk sides in the appropriate position (i.e. plumb), I marked a piece of scrap to fit between the rabbets at the leading edges of each side, including a notched area to allow the aft side to overlap the inside surface of the cabin trunk. When I cut the piece to size and with the appropriate bevels and notches at the ends, it fit nicely at both the top and bottom edges of the cabin trunk. |
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With this basic guide stick, I prepared the actual cabin trunk blank from a piece of wide stock that I'd ordered for the purpose. First, I straightened the edges of the blank, and then cut the piece to length and with the appropriate 9° angles at the ends to match that formed between the transverse front and longitudinal sides of the assembly. Then, I cut the notches for the overlap. From here, it took a lot of fine-tuning, minor recutting, chiseling, and planing to eventually allow the forward piece to slip properly between the sides and down to its final position. Though I planned on some interior blocking to strengthen and trim the joint, I hoped to get the initial joint as close as possible, so I modified slowly to avoid taking too much off in any particular place. A slight arc in the starboard side of the cabin's deck opening complicated the fit; I had to plane away a bit of the face of the board to eventually allow it to slip past. In any event, I eventually got the board to fit where it was supposed to, and then marked the two arcs required for the top and bottom of the piece. At the bottom (interior) edge, I traced the line formed by the fiberglass deck flange on the forward side of the piece just as a guide line for the final arc that I'd strike. At the top, I clamped in place the beam pattern I made for the mockup last fall and marked the shape. Yes, it's mounted backwards in these photos because there were staples in the side t hat should have faced aft. Since the pattern was symmetrical (I checked), I didn't bother removing the staples and simply turned the pattern around. |
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With the piece back on the bench, I struck the actual arc for the bottom. The two lower corners corresponded with the existing lower corners of the cabin trunk sides, and for the center of the arc I chose a position 1" up from the bottom, sufficiently beneath the line that demarked the fiberglass edge to ensure that it would be well hidden. I clamped a spline between these three fixed points, forming a smooth curve that I marked. Then, I cut out both top and bottom curves. |
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With two round bronze opening ports planned for the forward end, my next step was to choose their location and drill the holes required. Using the ports themselves as guides, I determined the appropriate positions, allowing sufficient room for the interior flanges, and drilled the holes with a 4-1/4" hole saw. The actual hole size required was a bit larger--about 4-5/16"--but since I didn't have a saw this size, and since it was so close, I chose to open the holes as required with a drum sander in the drill press. |
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With all the cutting and milling complete, I routed a roundover on the inside lower edge to match the cabin trunk sides' profile, and sanded the piece smooth as required. Then, I clamped it in place and turned to milling the interior corner blocks--relatively simple pieces that required 4 separate cuts on the table saw to produce. Each piece incorporated a 99° at the back corner, with equal length legs and 1/4" shoulders that ended up 90° to the respective surfaces against which they bore. I cut the pieces roughly to length and sanded them smooth, with final trimming to occur after installation. Finally, I applied a sealer coat of varnish to the new front and the corner blocks so they'd be ready for installation tomorrow, though I left the ends of the cabin trunk piece bare in way of the corner blocks' bearing locations for eventual epoxy adhesive. |
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