Lackey Sailing | tim lackey

Friday

Over the past several days, I’d worked to build up base coats, then the final satin coat, of varnish on the new wood box, finishing up in time to allow the box to fully cure for a few days.

My main focus for the day was to wrap up the woodstove installation. With the stove in place, and the deck trim ring installed, it was a theoretically simple matter to cut the stove pipe to length and install it along with the deck fitting. Because of how the sections needed to fit together, it wasn’t just a matter of marking the pipe at deck level and cutting it off; for the parts on hand to work together as needed, I had to remove excess length from the bottom of one of the pipe sections.

To begin, I set up the two 24″ lengths of pipe together with the deck fitting, allowing the assembly to protrude above the deck. I measured the distance from the underside of the deck fitting flange to the trim ring below (14.5″) which, with all the pieces in this configuration, was how much I needed to cut off.

With a grinder and cutoff wheel, I cut the pipe at the mark: All was fine, though this wasn’t fun stuff to cut. Because even before cutting I’d had a vexing difficulty getting the two pieces of pipe to fit together during my dry fits in the boat (though I’d managed), I’d left the two sections fitted together while I cut them, specifically to avoid the difficulties in getting them to fit back together later. For reasons that are now lost in a miasma of events and apparent suppressed memories born of severe trauma and blinding anger, at some point after cutting the pipe and while cleaning up the cuts, the two sections came apart, or I took them apart for some reason; whatever the case, what was once a connected length of pipe was now two again. It really shouldn’t have mattered.

And for some reason I found it absolutely impossible to reassemble them.

It made no sense then, and it made no sense later, but I spent far too much time fighting the pipe sections and trying to reassemble them in a usable length once more. I couldn’t reassemble them in their original configuration, and I couldn’t reassemble them with the cut section atop the full section. I tried everything. One issue was that the double-walled pipe was spot-welded together at one end, to hold the inner and outer sections together. Assembled correctly, this didn’t matter because of how the joints interacted–but now it mattered, though I still didn’t understand why since these sections had been connected before. Where the inner and outer sections were connected in this way, obviously the pipes couldn’t slide together.

In the event, in fighting the sections I’m sure that I made whatever problem existed worse by further distorting the pipes in the effort to connect them (the inner and outer sections had minimal clearance between). I didn’t want to, or intend to (at least at first haha)–but it happened. Eventually, it was clear that the cut section–the piece I needed to use–was a lost cause. I didn’t have extra sections–they don’t give this stuff away at Cubic Mini–so what made me the angriest wasn’t needing another section, but that I couldn’t finish up the installation as intended. I may have sealed my fate when somehow the section of pipe I’d been fighting with ended up beneath the head of my hammer several times. Weird.

After a break to emergency-order replacement pipes, which felt like something positive even though it threw my schedule awry, I returned to assess what I had left and see if there was any other way to use the longer length of the original pipe–but supposedly the wrong end–to make this work. And to my amazement I found a way forward. It turned out that the deck fitting, which I’d originally planned to connect using a special adapter (seen in the photos above), which allowed the deck fitting to work with the upper, crimped end of a stovepipe section, actually fit well in the cut end of the pipe, slipping between the inner and outer walls of the stovepipe like it was its job. (I seem to be a little short on photos during this miserable hour or so of the day, so I don’t have a photo showing that.)

Thinking back, now I remembered from some of the info online that I’d looked at a few months before had mentioned this too, so I felt good proceeding in this way–and it meant that I could finish up the installation too, and avoid the wait and expense of the replacement pipes. So with the sections installed together in their new way, and after determining how far into the pipe the deck fitting would slip, I eventually determined the final length and cut the pipe a bit shorter as needed now–being sure to tape the pipe sections securely together, just in case. (In the new configuration I had no problem connecting the pipes as it happened.)

Now I could drill and tap the deck for the machine screws that would secure the deck fitting, and after final preparations I installed the deck fitting with its supplied heavy rubber gasket and sealant as well. In the cabin, I secured the inside trim ring (which by design also allows air to flow into the gap between the stovepipe and the deck cutout) to the overhead with screws. I’d made sure from the beginning, even before things went wrong, that I pre-secured this trim ring to the overhead with some tape so I wouldn’t forget it–there was no way to put it on once the stove pipe was in place.

