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The foredeck is 3/4" plywood on 3/4" by 2" beams. Forward is a pair of self-bailing anchor lockers, and aft
is a hold with a hatch big enough to fit my bicycle.
The cockpit design was changed a few times up to this point. I first wanted the cockpit sole to be the full width of
the boat, with above-deck fuel tanks on each side. Then I thaught about all the wasted storage space. I decided to make my
own tanks with ply and epoxy, and put them under the forward part of the cockpit seats. I recently found out that ethanol
eats epoxy, and I may sometime get gas with ethanol in it, so I will buy Tempo plastic tanks. Part of the frame under the
cockpit will have to be removed to fit them. The cockpit seats will be screwed, but not glued, so the fuel tanks can be romoved
if needed. After all that, it appears that my original idea should have been the way to go.
I varnished the cabin sole, without pre-coating it with epoxy. I figured that there won't be any standing water on the floor,
so the epoxy coat wouldn't help much. I could be wrong, I guess I'll know in a few years. Meanwhile, the floor looks better
without the epoxy.
The cabin roof and sides was sheathed with Xynole cloth and epoxy.
The window frames were assembled out of treated pine.
I made a jig for the radial arm saw, (see picture below) so I could cut the pieces at the correct angle. I cut the laps with
multiple cuts with the saw. They were then glued and screwed together.
I just found out the other day that the property my building is on will be sold at the end of march. I don't think they will
kick me out, but I don't know yet. I will try to get most of the exterior of the boat complete by then, just in case. It would
be very inconveniant to have to move the boat more than once before launching.
As of 2/19, I talked to the person who is buying the property. The boat has to be out of the building by the end of march.
He will let me keep the boat on the property for a while longer, and I will probably be able to use part of the building for
a shop.
Two of the window frames warped after gluing them, so I had to re-make them. On one of the re-makes, I forgot the last step,
which was checking to see if it fit before the glue cured. Of course, after the glue cured it didn't fit, so I had to re-make
that one. You would think after making 17 of them, I would know what I was doing. Oh, well.
I cut a rabbet in the inside of the frames with a router, and ripped a strips of pine to use outside the plexiglass to hold
it in place. The pieces for the curves at the top of the windows are soaking, in hopes that they will make the bend.
For the round porthole, I cut a circle out of a piece of 3/4" plywood, cut a rabbet in it, and glued it to the inside
of the cabin side.
While I was messing around with the 15 windows, I sheathed the outside of the cabin, and parts of the cockpit, and deck. I
also did some painting of bulkheads.
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