Aft bulkhead. Last two pieces!

Ron brought over two pieces of 3/4 marine plywood and I made a template out of cardboard, trimmed the to fit the last to places--high up under the side deck I left space for wires in conduit and throttle and transmission cables. 

Here are two shots showing them cleared in place on the aft side.

Port side aft view:

Starboard side aft view:

Here is the Starboard side of this bulkhead viewed from the front and tabbed in place.  I need to pull the engine control wired inboard before tabbing the top. I will put some PVC conduit in here on case I need to pull wire aft later on. When the new panel goes in, most wire will feed through this side. 

Port side looking aft, and all tabbed in except for access to conduit which I will add soon. Control cables are visible. AC power enters the boat in front of this bulkhead. No need to pass that through. 

Port Side Aft Bulkhead

Here is the forward side tabbed in, except for the inboard end. I want to plug the hole where I removed a shore telephone and cable connection. Multiple layers are the lighter spots. 

I added some tabbing to bond the shelf after tabbing the seam between the bulkhead panels. I still need to tab in the bottom and may wait until the bunks are in for that. 

This is the aft side cleared together for aligned purposes. Barely noticeable it the hole for the shore cable and telephone connector that needs to be plugged. 

Better view of where the bulkhead meets the shore power connection panel. All AC wiring is on the forward side. I'll move the cable and telephone connector aft, or perhaps I'll simply leave that off. 

 

Outside view of shore power connection panel. 

Aft Cabin

Ron and I test fitted the upper bunks.  Ron marked up the old pieces for a pattern. Now that is done, I was able to start installing the third level of the bulkhead.  This is in two pieces already cut a few days ago. 

Looking forward from the lazarette to the starboard side. aft bulkhead. I used two cleats to hold this in place while I tabbed in the other side 

Here is a view aft of the area that I subsequently tabbed in. I tabbed the four sides and the top of the shelf. 

Note there is a bit of a gap on the hull edge so I laid most of that tabbing on the wood and will add another layer of stitched mat, mat and roving, in that order, on that edge. I will need more roving to do that. 

Aft Head Sole

Here is another gap in the sole. The aft edge--top, was not supported enough. I cut this piece of plywood and tabbed it in flush with the floor. I wanted the floor bearing on the full 3/4" of plywood.  

This picture shows several layers of fiberglass mat,  with the top layer at an angle waiting to be ground off. 

Tomorrow ill tab the other side and attach a cleat to support a floor panel.  

The near side, not shown, needs a cleat bolted into support the third side of the drop in board. And I'll need to cut a board and cover it in fiberglass cloth to complete this section of floor. 

Exhaust Tube

Today I glassed in a 3' section of exhaust tubing. 

A common problem with sailboats on the ocean is wave action forces water into the exhaust system, all the way back into the engine. Trust me, if the sea conditions are this bad, you will be unable to work on a Diesel engine, to bleed out the water to get it running again. I've heard of this happening in Block Island Sound and back in 2000 or so on a boat named Miss Manhattan which was abandoned at sea and later broke up on Cape Hatteras. 

The cure, my cure anyway, is two riser loops. I have one at the engine, and another one aft.  I also have a flapper valve on my exhaust port. This is like wearing a belt and suspenders, plus tie wraps to hold your pants up--and give you confidence your pants won't fall down. These three methods should provide for a reliable engine start in any sea state. 

So, I still had a problem. My exhaust was banging around as the water built up at the after loop. Additionally it was laying against the side of the hull and if ECHO was heeled over, it could potentially allow water to back up into the motor. 

My solution is to move the second exhaust loop to the transom. When I passed the exhaust through the aft bulkhead, I had 3" fiberglass tubing left over. I decided to tab in a 3' section to lock it into place, and then add a short section aft to a gusset in the transom and then to the exhaust port--a job for later in this coming week.  

I elevated it on two pieces of 3/4" marine plywood cut on a bevel, and tabbed in the mount with a layer of mat and stocked mat, followed by the same layup around the tube at both ends. 

This is the aft end where three bilge pump hoses, the exhaust, and two cockpit drains run under the aft end of the cockpit. 

