Went sailing

I didn't get a lot done last week as I went for a trip round to Stangate Creek on Wednesday stayed overnight before sailing back to the Swale on Thursday, the weather was cold and damp but I did get to try the chart plotter WiFi connection in anger, as the holding in the creek can be a bit iffy I left the chart plotter on with the anchor drag alarm set and took the tablet to bed with me so that when the tide turned and the alarm went off I didn't need to go outside to see what was happening isn't this technology wonderful?

I did manage to screw and glue the right hand vertical section of the forward door frame in place last Monday and hang the door so that I could measure for the left hand vertical section and then over last weekend I cut the timber to size and drilled the screw holes

Door secured to right side of frame

I arrived back in Conyer last Friday with a bit of an oil leak from the joint between the casting which holds the oil filter and the cylinder block so the first task non Monday was to remove said casting and investigate using a flat plate and marking blue indicated that there was some distortion to the flange which had also led to some corrosion to the lower edge.

The high spots can be seen around the holes for the securing studs, this particular casting is not an altogether good example of British engineering design. The flange was fairly quickly straightened up with a few strokes of a smooth file and replaced with a new gasket,while I was at it I changed the engine oil and filter I finished up the day on Wednesday by sucking up the oil from the bilge before giving it a good clean with some industrial strength detergent.

Today I got back to the forward heads door and started by screwing and glueing the top semicircular section of the frame into place followed by a trial fit of the left hand side vertical section of the frame.

Top and left hand side sections of door frame

The latch for the forward door was long gone when I bought the boat it had been replaced by a collection of barrel bolts, knobs and handles I have been looking for something similar to the original, which is still in place on the aft door, I eventually found one on the Force 4 chandlery website which arrived today it is not identical to the original and doesn't have a key operated lock although it can still be locked from the inside.

Original lock on the aft door

Replacement for forward door

I finished up the day by removing all the old door furniture from the forward door, on the original installation the door locks were fitted on the outside of the heads doors but on the forward door I am going to reverse the set up and to cover up as many of the redundant holes as I can I shall make a stainless steel plate of the same footprint as the new latch. I don't know quite why the latches were installed in this manner because it means having a cut out in the door stops to accommodate the latch I may well look at reversing the arrangement on the aft door, unfortunately the doors are not thick enough,at 20mm, to accommodate a mortise latch 

Forward door minus furniture

AIS

The first job on Monday morning was to install the NMEA 2000 backbone kit, the power cable and the drop cable to connect to the chart plotter are only a metre long which limits the position of the backbone, I ended up installing it in the cable void next to the AIS unit I still had to extend the power cable which was just a couple of through crimps the only other option would have been to obtain a longer drop cable to connect the chart plotter and as I already had some suitable power cable it was a simple decision.

NMEA 2000 starter kit

Backbone installed and connected

Once the cables were connected I switched on the power to the NMEA 2000 system and then switched on the chart plotter, the GPS in the AIS unit took a few minutes to lock on to the satellites but eventually a number of ships appeared on the plotter screen shown as triangles on the photograph below the top two are not really on top of each other they are the tugs tied up alongside each other in Sheerness

When I got home I checked on the Marine Traffic website and sure enough a mauve circle indicates New Morning tied up to her berth.

Last weekend I made a start on cutting out the segments to make up the semicircular part of the forward heads door frame. these were then drilled for dowels before being glued together with some thickened epoxy before being clamped up between two pieces of laminated chipboard to keep the whole assembly flat.

Trial assembly of segments

Segments dowelled and ready for glueing

Once the epoxy had cured I marked out the top radius and roughed it out with the jigsaw so that on Wednesday I could fit the top section of the frame into the opening into the bulkhead, I temporarily screwed it into place before setting up the door in it's correct position so that I could mark out the top radius of the door on the frame. I clamped a piece of timber across the door opening at the correct height to support the door in it's correct position before marking the lower edge of the frame.

Door in position temporarily

While the door was in position I measured the width of the right hand vertical section of the frame and marked the position of the rebates for the door hinges. The next stage was to cut the timber down to the correct width and cut out the rebates for the hinges so that this morning I could temporarily install the right hand vertical and attach the door on a couple of screws to make sure that everything would fit and the door would open and close.

Door temporarily on it's hinges

The plan for next week is to permanently install the right hand side and top of the frame, with screws and thickened epoxy. so that the door can be properly hung I can then measure and cut the vertical frame for the left hand side of the door, once this has been done I can finalise the cover strip to cover the joint between the frame and the bulkhead opening, on the forward face of the bulkhead this cover strip will overlap the frame by about 5mm to form the door stops.

Best laid plans

This Monday morning's visit to the recycling yard did not prove very fruitful they had some larger sections of hardwood but I do not have the means of ripping it down so back to the drawing board. Over last weekend I did manage to progress the door frames a little by making a couple of templates for the segments for the top of the frame, I drew the required arch on a sheet of thin ply so that I could ascertain the shape of the segments, the templates were cut from an odd piece of the 4mm laminate used for the bulkheads.

