Galley again

Last weekend I cut out the worktop for the galley I used metal cutting jigsaw blades this time as the solid laminate quickly took the edge off the down cutting laminate blades that I used previously, in order to try and avoid chipping the top surface I marked out the laminate underneath and then cut from underneath effectively giving a down cut to the top surface. In order to make the pencil lines easier to follow I used masking tape they did not show up too well on the grey laminate. Once cut out I sanded the cut edges to improve the finish, I still need to make the cut out for the sink which will have to wait until I have it to hand. On Monday I fitted the worktop it just required a little bit of easing in the cut out for the bulkhead.

Once the worktop had been fitted I fitted some of the timber trim to the lockers which I had previously sanded and varnished at home, the lower locker will have to wait until the sink and worktop have been completed as the trim will need to be tied in with the fiddle rails also the internal arrangements for the crockery stowage  need to be completed before the trim can be completed in this area.

Worktop and some of the trim fitted

The next job was to address the fibreglass moulding which forms the galley area some of the fibreglass had been cut away to enlarge the opening which had left the top surface somewhat flexible as can be seen from the photograph most of the web along the front is missing. Also as refereed to previously the top of the moulding is not level either so I am aiming to level it as far as possible it won't be anywhere near perfect as the moulding is attached to the part bulkhead to which the port lower shroud chain plate is bolted and as it is securely fixed I have no desire to cut it all out and glass it all up again in any case the 12mm solid laminate is pretty rigid so it will be a case of plenty of thick adhesive to compensate.

The enlarged opening

To rectify the situation I decided to build up the web along the top with some 50mm by 5mm preformed fibreglass flat bar which I had left over from the cockpit locker project on Shuda, this material is extremely rigid but needs careful handling as the corners are a bit prickly good gloves are needed or you will be picking glass fibres from your hands all day, once it has been sanded it seems OK it is manufactured on a continuous moulding they call it a pullstrusion. The first piece was profiled to match the remaining part of the web and it was a tight fit length ways so it was just wedged in place and three pieces of fibreglass tabbing added to secure it. The piece of timber underneath the top was wedged into place to remove the sag from the top, and the break in the vertical web was held together until the resin had cured by the piece of wood wedged against the mast compression post. The boat must have been shaken a bit by storm Doris yesterday as when I arrived this morning the piece of wood holding the break together had fallen out it, didn't need to be very tightly wedged to hold the two parts in line, the strongest gust in these parts was 63 mph yesterday evening, fortunately the epoxy had cured sufficiently to hold it all together.  

First piece in place

Today I removed the remaining temporary support and glassed along the whole length of the new web and then cut out and profiled a piece of bar for the vertical web unfortunately this was not quite such a good fit so I had to clamp it in place while putting in three pieces of tabbing once that has cured I will glass along the whole length of the new web.

Vertical web clamped in place

The next decision is to decide on the material for the front of the locker and try and find some doors and a cutlery draw I don't have a large enough piece remaining  of the white laminate that came with the boat for this. Ideally I would have liked to put in a new vertical piece of the bar in the centre of the opening unfortunately the remaining piece that I have is about 30mm short and there was a minimum order for this stuff which if I remember correctly equates to three six metre lengths so it will have to rely on whatever I use for the front panel.    

I spent the rest of the day on bits of woodwork for the heads locker, bottle locker and cutting out the front panel for the wet locker which is on the starboard side of the heads no pictures I am afraid just ordinary boring bits of wood.