The first order of the business for the day was to prepare the interior woodwork for what I hoped and planned would be the final coat of new varnish, this time a rubbed-effect satin finish.  To that end, I sanded the previous coat and thoroughly cleaned up the boat and the woodwork specifically, then applied the satin varnish.

In this case I was happy to do this work first thing since I knew I had plenty to do in the woodshop, and had no further need to go up into the boat for now.

My next task was to cut the protruding side rails on the companionway ladder, finish up any edge and profile details, and sand the completed ladder smooth and clean.

Next, I performed a series of milling and edging operations on the 10 door frames, rounding the exposed edges inside and out, and milling a rabbet on the back side of the frame to form the overlay where the doors would fit into their openings.  Then, I sanded them all clean and smooth.

Afterwards, I applied a sealer coat of varnish to all the new woodwork, always a satisfying moment as the wood takes on its final color and overall appearance.

I had a short day planned, as I had to leave in mid-morning for an appointment later in the day, but I got done all the things I’d wanted to, starting with another round of sanding and coat of base varnish on the interior woodwork.

Next, I applied a sealer coat of varnish to the boards I’d milled for the cabin sole.

This left me just enough time to prepare and glue up the final four door frames.

I started in the cabin, lightly sanding the fresh varnish work to prepare for another coat later in the day.

Once that was done, and cleaned up, I turned to the companionway ladder and prepared the three steps for final fitting.  Leaving just a bit of tread to extend beyond the front face of the ladder, and with the back sides cut at an angle to match the ladder’s angle, the two lower treads ended up about 6-3/4″ deep, and I cut them 13-1/2″ long to allow 1/8″ into each of the dadoes, leaving the final tread about 13-1/2″ wide between the rails.  The top  step, or platform, was the same width but 12″ deep.

At the top of the rails, I laid out a plumb line for a cut, leaving 2″ full width above the top of the middle step, and cut the rails together to reduce the extension of the ladder into the cabin and also provide good support once installed.

With the top step and one rail, I mocked up the ladder in the boat to check the fit before proceeding.  The ladder fit well, and now extended just 14″ from the bulkhead at the base.  This looked and would operate well, and there was ample room for passage on the sides of the ladder.

Having confirmed that the ladder was properly laid out, I laid out two fastener locations at each side of each step, then dry-assembled the ladder with screws after first rounding over the top edge of each of the three steps.

I test-fit the assembled ladder in the boat a final time.  I simulated one of the galley fiddles to show the juxtaposition, and to mark the height of the fiddles against the ladder.  Later in the process, I’d cut the rails to this final height, but not yet.

Happy with the ladder, I returned to the bench, disassembled the ladder, then reassembled it permanently with epoxy adhesive to secure all the treads in place along with the screws from each end.  I bunged the screw holes.  Then, I cut trim to surround the top tread, matching it to the galley fiddles in profile and keeping it flush with ladder rails.  This trim projected 2″ above the counter height, the same as the main galley fiddles.  I set the ladder aside to cure fully.

Next, I ripped a series of teak boards into two inch wide strips, then resawed them into 1/4″ thick planks for the cabin sole.  With all the planks milled, I chamfered a relief into the top edges of each board, just a simple small angle that would form a v-match when the planks were butted together.  This was just hand work with a sanding block.

In the afternoon, I started with another coat of gloss varnish on the bulkheads and main cabin fiddles.

For the remainder of the afternoon, I milled additional teak into 1-1/2″ wide strips that I then cut into shorter lengths as needed for the various cabinet doors in the cabin.  Then, before the end of the day, I had time to glue up a number of the door frames into their final shape, using epoxy adhesive, leaving just a few more to be assembled next time.

I began with a quick, light sanding of the epoxy around the cabin sole.  This was the last work required for now, till it was time to install the teak planking.

Next, I finished up the wiring in the galley, including installing the propane vapor alarm and wiring at the base of the galley cabinets, along with the solenoid wires and propane system power supply, plus the fuel gauge, where I was able to pull power from a repurposed circuit left over from the original propane system, but not required with the new setup that combined alarm and solenoid control in a single unit.  Later I’d come up with a cover panel to close off the wiring area inside the upper galley cabinet.