Templates for segments of door frame

Top of door frame drawn out

There are two templates shown the wider one is for the aft door where I am aiming to form the stops as part of the frame, the forward bulkhead is thinner and there will be insufficient thickness in the frame to rout the stops, they will be formed by having the cover strip overlapping the opening. The photograph of the layout for the top of the frame is not very clear but it is possible to see the development of the segment.

The first job on Monday when I eventually got to the boat was to fit the latch to the drop in panel under the cooker and then apply the first coat of varnish to the edge trim. I finished off the day by fitting an LED light fitting into the end of the cabinet housing the engine panel to provide an over bunk light for the quarter berth, I had found this fitting amongst all the other stuff that came with the boat and have been looking for a use for it not wishing to throw it away.

Quarter berth light

The first job on Wednesday morning was to put a second coat of varnish on the edge trim for the drop in panel before moving on to installing the AIS transponder. Some time ago I bought an AIS transponder when Cactus Marine Electronics were having a 'virtual London Boat Show special offer' this years show having been cancelled and I decided that it was time to install it. I started by fitting the aerial to the pushpit and running the cable through the aft cabin via an Index Marine deck gland, I find that these are much superior to the 'waterproof' plugs and sockets.

Aerial mounted on the pushpit

Cable gland

The cable was then run above the quarter berth headlining as far as it would go so that I could site the transponder unit, this has a built in GPS receiver which will work inside the boat provided that it can see the satellites, it will apparently work provided there is only a layer of GRP above it electrical fittings etc are to be avoided. I have sited the unit under the quarter berth just aft of the chart table, as this is as far as the aerial cable would stretch, one of the disadvantages of centre cockpit boats its a long way to the transom, the indicator lamps will be visible with the chart table in its working position.

AIS transponder

The transponder is only temporarily fitted until I can finish the installation by installing the NMEA 2000 backbone and check the GPS reception.

On the way to Conyer this morning I went to a timber merchant and bought some meranti, an African hardwood, for the forward heads door frame so that this weekend I can make a start on the top of the frame, if this is successful I shall obtain some more for the aft door frame. The first job this morning was to wire up the quarter berth light at the moment it is controlled by a spare switch on the engine panel. I finished off the day be pulling the AIS data cables through to the back of the chart plotter which is where I aim to site the NMEA 2000 backbone providing that its power supply cable is long enough to reach the electrical panel, the backbone kit arrived today so that on Monday I should be able to connect everything up and test it.

The big doors again

Over last weekend I sanded the front face of the drop in panel for the space under the cooker, then gave it a coat of primer/undercoat this was then followed up during the week with two coats of white gloss paint. Also over the weekend I made the edge trim pieces from the same hockey stick moulding that I used for the locker doors.

The first job on Monday morning was to put the first coat of wood dye on the edge trim pieces and while the first coat was drying I epoxied a wooden block at the top of the opening under the cooker for the fixed part of the latch for the drop in panel. I then started on trimming up the heads door openings most of the work involved trimming the laminate lining the bulkheads flush with the door openings also I got the two final coats of wood dye on the edge trim pieces.

On Wednesday I continued with the door openings this work is somewhat laborious as the laminate is 4mm thick on both sides of each bulkhead I found that the easiest way to remove the excess material was to use a tungsten carbide pull scraper it made much less dust than an angle grinder or power sander the stuff tends to come off in shavings rather than large amounts of dust, I finished off this morning.

Door openings all cleaned up

The door openings look as though they were originally hacked out with a jig saw and are a bit uneven so the new frames will be secured with screws and thickened epoxy to fill the gaps. To finish off today I pinned and glued the edge trim to the drop in panel, it just needs the latch fitting and a couple of coats of varnish on the edge trim which will be the first job next week. I know have a plan for the door frames and I will form the top semicircular section with several segments glued and screwed into place I just have to find some decent hardwood, I am going to try a source of recycled timber in Strood to start with.

Drop in panel ready for varnish

Back of drop in panel

The above picture is not so clear, sunshine through the hatch, the panel is secured at the bottom edge by the strip of timber with a rebate which hooks over the lower edge of the internal galley moulding, the top will be secured by a spring latch as the various locker doors.

 

The big doors

The first job this week was to fit the remaining door latches to the locker doors throughout the boat they have all been fitted and adjusted so that the doors are all complete. Over last weekend I glued up the drop in panel for the opening under the cooker and trial fitted it. I have primed the back but the front face required a little bit of filling and fairing, I have done the filling using epoxy thickened with lightweight filler as with the rest of the locker doors it just requires sanding which will be done this weekend.

