Tuesday

I eased into the day by installing the VHF in the panel using the flush-mount kit, a simple clamping arrangement that held the radio in place from behind.

Next, I washed and sanded the new epoxy on the keel.  This happily brought things nearly to their final contours, with only some minor fine-tuning still ahead, which I’d finish soon.

I unclamped the forward cabin door assemblies and sanded off any excess epoxy from the joints and smooth and clean up all surfaces of the doors, then milled rabbet details at the top and bottom edges of both doors to allow them to fit into the grooves in the door rails on board, following the basic concept of the original doors.  During an earlier stage of the interior joinerwork, I’d prepared a sample piece to fine-tune the length of the door stiles and the details of each rabbet, and using this sample I could replicate the details on the doors themselves.

Afterwards, I test-fit the doors in the boat.  I’d designed the edge details so that I could slip the doors into place with both rails fixed to the bulkhead, and I planned to add a small extra runner at the bottom to slightly raise the doors once permanently in place, to aid operation, and to prevent the doors from easily being lifted out inadvertently.

Satisfied with the fit, I performed some final finish sanding, cleaned the doors thoroughly, and applied a sealer coat of varnish to all sides.

Meanwhile, I continued the varnish work on the ongoing trim bits, applying one more base coat to the companionway hinge blocks, and a coat of satin varnish to the head trim pieces.

To finish up for the day, I applied gray bilge paint to the generator and battery platforms in the engine room, as well as a second coat of paint on the aft side of the engine room bulkhead, which had absorbed most of the first coat leaving a sort of “graywash” appearance.

Total time billed on this job today:   6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Cloudy, 37°.  Forecast for the day:  Rain, 42°

Monday

I started with the daily round of sanding and varnish work on the head trim pieces, and also the companionway ladder hinge blocks.

The back side of the engine room door required some of the gray bilge paint to match the engine room and after spaces.  I also painted the plywood panel I’d built to cover the rougher hole beneath the galley sink.

I’d previously cut all the pieces for the forward cabin doors to size, and now I moved on with the last milling details so I could assemble the doors.  As with the other interior doors, I planned flat panels, two per door, so the next step was to mill grooves in the rails and stiles to accept the panels, which I did with a 1/4″ slot-cutting bit and a router.  The short rails were too small to allow for effective clamping, or even to clamp ineffectively and provide enough room for the router base to reach the whole length, so instead I hot-glued the small pieces to the bench and milled the slots that way.

Next, I dry-clamped the frames together tightly and routed an angled chamfer detail on the insides of the frames towards the open panel areas.

After some sanding to clean up the inside edges of all the rails and stiles (I’d await the rest of the sanding till after the doors were assembled), with the final dimensions of the panels now available (based on the slot depths), I milled four 1/4″ plywood panels to fit, and dry-fit both assemblies.

Finally, I glued together the doors with epoxy adhesive.

Much earlier, having noticed the usual evidence of seepage at a few portions of the joint between the ballast keel (external) and the fiberglass keel stump, I’d ground out the suspect areas, and these had had substantial time to air and dry out in the meantime.  Now, I decided to finish up the minor repair work here, so as needed I cut new fiberglass material to fill and span the joint where I’d earlier prepared it, and installed the new material in epoxy resin.  Later on, once the fiberglass had gelled sufficiently, I applied an early coat of fairing compound to these areas as well.

Now that the area beneath the galley was painted, I slipped in the new portable cooler, which fit well inside the space.  There was little room for it to move much from here because it would soon hit the overhead were the cooler to slide to port.

Another small lingering detail in the cabin was a restraining strap for the water tank on the port side beneath the settee.  I’d had this strap on hand for some time, but it had been neglected till I recently uncovered it in a tray of pending parts.  I installed the ratchet strap with stainless steel lags to the wooden framework around the tank.

Impatient, and unwilling to wait a few weeks for the new fiberglass securing the battery and generator platforms to fully cure before paint, I coated these new assemblies with a 2-part epoxy-based paint (which works as a tie coat to allow the final paint to cure properly over the fresh epoxy) so that I could presently finish up the gray engine room paint at my earliest whim.

