Day 244

Sorry the images aren't that good! I was so excited about the webcam, I forgot to actually take any pictures.

Because of shrinkage during the welding up of the poop-deck plate, the cockpit supports had bent and twisted under the strain. These were just temporary to hold up the cockpit anyway, and needed a stronger base ( or they may punch a hole on the bottom of the boat if anything big and heavy landed in the cockpit, ie. a wave! ) A large support was welded in place, and heavier 1 1/2" angle layed in over the origional 1" angle. This stiffened everything up nicely.

Also there is now a place to attach the doors on the closet that will be under the cockpit.

The next job to be done was to put in the first frame for the aft berth, a queensize matress in dimension. We used a 2x2 for this as it will also act as a stiffener for the rudder assembly with verticals going down to the frame below it. (left)

More frames were "L"ed for panelling to be attached. (Pic left, I'm hiding my eyes from the welding flash, amongst other things! )

The top edge over the portlights was also put in. I wanted to do them in wood but this is easier and will work equally as well.

Looks like we won't have any wood framing again! It's too bad I designed the portlights with the origional thickness of only 1/4" in mind or it would have worked.

I was coming down with something so Gena took over the rest of the work alone putting in the rest of the berth frames. It's going to be tight as the aft corners come right into the transom. ( no pics because the webcam was aimed wrong! )

At these points very little insulation will be used and we hope their won't be any problems with that. The direction of the berth is of course port to starboard and will be the most comfortable on the whole boat! We won't have any problem sharing it.

In the photo to the left we are discussing exactly how the floor will be done. It's a tricky issue back here because the level floor backs every so slightly into the wall slope, the two are almost indestinguishable.

It's more an issue of where the floor will end than how.

The final decision ( made by me hehe ) is to use some 3/8" ply raised to butt into the 3/4" which will be supported with foam, that will enable a smooth transition into the fiberglass panel. ( if we use it )

The whole floor is being raised by 2-3/4" plus 3/4" thick. The headroom is still fine for us, but someone 6' tall may bump in places. Who cares? We're not growing anymore ha ha!

Day 244: 8 hours - installed port side "L" frames, cockpit angle and bases , berth frames, top frames, smoothed portlight frames to match.