Forward Cockpit Drains

I had a late drawing up my fuel tank plans, watching my brother blast his future garage, and running to West Marine for paint and primer. 

After spraying a second coat of paint on my settee boards I was soaked and took a break for 20 minutes to cool off. The shadows were getting long but I had to place another piece of overhead tabbing on the port side shelf, and I wanted to get the cockpit drains bulkhead pass-thru tabbed in on the forward side. 

This leave two small 13" pieces of tabbing for the shelves left to do. Ill do one a day then next few days to wrap that up. 

Drilling two 1.5" holes was easy. I was not happy with the length of one of my pass thru fiberglass tubes--cutting a longer one was easy too. 

So  few more minutes work on the other side tomorrow and a bit of work with a dremel sander and I can reinstall those two drains and not worry about ECHO's bilge filling with water when it rains. 

I have noticed a few minor jeans where fresh water gets into ECHO.  Both of the cockpit drains leak at the cockpit sole.  I was unable to remove those last year. Perhaps caulking is the solution.  I have a leak at the emergency rudder cover plate. That was seal well, I thought, last year. And I have two small leaks at the tow rail amidships--very minor. 

More Tabbing

I am running out of tabbing jobs. And I am running out of materials. Do I buy a full roll, or do I order a length. I feel like ordering a full roll and some more cloth and non-epoxy resin for the aft cabin. 

Today I tabbed in one section under the starboard side shelf--the top is already done. I used a wide board to apply pressure.  Next I tabbed in an area that did not bond well on a previous attempt. This was where the two aft bulkhead panels join each other. Then I tabbed in the front side of the short fuel tank bulkhead all the way across. Some places had no tabbing and others did--with a good bond. Finally, I tabbed in the top of the aft head bulkhead where it meets the deck. It was a small piece so I used extra material, mat and roving to replace one small piece of broken roving.

 

Next I finished the inside priming. It has been a long day and I want to make it one of my most productive.   

Fuel Tank Mount

I spent 40 minutes cleaning up some recent tabbing with a grinder, and prepping the inside if the front wall of the cockpit for 1/2 balsa core. 

My plan for the later is to build up the wall thickness such that is even with the two hatches, and glass over it, fairing and painting it for an easy to maintain interior wall.  

Next I pulled some temporary screws joining some plywood used for a tank mount, so that I could round the edge of that 90 degree turn. I want fiberglass mat, roving, and stitched mat tape to be able to make that turn when I glassed it in.  I smoothed out a few rough edges around this area too.

Next I started working on the lower tank mount. This too a while. I used the grinder to knock down the tabbing on top of the White Oak sub-fame and the plywood frame that sits on top was still to high. This is a rather important measurement, so I kept cutting away parts of the plywood frame until it fit and met my design spec of 20.75".  Once completed I painted the entire plywood panel and the top of the White Oak sun-frame and glued it in, securing it with stainless screws.  I checked to ensure  my number of 20.75" was still good. After this I tabbed it in with one layer of stiched mat on each side. I did not was to raise the height my adding too many layers. 

Here it is in place!

Next I cut two large pieces of mat, two large pieces of roving and four pieces of stitched mat (a layer of mat sewed to a biraxial cloth).  Half of this to be used on each side. 

I would need a lot of epoxy for all this. I mixed up 60 oz of resin and went to work.  I poured a puddle from one end of the GOP of the upper tank mount to the other and laid the mat on it working the epoxy into the top half and then I folded the bottom half onto the top, wet it up with still more epoxy and folded it back down against the side of the mount and then the hull below that.  I repeated the process with the roving.  Next I laid a layer of stitched mat upside down on top on another puddle of epoxy, wet it thoroughly and flipped it over to wet the other side. This piece I positioned on top of the 90 degree bend. I wet of one more layer of stitched mat and laird this on top of the platform with on edge flush with the 90 degree bend.  

I was concerned the corner might pop up so I laid two plastic garbage bags on top of the whole lay-up and then clamped it down at the edges with pieces of wood and wood screws. The plastic is so the wood won't be glued in. 

It turned out the quantity was a good estimate. I made 3.5 oz less for the other side.

