Day 102

Putting in port side steps

Designing the best steps has been an interesting part of the project. At first, I decided to put a piece of sloping plate in and cut the steps out like little cubby holes, but this would have to many sharp edges. Next, I decided to just have little wooden rungs going across the plate like a dock walk, but this would be as uncomfortable to walk up and down as the ones coming onto docks! For the last couple of years, we have thought that this area did in fact have a sloping piece of plate, but recently in some photos of other boats simular to ours, we have realised that most people have left the bulkhead vertical, cut the sheer to an angle, and put in a ladder! With all this consideration, and a final decision on the way I would do it, I can't change it now! As can be seen above, things have worked out rather nicely. They weren't finished in this photo, but they are comfortable to walk up and down, and are angled the same as both the poopdeck and the side deck.
		Several things were taken into consideration before I started. The "soft" corners both in and out will add to the appearance and "toe" comfort of the steps themselves. ( Grayed in areas in drawing ) The height of the steps vs. their length. The number of steps and the bottom plate height. Normally the bottom plate wouldn't be on steps, but it was needed to act like a ramp for water to ride up instead of slamming into the step.

The angle of the steps must be sloped downward to stop any permanent accumulation of water in the cavities. I chose 1/2 " slope which is more than enough I think. Another less obvious consideration is to keep the steps sloping lower toward the side of the boat to match the decks they leave and arrive to. Both of these cambers are the same so it wasn't a big deal! I have walked up steps on a boat that left one plane, on to their level plane, then back onto an unlevel plane. I found it disorienting and almost tripped. There will be more on this on day 103 While I was goofing around with the steps, Gena was continuing the job of welding up the cabin top area with the hopes that soon we will no longer need the tarp over the whole boat except the aft, where the transom should be...but isn't yet!

View from under the steps

In hindsight, if I ever did this again, I would have made the side plates the same distance apart top and bottom so all the steps would be the same width exactly. ( Easier for cutting with only one measurement!)

Day 102:
12 hours - Put in steps, almost finished welding forward cabin area 1st and second plates

Marine Radios Sandy's CB Shoppe