It’s the way of the world with this stuff: It’s the simplest-seeming tasks that can send everything into turmoil, doubling the time required to do a simple job.

Now I could finish up the installation for real with the wood box and side heat shield. To begin, down on the bench I installed the heat shield on the side of the box with stainless screws and the supplied standoffs. To install the box, I predrilled holes for three screws (two through the top of the back panel, one through the bottom, accessible in the recess I’d built beneath the floor of the box for this purpose), then hung it on the bulkhead next to the woodstove. This gave the required minimum distance of 3″ between the stove and the combustible material.

To finish things off, I hung the rack for the cutest little dollhouse stove tools in the space between the box and the settee back, which the owner and I had previously determined and which fortunately worked basically perfectly. This left enough space for the locker to open more than enough for good access, and frankly the whole stove/woodbox juxtaposition and installation turned out even better than I’d hoped it would, looking quite at home there and as if it had always been there.

And I was able to cancel my emergency pipe order before it was processed, all the better to save $150.

Next on my agenda: The deck boxes, starting with the large forward box. I planned to install this to the deck with marine adhesive (5200), saving the deck penetrations and time consumption of removing the overhead in the cabin. To prepare, I aligned the box where I wanted it, and marked the ends with tape, and also marked with tape the positions of the three mounting “feet” from the side. Removing the box, and using my marks as a guide, I removed the paint from the deck in way of the three mounting surfaces and, after final preparations and cleanup, applied heavy beads of adhesive to each location and pressed the box into position, aligning it carefully with my end marks and by eye to ensure a symmetrical mounting on the deck. I left this to cure.

I chose to leave the lid off till after installation to make the box easier to handle. Towards that end, I got ready to install the hinge on the hatch itself. The piano hinge I’d sourced, which had extra space between the leaves when closed to allow room for a gasket, came without screw holes, so my first task was to lay out, drill, and counterbore the hinge for mounting screws. In drilling stainless, I’ve found that the key is to buy the appropriate drill bits in bulk first, to ensure ample sharp, new bits for the job. Every time I have amply prepared myself like this, a single bit easily makes all the cuts required, but if I try to use bits on hand, or if I have a single new one, the bit will break or they’ll be so dull that I spend 4 hours on a hole. I’m now flush with 11/64″ bits–a small price to pay for having a task I hate go so swimmingly.

With the hinge prepared, I installed it on the underside of the hatch, then installed the gasket around the perimeter of the lid. Once the box was secure on deck I’d install the lid and some hold-downs.

For the cockpit deck box, I installed gasket around the top of the box (I actually did this before the other deck box, and before it occurred to me that perhaps the gasket was better suited on the hatch than the rim of the box), then installed some little brackets to secure bungee cords, which were the owner’s suggestion of a simple, effective means of securing the lids on these boxes. I like dead-simple things that work too.

This done, I “installed” the box in the cockpit: This was just to sit of its own accord, assisted by the rubber pads I’d installed on the feet. This would work here because the cockpit was so small, and so protected, that under the known circumstances of how the boat was used there was really no scenario where the box wouldn’t stay in place like this.

To finish off the day, I removed the door to the head, which the owner said swelled up and stuck badly at the bottom during the summer and when the boat was in the water (it worked fine now), and cut more than 1/4″ off the bottom before reinstalling it (no pictures).

Total time billed on this job today: 6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Clear, 35°. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 65°

Friday

I continued work on the ongoing varnish, with another coat (5) on the locker lid tops, and the 4th coat on the first side of the coamings, and the second coat on the swashboards (both sides). With the varnish done, I applied a coat of white enamel to the underside of the companionway hatch.

Total time billed on this job today: 1.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Clear, 35°. Forecast for the day: Sunny, 65°

Thursday

I began with the usual rounds of sanding and varnish on the ongoing pieces: Cockpit locker lids (coat 4 on both sides) and cockpit coamings (coat 3 on the first side).

After some light sanding around the new epoxy work on the companionway sliding hatch, I test-fit it on the boat along with its guide rails so I could confirm and modify as needed the height and shape of the top swashboard. I found that the board was OK as is and required no changes, so with that out of the way I could clean up, sand, and start varnishing these as well.

Meanwhile, after final preparations I applied a coat of primer to the underside of the companionway hatch.