Here is what it looked like when I finished.  

Starboard side. Aft to the right. 

Port side.  Aft to the left. 

Tomorrow I get to peel off the plastic sheets after unscrewing the cleats and ill fm see how it came out. Hopefully, there will be no voids.  If there are, I will drill holes and fill them with epoxy using syringes. 

My goal is to be able to give a welder a very exact specification to build a tank.  I want it to be symmetric with the top and bottom, and front and back side parallel to each other. And I want it to drop on and only require screws to secure it so that I can remove it at a later date if necessary. 

Shelf Installation

Friday I installed a shelf on the starboard side.  It fills a gap between the aft bulkhead and a portion of the area under the cockpit seating. I build a jig to line up a panel of 3/4" plywood with plastic underneath and tabbed in two edges on the top. I'm waiting on the bulkhead side, and will tab in from underneath next. 

Here is what it looked like with the guide jig removed. 

Note the bulkhead visible on the bottom will continue up.  I plan to shorten the deck shower hoses (red and blue hoses).  The white hose is used for the deck shower and I may design something to contain those hoses and allow the adjacent space to be used for storing motor and transmission oil or perhaps  I need to consider how to drain this compartment in case a leak occurs. 

Today I repeated the process for the port side, and with experience this went faster.  That side houses the shore power  and cable TV connection.  This would be a good location to store dry items like oil filters and perhaps spare parts.

Both these shelves and the bulkhead will be useful for supporting the upper bunks. 

Bulkhead Tabbing--Aft Head and Galley

This photo show the final result of tabbing the two parts of this bulkhead together. The seam goes through the middle of the large hole, and the tabbing of the edge of bulkhead to the hull.

Here is the opposite side in the aft head. The seam got one layer of stitched mat tape. The hull joint got a foundation layer of mat, followed by a layer of roving, topped with a layer of stitched mat. The opposite bulkhead is blocked by the galley furniture, which will be ripped out later. The aft side of the bulkhead got the same three layer treatment.  I added a bit of extra mat and roving to use up my epoxy.

I had hoped to fillet and tab in the last of the settee tabbing.  While it is all cut and ready to go, with the exception of a few pieces to bond to one ring frame--which will need some filler, it was too later to finish that off. I'll do that on Thursday afternoon. 

There is a gap in the cabin sole in one settee locker that needs to be filled in also.  It should have some tabbing to bond the two sides together also. 

Fuel Tank Support Framing

I removed the alignment jig for the two pieces of white oak being framed in. 

The below picture show the results. One of the four corners needs some epoxy injected into a void, and the all could use a quick pass with a grinder. 

Forward framing. Starboard side on top, port side below.  The flange on the left side of the picture was cut back today also. 

Aft piece of tank framing,  starboard side on top, port side below it.  Lower photo show the air pocket. That will be drilled and filled with epoxy. 

Generally, you don't want air pockets, except perhaps between bulkheads and hull tabbing, to avoid hard spots.   Typically I will grind out air pockets and re-tab, or occasionally I will drill holes and inject epoxy.  In this case I will probably drill it out, fill with epoxy and after grinding decide if I want to add more fiberglass to these tab.  Each of these had a fillet of torn up mat, followed by a layer of mat and two layers of stitched mat.  That makes for a solid bond and a prepared surface. 

Fuel Tank Mount

I spent most of the afternoon figuring out with Ron how to mount the fuel tank. Ron suggested white oak cross members. I felt a plywood platform would work better. The solution?  Both with a plywood base on top of two white oak frames. I followed Ron's suggestion to hang the white oak frames on a frame to place hem at exactly the right height. I put them 1/4" lower than necessary to allow for fiberglass tabbing.

While Ron was cutting the f

White Oak, I made a clear out of a piece of plywood and used it to bond two bulkhead panels into a common plane.  I cut a couple of other blocks if wood to hold the outboard side in plane also.  So this is ready to tab.

Back to the tank support:

Here is the frame support the two white oak pieces at the bottom. When the frame comes out tomorrow, I'll measure the size and Ron will cut it out of  3/4" plywood and cut out the center to provide access to the hoses. 

