Day 353

The last of the portlight frames are underway, and Gena has started on the galley seating.
Arranging seating, especially as a first time experience, requires a lot of thought. At first we were going to use the seats off of purchased recliners as they aren't too expensive, about $250 each, and are made of leather. This plan quickly fell apart as we realized the angles involved would require a lot of filling and modification. A boat is definitely not like an RV, where everything is square! Another thing to contend with is the shape of the hull, but more on that shortly.

Portlight "glass" in place

Now that the aft port light glass had been drilled, and the frames templated from these, they were bolted in to wait for the frames. The aft area sure warmed up nicely and was noticeable right away as the cold air blowing in was stopped!

Because of the angle to the lockers forward, the bolts were rather tricky to line up and had to be screwed in using our handy screwdriver bit "socket wrench".

These are the trickiest of the lot, and drilling the holes to 3/8" instead of 5/16" will help.

Along with drilling in the house comes sharp shards of stainless steel spread throughout the house, in carpet, in corners, under appliances. Somehow it just ended up everywhere again. The drill just flings it all over.

On cleanup, wouldn't you know it, the vacuum cleaner packed it in! So bits were manually removed from the carpet and many ended up in our feet anyway.

To cupboard edge here *could* have been over about an inch. Trouble was poor planning during the "it must line up with the frame" phase!

They look a bit goofy but hey, we're not going to move it now! The semi reflective SS I polished looks nice with it's brushed finish although the camera flash has done some weirdness to how it looks here.

Lastly, the 4 frames, two for the nooks between lockers, and two for over Genas desk are "rock" coated. They have a pinkish tinge to them but, once again the camera seems to have made them all pink!

These must dry before mounting so they were done at the end of the day, once the saw dust had settled down.

Gena has been working on the dining area seats and seems to be well underway. This area has changed seating position, number of seats, style of seats, side of boat, and orientation several times during the planning stage. There are many things to consider:
(1) How many people?
     -Max number of guests
(2) how high? Seats/backs
     -Comfort for neck, application
(3) Desired table size
     -for eating, folding down into a bed?
(4) Rounded seat corners or straight?
     -Rounded looks nice but very difficult to lay back in corners and throw feet up, you just keep rolling out of the corner. Most sailors we are in contact with are unanimous on this. Round is uncomfortable.
(5) Usable space behind, above, under seats.
(6) Hatch accessibility

Seat height is the first thing that must be decided. Average seat height is 16" to 18". A standard medium weight foam, say 1.5 lbs to 2lbs per sq. ft. at 4" thick will compress to 2" while sat on, leaving another 14" to the floor. This means the "box" height must be about 14".

The next consideration is the seat back slope angle. A recliner has a surprising lean back to head height of 8-10" when upright. This is far to large for seating and eating, but for lounging around it's comfortable. I had originally had plans to make the hull seat reclinable through a complicated gas shock/spring/pin/bike cable setup. Gena noted that it would be too much work, and she is right. A good compromise is to lean the hull seat back a couple of inches more, and that's it.

The seat back should lean 4-5" for eating, and the long back seat will lean 6-7". The "kick plate" forward edge under the seat will be somewhat recessed as the cushion will protrude a couple of inches or so.

In the diagram to the right, the seat cushion goes under the back cushion. We think this is a good idea as the cushion still supports even while sitting sharply (or good for sitting across length-wise.) without sinking off the edge or forcing the cushion forward. The total height will be just enough to support the base of the neck, but not the head. ( They would start to look too tall is they were any higher!)

These images to the left show access that drops below the floor inside the seat, and an access hatch under the table. As can be seen in the large photo above, there is a trapezoidal shape to the whole area. The table must reflect this as well, but that'll be another day!

The floor hatches are an evolving issue, and Gena seems to have things in hand. We must be careful that the hatches don't get blocked by the table, seat edges, ladder. Tricky to say the least! All of the hatches should be removable, we do agree on that.

We have seen some shoddy hatch arrangements, and if it is for frequent access can be a real problem over time. One thing that is true: If a hatch is difficult and inconvenient to remove, it won't be used for anything other than deep storage! We want to keep heavy things in there, such as canned goods, drink bottles, tools. And want to be able to access them easily.

Day 353:
7 hours - setup base frames for dining area seating, finished drilling, painting, mounting portlight frames, mounted 2, 4 to go