Total time billed on this job today:   7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Mainly cloudy,45° Forecast for the day:  Sun and clouds, 54°

Thursday

I spent the morning taking care of various odds and ends and small tasks, starting with the companionway ladder, which I unmasked around the new blocks to remove the epoxy residue, cleaned up, then remasked for varnish buildup.

The drawer fronts were complete now, so I installed brass knobs and installed the drawers.

Beneath the galley, in the space containing the sink through hull and space for the portable cooler, I finally cleaned up the surfaces, masked as needed (mainly around the through hull, and applied gray bilge paint to the area, reaching as far as I could beneath the cabinet and beyond the through hull.  This was one of the last spaces to receive this treatment.

Still in the galley, I secured the cherry piece to the top of the little raised platform, using epoxy adhesive to hold it in place without fasteners.

I continued the varnish work on the head trim with coat #3 of gloss varnish.

A power outage in the afternoon limited work time on some potential projects I’d planned, but with bright sunny weather, plenty of light in the shop, and a mild agenda for the rest of the day anyway, I worked on the electrical panel to install the two 12-volt outlets (USB and socket types), the battery monitor unit, and test-fit of the VHF, though the flush-mount kit I required to secure the VHF in the panel was still on order; in the photo, the VHF is just resting in place in the cutout.

Total time billed on this job today:   5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Clear, 32°. Forecast for the day:  Mostly sunny, 59°

Wednesday

When all was said and done, regular access to the after part of the engine room–and in particular the stuffing box–would be hampered by the large battery bank at the forward end of the engine room, so to provide potential access for maintenance and inspection, the owner and I decided to install an access hatch in one of the longitudinal bulkheads that divided the lockers from the center part of the engine room.  I chose the starboard side since the locker was much roomier, and potential access much better.

Earlier, I’d measured the bulkhead and chosen the largest access hatch that would fit in the space.  When the hatch arrived, I used its own cardboard packing material to create a simple template of the cutout and overall size of the hatch for layout purposes.

In the locker itself, I used the template to mark the location of the cutout, and made the cut with a jigsaw.  Then, I installed the hatch with screws.  I had planned to install the hatch so the lid flipped up and out of the way, but I found that the hinges only opened 90° (never let functionality get in the way of thoughtless design), so instead I installed it so the hatch flipped down, allowing access to the engine room within.  It wouldn’t be fun to work on the stuffing box through this hatch, but at least it would be possible.

While it was on the mind, I went ahead and installed the new packing box from inside the engine room, securing it to the stern tube with solid-band clamps.  I had the new graphite packing on hand, but didn’t yet install it.

I’d held off installing the forward transverse battery shelf in the engine room while I finished up other chores in the space, especially painting the area beneath and around the location, but now it seemed like as good a time as any to complete the installation.  I’d built the shelf itself earlier, and had left an unpainted area at the forward end to await the shelf’s final installation.

After a final test fit and thoroughly cleaning the bonding area, I coated the underside and edges of the shelf with epoxy, then set the shelf in place on the hull to each side and the wooden cleat I’d installed along the forward bulkhead, using thickened epoxy as an adhesive and to create a nice fillet along the top edges of the shelf.  I used excess epoxy to coat the top side of the shelf as well.

Afterwards, I cut two layers of tabbing to fit the three sides of the shelf, and installed it in epoxy resin.

With nice weather outside and a pending date for another boat in the yard to be transported out, I took some time to uncover and prepare the boat for its departure in a few days, but with that complete I returned to Scupper and finished up the installation of the interior doors, installing hinges, knobs, and door catches at each location as required.

The companionway ladder required a pair of hinges salvaged from the original ladder to mount and operate the door unit.  Truth be told, I’d completely forgotten during the new ladder’s construction to add some additional blocks as required to support the hinges properly, since the hinge bases were wider than the ladder sides.  I’d long known about the doublers on the original ladder, but regardless it had slipped my mind to install the new ones when I’d originally assembled the new ladder.

So now I set about building and installing the little blocks so I could eventually move on with the ladder’s final installation, to which completion was also tied the installation of the last (not insignificant) trim bits in the main cabin and head to finish off the last raw edges in the boat.