Next I hit the areas to be tabbed with a grinder and then wiped it down with acetone.

I precut 4 pieces of mat and 8 pieces of stitched mat, along with breaking a piece up mat for a fillet filler.  I cut the pieces in a trapezoidal shape and made a slit on the narrow side to better conform to the shape of the angled White Oak and the turn of the bilge, and put a bit of mat over the slit.  Finally I used plastic to force out the air pockets and used clamps to pinch it all in position. 

Here is what it looks like when I left it.

The angled board is pushing a hose out of the way.

After this I tabbed two bulkhead panels together--the ones I lined up earlier with the cleat. Then I tried using up done excess epoxy mixed with West Systems 403 as a fillet, which did not work all that well.  The gap was too big and it is probably unnecessary if the tabbing is curved at the junction and sufficiently thick.  If followed this up with a layer of mat and a layer of stitched mat tabbing on the aft side if the bulkhead. 

Once the other side is done ill probably beef up both sides with more mat and roving. 

My immediate goal is to not slow down Ron.  That means finishing the tabbing on the galley and aft head bulkheads, providing measurements for the tank mount, tabbing in the upper tank mount when I get the plywood, and finishing off the saki settee work.  

The salon Settee needs lots done:

1) a few mechanical fasteners, 

2) some filler in a joint between floor sections,

3) a few fillets and tabbing along the fronts of the settees,

4) epoxy painting if the panels and boards,

5) final sanding 

6) Priming

7) sanding again 

8) painting 

9) hoses run

Once that is done, the tops of the settee can be screwed down.  I will probably wait on tabbing these in, in case I need access for something like wiring. I'll need to be careful not to let epoxy get all over my fresh paint. 

When this is done I should be able to keep up with Ron as he builds stuff it will be back to painting again.

If I have any free time it will go to working on the aft bulkhead, auto pilot mount, and the floors and the forward lockers,

Aft Upper Bunks Removed

Ron has been measuring for the next plywood purchase, while I was vacuuming up dust, and ripping out the upper bunks and tabbing.  

Here are some pictures. They are off to be replaced with new  panels made out of marine plywood.  These old pieces will be pattern. However, these bunks were longer than needed. The new bunks will still be long at 89" but not quite so long. It turns out these were added later and built on top of lockers. So there was extra stuff to rip out. Even with the new watertight bulkhead all of these aft bunks will be long--around 89". Perhaps I should build a locker at the forward end. 

Port side--aft to the left, forward to the right.

Starboard side--aft to the right, forward to the left in this photo.  

After this I reorganized the boat some. Moving tools to the forward hanging locker and I cleaned up my work bench. 

Two full trash bags later and I started grinding again.  

--ground the upper bunk area

--ground the area above the aft bulkhead to prepare for raising that up still higher.

--ground another area where I plan to install some storage behind the footwell of the upper bunks. 

--ground out all the loose tabbing on the galley and aft head bulkhead above where I recently tabbed them in. These are the areas covered by the old cabinets and bunks. For the aft head, I did both sides. 

Sone issues:  The port side bulkhead was two pieces of plywood without any tabbing joining them and now is held on by some roving at the top.  So I ground the edges of these two butting panels so these could be tabbed together tomorrow.  I'll cleat them flush on the other side, tab them, remove the cleat and tab the other side.  I'll do the same thing with a filet applied on one side to prepare for tabbing, and once locked into place, I'll filet and tab the other side.  I will have some strong bulkheads after this. I may use fast hardener as I'd like to filet both sides in one day.  

It was a long day and even wearing protective gear my firearms are itchy. 

I started measuring the space for the fuel tank and discovered that I really need to build a frame to mount the tank, which would also provide the even surfaces and straight lines I need to measure for a tank. All the curved surfaces just make it difficult to make the tank as large as possible. Tomorrow I'll work on that to.

I also decided to tab in two ledger boards to screw in the tank cover boards. That way I can remove the tank in the future, but unscrewing the boards unscrewing the flange on the tank and then cutting the tabbing on the outside edges.  This can wait until the tank frame is installed. 

My priority is to keep Ron busy.

1) Tank frame so I can finalize and maximize the tank size and Ron can start building the plywood top.

