Friday

With no plans to do any work in the cabin itself during the day, I could go ahead and apply a coat of the semi-gloss white enamel to the aft bulkheads and battery areas.

I spent much of the day on the battery boxes, starting by removing all the wire ties that had held the box together while the epoxy fillets cured.  I snipped these, then pulled them out with pliers.  Afterwards, I lightly sanded the epoxied areas of the boxes as needed, and rounded over all the exterior corners to prepare them for fiberglass later.

To finish up the box construction, I installed my double wall, the real point of which was to provide a solid bearing and connection for the removable fronts.  For each box, I first dry-fit the hardwood cleats–three per side–with screws from outside, then drilled the plywood inner skin as well (though didn’t bother installing the screws dry).  With the basic assembly together, I did a final test-fit with one of the batteries to be sure that I’d planned everything correctly.

Now I disassembled the cleats and completed the final assembly with epoxy adhesive and screws to tie the cleats and double walls together.

The next, and final, major construction step was to cut and install fiberglass tabbing over all the exterior corners of the boxes.

There are always smallish, fairly unmotivating tasks in a project that I like to have available to fill something like a quiet Friday afternoon, once the “real” work is done, and for now this task took the form of making the new chainplates.  I’d already ordered and received new 3/16″ thick bronze to replace the old 1/8″ chainplates, and now I needed to drill the bolt and clevis pin holes and cut them to final size and shape.  I don’t like metalwork, am ill-equipped for it, and never would have done this with stainless steel, but silicone bronze is so kind to work with that I didn’t mind in this instance.

For each of the four chainplates, I clamped the old chainplate atop its new replacement, then drilled all the holes right through into a sacrificial plywood backer.  This ensured that the new holes would be in the exact same position (which on these chainplates was not necessarily a consistent pattern).  Then, tracing the shape of the old chainplate, I cut the curves at the top with a jigsaw–after trying one with a grinder–and cut the chainplates to their individual lengths.

In the photos, the darker ones are the new chainplates.  These were now ready for installation once I started with the hardware work.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  15°, partly clear.  Forecast for the day:   Partly sunny, 23°

Thursday

The newly-glassed house battery platform in the engine room required a light sanding to ease any sharp edges and remove some fiberglass shards at the ends of the platform.

Afterwards, I thought I’d try the actual battery to check the fit.  To my horror, I couldn’t get the battery in:  The angle required to twist the battery over the fiberglass end of the engine foundation was such that the battery wouldn’t slip into place on the platform.  I was sure (so I reassured myself) that the battery would fit:  I’d measured it nine ways to Sunday.  But the height of the battery increased enough during the installation over the fixed end that it wouldn’t drop down onto the platform.

I knew the battery would fit once it was in there, so fortunately this was a straightforward fix:  I cut out a battery-sized section of that transverse strip that allowed the battery to slide into position on the flat, after which it fit as expected with ample clearance at the aft end between the terminal and the electric motor housing above (more than the photos make it appear), vindicating myself.

Since I’d planned for that fixed strip to act as the forward fiddle to help secure the battery, I made up a new, removable fiddle from 1/2″ prefab fiberglass and secured it to the tabs remaining from the original with machine screws in tapped holes; there was enough room behind to add nuts and washers later, but no need for now.  At the aft end, I cut another section of fiberglass to form the fiddle for that end, as planned from the getgo.

After final preparations, I glued in the after fiddle with epoxy, and used some of the excess to smooth over the transition between the platform and the cabin sole at the forward end.

Moving on, I finished up work in the generator storage compartment in the lazarette.  To secure a lashing line, or perhaps a ratchet strap, either of which would hold the generator securely, I installed a pair of padeyes to the original plywood backing on the aft cockpit bulkhead.  The generator fit snugly on its own, and the lashing would ensure that it wouldn’t tend to move at all.