Inside the boat, I installed the sealed pieces of companionway trim with screws, then bunged the screw holes late in the day.

Now I turned to the engine control, the final step required in the electric propulsion motor installation. I did a little layout for the control at the owner’s chosen location, the forward end of the starboard cockpit well, and, satisfied with the position, cut the two holes required for its installation. I marked, drilled, and tapped the 8 fasteners required to hold this in place, but for now didn’t install it in case I had to make any changes behind the control.

Leading the attached cable forward into the engine room, I connected it to the corresponding terminal at the front of the engine, along with the connector for the engine’s battery and control monitor. The owner chose to leave this monitor loose for temporary mounting, hoping for a more technologically-recent upgrade sometime in the near future, apparently promised by the purveyor. With this, I could energize the powerplant for a test. Not unexpectedly, my initial test revealed that the engine control lever was backwards: forward was reverse, and vise-versa, as the control was set up by default for port-side installation.

The fix for this was easy once I found it buried in the manual: Just switch the two connectors, one with green wires, one with yellow, on the front of the engine. The third photo shows the original configuration; the 4th shows the modified connection.

Once I made the switch, the shaft turned the correct way: clockwise for forward, counter-clockwise for reverse. The test was successful in all ways.

I finished up the control installation by securing the wires as needed, and installed the control lever itself with machine screws, butyl sealant, and nuts behind.

Finishing up some nearby installations in the cockpit, I installed the compass back in its existing opening, and, nearby on the same bulkhead, an autopilot control unit.

To round out the day, I took a few minutes to run a length of 14/2 wire through the bow pulpit for a future bow light to be mounted. There was already a smallish hole in the underside of the pulpit near centerline, which I enlarged slightly to accommodate the wires, then led them easily through and out the after end of the rail. Now the pulpit would be ready for installation in the immediate future, along with other deck hardware, which would be my focus in the coming days.

Total time billed on this job today: 7 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Mostly cloudy, 42°. Forecast for the day: Partly sunny, 60°

Wednesday

I started the day with sanding and varnish work on the cockpit locker lids–coat 3 on both sides.

Continuing, I sanded and varnished the coamings–coat 2 on both sides. I’d hoped to sneak out 3 or even 4 coats like this on both sides of the coamings at the same time, but flipping the coamings after doing the first side was proving too harmful to the varnish, so, alas, from here on I planned to work on only one side at a time, which would extend the process a bit but otherwise was of no matter.

Back on companionway duty, I installed the wooden support rails on the cabintop, drilling from within through the epoxy-filled holes I’d completed last time, then securing the rails with sealant and screws from beneath.

For the interior companionway trim, the owner had provided me with a shaped-and-varnished apron trim, and two dimensioned, but otherwise unfinished, lengths of mahogany for the side trim. These side trims required angle cuts and some minor shaping at the top end in order to fit against the overhead, and cutting to length to fit above the companionway sill. Once I’d completed those steps, I drilled counterbores for bungs and screws, sanded the pieces clean and smooth, and applied a coat of varnish to all sides, wanting the wood fully sealed before installation. Meanwhile, I installed the interior apron with three holes in counterbored holes, which I’d fill with bungs later.

Finishing up the supplied trimwork, I installed two little pieces of varnished trim along the inside edges of the companionway opening in the overhead, using the bronze screws the owner supplied me along with the trim.

The mahogany swashboards for the companionway were raw mahogany, milled to height with their rabbetted overlaps and some vent slots, but left overlong and requiring additional fitting. To start, the bottom board required a 12° angle cut on the bottom to match the angle on the sill, after which I snuck up on the final width required to fit properly in the slots in the companionway trim. I found that the boards were just a bit too thick for a smooth fit, so I planed all three down to a finished thickness just more than 3/4″, which allowed the boards to fit properly.

Once I had the bottom board fitted, it was much quicker to trim the top two boards to the proper width and fit. The top board would probably require a final cut at the top to match the companionway slide, but I wouldn’t know that till I’d fitted the hatch itself.