I decided it was time to start some varnish work on the bulkheads and trim in the main cabin so far.  I liked to keep finishing work underway and in manageable amounts, and though there was more trim to come, there was nothing stopping me from moving forward the existing staving and fiddles.  So after cleaning and masking around the wood I planned to varnish (all of which was already sanded and otherwise ready), I applied a base coat of gloss varnish to these areas.  I expected to do 2-3 additional build coats of the gloss varnish on the wood before switching to the final coat of satin varnish thereafter.  I also did the fiddle trim on the v-berth step, along with the new teak step itself.

In the meantime, I had plenty to do in the woodshop, continuing with the companionway ladder.  I started by cutting two side rails to 6″ wide and long enough for the job, with some extra at the top end so I could finalize the height to match the fiddles later.  I confirmed the countertop height with one of the side rails in position in the boat to ensure the top step/platform ended up exactly where needed.  To provide for this top step, I glued up a blank from two narrower pieces of teak to give me the dimensions I’d need for the final piece.  Then, I figured and laid out the positions for three dados required in each side board to locate and support the treads.

 

I milled the shallow dadoes with a small router, first building a simple jib from plywood to align and guide the router to make the required slots.   Of course the jig didn’t work for both sides of the ladder, as they were reversed, so I had to reconfigure things to do the slots in the second board; I should have anticipated this but didn’t. The slots were just wide enough to accept the 3/4″ treads.  This left me in good shape at the end of the day so next time I could cut the treads and top platform to size and assemble the ladder.

The epoxy lining the cabin sole required a light sanding.  This left some low areas that I planned to fill again late in the day.

Next, I installed the three shelves in the hanging locker, a small task that had been pending for several days just awaiting the right moment.  I immediately put the shelves to use to store tools and supplies that were otherwise cluttering up the settees or galley.

With the new cabin sole now in place, I turned my focus on the companionway ladder.  The owner had in mind a ladder that rested upon the galley countertop, where the top step was the main support and was surrounded by its own fiddles so that the step remained separate from its surrounds.  Working just from this description and the confines of the space at hand, I built a plywood and hot glue mockup of the steps, choosing a 13″ wide step (and inside dimension) that would still allow access to the sole bilge panel beneath.  I milled some scrap plywood to 1/4″ thickness to stand in for the final layer of the sole, which would eventually be 1/4″ thick teak strips, and divided the height equally to provide for two steps below the countertop step.

I made the side rails 6″ wide, and at a 17° angle off vertical (or perhaps it’s 73° off the sole), which angle I took from my terrible-but-at-a-good-angle construction ladder, and the steps I cut for the mockup were 7″ deep, which seemed to project a bit further from the face of the ladder than I thought they should in the final analysis.  I mistakenly glued my support cleats on the wrong side of one of the panels but left them in place as it was too much trouble to remove them, and they didn’t affect the purpose of the mockup anyway.

Around the top step, which was 10″ deep by 13″ wide, I installed a 2″ high fiddle to correspond with the height of the galley fiddles that would surround the ladder eventually, which would be 3″ high in profile with 1″ below the countertop.  I included some short sections of plywood to simulate these as well.

Immediately upon installation, I saw that I could improve the ladder by making a plumb cut along the back edges, which would bring the whole assembly correspondingly closer to the bulkhead to save cabin sole space and make the whole arrangement more compact.  As built, the steps projected 18″ forward into the cabin, which wasn’t as bad as it seemed in terms of galley access, but could clearly be improved.  In the photos, I marked a plumb line 2″ in, but in reality I thought I could nearly double that, leaving plenty of strength in the sides of the ladder (terminating the plumb cut anywhere above the first step would still provide full strength for the step installation) and pulling the ladder that much closer to the bulkhead, as well as providing support where the ladder rested against the vertical panel.