In the cabin, I installed the 12mm plywood “subfloors” for the battery boxes on the settees on either side, securing them with screws in a grid pattern I laid out beforehand.  The multiple screws ensured that the extra layer of plywood would work as one with the settee beneath.  Later in the day, after removing a partial splintered wood cleat and old nails leftover from the original galley on the starboard side (I hadn’t known this stuff was still there when I’d painted the interior earlier, so I painted over it), and after I was sure I was done with work in the boat itself, I applied a coat of primer to the bulkhead filler panels and the new work on the settees.

With all the battery location and related questions now answered, I spent the rest of the day building the battery boxes to hold and secure the four AGM batteries for the engine bank.  Because there was no direct overhead access to the battery locations, and given the weight of the batteries (100 lb each), I designed the boxes to accommodate installation (and someday removal) through the fronts of the boxes, along with traditional top access for inspection, wiring, and maintenance.  For this, the fronts needed to be removable, yet secure, so my design featured hardwood cleats on each side of the box and, to provide security for the batteries within, a second wall on the inside of the cleats to cover them and give the batteries a bearing surface.  So with all this in mind, I eventually sized the bottoms for the boxes accordingly, cut one to size from 9mm plywood, and test-fit a pair of the batteries along with mockups of the sides and back.

Satisfied with the basic size as defined by the test bottom, I cut all the remaining plywood to build two boxes, then assembled them with small holes and plastic zip ties to secure the pieces together.  For this assembly, only the bottom and three sides were necessary, as the fronts would remain removable; the cleats and “inner sides” would also be installed later.

With the boxes dry-assembled, I checked the fit once more with the batteries and the full mockups of the sides, with their 1″ square hardwood cleats and an inner layer of 9mm plywood.  Above the batteries, I left substantial clearance to allow for the handles to lie flat and room for terminals, wiring, and so forth.

Next, I installed epoxy fillets inside the boxes to secure the pieces together permanently, and left them to cure overnight.  I kept the fillet at the corner between bottom and back fairly small so as not to impede the batteries’ flat stowage within, and stopped the side fillets roughly 1″ short of the front to allow a full-sized cleat to be installed there.  (I’d shorten or modify the two other cleats for each side to fit around the fillets.)

Finally, I cut, from 9mm plywood, the pieces I needed for the inner sides, the tops, and the fronts of the boxes, along with a few additional 1″ cleats, which pieces I’d left till now so I could concentrate on getting the main shells of the boxes assembled and glued before the end of the day.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  22°, clear.  Forecast for the day:   Sunny, 34°

Wednesday

After some final cleanup in the generator locker, I applied a coat of the gray bilge paint to all areas and the new work.  Because many one-part paints sometimes have trouble curing over fresh epoxy, I’d applied a few test dabs the day before to see if the paint would dry overnight–it did–so I felt safe proceeding without a two-part primer tie coat, which I often used to speed things along.

With the electric motor installed, the next matter of importance was the juice for the motor:  The batteries.  The powerplant required four 150 amp-hour 12-volt batteries to make up the 48-volt bank, and now it was time to finalize the battery locations and build boxes as needed to hold them.

The initial plan the owner and I had been considering had one pair of the batteries in a box just forward of the engine room, which box would end up being part of the companionway ladder and steps; the other two batteries, in this plan, would be located on either side of the engine near the aft bulkhead.  But during continuing conversations with the owner throughout the morning, we challenged various aspects of the plan and made changes accordingly.

Among other considerations, one of the things I looked at was whether the pair of batteries forward of the engine would take up less room when oriented longitudinally or transversely; it turned out that they were shorter than the pair was wide by about an inch, so if we went this route we’d stick with the orientation as shown above.  In the final photo below one can see the tick mark about an inch forward of the box representing the battery.

