Day 142

Gena is still taking a good amount of time to work on the hull cooling tanks, and making progress! She has patience I couldn't even come close to. 1 hour at that and I'm ready to hit the bottle!
She took a well deserved break from that to weld in some reinforcing plates in for the forestay/solent stay chainplates. Because the chainplate is 5/8" and the stembar is only 3/8, welding it on in such a tight area as the tip of the bow is impossible. The 1/2" bars on each side will make a platform on which to corner weld the SS chainplate. Gena wants to further strengthen this with 2 more bars on each side welded to the hull. This may not be necessary but if we don't then she won't have "peace" of mind about it, so in they will go!

Meanwhile back at the pilot house, I have put in the step the window will sit on. I used 2 lengths of flatbar, not angle, as I think it would have been too difficult to bend it in 2 directions accurately. The top edge was cut away evenly with the top of the pilot house roof . The lower piece was cambered leftovers and the top ( vertical ) was plasma cut off so it took on it's own curve ( lucky! ) that was just right. Once a curve is started, it's not too hard to adjust it a bit to make it fit. Notice the angle bar clamped on. This is to keep the seat for the window even with the bottom. Very important because it can't really be adjusted once welded in without distorting the whole thing.

Day 142:
7 hours: Started Front window seating and trimmed top. Put in chainplate reinforcments. Hull cooling.