Day 221

Well here we are on the little boat in the lake testing our sonar gear out!

The weather forced us into it as the temps are falling way below zero and the lake will begin freezing up. The unit Gena is testing in the photo is a forward scanning sonar. It gives a picture of the bottom like a side scan sonar, but also a vertical image like a fish finder. Because it was used, we had to give it a test before we ran the wire all through the big boat.

The sensor unit has no plug so it must be ran through the hull, then back to the head. It all barely reaches. The sensor can be seen mounted off of the ladder with tape. We also tested the simple sonar and speed sensor units. All work great!!

Today the last saftety eyes were welded on.(right)

Gena went around putting tape and tin cans over everything we don't want foam all over. The hatches edge along the frame needs to be left clear because the interior edging must slide into the slot.

The mushroom vents and their grills definately need to be protected. The way we understand it, when the foaming guy is spraying the stuff on, it really shoots on not unlike spraypaint.

Also "X's" need to be marked to show where not to foam, and markers for 1" or 2" thicknesses.

There were a few things we had forgotten about that really had to be done today, ie. the firring strips on the wooden bukhead!
Somehow, I forgot all about it ( it was my job ) and so did Gena.

In the photo to the right, it can be seen in place. Much easier to do now hehe!

Another thing that escaped us was the finishing of the port side bulkhead to dash join. Pretty hard to weld after foam is on there.

The dash area will be bolted on (for easy removal if a major rewire is needed) as a subframe on it's own. The door slides going behind the dash, are likely going to be aluminum so welding them to steel wouldn't work anyway.

Last of safety line eyes on cabin

Trim to protect areas from foaming

Firring strips put on wood bulkhead!

Finished weld on dash edge

It looks like everything inside is ready. Now a minor thing outside and we're all ready for foaming.

Day 221:
8 hours - Finished up dash, covered everything, welded on chain stops, guards, eyes, last 2 safety line eyes.

	The chain guards, as mentioned earlier, are important because of the distance from the roller to the windlass and possible deck coat wear. As predicted, the chainstops had to be cut down to make them a little lower. I used the cutoff saw and they came out fine. They were then masked and welded on to the end of the guards. Even though a lot of welding was done, the 3/16" plate in this triangle never budged. yay!

	The photo to left shows the finished stops and eyes to tie the anchor to.Most of our anchors are so long they almost reach these so having a vertical track would have definately been a waste of time. The eyes and stops are offset because there wasn't enough space to sit them side by side. The port side eye is aft because it makes the whole thing more compact, and looks cool. The weather went bad so nothing could be smoothed for the photos. In fact, if you look closely, that isn't water on the deck. It's ice.
Well, this is it! All ready for foaming. Now all we can do is wait for the foaming guy, and hope the temps get back above 10º C!