The owner was loath to give up the cabin sole space required for the batteries in front of the engine, and with further discussions (and here I’d be remiss to fail to mention the brilliance of the owner in coming up with the idea) we decided it would be better–with few real detriments–to place a pair of the batteries on each side of the engine, on the settees forward of the bulkhead.  This plan had the benefits of opening up the cabin space, simplifying battery box construction (two versus three), and further simplifying the battery wiring later on.  Weight distribution was equal from side to side, and while in a perfect world it would have been nice to locate the batteries somewhere further forward (and even more ideally on the centerline), the realities of the boat and other competing needs were what they were and were well defined, and, as in all things, compromise represented the way forward.  In fact, once the decision was made, this battery plan seemed completely obvious and better in all respects.

In these photos, the blue tape marks on the settees represent 6′ from the forward bulkhead on each side, the minimum “sleep-able” length for the settees that might drive other aspects of the engine room and galley construction.

In addition to the engine batteries, the owner hoped to use a single 12-volt standard group 24 battery for the house power, keeping it separate from the propulsion bank.  This would be easy enough to fit somewhere, though we’d not formulated an exact plan just yet.  But as I worked around the engine space on these other early tasks, my eye kept going to the yawning space forward of the engine between the foundations:  It sure looked to me like it was perfectly battery-sized.  This would be a great location (thought I) if it worked, and the owner agreed, so I pursued the notion.

My first thought was to store this battery in a standard plastic battery box for convenience, and I made up a quick  plywood template sized according to the overall dimensions of the box, though the 2D template required imagination to turn into the bulky assembly that would be the full box with its vented cover, which was larger than the template I made–but it’d be clear soon enough if it would fit.

It was immediately clear that the prefab box would not work in the space:  It was too tall, and the top was far too bulky to fit in the narrow space, with nowhere near enough clearance to the bottom o the engine and the forward end of the driveshaft.  The base of the box, for which the template was sized, was too wide and thus sat too high in the bilge thanks to the curves of the hull beneath.

A quick test showed that the box would fit in the space forward of the foundations, but who wanted that–we’d just cleared that space thanks to the new engine battery plan, so this was a non-starter (though it never hurts to have workable alternatives in hand).

Next, I made another template to the size of a simple battery tray, one of those plastic ones with the hold down clamps or straps.  At the same time, I made another template of the actual battery footprint, just so I’d have that reference as well since now the battery dimensions themselves (especially height) would drive the final solution.  The battery was 9-1/4″ tall to the top of the terminals.

Again, the plywood template for the prefab base was just a touch too large, and wouldn’t fit low enough in the bilge to allow a safe clearance overhead.  While it was almost OK, it was a touch too close to the underside of the engine and the shaft end.

However, all was not lost:  the fit was so close with the prefab base that it was a natural progression now to simply use the battery base itself as a template, and if I planned a minimally-sized platform based on that, the battery would fit–which matched what my eye had told be earlier in the morning.  This plan just meant that I’d rely on cleats (the forward section of the engine foundation would act as a forward cleat) and a strap to secure the battery to the platform itself, and this proposal would give ample clearance overhead for the battery, terminals, and any wiring.

The owner agreed with this plan, so now I could get started on the actual construction.  Using my battery-base template, I scribed the shape of the hull and transferred the pattern to 12mm plywood, which I cut to fit.  The vast undulations on the port side are from the original tabbing securing  the foundations above.  I’m frequently amazed at how much work it must have taken Pearson to install tabbing and other fiberglass work with such roughness and bulginess, as if they were trying to make it as awful as possible–a real art form in itself, I suppose.

Before continuing, I decided to install the motor front cover for protection, then wrapped the whole assembly in plastic to keep out dust and  such during the nearby constructions.

In any event, once I got the platform to fit where it needed to, I marked the hull on each side and sanded away the paint from an appropriate area to allow bonding space for epoxy and tabbing.  After cleanup, I epoxy-coated the base and edges of the new platform, then installed the platform with thickened epoxy adhesive and fillets before installing two layers of fiberglass over the top and up the sides of the engine room to fully secure it.

Now I could get back to the propulsion batteries.  The starboard settee outboard of the engine room was flimsy where the top met the side, as there was no means of support here–this had been hidden inside the original galley.  I had enough access from a nearby cutout that I could install with screws a hardwood cleat inside the space to support and secure the two parts of the settee together, greatly improving the structural qualities.