From cherry stock, I made a pair of small blocks to fit the hinge profile in as unobtrusive a manner as possible, and with the blocks clamped dry in place outlined their locations with masking tape.  Then, I scuffed off the varnish inside the tape, and secured the new blocks with epoxy, clamping them securely and carefully cleaning up any excess.  I set the ladder aside for the adhesive to cure.

To finish up for the day, I applied a second coat of varnish to the new head trim pieces, and a coat of satin varnish to the drawer fronts, engine room door trim, and galley sole piece.

Total time billed on this job today:   6.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Clear, 40°. Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 57°

Tuesday

To finish up the cabin sole, I installed all the baseboard trim pieces.  In the galley, I temporarily installed the solid cherry piece on the little raised area to show the completed appearance, though this piece required more varnish before final installation.

Afterwards, I installed paper over the main cabin sole to protect it during the rest of construction.  I added some in the head as well, since I’d be working in there later.

Before I could hang the interior cabinet doors, I needed to install some hardwood cleats that would support the door catches for each door, since the fiberglass interior liner wasn’t thick enough.  At each location, I installed a cherry cleat with epoxy adhesive, clamping it while the epoxy cured.  At the chainlocker bulkhead, the plywood bulkhead allowed me to install the catch right away, without need for a cleat.  Door knobs are on the way for this and all the other doors.

I temporarily installed the hinges on the engine room/head door, then hung the door in its opening, again temporarily.  This was partly to check the fit, but mainly to allow me to trim around the door at the bottom edge, which was my next task.

The head required trim at the bottom edge of the aft bulkhead, where the plywood met the fiberglass liner, as well as at various points along the edges and other interior intersections, much like those in the forward cabins.  Cutting and fitting all the raw trim took much of the day.

Once I had all the trim in place, I removed it all so I could sand and varnish it, beginning with a sealer coat.  Meanwhile, I continued work on the varnish on the other pieces underway, including the drawers, cabin sole piece, and engine room door trim.

To finish up for the day, I completed the final steps to assemble permanently the companionway ladder.  With the back in place dry, I used tape to mark the edges of each tread on the back panel, which helped me lay out accurately the screw locations for each tread.  Thus marked, I drilled pilot holes from the front (painted) side, then milled small countersinks on the back (varnished) side to accept the screw heads, and finally assembled the whole ladder with glue and screws.

Total time billed on this job today:   8.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  Partly cloudy, 41°.  Forecast for the day:  Mostly sunny, showers possible in the afternoon, 64°

Thursday

There wasn’t much I could do in the boat while I let the fresh cabin sole cure, but I’d planned this around a short shop day in any event.  After inspecting the last coat of varnish and deeming it satisfactory, I removed the masking tape while perched on the settees or in the bilge in the main cabin, thus avoiding stepping on the fresh varnish anywhere.

Back on the shop floor, I sanded, cleaned, and varnished anew the drawer fronts, engine room door trim, and galley cabin sole piece.

In the aft part of the boat, I solvent-washed the remaining parts of the lockers port and starboard to prepare them for paint.  Later, I applied paint in these lockers, working from the transom forward to cover the remaining area.

There was no way to get all the surfaces while I was in the lockers–I had to leave enough room to maneuver and turn around and get out of the spaces without getting into the fresh paint, so I did what I could from within, then taped my brush to a long pole and finished up the rest, as the lockers were much too deep for me to otherwise reach from the cockpit.  On the starboard side, I left the new generator platform uncoated for now in order to give the fresh epoxy there some additional cure time before I tried to overcoat it; I’d either prep it with 2-part epoxy primer later and press on, or wait a couple weeks for the epoxy to fully cure before proceeding.  In any event, it was nice to get these spaces mostly painted out.

The new door for the chainlocker, and the one for the cooler storage area in the galley, were designed to actually rest upon the lower surfaces in each location, and thus wouldn’t take well to traditional hinging.  So for these two doors, I installed a pair of stainless steel dowels in the bottom rail, which would later fit into corresponding holes at each location to hold the doors in place while allowing easy removal for access to these spaces when necessary.  To aid the friction fit of the dowels in the door frame, I roughed up the metal surface a little and applied some thickened epoxy to help hold the dowels permanently.