After discussing these and other aspects of the mockup with the owner, we agreed that the basic concept was sound enough to proceed with actual construction that incorporated the changes, so I looked forward to getting that underway soon.

In the meantime, I turned to the galley, where I was anxious to install the various electrical components in the upper panel and finish up the related wiring as needed.  I made progress, eventually reconnecting and reinstalling the bilge pump switch, pump counter, and high water alarm as well as the basic panel installation for the propane system, but this all took longer than I’d hoped, first sorting out the wiring itself, then some frustrations with wires that were slightly too short–possibly because of how I’d run and secured the bundles below in the engine room–and the resulting collection of required tools and parts and fasteners to lengthen the wires in question and finalize the installations.  I also had to figure out the home of one mystery wire, which didn’t go to any o the gauges and was unlabeled.  Eventually, after reviewing older photos closely, I found it belonged on a bare terminal on the battery switch panel.  In any event, after a couple hours, I’d hopefully gotten past the worst of it, and would finish up the remaining wiring (including the AC outlet, propane system connections, and the fuel gauge) next time.

For now, though, I needed to get back to the cabin sole where, after final preparations, I applied a quick second coat of thickened epoxy to the edges, just to clean up and make a smoother transition between the sole and the adjacent hull so that installing the teak planks would go more easily.

This didn’t take as long as I’d allowed for, so with the bit of time remaining in the day I cut and installed some cleats beneath the teak step for the v-berth.  These cleats would slot in securely between the support cleats in the step opening, and help hold the step securely while maintaining ease of removal.

 

Anxious to have a flat surface in the boat once more, I wasted no time getting the cabin sole panels installed, using epoxy adhesive on the floors and cleats, along with screws to hold things securely.  Once the side panels were installed, I cut and fit two hatches for the center to provide bilge access.

In the head, I repurposed the teak grate panel that had come out of the sole that had been there when the project started.  Using the grate as a guide, I laid out and cut the large opening in the sole.  The grate would rest upon the forward edge of the mast step platform, and portions of the forward two structural floors, though I had to add a 1-1/2″ thick cleat at the forward end to give the panel support, since the old mast step structure had extended a bit further forward than the replacement, which meant the forwardmost floor wasn’t exposed by the grate cutout.  With this all worked out, I permanently installed the forward section with epoxy and screws.  Later, once the epoxy was cured, I planned to create drain channels from the recessed mast step location towards the bilge just ahead, or possibly remove that entire small strip of plywood to the same effect.

Next, I filled the gap at the edges where the plywood met the hull with a thickened epoxy mixture, tying everything together and providing a consistent surface over which I’d later install the final teak facing for the sole, including on the exposed hull edges.

I chose to run the head sole a bit forward and beneath the removable step panel to the v-berth, and earlier I’d made a mark on the panel at the appropriate height so I could cut it to fit.  Now I added 1/4″ to the mark and cut the panel that much shorter, and took a few moments to cut and fit the final teak step to fit in the recess.

In the afternoon, I finished up the installation of the foredeck padeye and water deck fill, along with the associated hoses for fill and vent.  Access to the tip of the bow from inside was a challenge, so I was grateful once I had the 3/4″ backing plate and nuts and washers fully installed.  For the hoses, I formed a loop from the vent fitting that extended up to deck level before the hose continued its run to the tank, to reduce the chance of water ingress.  It wasn’t possible to get a good angle for photos of these hose runs, but I did what I could.  I secured the fill and vent hoses out of the way as much as possible along the aft end of the locker.

To wrap up the day, I finished painting the bilge with the last section that I’d left undone before.

I lightly sanded the new tabbing securing the cabin sole floors at the ends, then cleaned up and dry-fit the two halves of the main sole.  This gave me a chance to mark the position of the center, removable panels, for which I chose 6″ off center on each side, or a 12″ total width.