Getting ready for some of the new construction ahead, I installed the two bulkhead filler pieces, using screws to secure each to the cleats behind.  I planned to prime and paint the forward-facing sides presently.  These were not glorious feats of cabinetmaking, and the original bulkhead was almost comically out of square, plum, and straightness (again, it takes dedication to install something with quite this level of badness–though at least it was strong), but these awful fillers would be completely hidden when all was said and done, and gave at least theoretical access to the spaces behind in the future.

To add additional support for the heavy battery banks–200 lb. per side–I planned to add a secondary layer of plywood over the settees, spanning between the tabbed edges at the hull (strong) and the vertical sides of the settees bordering the engine room (also strong enough).  From 12mm plywood, I cut two pieces to fit, each wide enough for the forthcoming battery boxes and long enough to span the settees as needed.  I cut the outboard ends to fit the shape of the hull as needed.  I planned to screw these to the existing settees, but before doing so and since it was the end of the day, I epoxy-coated the bottom sides of the new pieces for protection (the exposed surfaces would receive primer and paint to match).

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  14°, clear.  Forecast for the day:   Partly sunny, 36°

Tuesday

To begin the morning, I applied a second coat of paint to the two plywood bulkhead fillers.

In the engine room, I’d left the engine in the state pictured below.  Starting from this point, I eyeballed how I wanted to reconfigure the mounting flanges to get the shaft at the correct height and give room for adjustment in the mounting feet.

Removing the assembly once more to the nearby settee, I unbolted the flanges and, using the original spacers once more, reinstalled them with the vertical leg facing up, and at a slightly different height that would better suit the shaft position in the boat.

Replacing the engine on the foundations once more, I adjusted the mounts as needed to bring the two couplings into more or less perfect alignment.

Outside, I found that during the process the shaft had slipped aft by 3/8″ or so, which was a bit further than I wanted as it didn’t leave enough room to fit the propeller between the shaft and rudder, so after pulling things forward accordingly, I added a block of wood between the shaft and rudder to prevent it from moving again, and realigned the engine and coupling, clamping the forward mounts to prevent the assembly from slipping down the inclined foundations.  Once I was finally satisfied with the position of everything, I made some marks outlining the position of each mounting foot on the beds, and labeled each foot for its position.

Now I could remove the electric motor, shaft, and stuffing box for final assembly.  Down on the bench, I added 1/4″ graphite packing to the stuffing box (3 rings for now), and replaced the stock hose clamps with improved solid-band clamps.  I permanently installed the shaft coupling with its key and setscrews, since I could slip this through the stern tube from inside the boat at this point, which I did next after installing the stuffing box.

I wrapped tape around the lower adjusting nuts on each mounting foot, ostensibly to hold them in their proper adjustment when I removed them from the engine (this works better than not, but is not infallible), then, with each in place with its reference marks on the foundations, drilled the mounting holes and bolted the feet to the foundation.

Now I installed the motor a final time, placing it over the mounting studs and, at more length than I expected, realigning it to the shaft coupling.  I found that the tops of the foundations had a slight downward angle towards the outside, which, when the feet were bolted in place, caused some changes in the stud position and overall alignment.  Fortunately, adjustments were relatively straightforward, since the motor was light enough to easily move, raise, or lower as needed, and eventually the couplings mated properly and, after securing the engine’s mounting nuts, I could finalize the shaft connection with the supplied bolts.

Finally, I reinstalled the L-shaped brackets I’d removed from the front of the housing earlier when I’d tried the previous mounting flange position.  These little flanges would ultimately provide the basis for the front motor cover.

With the installation basics wrapped up within, I saw no reason not to install the propeller now.

