Cockpit

I made up the stainless steel frame for the panel to cover the hole in the cockpit bulkhead over the weekend bit of hard graft cutting it out by hand and cleaning up but it turned out quite well. Went down to the boat on Monday, garden project materials not being delivered until tomorrow, and straightened up the existing opening as best I could without removing too much more GRP as there are no vertical lines on the bulkhead it was a bit of a problem squaring it up I don't know what the original was aligned to, if anything at all, however I decided to make the bottom of the new panel parallel with the cockpit bench which as far as I can see is horizontal. The inside view shows the final shape of the opening this area will be enclosed to contain the instrument wiring.

Inside view

Made up the panel and put it up on a couple of screws as a trial fit it looked all over the place when compared to the companionway and the cockpit coaming but after stepping back and comparing with the cockpit bench it doesn't look so bad.

Trial fit

The garden project was further delayed, not all materials were delivered yesterday well done Wickes, so took the opportunity to get down to the boat today and finish off the panel and clean up and polish the bulkhead it is sealed with closed cell neoprene foam tape I was a few machine screws short but at least the bulkhead should be watertight now I will get some more when next in Faversham Chandlery the ones I used were countersunk with a slightly raised head to my mind they look better than ordinary countersunk.

Just needs a few more screws

I spent the rest of the day putting the after section of the cockpit floor back in place so that I could reinstall the wheel pedestal.

Floor and wheel pedestal

This is the first time that I have had a good look at the engine control cables the gear shift, throttle and engine stop cable all need to be replaced this will not be a major job as they are both quite short, the control lever is on the side of the wheel pedestal which is almost directly over the gearbox. I fed the steering cable round to the tiller this cable is in good condition and will be retained for further use. Securing the pedestal is an interesting exercise there are a number of bolts radially around the base it needs a fairly small hand to fit the nuts and washers through a small hole in the cockpit floor removal of the old engine control cables will I hope make it a bit easier I did manage however to get enough in to hold it for the time being. The only other remaining item will be to rewire the compass light which should be easy enough if the screws retaining the compass can be removed easily stainless steel screws in aluminium a recipe for problems.