Day 354
 Forward berth / dining area
The time has come for me to start on the forward berth. It has became my project I guess because it is across from my desk, it's my "area" on the boat. The berth will likely be used on crossings though as we change watch as it's going fore to aft, a better way to sleep while heeling. ( We would think ) First the bottom, or kick plate what have you, will be done in the same FG panel as all of the interior. It could have been wood, but we still have a fair amount of this and it's just going to go to waste. Besides it will offset the wood to be installed above it.  
   
Now that all of the portlights are in, I am free to take on whatever I want, which truly feels like a load has been lifted. The frames in between the aft lockers were tough to get in as predicted, and are slightly crooked because of the angle the hull is coming in at.


I decided it was more important the top edge be straight as it will be most visible. A short piece of 1/4" 1/4 round wood will cover the obvious wedge on the left. All in all it worked out well on both sides.

 
The far one in the nook ( right photo above) wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Just got a kink in the neck is all!
Back to the forward berth. A number of considerations fell into place while I designed this beast of timber to encase the berth.
(1) It must be low in one area to allow easy entry, but not at the hip area where one tends to lean while heeled.
(2) A handle to assist getting in and out.
(3) Encapsulated near the headboard to give it a cozy feel and nice look.
(4) Lots of cupboard space around it, including a bookshelf for easy access without leaving the berth.
(5) A reading lamp

I have only those criteria and really no idea of what else. Somewhere hooks for a securing net must be mounted but that can be added later. Smooth rounded shapes come to mind so that's the route I will follow. After some creative jigsawing (using a breakfast bowl and a ruler ) I came up with a suitable shape. Routing the edges round improves the "look" drastically.
The top sections are glued, screwed and clamped together to dry and then a big curve templated from one of the cymbals on my drums. ( Knew that would come in handy! )

It's important to use a belt sander ( or hand sand ) to make all of the curves even and the flat areas flat before routing the soft edges, or it comes out all lumpy looking!

Once the first coat of stain is on, it becomes a thing of beauty. Later that night I added the top section and sanded all that nice finish off (sniff!)

This is probably not how a pro would do it. He (she) would wait and stain the whole thing at once, but I need to see as soon as I finish sanding. It just keeps my going late into the night that look!
Anyway, the top section leads into a cupboard that will go straight up to the ceiling making use of that 32" stretch of bulkhead. More on that real soon!

Gena laid the floor inside the seating area. This is the same bamboo we used up front what seems like ages ago now. Tongue and groove  always produces fine results. After some gluing and screwing it's in place.

Now comes the difficult task of deciding where to cut the  floor hatches, which way they will open, and working that all into the galley area.
I dare say she has her work "cut out" for her on Day 355. ( Sorry could not resist that pun!)
  
The tops of the seats must flip open so there will be more cuts here once we have decided on how they and the cushions will interact.
The plate holding down the floor while the glue sets is the 80 lb mast support plate. Good for a weight right now so we won't put it in just yet ha ha!

Day 354:
13 hours + - Framed in forward berth, dining area/flooring/seats, last 4 portlight frames


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