Naturally, then, my next task was the companionway slide itself. This would require a bit of repair and cosmetic work before I could install it, starting with replacing the wooden runners that supported the aluminum L-shaped guides that would ultimately run along the track. The original wood was badly rotted, and had come free from its original mountings on the hatch (just pressed into polyester resin at the hatch edges). The aluminum guides were corroded, and the screws had failed, but were still structurally sound enough for continued use. In these photos, I have the wooden runners and aluminum guides just resting in their proper places to illustrate, and to provide reference for when I reinstalled the pieces.

After dismantling what was left of the old guides, and removing the old corroded screws, I cleaned up the aluminum for reuse, then milled new mahogany (sipo) runners to match the old (1-1/4″ x 26″ x 5/16″), and reinstalled the l-shaped guides with new screws. These brackets would hang over the aluminum rails (seen in the 4th photo) that would later be installed atop the wooden supports I’d installed on the cabintop.

With the new runners ready to go, I sanded the underside of the hatch to remove the flaking old paint and otherwise prepare all surfaces for new work: refreshed paint and some minor epoxy repair work at the aft end. Thusly prepared, I secured the new runners in place with epoxy, and glued back some of the loose tabbing around the wooden support at the aft end of the hatch, leaving this all to cure overnight.

With a little time left in the day, and no further work available on the companionway for now, I went ahead with the final installation of the new transducer. With all the work related to the transducer and its new housing at the forward end of the keel, final installation was straightforward: I masked off the transducer, applied lots of sealant, and pressed it into position, securing it from above with the supplied nut and plastic and rubber washers before cleaning up the sealant and tape from below.

Total time billed on this job today: 7 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Mostly cloudy, 42°. Forecast for the day: Partly sunny, 52°

Tuesday

First order of business: Sand and varnish the cockpit locker lids (coat 2, both sides).

Next, I turned to the coamings, which had had sufficient clamp time after gluing the return blocks. Now, I sanded smooth these joints as needed, then sanded the entire coamings through a few grits to clean up the wood and prepare them for varnish.

Afterwards, I set the coamings up on a table where I could do the varnish work over the coming days, and applied a sealer coat of varnish to both sides. I planned and hoped to do as many coats as possible to both sides at once, which would cut down on the elapsed time frame, but at some point I’d no longer be able to flip the coamings and have them rest even on the small corner of the varnished side; but for the first few build coats at least, I didn’t see this as a problem.

Also prefabricated by previous persons unknown, a new set of companionway trim came along with the boat, all milled to shape and with at least a few coats of varnish already applied. The trim looked good, but until I started to fit it I had no idea whether it would work as is, or require modifications.

Fortunately, all the pieces fit well when I test-fit things, so I got to work on installation, beginning with the sill. I originally set the sill up level, which left a gap beneath on the starboard side since the cutout in the fiberglass apparently wasn’t level. This didn’t pose any problem given how the various trim pieces interacted and were installed, but I soon found that if I kept the sill level, the apron trim beneath ended up looking odd, since the reveal between the bridgedeck and the bottom of the trim was uneven when the sill was level. When I pushed the sill back down to the edge of the cutout in the fiberglass, the apron trim had a consistent reveal beneath. Ultimately, I decided that the appearance mattered much more than being truly “level”, and the trim had to look right to the eye. So I pressed on with final installation with the sill resting against the edge of the opening.

I installed the apron with screws through the back, from inside the boat, and sealant, then installed the sill over the top with more sealant.

Next, I installed the two side pieces of trim, which incorporated the external face trim and the slots for the swashboards. These fit well and without issue. As with the apron, I installed these trims with screws from inside the boat and sealant, leaving the clean outward appearance free of fasteners. Additional trim on the inside of the boat would later cover the exposed screw heads there and finish off the interior appearance.

To finish off the exterior companionway trim, I laid out the long wooden rails that would ultimately support and guide the sliding hatch. Using the old holes as a guide from inside the cabin, I drilled pilot holes through the deck (the deck sides of these holes had been filled during the exterior paintwork that occurred under previous ownership), then, with a 1/2″ bit, drilled out the top skin and core at the fastener locations so that I could mask off and fill these openings with a thickened epoxy mixture in the usual way to protect the core around the fasteners. The core I removed from these six holes was generally sound and dry with no immediate issues noted. I left the epoxy-filled holes to cure overnight so I could continue the rails’ installation next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Cloudy, rain showers, 40°. Forecast for the day: Cloudy, rain showers possible, 51°

Monday

After a few days away from the project, I got back to work on the latest edition of a continually-revised work list, which started with a focus on making the boat watertight (i.e. hatches and ports) and deck hardware, these being deemed the most critical items as the project moved forward.

