Berth Soles – Floor Boards – Lockers etc.

I have been fitting out forward to aft methodically working my way down the boat between each bulkhead. I have previously mentioned the berth soles and floor boards, all of which were hand planned to achieve an accurate clearance fit to allow easy removal/installation.

Lateral shelving, main shelves in the cabin, hardwood trims to the berths and the step were all manufactured from Sapele and glued in place. At the onset of the forthcoming winter, the temperature at the build site is now becoming quite cold, although it was possible to glue many of these items in the workshop, however I did continued to carry out some gluing in situ on the boat. I store the epoxy in our heated utility room which maintains its workable viscosity. Before application to the boat, a gentle warming of the wood with a heat gun yielded good results, also the surface area of these assemblies is relatively quite small, therefore temperature control in the immediate vicinity was fairly controllable by the use of an electric fan heater, however this work was only undertaken on the mildest days of no less than 5 degrees Celsius. 

Berth soles and cabin floor board fitted – step constructed and fitted – main cabin shelves fitted and filleted – cockpit seats and locker covers in place.

I have continued to make additions and alterations, customising the build to suite my intended use of the boat. The side locker covers and toilet cover in the fore peak, were all  fitted with locating lugs beneath to assist in replacing the covers and to prevent them from sliding off, I also installed a closure to the recess beneath the toilet cover. All three items were then fitted with a hardwood trim which I considered aesthetically pleasing and also served as a finger purchase when opening.

An upturned side locker cover reveals the locating lugs and hardwood trim detail.
 The radiused end of the toilet closure can be seen below; this is glued and forms an 
integral part of the cover structure.

At this stage I also had to consider the installation of wiring cable runs, gas bottle, battery/batteries, instrumentation and equipment. This is a small boat and there is no room for an afterthought. I also manufactured small but important removable items like the gas bottle platform. This was shaped to sit snugly to the contours of the hull within one of the lockers, due consideration was also given to the routing of the supply pipe.

The cockpit seats were fitted and locker drains manufactured along with the cockpit locker covers. I decided to reinforce these components by gluing doublers to the undersides and installing an additional beam situated at mid span of each seat. The cockpit locker covers have to be sufficiently watertight to withstand water ingress when heeling. The architects solution and subsequent design of the drains is worthy of mention, they are an excellent design and I expect that they will function perfectly. The construction of the covers and drain requires the use of some flat bar and rod, for this I used 316 stainless steel. 

The starboard side cockpit seat with the locker cover removed. The drain can be seen along one side and the forward end of the locker, the design allows water to travel in either direction. The aft exit drains into the motor well and forward sloping drain into the cockpit which, also drains into the motor well. The cockpit sole has not yet been fitted to allow for painting beneath. The two 6mm steel rods spanning the drain toward either end provide support to the locker cover when fitting and work very well. The covers will be securely locked with a hasp, staple and padlock fitted central to the cockpit edge of the cover.

Upturned locker cover showing the doublers fitted to provide additional stiffness and the stainless steel locating strip screwed from beneath. Also in addition to the architects design, I continued the hardwood trim along the aft end of the cover and formed a radius on the corner.

A view from the transom showing the locker covers in place and the outboard motor well. The motor well cover and floor boards on either side will be glued and filleted once the compartments beneath have been painted.

Forward Compartment

The forward compartment has a volume of around 38 litres and is designed to be filled with buoyancy foam. This was a very difficult area to fillet and sheath, but nonetheless I managed to produce a good neat tight finish to the filleting and fibre glass tape. I then applied a liberal coating of epoxy to the inside of the compartment and to the bottom and edges of the covering floor board. I then filled the compartment in two stages with a two part polyurethane foam; this was to prevent the material overheating. When mixed, the buoyancy foam expands at an alarming rate and generates heat. On the final pour, I screwed, glued and weighted down the floor board with a flat board laden with concrete blocks whilst the foam was still expanding, allowing the foam to make contact with the underside of the floor and ooze out around the sides. The excess was trimmed off when set. This floor board is designed to be fixed, I therefore decided to apply an epoxy fillet, sheath, fill and fair the same. I propose to paint this area forward of the final bulkhead before the bottom of the anchor/mooring well is fitted, access is restricted and wielding a roller and brush would be difficult. I shall apply masking tape to the areas that are subject to epoxy gluing and filleting to ensure the paint does not interfere with the bond. 

This photograph shows the sealed front compartment floor board fitted. Filleting to bulkheads, fixed forward locker side boards and shelving are all faired and ready for painting. The centre panel is removable to access the locker space below.

Whilst working in this area I trimmed the head of the stem. You can clearly see the laminated layers of hardwood and plywood that create the profile. The step in the stem below the bolt, is the forward support of the anchor/mooring well bottom.

Filleting Fairing and Sheathing

Three months have now past since we turned the boat over, but despite being continually busy I have still managed to spend a further 266 hours on the build. The following blogs will record this work in chronological order.

With the colder winter months looming ever closer, I felt the need to complete the filleting and fairing as soon as possible to take advantage of the relatively mild temperatures. Cold weather would significantly affect the setting time and work-ability of the epoxy. At all junctions between the transverse and longitudinal bulkheads, planking and transom, planking and backbone, I first wetted the joints out then applied a 20mm radius fillet of epoxy mixed with a wood flour blend. When set I covered these with 100mm wide 300 gsm woven fibreglass tape. Once the epoxy had hardened I cleaned up the fillets and then applied a filler of epoxy mixed with Phenolic micro-balloons fairing the surface of the tape and blending with the surrounding surfaces. All areas were then rubbed down and blended in smooth. This operation took a considerable amount of material and time, particularly the rubbing down. As per the architect’s recommendation, I sheathed the inner side of the garboard and the first strake throughout the boat to provide additional stiffness, this produces an immensely strong and relatively maintenance free hull which is of particular importance in the difficult or inaccessible areas. I decided not to fill and fair the unseen areas beneath the berth soles or floor boards, I just cleaned and rubbed them down leaving a fair surface which will be painted later. 

20mm radius epoxy fillets sheathed and faired at all joints.

The berth soles are designed to be shaped to sit on the hull planking to provide support along the outer edges. This I did but in addition installed shaped plywood supports glued in place and filleted beneath with an epoxy wood flour blend mix. Although a little time consuming, this provided further stiffening of the hull and gave a really solid base for the berth sole boards.

The additional berth supports were made up by gluing 2no strips of plywood, shaped to fit the hull then glued in place. When set an epoxy fillet was applied to the void beneath. This is also a good example of the rubbed down sheathing beneath each berth which will be finished in locker paint.

Filleting and sheathing beneath the cockpit floor. This and other areas will be difficult to access once sealed, I therefore intend to apply the full paint regime before closing off. Note the water tight hatches  giving access from the side lockers to the void beneath the cockpit floor.  The cut outs in the transverse bulkheads are to allow storage of oars and the balloon jib pole  etc.