2) Tabbing the two aft head bulkhead panels together--so Ron's wall skins can be painted and glued on.

3) Fillet everywhere I can to prep for the final tabbing, priming and painting--so Ron can screw down the salon seat tops and begin on the seat back. 

Good news!  It looks like Marco can work with me this weekend. I plan to get him started prepping the topsides for paint an maybe starting the paint job. 

My goal is to have all the tasks above complete so Ron is playing catch up to me, and I can go back to finishing off my water tight bulkhead and other tabbing jobs.

One final note. I really like my DeWalt Jigsaw. The only issue I have is there is no light and the blades are hard to lock into place. 

Port Side Settee

Port side settee is completed and tabbed in.  Some touch up grinding and it is ready for paint. 

Sorry no pictures of this.

Tomorrow may be a demo and grinding day. 

Bulkhead Tabbing--the aft side

I tabbed in the back side of the upper bulkhead today with a double layer of stitched matt tape. I am debating whether to use some fillet and roving on this side also. I am not sure if it is necessary given that pressure would be against the other side.

I also tabbed in the top of the bulkhead, on the forward side against the cockpit sole using some form wood to hold it in place.

While is like to finish the exhaust system, friend Ron is nearly done with the port side settee and ill probably tab that in next. 

Tomorrow will be a grinding day.  I'll be cutting out parts of the aft head and aft upper bunks, and grinding away all the old tabbing.  Plus, I need to finish grinding the forward locker, and forward floors. 

Port side looking forward from lazarette.

Starboard side looking forward from lazarette.

Prepping the cabin sole for priming and paint

Today I did some more grinding. As the floors are almost entirely done with respect to the structure, I am nearly ready to paint. I decided to grind off all the old layers of paint and do the final prep work for priming and painting the cabin sole.  I can do this the same time I paint the port and starboard settees and lockers. 

So on went the mask and goggles and I wet crazy grinding the floors. I also cleaned up, with the grinder, the rough edges on my recent tabbing work and while i was at it, hit the rough edges of the tabbing inside of the starboard settee lockers. I don't want to be reaching in their for something and cutting my fingers on sharp edges. 

Here is a view the port side bulkhead tabbing adjacent to the aft head.  This bulkhead had no tabbing at all prior to this!  It now has a layer of stitched mat, followed by a fillet and then a layer of mat and a layer of roving. To the right is the newly exposed floor--the tan colored bits.

The starboard side did have some tabbing originally, but it was broken and the 'repair' someone made was a thin layer of fiberglass cloth--completely useless except to prevent cuts.  I ground it all off and laid it up like the other side with a fillet to smooth the curve.

In the background here to, you can see the tan base layer of the floor exposed after all the paint was ground off.   The lines are breaks in the non skid for decoration. 

I may add one or two more layers of stitched mat tabbing to these two bulkheads. It would be easy to do now and add a bit more strength.  I will probably overlap them at the elbow so I can both go higher on the bulkhead side and add more thickness to the elbow area. I might have to grind off a little more paint to do this take the bond up higher. 

Back to the cabin sole (floors). There is only a tiny amount left to grind off in the forward cabin and forward passageway--15 minutes work.

I will also need to fill some areas of the floor to fair it some. These would be the areas I repaired which in a few spots are not as flat as is like.  A random orbital sander will identify those areas and some easy sand West 410 filler added to my epoxy mix will fix those. 

It makes sense to me to priming and painting the lockers, at the same time as the floor.  I can protect these from epoxy drips with wax and/or lay down some plastic sheeting covered with paper, which will also make clean up work faster. 

Once painted, I can also use a hose after vacuuming the inside of the boat to eliminate all dust.  One of my goals is to be able to keep the boat clean as time goes on.   It would be nice to overnight on it a few nights a week to save on my commuting and allow me to work longer hours. 

I started grinding the companionway bulkhead. 

There is Kokini wondering what all that noise was. I had this hatch shut while I was working.

I started countersinking the exposed bolt heads that are used to support my two isolation transformers and the engine anti-siphon loop.  I'd lake to cover this with either white laminate, white epoxy paint, or a nice wood veneer.  