The next item on the agenda, which I’d start forthwith, was the four large batteries required for the system.  Using the boxes in which the batteries came–which served as decent analogs for the batteries themselves as they were a close fit in size–I mocked up the proposed battery positions as the owner and I had discussed:  Two in front of the engine, where the box would also serve as a step for the companionway; and one each on either side of the engine, mounted either transversely or longitudinally (I thought transverse–long way across the boat as in the third photo–was more space-efficient).  This project would continue next time.

Total time billed on this job today:  7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  4°, high clouds and windy.  Forecast for the day:   Mostly sunny and windy, 16°

Monday

In the lazarette, I gave the newest work a light sanding as needed (the chocks for the generator and the new engine exhaust fill), then installed a fiberglass patch over the inside of the engine exhaust to complete the work there.

Some of the low-tack masking tape lining the cabin sole had lived up to its name and come partially unstuck and, in some cases, completely loose after the painting, and this left a less-crisp line of demarcation than I’d hoped for, but the new sole still looked OK.  I’d probably do another coat later in the project, but for now I could install the bilge hatches and cover the sole with some cloths for protection while I turned to other pursuits.

The first order of reassembly business now that the cabin painting was essentially done (pending touch-ups and new work to come) was the cockpit scuppers, including the seat and sidedeck drains.  These areas would soon be inaccessible or, at best, challenging to access, so now was the time to install new hoses and clamps all around.

The sidedeck and cockpit seat drains led from their openings to a sort of Christmas tree arrangement of fiberglass tube barbs glassed to the main cockpit scuppers.  I’d measured these at 1″ diameter, and bought hose accordingly.  So I was rather surprised when on the very first hose, I had great difficulty getting the hose to fit over the fiberglass tube beneath the cockpit.  I fought with it for a while but couldn’t stretch the hose over the tube and get it down far enough, so I ended up sanding the exterior of the tube a bit, after which I could finally get the hose on and clamped successfully.  Fortunately, this particular tube seemed to be an anomaly, as the other end of this hose–and in fact all the remaining hoses–slid on their respective tubes without any undue issues.

On the port sidedeck drain hose, I added some chafe gear where the hose led close by some bolts sticking out the back of the nearby bulkhead.

Next, I turned to the 1-1/2″ hoses for the main cockpit scuppers.  These short hoses led directly from the fiberglassed scupper tubes to similar tubes glassed into the hull nearly directly beneath, leaving little room for hose manipulation.  Knowing this issue in advance, I’d purchased hose specifically for the task that was a bit more flexible than the typical hardwall, wire-reinforced hose I might have otherwise used, hoping it would fit better in the tight space.  The fabric-reinforced coolant hose would be plenty strong, but much more supple for installation.

Before beginning, I made a mark on the hull tube end to give me a reference for how far onto those tubes, at a minimum, the hose needed to extend for good clamping.  If I couldn’t see the mark when all was said and done, I’d know all was well.  As it happened, the hose worked well for the application, as hoped, and I had little trouble installing it by forcing it down onto the hull barb as far as possible, then bending and manipulating the top end onto the tube beneath the cockpit, after which I could pull the hose back up while still leaving plenty of hose on the lower barb for clamping.

The starboard aft bulkhead originally (and still) had a little plywood insert to fill in the space, but because the port side had been behind the old icebox, there was no such piece there.  Now, to fill in that side, I used the starboard piece as a rough template to mark and cut out an insert from 12mm plywood to fit the port side.  These inserts would never be seen once the interior was finished, but would close off the lockers from the cabinets and interior spaces, and vise-versa.  They’d remain theoretically removable should it be necessary sometime far down the road.

To prepare for installation, I painted the back (locker) sides of the two sections with the gray bilge paint.  The old piece (on the right in the photo) soaked in all the paint in short order, leaving an almost bare-looking surface, and I’d meant to recoat them at the end of the day, but forgot, so I’d do that next time.

There were a couple wooden cleats behind the bulkhead web that would help support the inserts, and give places to install fasteners, but the port side needed a couple more, and I thought another one at the top of the starboard side would be helpful, so from leftover teak cutoffs I made up a few new cleats and secured them with screws, ready to accept the plywood soon.