Removing the panels to the bench, I cut a 12″ wide strip of plywood and used it in conjunction with my layout and alignment marks to cut the center portions of the sole out.  I’d cut the removable center panels to their final sizes later, once the sole was permanently installed.  Meanwhile, from some scrap I cut two spacers 12″ wide and long enough to span two of the floor supports that I could use up in the boat to properly position and align the fixed side panels, ensuring the open center section was consistent and exactly where it needed to be.  I dry-secured for now the panels at each bearing location with screws.  The center panels would provide good access to all areas of the bilge when all was said and done.

For alignment purposes when the time came for final installation (with adhesive), I installed hot glue blocks on the framing members at the edges of every cutout.  Though the screw holes would help keep things aligned on their own, I thought the blocks would help make the initial stages of installation easier once messy epoxy was brought into play.

Before removing the main cabin panels, I templated and then cutout the plywood substrate for the sole in the head.  As part of this process, I laid out the position for the mast base (new anodized aluminum base had finally arrived after months of waiting), and cut out a portion of the head sole to allow clearance (not shown in these photos, but visible further down the page).

Now I removed the sole panels and, after cleanup and final prep, painted the bilge throughout the boat.  I had to leave one section mostly unpainted for now (I did the areas that would be mostly under the new sole), as there was too much going on in that particular section, and I had gotten too painted into a corner, as it were, with only the skinny floors to kneel on and nowhere to put anything or hang on.  The hot glue blocks I’d put in for alignment were fragile, so I had to avoid kicking or putting any pressure on them, and they were spaced in such a way that I couldn’t use the square of plywood I had on hand for temporary support, so I left this one section for later, which would be easy to do since access would be wide open.  I also epoxy-coated the plywood edges and underside of the sole pieces.

To fill the short time left in the day, I drilled and tapped and countersunk for the fasteners required to install the water tank deck fill and foredeck padeye.  I’d wait to do the final install on these till I could traipse more easily through the cabin again, but it’d be a quick process then.

 

Before getting back into cabin sole work, I took a few minutes to remove all the masking from the upper galley.

Next, I lightly sanded as needed the epoxy work on the new floors, then cut fiberglass to fit as needed for the final tabbing to secure these floors to the hull at each end.  For now, I held off installation so I could continue working on the sole.

With some basic measurements in hand, I cut slightly undersized plywood  templates of each side of the main cabin sole, roughly to the centerline.  Ultimately, the sole would consist of two permanently-mounted pieces on the side, with removable panels down the center, so the important thing was to get the shape of the edges where the sole would meet the hull.   With the basic templates cut, I laid them in place in turn and scribed the edges to the exact shape.

Apparently I didn’t photograph the process on the port side.

I transferred the marks from this first set of templates to another piece of template plywood, and cut out what would essentially be the final shape of the actual sole, giving me one more chance for a test fit before committing to the real plywood.  I tested the new  templates in place after first installing a final support cleat at the aft end of the space.

At this point, I had enough to do off the boat that it was time to clean up and install the tabbing at the ends of all five cross beams.  First, I applied some more thickened epoxy to dress up the existing fillets at the ends, then wet out and installed the tabbing.

During what remained of the day, I transferred the final templates to a sheet of new ply wood and cut out the two sole panels, still oversized in the center so I could mark the final cuts for the center panels in place.  This would happen next time once the fiberglass had cured overnight.

 

For the cabin sole support beams, I used 1-1/2″ fiberglass angle, which I cut as needed to fit the measurements I took off the top edges of the existing floors where I’d cut them.  Inside the boat, I determined that the aftermost floor, located just ahead of the engine room, was the highest point when determining longitudinal level, to which the boat had been positioned early in the project.  So I started here to position and install the new supports.  With the first beam positioned correctly, I held it in place with two bolts for now, and moved on to the next three in turn, leveling off the previous beams in each case and temporarily securing to the existing floors with two bolts.

At the aft end, the new height was more than an inch lower than original.    In this photo, where the level is resting on the tops of two or three of the cross beams,  the top mark is the height of the original floors (the supports beneath the cabin sole itself); the second mark is 1″ below that, and the third mark is where the height actually ended up.

Interestingly, the new height of the cross beams ended up perfectly level with the top of the new mast step structure, a happenstance–but useful and good–occurrence.