Thoughts then turned to the two doors for the heads, I have been deliberating on making the door frames for some time, actually as long as I have had the boat, and each time the job has been put in the pending/too difficult tray much the same as that other well known project beginning with a B but I have now decided it is time to get on with it the main stumbling block is the semicircular top part of the two frames, my original plan was to steam bend them this would probably need some air dried white oak, it would then be necessary to make the rest of the frame from the same material and then dye it so I started thinking about plan 'B' which was to laminate the top part of the frame from hardwood using the same material for the rest of the frames. More recently I have been thinking of making the top part of the frame from sections of hardwood glued together and then cut to shape with a jigsaw, finally whichever method I choose I will need to source some suitable hardwood. Over this weekend I hope to come to a decision, I will almost certainly forget the steam bending for the reason previously stated plus it will be necessary to produce a steam box and a source of steam. While I have been thinking about the frames I started on the door openings, on both sides of the saloon bulkhead and the forward side of the forward heads bulkhead where the facing laminate stops well short of the bottom of the door openings.

Saloon bulkhead aft side

Saloon bulkhead forward side

The next job was to cut and fit some strips of laminate and glue them in place these pieces are mainly required to level up the bulkhead before fitting the door frames and the joints will be covered by the frames.

Saloon bulkhead aft side

Saloon bulkhead forward side

It will be noticed that the infill pieces do not extend right down to the bottom of the door openings this is because the doors will not extend that far as the original opening had been extended upwards, I assume that the original openings were a source of bruised heads, and when I reinstated the round top openings I decided to keep the top of the door at the same height and put in an infill piece at the bottom, from a head banging hazard to a trip hazard. The aim next week will be to trim up the laminate on the bulkheads and clean up the openings ready for the new frames and hopefully have a plan for the frames drawn up.

More doors

I started this week by pinning and glueing the edge trim to the steering gear compartment doors and then drilled the holes for attaching the hinges, once this was complete I masked off the white painted area and gave the edge trim on the remaining five doors a first coat of varnish I also put a second coat of varnish on the forward galley locker door.

The first job on Wednesday was to put a second coat of varnish on the remaining five doors followed by the first coat on the teak finger hole liners for these doors, the forward galley door was then put back into position and secured. As the varnish was touch dry on the remaining five doors I finished off the day by fitting the hinges.

First thing this morning I put a second coat of varnish on the teak finger hole liners and then went on to fit the aft galley door.

Galley locker doors fitted

I then moved on to fitting the locker doors in the heads it took a bit of fiddling about to get them lined up.

Heads locker doors

I did think afterwards that there is room for a drawer above the aft door but this would entail moving the switch for the shower drain pump, the black object above the forward door, so that I could fit a dummy drawer front to match the drawer, maybe a job for the future. I then went on to fit the doors to the steering gear compartment in the aft cabin.

Aft cabin doors

After fitting the aft cabin doors I did wonder if they would have been better painted grey, the head lining and the laminate on the top of the compartment is after all grey, the white looks fine in the galley and heads it maybe needs a bit more thought. The first job next week will be to fit the latches to the remaining five doors also the two doors in the aft cabin will require some sort of hold back device to stop them swinging about if the emergency tiller is required. While I am reasonably pleased with the various doors the dyed softwood edge trim is not a good match to the remainder of the hardwood trim used around the boat although it does come somewhere near the teak finger hole liners, which were supplied with the door latches, but even the colour of these does vary a bit they were made in Taiwan probably from odds and ends lying round the factory. 

Doors

I have had several distractions this week which means that I did not get as much done as I had planned I managed to finish cutting and fitting all the remaining edge trim for the doors over the weekend so the first job on Monday morning was to apply three coats of wood dye. The Colron wood dye is water soluble and dries ready for re coating in about an hour so that it could all be done in a day.

Edge trim after three coats of wood dye

I finished off what was going to be a short day by starting to fit the edge trim to the aft galley locker door.

First thing this morning I finished the edge trim to the aft galley door and drilled the holes for the hinge attachment screws it just needs the edge trim to be varnished.

Aft galley locker door

I then moved on to fitting the edge trim to the doors for the under sink locker in the heads these now just require some varnish before they can be fitted.

Heads locker doors

The two doors for the steering gear compartment have the liner for the finger hole fitted they just need the edge trim fitting which is all ready and will be the first job next week.

Aft cabin doors awaiting edge trim

While I was at home yesterday I cut some plywood to make a door for the space under the cooker, this will need to be made up from two thicknesses of plywood due to the step in the moulding, see photograph below.

Opening under the cooker

In the original fit out the step was infilled with plywood flush to the darker coloured area of the moulding. The door will be a drop in type with a latch at the top to match the other doors the plan is to rough out the door over the weekend for final fitting next week when hopefully all will be revealed.

I went to the Kent Boat Jumble last Sunday but due to the threatened wet weather few stall holders turned up it was so bad that the entry charge was reduced to £2 from the usual £4 I did find a decent length of octoplait to make up a second long mooring warp so not a totally wasted journey.