Now I was ready to start the basics of the electric motor installation.  To begin, I temporarily installed the shaft coupling on the prop shaft (leftover shaft–but much newer than original and in excellent condition–from the Atomic 4 installation), and temporarily installed the stuffing box (no packing yet installed) on the stern tube so I could install the shaft and position it where it needed to go.  Beforehand, I’d made a mark on the shaft to show roughly where the prop hub ended up, which showed a sort of minimum amount of shaft that had to extend aft of the Cutless bearing, and with the shaft in place I moved it around as needed to ensure that the propeller could be installed in the space between the shaft and rudder, which pretty much finalized the shaft position.  I secured a hose clamp around the shaft so I wouldn’t be able to pull it in further than this.

To bring the electric motor assembly into the boat, I found it handy to put it in a large tote bag, which made carting the weight up the ladder less awkward.  Once in the boat, and after familiarizing myself with the basics of installation per the instructions, the first thing I needed to do was reorient the mounting flanges, which could be positioned in various ways and at various heights to accommodate many different installation scenarios.  For this boat, I needed to turn the mounting slots outward (to accommodate the 11-1/2″ mounting centers of the existing foundation), and, based on a rough measurement of the shaft height, I thought I needed to turn the flanges over so the actual mounts would hang beneath, giving the motor something approximating its correct height vis-a-vis the prop shaft.  These changes were straightforward and served as a starting point, though I knew various adjustments would be needed.

With the flanges realigned and the mounting feet loosely secured where my eyeball roughly thought, I tried the fit on the foundations, but immediately had a problem:  The L-shaped mounting brackets, secured to the engine unit with bolts and spacers, were a bit wider than the inside of the foundation, and the engine had to sit down within the space a bit because of the position of the shaft.

The first fix seemed just to be to reduce the width of the spacers (the purpose of the spacers is indefinable, but I wanted to try and keep them). On hand I had some extra-thick 5/16″ washers, two of which were about half the thickness of the original spacers, so I installed them and tried again.  However, this was still too wide to fit as is.

Now I thought I’d try the flanges without any spacers at all, which led to a related minor issue with the motor:  The little L-shaped brackets on the front of the unit, which accepted the front cover (not in place here) and screws, extended down just below the mounting flanges, which would prevent them from being secured tightly to the motor housing if I removed the spacers (this may be the only point of the spacers, come to that).  That would be an easy fix if needed, so for now I simply removed these two brackets, then attached the L-shaped flanges directly to the motor housing.

Now everything fit between the foundations, but the whole engine was a bit low, as evidenced by the way the two shaft couplings were misaligned.  That was to be expected and represented minor adjustments.  Now, the electric motor assembly is a lot lighter than a diesel or gas engine would be, and isn’t too bad to move around, but still, one hopes not to move it on and off the engine beds too many times in the course of an afternoon.  This had already been quite a bit of moving around so far.

It was late in the day and I’d been determined to have the engine sitting on the foundations by the end of the day, but as I made some height adjustments to bring the couplings into alignment I realized that I’d have to realign the L-brackets differently, as the engine was ending up too high on the mounting studs, right at the top so far and the engine wasn’t yet adjusted correctly.

This was no particular problem, but by now it was too late to consider removing the engine and starting over, so I left that task for next time, when I’d determine how best to position the L-brackets and then get the engine properly set up and at the right height.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  36°, light rain.  Forecast for the day:   Showers and rain, 45°, becoming sharply colder overnight

Friday

I began the day with some light and quick sanding chores in the cockpit and generator locker, cleaning up the scupper openings, a small patch on the vertical repair to the lazarette opening, and lightly scuffing the new fiberglass on the generator platform.  I also cut off flush the old engine exhaust in the lazarette to prepare it for patching.