I had hoped to assemble permanently the companionway ladder, but, running out of time, I decided to hold off rather than rushing through.  I settled for dry-fitting the plywood back panel in place to confirm its fit and prepare for final assembly another time.  I was quite looking forward to having the permanent ladder back in place so I could pass between the main cabin and head/engine room without removing my awkward construction ladder;  there’s a reason doors with hinges caught on long ago.

Total time billed on this job today:   3 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  40°, light rain.  Forecast for the day:  Clouds and rain, 46°

Wednesday

Most of the remaining trim work still ahead was either in the head itself, or near it (i.e. the companionway/head door).  I’d be focusing on that all very soon, but for the moment I started with the loose ends of the two cover panels I’d built earlier for the space:  Over the waste tank, and the future instrument panel access to the cockpit.  These needed to be in place so I could trim around them.

For both panels, I first used tape to mark existing screw locations in the backing cleats at each location; left to my own devices, I seemed to have an uncanny ability to choose and attempt to drill into the exact location of some screw in the underlying structure unless I marked them first (if only I could find them when I wanted to).  Then, I laid out for screw locations to secure the panels.  Both needed to be removable for access, but wouldn’t require regular access, so I chose regular screws to install the panels.

To allow the future trim to slip behind the waste tank panel, and to allow the panel’s removal later as needed, I used some future trim stock to mark the corners of the panel as needed, and then cut out the reliefs.  I planned to finish up the trim in the head soon, but wanted to get the engine room door  hung so I could trim around it as needed (clearances for required trim at the bottom edges of the opening were tight).  For now, though, I awaited the door’s final finishing (underway), and, with the cabin sole finishing in its final stages also didn’t want to be in and out of the boat unnecessarily, so the trim project would continue next week.

Another trim-my loose end was a small molded raised area in the galley, where the original interior molding had to take a little step to allow hull clearance while maximizing the galley sole area.  I’d saved for duplication the original teak piece from the area, and now used it to cut a new cherry blank to fit.  With the rounded corners of the molded liner, I had to relieve the back edges of the piece to fit, as per original, and after one test fit I found I needed to take off a bit more, after which the new piece fit as expected.  Afterwards, I sanded the new piece clean and to prepare it for finishing before installation.  The old piece used many screws, but I planned to install the replacement with adhesive alone.

Note that the cabin sole baseboard trim I built earlier would cover the lower vertical edge of this new piece once installed.

That was about all I planned inside the boat this day, so now I lightly sanded, then cleaned, the cabin sole to prepare it for its final coat of varnish.  These photos show the sole after drying overnight, all taken from deck level since I planned to stay strictly off the fresh sole till it had several days of cure time.  I’d planned this around other aspects of my schedule.

I also finished up the varnish work on the cabin sole trim pieces; this photo shows them after curing overnight.

The two cabin sole hatches, which were now complete, looked good, and I installed the brass ring pulls to finish them up.

Meanwhile, I continued the varnish buildup on the remaining ongoing parts, including the drawers, engine room door trim, and now the new galley cabin sole piece I’d just milled.

After confirming the layout I’d produced earlier, I went ahead and cut out the openings for the electrical service panels as marked.  I ended up leaving narrow vertical strips of the original cabinet in place between each panel for added strength, whether required or not.  Once I had the openings cut, I test-installed the three panels, then confirmed the locations of the additional installations I required at the forward end before marking and cutting those openings, working from both sides of the panel to avoid tearout on the back.  I didn’t yet have on hand the VHF, monitor, and outlets, but would install them once they arrived.  To finish up the panel for now, I installed a handle at the top edge.

