Internal doors

The main project this week has been to get to grips with the two doors to the heads I have been thinking about them for some time but that is as far as I had got thinking about them and then putting them back in the too difficult I mean pending tray. As can be seen from the photographs the doors and frames had been stripped out and the doorways opened up the original doors having semicircular tops.

Forward heads doorway

Aft heads doorway

I was considering two options the first was to reinstate the door openings to take the original semicircular top doors which came with the boat or make new door frames to suit the existing openings this option would also require completely new doors, while the first option would only require new door frames and some ply infill pieces to return the openings to their original form. After looking through my stock of plywood I found sufficient 12mm ply to make good the forward opening and 18mm ply for the aft opening so I decided to restore the openings and reuse the original doors. This will require two, one for each door, semicircular frame pieces for the top of the opening I haven't decided yet whether to form these by steaming and bending the timber or gluing and laminating them steaming will be quicker and cleaner but I will have to build a steam box and provide a source of steam possibly a wallpaper stripper either way a former will be required and as both doors are a slightly different size the job will require two former's. So far I have cut out the ply for the forward door and marked the door profile on it this weekends homework will be to cut it out with the jig saw. The plan is to screw and glue the ply in place with some thickened epoxy and put some glass mat over the join. The ply for the aft doorway will have to be in two pieces as I did not have a piece of sufficient size to do it in one piece however once it is epoxied in place and glassed over it should be strong enough. On close inspection there is a reference mark from the original doorway a slight curve can just be seen below the centre bolt for the baby stay chain plate I intend to use this as a guide to set the vertical position of the door no such mark with the aft doorway I shall just have to assume that the opening was cut out across the top of the original.

The two doors could do with some refinishing particularly on the heads side as they are still in the original light blue laminate which has been replaced on the bulkheads with the white laminate the opposite side is finished in the original wood veneer which may be OK when it has been re varnished but both these jobs can wait for the moment the main aim is to get the boat back into one piece.

Ply in place on forward door

Door temporarily in place to mark the top profile

Evidence of the original opening profile.

Whilst on the subject of the heads a picture of the front panel for the wet locker.

Last weekend I made up the front panel for the wine locker it still requires some finishing to the opening but I have fitted it into place it has taken me sometime to get to grips with the doors to the heads so these will remain the priority while I have the enthusiasm.

Front panel to wine locker

Also this week I have completed the glassing in of the repair to the front of the galley moulding the vertical piece has now been fully secured with full length glass tape and epoxy the whole moulding is now much more rigid.

Completed repair to the galley moulding

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.

Even more galley

Last weeks cold weather meant that I did not get as much done as I would have liked on Friday I went over to the boatyard and picked up the switch panel and brought it home to work on It wasn't a lot warmer in the conservatory but at least I had somewhere close at hand to warm up. I soldered all the outgoing cables to the panel and also fitted and wired the digital battery voltmeter and installed the control switch for the night vision lighting in the saloon and heads. The milder weather this week meant that I could get back to work and the first job was to replace the switch panel and reconnect all the wires to the terminal strips. While working on the electrical installation I installed two twin socket outlets one above the chart table and one in the aft cabin these have both 12v DC and USB outlets yes I know the ends of the cable ties need trimming I will do that when everything is in and tidied up.

Switch panel reconnected

The lighting control switch is the one below the voltmeter I know that this panel does not look very pretty from the outside but it is functional I will probably upgrade it some time in the future and it still needs the switches to be labelled.

New socket outlets above the chart table

New socket outlets in the aft cabin

I have made the upper front panel for the crockery stowage and it is now fitted the internals still need to be made once I have finalised the design I just hope that I can find some crockery that will fit.

Crockery stowage

I spent some time on Wednesday producing some more timber trim for the galley lockers these will be varnished at home hopefully ready to fit next week. Before I can fit the trim I need to cut out the galley worktop It finally arrived yesterday It was supposed to have been Monday but I got a call on Saturday to say that it would not be delivered until Thursday B&Q screw up again.

Timber trim after first coat of varnish.

The main priority today was to cut a pattern for the galley worktop so that I can get the worktop cut to shape over the weekend the cut out for the sink will have to wait until I have the sink but the main aim is to get the lockers finished.

To finish up today I made a start on the starboard side of the saloon the forward locker is going to be for wine bottles etc I can't think why I had not started this priority job before. I managed to fit the base of the locker these always seem to take some time to fit as there never seems to be anything straight and square on a boat once the base was fitted I made a start on the front panel the aim is to face the panel with the same laminate and trim as the rest of the lockers. There will be a second part to the base with suitable holes to take the various bottles including the specially shaped one for the Gordon's Gin.

