Day 360

One fine thing about wood is you don't need to plan and prepare for a week to do a project. Today I decided to continue on with the seatbacks but making a magazine rack for the otherwise wasted casing across the top of the cushions.
It's not that we're going to have a waiting room on the boat, or we plan on storing items here, just a place to put something to keep the table clear, and safe.

It must have some rigidity, so it will be attached on each end to the bulkheads. The above photo shows the frame, and the 45º frame ends.

A soft corner was made with a belt sander after the ends were glued and screwed together. Plugs were used to cover the inset screws.

I went down to our local Windsor Plywood and picked up some spindles for the job. They need to be at least 1/2 the height of a magazine, about 5.5" plus the rail which makes 6.5".

Happily I found some exactly the right length, and made of oak to boot! The birch spindles are a little cheaper but may only be good for painting as they are extremely impervious to any kind of stain. ( I found this out after buying dozens of them for the aft rails along the berth. I'm still not sure what to do with those..)

As can be seen in the photo (right) the oak ones soak it up nicely. I decided to pre-stain them before actually putting them on the bulkheads. It took a couple of hours for them to be dry enough to handle.

The spindles ( spaced at 3.5" ) were then lined up at the end to get a good position, and marked every 3.5" along the seat top. A 1/4" hole comes pretty close for a tight fit, but some I had to expand out as not all spindles are lathed exactly the same.

As can be seen below, the stain matched up well all around. It almost blends in! After a gloss coat these will look fantastic, and are much stronger than I thought they would be.

The finished racks. A good use of space.

Gena got off to a good start today by perfecting the island in the galley. Notice the lid is off the freezer, ready for some new hinges once the lid has been outfitted with a breadboard. ( I'm talking about the type for chopping, not for mounting electronic components ha ha!)

We have allowed for minimum hip space of 22" between counter tops. This is a nice distance ( unless one is overly "large") that will allow bracing as well as movement, bending over etc.

She has done well to keep the countertop level and even as it wraps around the galley. The freezer must come up and be leveled precisely to allow the seal to close on the freezer, yet be a t counter height.

This has been accomplished by making some leveling nuts that are countersunk into the base for the freezer.

The inset shows the nut. These nuts will be threaded with bolts and locking nuts that will allow the level to be raised and lowered easily from each end.

Because the freezer is on a risen platform, some space under it has been salvaged. A long drawer or cupboard will be made.

Day 360:
10 hours - Made island in galley, fit freezer, built 2 mag racks along dining area seatbacks fore and aft