May 7, 2019

Scupper 139

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°