First on my list was the new cockpit hatch over shaft alley, which, now that the cockpit was fully painted, I wanted to install forthwith so I didn’t kill myself falling through the hole. Masking around the hatch opening and over the adjacent deck, I put the hatch in place–the opening was already the proper size and otherwise fully prepared–and cut around the perimeter of the flange before removing the tape within. This would protect the deck from sealant. Next, I drilled and tapped the 14 fastener locations for #10-24 machine screws, and milled small countersinks at the top of each hole in my habitual way. When I recored the cockpit sole, I’d installed solid fiberglass all around this opening, so the core was already isolated from the fastener holes.

Preparations complete, and after cleaning up the spoils, I applied abundant sealant and secured the hatch in place, cleaning up the excess and removing the tape thereafter.

Next on my agenda was the cockpit locker lid hatches. Many years ago, under different ownership and before the boat was abandoned, someone had made up plywood hatch covers (the boat had, before that point, older plywood lids that had clearly been used as raw templates for the new), and my job now was to prepare these for final installation. The plywood hatches–sapele plywood with solid mahogany trim–had been in safe storage all this time and, other than some water staining, were in good condition.

My initial test fit showed that the inside corners required a radius to better fit in the hatch openings, and, the outboard edges of the hatches stood proud of the adjacent decks by a bit and would require some modification to better fit over the gutter structure beneath. The inboard edges, trimmed with mahogany, angled out and stood proud of the cockpit well, but that was the design and was what it was. The owner and I had discussed tentatively the idea of, in the future, building proper fiberglass hatches here, but for now these would do with a modicum of work.

To remove 3/32″ or so from the underside of the outboard edges, and allow the plywood to sit lower over the gutter beneath, I used the table saw to trim down the plywood, the quickest and easiest way to remove the material cleanly as needed.

This worked well enough for the starboard side, which had sat fairly cleanly in its opening except for the outboard edge, but the port side still stood proud all around, so after the second test-fit I removed plywood from the underside along the two sides as well, using again the table saw and, to finish the cuts near the inboard trim, a chisel. After this, the lid lay more properly on its supporting gutters and more or less flush enough with the adjacent seats, like its counterpart to starboard.

I ordered piano hinges to secure these hatches in place, then sanded and cleaned up both sides of the lids before applying a sealer coat of varnish to all surfaces, the first of several I’d apply before installing these permanently.

Next, I turned to the cockpit coamings. Like the hatches, a new set of raw mahogany coamings had been milled up sometime in the distant past, exact copies of the originals, then set aside when the boat was abandoned. Now I needed to test-fit the coamings and the included–but separate–coaming blocks at the forward ends before I could proceed with final finishing and ultimately installation.

Having installed a few sets of new coamings on sisterships over the years, I knew the back sides of the coamings would require some relief in order to fit in the corners of the cockpit at each end, so I started by removing material from these areas on both coamings. This would never be seen once the coamings were installed.

Starting with the starboard side, I test-fit the coaming, using my hastily-built-long-ago-and-still-functional-though-imperfect coaming installation press. I found the fit was a bit tight on this side, so I cut back the overhangs at each end a bit to allow the coaming to fit as needed. At the forward end, the coaming block–or return, if you like–was actually (and fortunately) a good fit, and though in this state the coaming board didn’t conjoin the block fully, it clearly would once the two were attached and in the final installation.

Satisfied with the test fit, I drilled all the screw holes into the fiberglass behind, then removed the coaming to the workbench, where I installed the coaming block to the coaming board with an epoxy mixture, clamping it in place securely. I added some wood dust for color, and because the coaming block was a bit proud of the coaming itself, there’d be some sanding and cleanup later, but that was expected and OK.

Next, I repeated the dry-fit process to port, finding that this board fit more easily than its counterpart.

Down on the bench once more, I glued the port coaming block in place like I’d done with the starboard side, finishing just before I had to leave the shop for an appointment.

