Saturday, January 12, 2013

Starting to build the superstructure

I have made some more good progress on the the build.  

First, here is a picture of the Bow Eye installation.  I put in some biax fiberglass and then epoxied in an aluminum backer plate.  Hopefully, the bow eye will never be an issue.


 Next, I started working on the sheer decks (gunnels) and the front anchor locker.  Instead of putting in a typical anchor splashwell that most Tolman style skiffs had, I put in a full anchor locker.  I am using an anchor windlass with an anchor well to hold around 300 feet of rope and around 20 feet of chain.  I made the typical splashwell a solid deck that the windlass will mount onto.
Here is the anchor pulpit.  I have anchor roller that I will be using.  Here is a picture of that.


I built the anchor pulpit out of 1-1/2" Meranti plywood glassed with biax.

Here I am installing the sheer decks and anchor deck.


Here is a picture of the bow, looking up at the anchor deck.

I have decided that at least for now, I am just going to go with a single, 2" thick gunnel on the fishing deck.  If I need to, I will install a bolster cushion of some sort, but right now, it feels pretty good on the thighs.



Here is the sheer decks after glassing and trimming.  I just used a flush trim router bit a and flush trimmed on the inside.


I just used a laser level at the correct height to locate the height of the top of the collision locker and bunks, then traced with a Sharpie.

Here is a picture of the collision bulkhead after installing.



I painted the inside of the collision chamber with Glidden Polyurethane Porch paint while the access was easy.  



Here is the top of the collision chamber, taped and ready for final epoxy. I decided to use a simple drop in deck plate to allow access for storage in the collision locker.

Here is the fiberglass drain tube i put in at the bottom of the collision chamber.


Finally, here is the collision chamber, completed.   

I also marked out the location of my aft cuddy bulkhead and aft pilot house bulkhead.  I will be making the aft cuddy bulkhead tomorrow.