Base of the wine locker

Further progress on the galley

A bit of a rise in temperature last week enabled me to get a couple of coats of paint in the lockers behind the cooker and the backs of the front panels. Once it was dry I decided that bit would be a good idea to reseal both of the port side chain plates before assembling the lockers which once done would make them a bit more awkward to get at, no photographs I am afraid but it was all simple straightforward stuff, remove the deck plates. remove the bolts securing the chain plates to the bulkheads, clean up, generously anoint with Sikaflex then replace the bolts and tighten down the deck plates until the Sikaflex was nicely squeezed out all round then leave to cure. Once cured give the deck plates a final tighten up.

Today I assembled the doors into the front panels and fitted them in place eventually the locker fronts will be finished with varnished timber trim to match the panel above the chart table, see photograph in the post of 20/01/2017, but that will have to wait for some warmer weather its much too cold for varnishing at the moment.

Locker front panels

I have also installed the concealed light fitting above the front panel and connected to the bus bar within the locker.

Concealed LED strip light

Over the weekend I cut out the tee shaped slots in the front of the lower crockery stowage locker I hope that I can now find crockery that will fit. I am still thinking about the interior of the locker as it will require a means of restraining the crockery from sliding about, the thought at the moment is to have some vertical dowels secured into a board to suit the diameter of the plates etc.

Crockery stowage

As can be seen this locker still requires painting once the weather becomes a bit more conducive to the task, the upper section and the shelf is in hand. Also as can be seen the top of the GRP galley moulding is anything but flat so it looks as though I will have to fit some bracing underneath to try and straighten it up before fitting the worktop which should arrive on Monday B&Q permitting.

I have also made a start on the front panel for the locker behind the washbasin in the heads this has been recycled from the forward cabin locker front panel which the previous owner had fabricated unfortunately it had succumbed to the rainwater which had been leaking in through the holes for the deck fittings when I removed it to bolt up the toe rail I found that the bottom four inches or so of the plywood had rotted away. Fortunately all was not lost in fact I also recovered some of the laminate which once it had been cleaned up and the old adhesive removed was used for the locker front panels behind the cooker. As can be seen the openings for the doors still need to be enlarged the round holes are for the corners and indicate the extent of the openings and also the timber to take the door runners needs to be fitted. 

Heads locker

Further progress in this area is again going to depend on an improvement in the weather to allow the painting to be carried out.

Galley again

Work on the galley has been held up by the cold spell last week I have made the front panels for the lockers behind the cooker but it has not been possible to paint the inside of the locker or the the reverse side of the front panels which I need to do before I can attach the sliding doors. In the meantime I have started on the locker at the forward end of the galley this will have tee shaped openings for the crockery stowage I have made the lower front panel, which now needs the openings cutting out, and started on the upper front panel.

Lower locker

Lower crockery stowage

Whilst waiting for the weather to warm up I began installing the wiring for the concealed LED strip lights each of these luminaires has two negative connections one for white light and one for red night vision lighting control will be by means of an on/off/on three position switch and as there will be six of these luminaires in total I required a means of connecting all the negatives in a tidy fashion with only two negative cables arriving at the control switch . After much searching I found a 3 x 6 spade connection bus bar on the Fearneaux Riddall website which will meet the requirements without breaking the bank. The plan is to put one on each side of the saloon so that the lighting on each side can be switched on and off independently these will in turn be connected to a third unit so that only two negative cables  are connected to the night vision/white lighting mode control the supplies to the lighting in the heads will also be taken from this system as they will have the same white/night vision lighting arrangement. The starboard bus bar will be installed when I have decided on the locker arrangements on that side of the saloon. A 2 x 6 spade connection bus bar is also available which I will probably use for distribution to the over bunk reading lights in the fore and aft cabins. Whilst working on the wiring I also connected the supplies for the VHF and the chart plotter, I am beginning to think about batteries so that I can test some of this kit.

Port side bus bar

Main lighting bus bar

I had a delivery from B&Q last Thursday of some of the solid laminate worktop material but unfortunately the piece for the galley was out of stock no prior warning I only found out after calling them to complain that half the order was missing I have bought all sorts of stuff for this project from the internet with very little trouble mostly from smaller firms who have all told me at the time of order if stuff was unavailable but it seems the big companies are a different story it will be another two weeks before the rest of the material turns up they did try for three weeks but after some discussion it was two weeks.

Over the weekend I cut out the worktop for the heads washbasin and there was sufficient material left for the small area in the aft cabin which I cut out I have just laid these pieces in place for the time being, as I have not yet got the washbasin, at least it covers the hole in the heads moulding.

