15 November 2008

Another week another bulkhead


We have finished preparing the area between the forward end of the engine room and the mast. This involved another unpleasant afternoon grinding back to clean fibreglass but we were a lot better prepared than last time and it went far more quickly.

Once that area was ready we glassed the keel over with chopped strand mat and vinylester resin, ready for diesel, water and holding tanks.

Then Bill cut the new bulkhead out and this has now been glassed in place. Before we could do this we needed to cut the forward ends off the engine bearers and we filled the cut-outs in the front. The engine beds will be self-contained and any spilt fluids will stay in there and not be rinsed over any other parts of the boat.

The hole for the old engine instruments has been stripped back and the new bulkhead is now attached to both the front end of the cockpit and the engine bearers. It will be a great improvement over the old bulkhead that was not attached to the deckhead.

While I have been scratching my head and working out where the new tanks will fit under the floor, Bill has been rebuilding the cockpit floor, which was extremely flexible. The 6 layers of new glass and 24mm of plywood should provide some sound insulation as well as providing somewhere to screw things on above the engine.

01 November 2008

Stage 2

Well, how exciting! The last 2 days I have spent with my number 1 tool, a crowbar, removing the next stage of the boat. It went from this:

To this at the end of day one

To this at close of play yesterday. I found that working in jandals/flip flops/slippers around the job to be not that clever, as the ring shank boat nails stick really well in flesh and need to be pulled out. Back into my safety boots!

I have cleared back to the aft end of the engine room and our first 2 jobs will be to seal off the top of the keel with vinylesterand chopped strand mat, then we will fit the bulkhead at the forward end of the engine room. That we can fit floors with tanks under. Sounds easy!

On deck I have fitted the front two portlight covers and I am really happy how they have come up. It is completely sealed and the only way it will leak will be under the Lewmar portlight flange.