With the generator in place in the locker, I measured for some chocks that would help hold it securely for storage.  With a chock at each side of the new platform, plus the backstay chainplate (which held the generator securely at the aft end), and a simple lashing to secure the unit to the back side of the cockpit (where I planned to add some fittings to secure a lashing or strap), the generator wouldn’t move when not in use, yet would be easy to access and remove when needed.  I prepared two chocks from some scrap hardwood to fit the ends of the platform.

After final preparations, I epoxied the new wooden chocks in place, coating all surfaces of the wood with epoxy as well.

Meanwhile, I masked over the exterior of the old engine exhaust and filled it from within with an epoxy mixture.  Later I planned to cut off the exterior end flush.

Moving on, I turned to the forward hatch final installation.  After marking and predrilling all the fastener locations, I secured the hatch permanently with plenty of sealant and 20 screws, cleaning up the excess sealant squeezeout afterwards.  I’d leave the protective paper on the hatch for the duration of the project.

Inside the opening, I planned later to clean up and paint the exposed inner deck edge to finish it off.

In the cabin, I prepared the cabin sole and masked along the edges to protect the white paint.  I used a delicate-surface tape to be sure not to damage the fresh paint.  Afterwards, I applied a coat of the same light gray paint I used in the lockers and bilges.  This would give the new paint plenty of cure time over the weekend before any potential traffic.

Total time billed on this job today:  3.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  15°, clear.  Forecast for the day:   Sunny, 30°.

Thursday

Having cured overnight, the forward hatch frame was ready for unclamping.  I’d soon install the new hatch to complete this task.

Following some light prep work in the generator compartment, I cut two layers of heavy fiberglass to sheathe and tab in the shelf, then installed them in epoxy resin.  The new fiberglass  overlapped the hull at the aft end by several inches, and wrapped up the back side of the cockpit well by a few inches as well.

The owner wanted to build the hatch for the new generator compartment, so I made up a simple plywood template I could give him that accurately portrayed the size of the coaming, and the shape of the surrounding deck.  Using roughly 1/8″ thick stir sticks as spacers between the coaming and the inside of the template (representing the minimum inside dimensions of the hatch), I built the raw template in place from 2″ wide strips of 9mm (3/8″) plywood and hot glue, adding stiffeners as needed.  Then, I scribed the shape of the deck on  all sides.

Down on the bench, I cut the template to my scribe lines as needed, and trimmed the overhanging braces and ends of the box.  I fine-tuned the shaping with a couple test-fits on deck to improve the fit after my initial cuts and shaping.  I made some additional reference marks and measurements to highlight various clearances to nearby obstructions, such as the curvy part of the traveler area, and the stern light molding behind, which might affect portions of the build.  Then, I marked the actual inside height of the coaming on the template as a final reference.

Looking to wrap up a few loose ends before I turned my full attention in the coming week to the cabin and the beginnings of systems installations–including scupper drain hoses, which, because of access issues, needed to be installed before the rest of the interior could be completed–I worked on the cockpit scuppers, which were still in rough form following the bulk cockpit work earlier.  Now, I reopened the holes in the cockpit corners with a hole saw and beveled them with a countersink before adding a bit more epoxy fairing compound in the corners and around and inside the drain openings to fine-tune the appearance and function.

In the cabin, I added some screws through the cabin sole and into the new cleats in various places to strengthen the joints and, as needed, cleaned up some epoxy squeezeout here and there and otherwise prepared the sole and cleats for painting in the immediate future.  The cabin sole itself, built from plywood with a fiberglass overlay, was in rather sketchy condition, the original plywood having lost much of its structural integrity over the years, and since it was generally just sound enough despite that (if far from good), and wholesale replacement wasn’t feasible at this time given the other more pressing needs of the project scope, I added some cross stiffeners below the sole in key points to help prevent flexing:  Just some scrap pieces of prefab fiberglass that happened to fit beneath the sole and could be tightly wedged into position.  With no real access beneath, these stopgaps would hopefully extend usefully the life of the existing sole for some modicum of time.

Total time billed on this job today:  5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  40°, mostly clear.  Forecast for the day:   Sunny and windy, temperature dropping.