Total time billed on this job today: 4.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Cloudy, rain and snow showers, 35°. Forecast for the day: Rain and snow showers likely, 47°

Friday

In a short workday, I completed small jobs and next steps for several of the ongoing projects to help advance things through the weekend and bring these various loose ends closer to final readiness.

I started with the cherry woodbox, which I lightly sanded then applied a second coat of gloss base varnish to continue the buildup.

In the head, before I forgot, I cut off the excess bolt length from the through bolts securing the woodstove and heat shield to the bulkhead.

Now that the paint I’d applied to the smoke pipe trim ring had had a few days to cure, I decided to install it and thus be ready for final chimney installation sooner than later. I planned to epoxy the trim ring to the deck, which would ensure a watertight interface and give the stainless steel vent cap a solid mounting base. To prepare the deck itself, I used a multitool to remove the nonskid paint and primers beneath, exposing the original gelcoat which would be a fine substrate for epoxy bonding. I stayed just within the masking tape perimeter with the sanding to avoid damaging the tape or the exposed deck.

After masking over the trim ring to protect the paint, I installed it in a bed of thick epoxy adhesive, applying an abundant quantity to ensure that I could press the trim ring tightly into the adhesive all around while keeping it level across the top. Afterwards, I cleaned up the excess epoxy and removed the masking tape, leaving behind clean surfaces.

Earlier, during the installation of the heat shielding in the cabin, I’d removed a strip of overhead trim at the bulkhead to make room for the vertical heat shield and a circular interior trim ring that would cover and ventilate the opening through the deck. To leave room for this trim ring, I’d marked and cut the wooden overhead trim to accommodate the shape of the trim ring, and now I reinstalled the modified trim. The stainless steel trim ring is only tacked in place with masking tape here for illustrative purposes; in the final install it was to be secured with screws overhead.

To round out the catch-up work for the day, I applied a second coat of paint to the inside of the new deck boxes and lids.

Total time billed on this job today: 1.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Mostly cloudy, 23°. Forecast for the day: Becoming sunny, 43°

Wednesday

Continuing work on the trim ring and related details, after lightly sanding the primer to prepare the trim ring for finish paint, I mocked up the trim ring with the stove deck fitting. After masking over the deck around the opening, I aligned the trim ring properly on deck then set up the through-deck fitting, which in this case is a Dickinson fitting since there was no appropriate marine-specific fitting available from the stove manufacturer itself. With the deck fitting positioned as I thought it should be from above, I went below to ensure that the attached length of pipe extended through the center of the cutout.

With the position confirmed, I scored the masking tape around the base of the fitting, and drilled pilot holes through the deck fitting and trim ring, and just into the top of the deck below. I used a #25 drill bit for the holes through the trim ring as I planned eventually to tap the holes for 10-24 threads. Removing the trim ring and excess masking tape, I used a 5/8″ Forstner bit to remove the top skin and core from each fastener location and filled with an epoxy mixture in the usual way.

With layout and other work related to the trim ring complete for now, I applied several coats of Alexseal snow white to the trim ring over the course of the morning, using a small sprayer.

When I’d last worked on the little wood box, which would also serve as a mounting location for the required side heat shield, I had all the plywood pieces cut to size and shape, along with the solid cherry front corner trims. Now, my first step was to cut 1/2″ off the top dimension of each of the four sides, and replace it with a 1/2″ square piece of solid cherry, which I glued in place and tacked with little brads. This hid the plywood end grain on the exposed top edges of the box.

The box needed a floor, and to allow room for eventual mounting screws through the back and into the bulkhead, as well as to keep the depth of the box convenient, I wanted the floor to be elevated somewhat from the base of the four sides, so I prepared cleats from leftover plywood, about 1-1/2″ wide, and glued and brad-ed [sic] them in place to support the floor on the front panel and two sides. I notched the floor panel to fit around the inside of the front trim, leaving it a bit long at the back side for later trimming once I determined the final details of the back, which I also inset a bit from the back edges of the sides so that the edges of the box would be sure to fit tightly against the bulkhead.

Before lunch, I glued up and clamped two subassemblies–the side panels and their respective front corner trims–which would ultimately make assembly of the whole box easier. I left the assemblies to cure for an hour or so.