The bulkhead on the right will be removed and replaced--probably with 3/4" plywood, and shortened to make the teak hand grip more comfortable. 

I spent a lot of time vacuuming also to control the dust.

My final job of the day was sanding the boards that drop in the floor.  Next I put a coat of epoxy on those I had not finished--the two water tank cover boards, and the two mast base access boards.  It is even more important for these to be sanded primed and painted along with the floor because wood is not as durable as fiberglass. 

Tomorrows plans include cutting one of my 2x12's into dividers for my pickup bed. My truck is full of rolls of wire, tools and boat parts. I want to organize it into three sections placing the things I won't need right away close to the cab, the things I need near the tail gate, and everything else, like tools, in bins in the middle. 

The idea being to get everything off the boat that I am not using so it is easy to keep clean and dust free. 

Also, the area where all the tools and things are stored, the aft upper berths may all be ripped out soon. Getting everything off the boat will make room to work. 

Once the aft bulkhead goes in, I will have to enter and leave that aft compartment from the lazarettes.  I'm thinking about setting up tarps for shade and to protect the deck.  I need a small work bench to allow me to mix epoxy on deck. 

Today I rigged one tarp for shade  I plan to rig a few more.  One forward for shade, and one aft for both shade and protection for my fiberglass materials and epoxy.

Another Hot One

I added a bit more tabbing on the galley and aft head tabbing.  I added a fillet to round the corner of this seam.  This time a layer of mat followed by a layer of roving. Both of these were done with slow harder and it was anything but a slow set up as the eploxuy and hardeneder was 95 degree when I started.  I began to set up immediately, so I worked very fast.  I used up the remaining hardener painting the new boards at the mast.  Even so I the epoxy started to cook off, so I quit.  I also painted the new support for those floorboards with epoxy--did that first. 

So I need one more session to complete the boards, and then I think about sanding, priming and painting them.  I am keen on painting the whole floor to make it look nice, but it is too soon for that. 

I'm heading over for another session today.  I'd like to run some hoses and attach these to the aft end of the bulkhead so I can start attaching the upper half of the aft bulkhead.

Today will be hot and things begin to cool off some soon.

Grinding, Tabbing, and Floor Boards

I ground away all the surfaces under the two lazarettes.  Each side had a thin board glassed to the hull that locks in a triangular vertical board which prevents things in the lazarette from falling into the steering gear.  One side was already broken out. The other side looked sloppy so I cut I out and cleaned up the surface in preparation for replacing these.   It is now ready for new wood strips to be tabbed in. Then I can decide how to secure new triangular boards--I may make a few changes on the port side which will have the auto pilot. 

I'd like to build some shelves, hooks for rope, mount for fire extinguisher, a shelf for deck gear, and place a fenders.  The starboard side is larger and should holld my dinghy when it is rolled up.  in any event, a few carefully placed pieces of marine plywood tabbed in will increase my storage capability tremendously and keep things organized.  I want to use the space under the cockpit directly behind the rudder post for things like motor oil.  I can box that in easily enough on two sides and a hinged flap for the access side.

I am giving thought to building a custom mount for my large Danforth anchor, although I may sell that and buy a Fortress--which is a awkward size, but lighter and has better holding.  It would make a good anchor if I can find a place  to mount it--either inside or locked tight on a stern rail. Inside would be best.  

I also noticed the tabbing had broken away on the bulkhead on the aft end of the galley. It was covered up with a thin piece of cloth tape that did nothing. I ground that out and tabbed in some stitched mat tape. I'll fillet and add roving on top next.  The opposite side had nothing holding it in place. I ground that out and taped it. It will get the same treatment with roving. 

This was brutal work in 96 deg temperatures when I started. Running fans brought the temperature down and since I started late in the day, temps continued to drop.  Fortunately it was dry.  Even so I was completely soaked when I pulled off my environmental suit. 

The last boat near me finally went in. I am thinking about spray painting or tip and rolling my topsides.   I have some 600 grit sand paper and I will start with wet sanding the hull soon. I would like some help with that. I may hire a helper. It is possible wet sanding and buffing might be all that is needed. There is one spot my helper repaired when he used the wrong color white paint. I might have given him the wrong color. That will need to be sanded smooth in preparation for painting. 

