The final door

The first task this week was a bit of housekeeping now that work in the aft cabin is complete for the time being I brought the hoover down and gave it a good clean to get rid of all the dust etc emanating from the previous weeks woodwork.

Last weekend I sanded and primed the door for the void space around the gas locker and during the week I managed to get two coats of gloss paint on each side it just needs the edge trim to be made and fitted together with the hinges and latch.

Door awaiting trim

The paint was peeling badly from the bulkhead at the aft end of the quarter berth I think that it had been applied directly to the original veneered finish I don't know what the said veneer was finished with so I gave it a good sanding before applying primer/undercoat and then the first coat of gloss white paint.

Bulkhead after first coat of gloss

The aim this weekend is to make up and fit the edge trim to the door, so that once I have applied a second coat of gloss to the bulkhead next week, it should be ready to fit, this has been door number nine. Leyland white high gloss trade paint has been used for all the internal gloss work a 2.5 litre tin can be had from Screwfix for about fifteen quid and it is nice paint to use and seems to cope with the current spell of chilly weather, I think that the recent problem with the aft cabin doors was more due to old dregs of paint at the bottom of the tin, since then I have bought a fresh tin and it has gone on with no problems.

Aft cabin almost done

The main aim this week was to get as far as possible with the aft cabin using materials that I had in stock. Over the weekend I had sorted the paint finish on the two remaining doors  by sanding them back and applying a further coat which has made them much more presentable and also cleaned up the bulkhead piece for the lockers. I began on Monday by fitting the two shelves and the bulkhead. I then finished up the day by looking into the installation of a diesel fired heater, it looks as though the heater will go into the steering gear space with the hot air duct running down the port side, my only concern is the length of duct, I am planning to use one of those Russian Planar units possibly their 4 KW model and apparently the maximum duct length is 5 meters I shall contact them for confirmation next week. For the remainder of the week I have been finishing off the starboard side lockers by fitting the forward front panel and the hardwood cover strip over the join between the two panels and then once this was complete I cut out and fitted the laminate corner trim pieces for the forward bulkhead in a similar manner as those for the saloon. forward cabin and the heads

Port side corner trim

Starboard side 

That is about is about as far as I can go in the aft cabin until I can sort the rest of the trim and find a suitable mirror.

Trip to the sailmaker

The first task on Monday morning was to pick up the sails from the boat and deliver them to Wilkinsons sailmakers in Faversham to have them washed, the UV strip on the genoa renewed and any minor repairs carried out as necessary. over the weekend I had cut out the piywood for the shelves in the aft cabin lockers so on return from the sailmakers I set to and started shaping the shelves  for the port side, as I had already secured the aft locker front panel it meant removing the forward panel and working in from the end which turned out to be fairly easy. Also I had repainted the doors over the weekend and six of them turned out to be satisfactory leaving two that I will have to sand back again and repaint. Once the two shelves had been fitted to the port side I inserted the doors into the aft panel and then fitted the bulkhead between the forward and aft panels.

Shelves and doors to aft panel in place

Then I inserted the doors into the forward panel and then secured it into position followed by the cover strip over the join between the two panels to finally complete the port side some hardwood trim will be required, I have some but probably not enough to complete the job I will probably need to obtain some more I will wait and see what is left of my dwindling stock.

Port side

To finish off the week I made a start on the starboard side, I managed to mark out the aft shelf but then along came the wind and the rain which brought a halt to the proceedings for the day. Over the weekend I will try and sort out the paint finish on the remaining two doors and clean up the bulkhead for the starboard side.

Aft cabin continued

There is not a lot to write about this week the main aim has been to finish sanding and then painting the locker doors I have got as far as the second coat of gloss paint, however the second coat is anything but gloss whether or not the weather was too cold overnight or not I don't know I shall give the doors a sanding and try again. I have masked up and varnished the door opening trim on the two forward front panels I had done the aft panels some time ago but then run out of varnish.

Door trim masked and varnished

I finished up this week by taken the sails off ready to go to the sailmakers for laundering and servicing, the UV sacrificial strip on the genoa is falling apart and requires replacing. The sails are getting on in years particularly the mainsail but it should have another season or two in it. I have ordered some more plywood so the plan this weekend is to rough out the shelves for the aft cabin so that I can fit them next week.

Back to the aft cabin

The aft cabin was largely complete there were just a few bits and pieces to finish off the first being the doors to the lockers there are eight in total each one covered on both sides with the same veneer with the foil backing as used elsewhere. The veneer on the inside was beginning to peel off so I stripped the inside faces of all eight doors with the idea of painting them white and then turning them round so that the white face is to the front. The hardest part of this job is getting rid of the contact adhesive, so far I have only stripped four of the doors with a combination of scraping with a tungsten carbide scraper and sanding with 60 grit paper. I did put one of the doors back with the original veneered face to the front to see how it looked, the back will still need cleaning up and painting so I will continue and then make the decision before I finally fit the doors.

Locker door in original finish

There is a small bulkhead halfway along each locker which was originally veneered and then sprayed with that red flock finish used at the time I think that the spray gun was poked in through each door and waved around judging by the finish, these are in the process of being stripped and cleaned up, more contact adhesive to remove.

Bulkhead in the process of being stripped

Also this week I have secured the lining panel which covers the aft end of the cabin this has just been screwed to a couple of wooden blocks which have been secured to the locker front panels, also the shelf which runs across the aft end of the cabin has been secured again with a couple of wooden blocks fixed to the locker front panels.

Aft lining panel and shelf secured in place

Apart from finishing the locker doors the lockers require shelves and some trim pieces for the front panels, I have the first piece in place as can be seen on the left side of the lower photograph above. Originally I believe that there was a mirror mounted below the transverse shelf the plan is to eventually obtain a replacement.