With a bit of time on hand before naturally-occurring lunch break, I filled the engine cooling system with new antifreeze. When I reconfigured the engine-based heating system earlier in the project, I’d drained all the existing antifreeze and had had a note on hand to be sure to refill it, and now was the time. To help ensure the system filled as much as possible on the first go-round, I started by filling to capacity the engine heat exchanger, then followed by adding more antifreeze to the external, high-mounted coolant tank on the port side. In all, the system drank about 1-1/2 gallons of coolant, and the level didn’t change after an hour or two. When it was time to test-run the engine, it was likely that more coolant would be needed once the existing had circulated fully through the newly-simplified system, but that would be for later.

With the side assemblies cured enough to continue, now I could glue up the entire box, clamping it securely all around.

While the wood box glueup cured in the clamps, I got back to work on the deck boxes and their lids, masking off the exterior paint as needed around the top edges and then painting the insides of the boxes and lids with gray paint, the first of probably two coats required.

Back in the cabin, I finished up the woodstove installation proper with the two stainless steel side shields, a simple installation with two screws per side. I connected the two lengths of stovepipe and mocked it up through the overhead to check everything; of course I’d have to cut the top section to a specific length later to properly mate with the deck fitting.

The wood box by now had had sufficient cure time in the clamps, so now I could sand the whole piece as needed to prepare it for the finishing room, and apply a sealer coat of thinned varnish.

Total time billed on this job today: 6 hours

0600 Weather Observation: Mostly clear, 41°. Forecast for the day: Sunny, increasing clouds, 59°

Tuesday

To begin, I applied a second coat of nonskid paint to the deck box lids.

The forward deck box would be eventually secured to the deck, but in the deep, protected, small cockpit the owner wanted to try the cockpit box loose, so to help hold the box in place of its own accord, I added strips of rubber (leftover from the anchor pad) to the base of the box, which would cushion and add friction to the box when in place.

With the new woodstove and heat shield in place, my next step in the installation was to mark, and drill, the large hole through the overhead and deck for the smoke pipe. Covering the overhead with masking tape so I could mark at will, I eventually marked out the rough outline of the stovepipe on the overhead, through a combination of measurements and extending the length of the pipe upwards with a level. I found that the heat shield behind the pipe was a bit in the way for parts of this process, so I removed it for now. After double-checking my measurements and the outline I’d made, I was final satisfied enough to mark a center point.

With a drill and 1/4″ bit, I drilled straight through the overhead and deck above to mark the location on deck. Then, with a 5″ hole saw, I cut out the deck from above, leaving only the plywood overhead in place for now. As I’d found throughout during the original rebuild of this boat, the deck and core was in excellent condition in way of this cutout.

From inside the cabin, I scored and began the cut through the plywood overhead, then finished that cut from abovedeck as well. Then, I reamed out the exposed core around the new opening to prepare it for sealing with epoxy.

After cleanup and appropriate masking, I filled the new void round the edge of the 5″ hole with a thickened epoxy mixture, and removed all the tape once the epoxy was in place.

The deck camber on the coachroof wasn’t extreme, but it definitely existed, and this meant that for the smoke pipe to project properly and vertically I needed to build a wedge-shaped trim ring to correct the angle for the mounting flange. I dislike fussy bits of wooden trim for things like this–bits that require varnish and upkeep and become chronic time-wasters–so I chose to build the trim ring from solid fiberglass. While this would be less fun to shape, ultimately it would be a much better option for this installation. Fortunately, I had a piece of 1″ thick fiberglass on hand with just enough size for the new trim ring.

I started with a 5″ hole through the fiberglass, to match the deck opening, then used the rubber gasket supplied with the deck fitting as a guide to mark the outside perimeter of the circular ring, roughly 1″ greater in diameter than the base of the deck fitting. This was the maximum size I could fit on the raw material, and was more than ample in any event. Once I made the cut, I took the circular blank up to the deck and, holding it level from side to side, used a compass to scribe the shape of the deck all around.

I removed the excess material down to my line with a variety of sanding tools, a messy and unpleasant chore to be sure, and once I got it close to the line I returned to the deck for a test fit. The deck fitting was level, so now it was a matter of fine-tuning and flattening the bottom of the trim ring for a better fit.

After some additional work to flatten the bottom, as well as to finish-sand the piece to smooth its contours and round over the exposed corner for a finished appearance, the trim ring construction was complete.