Day 243

Quite a change and the feeling of taking a step back came over us as we moved our attention to the aft stateroom (extreme aft) framing and preparation for an interior.

Boatcam image: Radius framing

The interior framing of the frames that the paneling will mount to was going to be wood on tabs on the frames. After looking at it for a while we realized the port lights had been set for the frame height plus 1/4". This is a problem as we would need to reframe around the port lights which would not only take time, but would almost erase the cable carrier from the radar arch. ( Lots of cables! )

With all this, we are still going to use wood where panels meet, a big plus, and in other light areas where support of the panel is required.

It's too bad in a way because we were looking forward to trying it. Now we'll have to wait until we do the pilothouse interior finishing.

The "boatcam" was running all weekend almost flawlessly, so I stole an image from that ( above )

The bulkhead that divides the aft of the pilothouse from this area was pretty warped. A good tip in the progression of things ( albeit difficult to precognise ) would be to install these frames before the "top" goes on. When the poopdeck was being welded into place, it shrunk ever so slightly pulling downward on the bulkhead. Being only 1/8" plate, it of course warped to relieve this stress.

Pulling it back into shape is always a touch and go issue, but we have a little experience in this now. This time 1/4" bolts were used to pull into the frames. On the port side ( photo right ) 2" angle was used for extra stiffness. This part of the bulkhead needs to be straight as it is where the bath/shower enclosure will mount.

The frames were "L'd", that is instead of "T'd", down to the radius, and I began to mount the radius curved sections. This all went quicker as we know what to expect of the paneling that will rest on it, where to build up the foam and how to apply coatings etc.

BLOG:

Today was broadcast live via the wireless "boatcam"! If you missed it, roll over May 14 on the calendar below and click the little webcam for a recap.
It's wasn't anything super exciting to watch but this was a good test for future days that are. The webcam consisted of a Nexxus cam with a Fujitsu tablet PC on a wireless link into the house and through a dial-up connection. ( So it's not the quickest! )

Day 243: 6.5 hours - reinforced the aft/pilothouse bulkhead,T'd frames on starboard