Interior

The interior is coming together nicely and its been very rewarding to move off of sanding and sanding, and more sanding .........and move on to installing things. Over the last three years I have been purchasing items for the the boat and putting them in storage so I would have them on hand when it came time to install them.

Its been like Christmas morning every day as we open a box and pull some treasure out of storage and turn it over in hand, admiring it before carrying it up the ladder and into the boat to be installed. The electrical distribution panel was carried aboard, as was several plumbing parts and fixtures. The solar panel and wind generator was placed gently to one side, its not your time yet. The light fixtures and deck cowls were placed in line, soon to be carried aboard. The box containing the shortwave radio receiver and plotting tools, binoculars, etc. were carried up the ladder and placed about the area for the chart table to see how they'd fit.

The top for the chart table was then templated and cut out of half inch plywood. A five inch shelf was left along the bulkhead aft and outboard under the distribution panel to accommodate the shortwave, binoculars,etc.

A thin sheet of cork with self adhesive backing was laid down over the area. I went to the local sportsman outfitters looking for some cork sealer that is used by fishing rod builders but none carried it in stock. I remembered reading on-line that some of the rod builders also used "Tru-oil", the brand name of a product that is used to finish gun stocks. I found a bottle and purchased it but was very skeptical......I didn't care for oil finishes in the boat as they tend to pick up dust and dirt and our shop is on one very dusty road. I applied several coats to a scrap piece of cork and was impressed with the results. It hardened up to a tough shiny surface like an old fashioned shellac. I used it on the cork and it turned out just right, a hard shiny surface that still had some flexible properties to it that other users promised  would not crack or shrink over time.

Plumbing

The plumbing is moving right along. I tee'd off of the head intake pump and ran a line forward into the anchor locker for a deck wash-down and ran a line to the head sink for a seawater tap. There is no discharge anywhere near the intake thru-hull to contaminate the water. The toilet discharges into the holding tank and then the holding tank will have a discharge thu-hull and deck suction fitting aft near the cockpit.

The fresh water tank is located under the V-berth and I needed to vent it but did not want the vent outside the vessel and possibly contaminated with salt water etc. I ran the vent to the head sink and plumbed it into a brass spigot at the sink, that way its inside the boat and if the tank is overfilled the overflow goes harmlessly down the sink. We installed a whale foot pump for the head sink. We could not reach the lower fastener on the foot pump to install it so we cut a thin piece of aluminum and mounted it to that and then fastened the aluminum into place. 

We plumbed it to a chrome plated spigot at the head sink.

V - Berth

The V-berth is coming along nicely.

We cut Jatoba planks and used a thickness planer to clean them up and get them to a uniform size.

They were sanded up to 320 grit disks then several coats of Poly Wipe was applied, sanding with 600 grit every three coats thereafter. We have all but the little pieces installed now. They were screwed into place without any compound so that they can be easily removed to access the wiring and plumbing behind when required.

A fresh coat of paint was applied to the berth and the hatches were installed.

Cabin Sole

We had kicked around the idea of making a nice floor out of strips of Jatoba with iridescent wire laid between the strips for a nice lighting effect. We have all the materials on hand for it but decided that while it would look really nice, it would not provide for good footing at sea. So we decided that a good utilitarian floor with non-skid would be better suited for the task and set about installing one.

We made templates of the floor and transferred it to 3/4 inch plywood and cut it out. Hatches were cut out of the floor to allow access to the holding tank fittings and bilge spaces and the pieces were sealed with a coat of epoxy. Once cured they were laid into place with a thin strip of foam around the edge to prevent a hard spot against the hull and a strip of glass tabbing was applied along the edges bonding it to the hull.

The floor was faired and then a coat of Kiwigrip non-skid deck paint was applied. The non-skid will provide a good grip underfoot while at sea and a small strip of carpet runner can be used in port to "gussy" her up a bit and provide for a softer footing. The only thing I've never liked about an aggressive nonskid in the cabin is that its a bugger to clean when the cook loses a pot of custard (an offshore favorite of mine) onto the floor......but better to have a tough cleaning job then an injured crew that slipped on a slick floor with a pot in hand.