Heads washbasin position

Worktop in place

Aft cabin

Finally today with a rise in temperature I managed to get a coat of paint in the locker behind the cooker and on the backs of the locker front panels no photograph I am afraid as by the time I had finished it was time to pack up and go home. 

More galley

I went to the boat show last week and bought a new chart plotter and DSC radio the. show was not as big as it used to be only utilising one hall and nothing afloat in the adjacent dock but as I had a free ticket and the deal from Cactus for the electronics covered the train fair and I saw pretty much everything that I wanted to see I have no complaints.

So back to work on the galley this week with further work on the locker behind the cooker, this will be on two levels I had already made the plywood panel for the front of the upper level this has now been covered with laminate and the opening cut out. I have decided to use some of the white laminate to make the sliding doors  as I have a lot of off cuts left this stuff is 4mm thick so should be OK and it will save a few quid on the price of the acrylic sheet. The upper doors are now made and I have sourced some twin channel plastic for the tracks. I need to paint the back of the locker front and the interior of the locker before I can go any further in this area but the current cold spell has put a stop to that for the time being.

Upper locker front and doors

In the meantime I have made the locker front for the lower level just needs the opening cut out and the doors making which will be a homework job for this weekend.

Locker lower level front panel

I have finally sourced some solid laminate 12.5mm thick for the work tops without having to buy huge amounts that I really don't need found it at B&Q still a bit pricey though but there will be enough to do the heads basin worktop and the little bit in the aft cabin I am just waiting for it to arrive.

Today I decided to rearrange the panel above the chart table originally I was going to install the NASA GPS repeater and connect it to the chart plotter in the cockpit which would give a position read out at the chart table however I had bought a Brooks and Gatehouse Vulcan 7 plotter which only supports NMEA 2000 as opposed to the repeater which operates on NMEA 0183 I know there are converters available but as the VHF has a built in GPS this will give a position read out at the chart table and also provide a back up to the chart plotter. I had to take the panel apart to install the concealed strip light and after I had put it all back together again assuming that I would be able to access the rear of the panel to install the VHF I found that it was extremely awkward to attach the VHF securing brackets so I had to take the whole lot out again but as can be seen its all done now.

VHF radio installed

LED strip light

The three way switch panel will be used for the  power supplies to the navigational instruments.

For the time being the navigational instruments will operate on a stand alone basis  the auto pilot uses Raymarine Seatalk data and even this comes in two formats my autopilot uses the older format and I don't know whether or not this can be adapted to operate with the B&G plotter further investigation is required. The existing wind instruments are not capable of any data output at all and I won't even know if they are going to work until the mast goes up but not having them all linked is not going to stop the world from spinning round.

Galley

Starting back after the Christmas break I decided to make a start on the galley as I intend the saloon lighting to be concealed led strips behind the timber rail which runs under the windows on both sides also it will be nice to get the cooker up and running. The photographs below show the galley area as it was when I purchased New Morning with the exception of the new shelf in the centre photograph. The plan is to continue the same theme as the panel above the chart table for the locker fronts they will be covered in the same off white laminate with the varnished teak trim the doors will in all probability be acrylic sheet sliding. I have been giving the worktop some careful consideration, previously I believe it had been finished with ceramic tiles which I am not too keen on, the top of the galley moulding is a bit on the flexible side at the moment so the new worktop will need to be reasonably rigid my first choice would be to go for 'Corian' but it is expensive and small quantities seem to be difficult to obtain the second choice is 'Compact' laminate which can be obtained in 10mm thick sheets but again this seems to be available in three or four metre long sheets only which even if I use the same pattern for the heads worktop is far too much for what I want to do and although this stuff is probably cheaper than 'Corian' it will still make a relatively expensive job and I will be left with a substantial off cut which I unlikely to have a use for. I came across this video on Youtube of a guy in Denmark who seems to be able to get hold of small amounts https://youtu.be/tKPAVfjqVNE however I shall continue the search.

Today I trial fitted the first of the locker fronts over the weekend I shall glue on the laminate and cut out the opening for the doors.

Locker front trial fitting

Found this in Aldi yesterday ceramic disc mixer tap for £29.99 made in China of course but should be OK for the galley sink.

I also have in hand now the led strip lights these can either be white or red to help preserve night vision at sea there are two negative leads one for white and one for red light they just require a three position, on/off/on, changeover switch in the negative wires I have sufficient to install two in the heads as well as the saloon. These luminaires are at 520mm long are too long to fit over the forward locker and the only shorter fittings that I can find do not have the red light facility but the four should be OK at night.

The longer screws for the headlining timber trim arrived today so that can be wrapped up in the near future. I shall be off to the London International Boat Show next week, time to start thinking about a chart plotter and DSC VHF radio, so for that and several other reasons it will be a bit of a short working week.