Now I removed the four cross members and, after final preparations, installed them permanently with epoxy adhesive and two bolts each, ensuring they remained level at each location and in both directions.  At the ends, I added thickened epoxy to create the basis for eventually tabbing the ends to the hull in a separate operation to happen later.

With the main four cross members in place, I continued (pirouetting around the tacky epoxy as needed) with the supports required at the forward end and around the battery compartment. This was made easier thanks to the mast step being level with the new structure, and also thus with the small forward section of sole in the head compartment.  I installed two wooden support cleats on the inboard edges of the battery box, and an additional fiberglass angle cross piece between the aft side of the battery box, where I secured it with screws, and the hull on the opposite side, where I epoxied the angle in place.  And finally, I added a short piece of angle on the aft side of the mast step structure, since I measured eight feet from the engine room bulkhead to the aft corner of the step, so to support a full-length sole panel on this side I needed an extra lip off the aft end of the mast step.

That was about all I could do for the cabin sole for now, but all the main pieces were in place and would cure overnight to allow me to continue next time.  To round out the day, I tackled a couple minor tasks, including preparing a backing plate for the new padeye on the foredeck, and trimming one edge of the prefab teak handles for the galley bulkheads so that they would work in the specific situation to overlap the forward side of the bulkhead, but remain flush on the aft side.  This was necessary since the existing bulkheads, with their staving on the forward sides, were thicker than the milled recesses in the teak, and also to allow the refer lid to open smoothly past any upper bulkhead trim.

 

Next on the agenda was the cabin sole replacement.  For various reasons, I’d somehow put this off throughout the project, though in many ways it would have been better to do it early on.  In any event, the time was nigh, and I was ready to focus on the cabin sole.  The owner had asked me to try and lower the sole by an inch or so, which would require some reconfiguration of the structural supports (floors), which brought with it various complications.

Before removing the sole, I took a moment to get the four batteries back into the boat while I had a platform.  I’d stored these in the cockpit throughout the project, and would soon be reinstalling them in the new locker, so I wanted them ready to go.

During the project and  as needed, I’d pared away portions of the old sole to give me access as needed for some of the other interior work, like the new mast step and the battery compartment, so there wasn’t much left.  The entire center portion was removable in two panels.

I pulled up the remaining sections with minimal help from a prybar, exposing the entire area for the first time.  There was a lot of dust and debris from the other construction, so the first thing I did was clean all this up.

To gain the extra headroom, I had to cut back the existing floors.  I’d been thinking this process through for months, and had come up with a plan of attack to strongly and efficiently achieve the requirements.  To start, I marked a line 1″ down from the top edge of each floor, and also used a level to make some reference marks on the battery compartment and engine room bulkhead for future use, both at the existing height and then 1″ down.  I had to reroute some wiring leading to the bilge terminal block, and temporarily unfastened the block to keep it clear of the work to come.

Now I used an angle grinder and cutoff wheel to cut to these lines, removing the top sections of all four floor installations and grinding off the tabbing and adhesive filler at the ends as needed.  This was as fun as it sounds and made quite a mess, but it was the worst part of the job and was now over.

My rebuild plan was to install new fiberglass angle to be bolted and epoxied to the forward face of each floor, and glassed to the hull on each side, all level in both directions.  But this work would come next time, as I wanted to spend what was left of my available time  this day (as I was leaving early so I could watch the total eclipse) preparing the galley cabinets for their final coat of white paint, which I did once I’d cleaned up thoroughly from the cabin sole removal.

We had perfect weather for the eclipse, with 60-degree temperatures and completely clear skies.  Where we are, we had 98% totality (according to some tool I found online), which was close enough for us.  I tried taking pictures through my dark glasses, but only this one at about halfway to totality came out well enough to use.  At maximum coverage, the outside temperature dropped at least 10 degrees, and the light was very dim and with a harsh, white quality to it, much like the unfiltered sunlight one sees in the pictures of people on the moon.  We were lucky to have a great view and near totality right from home.