To finish up for the day, I prepared all the rails, stiles, and panel blanks for the doors into the forward cabin.  I’d previously cut a sample stile (vertical piece) to get the length and end details right, and had measured the width of the opening, so knew my doors had to each be 11″ wide, so I cut the rails 7″ long.  I pre-cut four panels to generous dimensions but would wait till I’d milled the grooves before cutting them to final size.  For that, I had a new router bit on the way to streamline the job, so for now this was as far as I could take the doors’ construction.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25  hours

0600 Weather Observation:  28°, clear. Forecast for the day:  Increasing clouds, 56°

Tuesday

After unclamping the drawers, I sanded the fronts and boxes as needed to clean up any excess epoxy and otherwise prepare them for finish.  I tested the completed drawers in the galley, and they fit as expected.

The newly-laminated generator shelf required a light sanding after removing the temporary screws, and a quick test fit showed a need for a slight bevel on the outer edge where it met the hull.  With that cut, I patterned a small vertical bulkhead to support the forward end of the platform, and after confirming the fit I secured it to the platform with a hardwood cleat, screws, and epoxy adhesive.  I also coated the under-and insides of the platform and bulkhead and all plywood edges with more epoxy.

I cut away the inside edge of the new bulkhead to allow better access in the confines of the cockpit locker, and similarly chopped off the corner of the shelf itself to avoid a hard and sharp edge, which measures I knew would be appreciated by me, and hopefully by future denizens of the cockpit locker.

After final preparations in the boat, I secured the platform in place permanently with epoxy adhesive and screws at the aft bulkhead cleat, and additional epoxy where the shelf and forward bulkhead met the hull, and coated the outside portions of the platform with epoxy as well.  Then, I applied two layers of tabbing to secure the platform and bulkhead to the hull and secure the entire arrangement.

The simple panel door leading from the head to the engine room, which I’d previously veneered with beadboard and painted to match the rest of the boat, required some trim along its outer edges to hide the plywood edge grain, since the door was a basic overlay design.  To this end, I milled some delicate wraparound trim from cherry leftovers–I didn’t want, and the door didn’t need, any hefty trim here–and secured it around the edges with glue and brads.

With the afternoon drawing on, it was time for the day’s varnish work, starting with the 4th base coat on the cabin sole trim pieces.

Next, I applied a thinned coat of varnish to the new drawer fronts and engine room door trim, after masking off the areas as needed.

The cabin sole was ready for its final coat or two of satin varnish, but I’d not yet prepared the sole in the cabin, as I wanted to leave the final coat till I knew I could stay off it for a few days (over the weekend), so for now I just applied satin varnish to the two cabin sole hatches.

I used the last part of the afternoon to begin laying out the electrical panel and service area, using the starboard panel from the new locker I’d built in the main cabin.  This panel would include 16 DC breakers, plus an AC shore power panel, along with a flush-mount VHF radio, battery monitor, and a couple ubiquitous 12-volt and USB outlets.  I had the panels on hand, but for the remaining installations I used dimensional information available online to determine the sizes of the VHF, monitor, and outlets.

To begin, I covered the face of the wooden panel with masking tape so I could draw layout lines and protect the finished surface.

Space requirements had dictated the general shape and size of the electrical service panels, with three separate, identically-sized panels for the job, but I wanted to install them butted together so they looked like a single unit.  To ensure an accurate cut opening in the wooden panel, I used plywood scraps and glue to create a basic template of the panels, which always seem to be designed with tight clearances at the edges, and little wiggle room for error.

After some basic layout on the tape-covered panel, where I marked outside limits based on known cleat and fastener locations, I determined that the electrical assembly should be at the aft, narrower end of the panel, leaving the larger forward end available for the VHF and other installations.  I used my wooden template to mark inner (cutout) and outer dimensions of the electrical panels, then laid out the VHF, battery monitor, and outlets in a pleasing way in the forward section of the panel, which brought me to the end of the day’s work.

Total time billed on this job today:   8  hours

0600 Weather Observation:  38°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Cloudy, chance of showers, 49°

Monday

Beginning a day of mostly odd-and-continuing jobs, after another round of sanding I applied a coat of satin varnish to the interior doors and head panel, hopefully the final coat for these parts.