While I repaired all the fiberglass portion of my cabin sole, there were a few little things left to do around where the wooden boards drop in at the mast.  My friend Ron is making me new boards.  Those should be done Friday--tomorrow. 

I repaired the lip that supports those boards and Ron is also building a new underfloor support for this. 

Note the left side is a little low. I may have to space that up a bit as it does not want to come up, even with wedges.  The brown filler covers countersunk bolts on top and fills some gaps on bottom. I used bolt do clamp it together wen glued and for strength. It will need some grinding and another application of filler to finish.

I am mighty tempted to sand, prime and paint the cabin some (floors).  While dripping epoxy would ruin it again, I found a huge roll of 3' wide construction paper in the dumpster, so I could cover it easily enough to prevent drips. It would've very nice to have the floor completely done.  And it was be easier to sweep up.  I may start up forward and begin prepping it for paint. All this will be covered with synthetic teak flooring when the interior is completed. 

I've discovered that a powerful shop wet/dry vacuum with lots of attachments is my best friend. I made a huge mess grinding in the last few days and that tool removed most of the dust without stirring it up. I have a new filter for it and plani to go back to Home Depot for their best Hepta filter.  The narrow attachment with the brush on the end works fantastic.  I was able to vacuum the walls and get almost everything.   Only water and hose would work better. If I can finish the dirty work grinding fiberglass I can think about overnighting on the boat which would save fuel time, and speed things up.

Finally, I have been removing everything from the boat and that has helped in keeling things clean. 

Today I will be grinding the inside of a locker, vacuuming it and tabbing it up prepping it for priming and painting.  I look forward to the end of the fiberglassing and the beginning of priming and painting. 

Tabbing in bulkhead fittings

Lucky me. It was cool enough to wear a suit working today.  I was unable to complete the tiller arm as my drill bit was dull at the tip. Tomorrow I'll try again with a new drill bit.

I cut out the holes precut in the plywood. And water started coming through as there was no way for it to drain prior to this. 

All the holes cut and ready for epoxy. 

Test fitting the fiberglass tubes. I decided to cut the smaller ones shorter. 

Tabbing it on will be a multi stage process. The lower 1.5" diameter tube is just a drain and will be connected to a hose with a ball valve at the main bilge to allow this aft part of the boat to drain and also allow it to be blocked off in case of a hull breach aft.   The 3" tube is for the exhaust.  The top three holes are for bilge pumps--two electric and one manual.  Once these are tabbed in on both sides.  I may wrap some tape around the all to stiffen up the whole assembly. It would be really bad if one broke off flush. 

One or two more sessions should complete this tabbing and I can attach hoses and attach the upper bulkhead section. 

Blog halted by Google screw up

I can post pictures except from my Google online storage, which I don't have or doesn't exist.

I am debating migrating my blog to another site as this sort of bullshit pisses me off.

Today, I helped my friend Ron by finishing off a job of fairing parts of his hull.  I'm only too glad to help him as he is helping me finish my interior.  All that is left of this many day project is to do the final sanding--ten minutes tops tomorrow.

As for ECHO, I trimmed many exposed screws projecting out of the forward bulkhead in the salon.  It seems the former paneling was attached from the other side which is no longer accessible.  I used a dremel tool and a pair of pliers.  Next I sanded both port and starboard side.  I removed most of the paneling, but much of the glue remained.  I found a few more screws and small bronze nails and also discovered a 36" section of tabbing that joined to pieces of plywood had delaminated.  I used a grinder with 60 grit to clean up all the remaining glue, and to cut out the damaged section.

I followed this up with tabbing in a piece of stitched mat tape to replace the one I removed.  I used fast hardener and put a piece of wax paper on top to help hold it in place and also to squeeze out any air pockets I could see.  I think it will be fine tomorrow and won't need any sanding unless the was paper sticks.

I have photo's but can't upload them.


Finally, I test fitted my new tank cover--it is 1/4" too short, but otherwise a welcome addition to making the floor level.