Now that the cherry drawer front blanks were ready for action, I spent much of the morning finishing up various details required to assemble the drawers, starting with trimming the blanks to the proper size based on the old drawer fronts, then milling rabbets around the edges to match the spirit and overall dimensions of the originals. and the specifics of new plywood drawer boxes.  With the four main rabbets milled as needed to fit, I temporarily clamped the drawer sides in place and used one of the drawer bottoms (which I’d cut to appropriate size from 6mm plywood) to mark the landing point on the insides of the drawer fronts, where I required another dado to accept the front edge of the drawer bottom.

Before continuing, I did a reality check with the drawer parts up in the boat, just to be sure the new boxes fit inside the openings in the galley.  Though I used just the sides and back assembled dry for the test, it was clear that the dimensions were as they needed to be.

I milled a rounded edge detail on the drawer fronts, in keeping with the joinery elsewhere in the cabin, then sanded the fronts smooth and clean on both sides before assembling the drawers with epoxy adhesive and setting them aside to cure.

Continuing work on the shelf for portable generator storage in the starboard cockpit locker, I first cut a blank from 6mm plywood to fit the desired location (it turned out to require only a simple angle cut to fit against the hull).  Then, using materials on hand, I cut two identical pieces of 6mm plywood, and laminated the three together with epoxy to make a hefty shelf 18mm  (3/4″+) thick, securing the assembly temporarily with screws while the adhesive cured.

In the galley, I laid out another piece of 6mm plywood to cover the large hole I’d had to cut in the original shelf for through hull installation access.  The new panel covered much of the hole, but left an opening for hose connection and access for operating the sea valve if desired.  I’d wait to install this permanently till I finished up the prep and paintwork in the locker beneath (soon).

Before continuing the varnish work on the cabin sole, I took a few minutes to pre-install some brass ring pulls in the two hatches, drilling recesses above the old finger holes I’d started with in the substrate to accept the flush round ring pulls above.  I’d await final installation till the varnish was complete, but now I could varnish into the new recesses during the last coats on the sole.

After the usual final preparations, I continued varnish work on the sole with the fourth coat of base varnish on all areas, and the third coat on the trim pieces.

Finally, I applied a coat of satin varnish to the companionway ladder and back.

Total time billed on this job today:    7.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  26°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 53°

Friday

For some time, I’d been ready–and wanted–to paint out the engine room and related spaces, but my focus on working through the various trim and finish details in the cabin kept superseding the aft spaces.  But today, I made it my priority, as I wanted frankly to get it over with.

The engine room and cockpit locker spaces were voluminous, but still fairly tight to move about within, so I planned my attack accordingly.  The sheer magnitude of the spaces meant that I planned from the getgo to paint in a couple stages, plus the fact that I still had some work to finish up in the starboard locker, so for now I focused on the center part of the space, beneath the cockpit, and the engine room, aft bulkhead face, and battery shelves on each side.

I started by vacuuming and then solvent-washing the spaces in question, then worked my way up and out from the aft part of the engine room (working from within the space itself), then the forward part of the engine room (working from the head), and then the outlying spaces on each side, working from the two cockpit lockers to paint the battery shelves and bulkheads at the forward end of the engine room.  I also painted the aft center space around the rudder post, and the entire inside of the transom, plus some areas of the inside of the cockpit well.  I left the storage lockers and other remaining areas on both sides for another painting session soon.

With that done, I turned to the day’s varnishing chores, going through all the standard preparation steps and applying more varnish to the cabin sole (3), companionway ladder parts (4), interior doors (4), and cabin sole trim pieces (2).

I rounded out the day in the woodshop, working on the galley drawers.  I began by cutting some cherry stock into appropriate lengths and gluing up two panel blanks from which I could later build the drawer fronts.

For the drawer boxes, I needed to perform a couple additional milling steps on the plywood pieces I’d cut last time.  Each piece required a rabbet at the back end, into which the drawer back would later fit.  I cut the plywood backs to fit properly within the rabbets, forming the overall drawer width required.  I also cut dados near the bottom edge of each panel to accept the 6mm plywood drawer bottoms.

Once the cherry front panels were cured, I could complete the shaping of the drawer fronts, cut the bottom plywood to size, and assemble the boxes.  That would all happen another time.

Total time billed on this job today:   7 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  40°, fog, partly cloudy. Forecast for the day:  Fog and rain, 50°