The Lid on Top
This week I've finished myriad small jobs, and a few big ones. The big milestone has been getting all the decks on, this includes the foredeck, middle deck/cockpit, the aft deck and side decks. Phew.
The somewhat different deck framing structure here means that I didn't have to laminate any deck beams on a mould. The two full-width beams were laminated and glued in one operation on the bulkheads. This is a small but handy time saver.
In the trade we call it VP - visual progress. Sometimes it can seem like the project is going a bit slow, and then you get to a relatively easy job, like fitting the decks, and bang, all of a sudden you've got something that looks like a finished boat. When restoring an old boat for a customer it's always nice to paint out a section of the hull and move onto the next, so when the owner comes in for their weekly inspection, they can see some VP and see where their money is going. Anyway, I thought the owner of this boat needed a little pick-me-up, so I was very happy to fit the decks and get some not-quite-instant gratification.
As mentioned, it's a pretty straight forward process. The complication with my boat lies in the fact that the deck camber is different throughout the boat. The cockpit/main deck has a small camber, the side and foredecks have a bit more, and the aft deck has extreme camber. This meant that I had to use different thicknesses and layers of plywood in different places to get it to mould to the shape and lie fair on the deck framing. As with any deck, the curved deck beams, combined with the sheer of the boat, create a compound curve. I could write a whole article on deck beam camber misconceptions but I'll leave that for another day.
Due to the compound curve, the plywood struggled to lie fair and make the curve, but we got there in the end. For the aft deck I had to laminate 2 layers of 4mm ply. I'd prefer not to laminate, as it uses a hell of a lot more glue, but it sure does stiffen up the plywood. For the midship deck, which has the least camber and is a flat plane, I was able to easily bend 9mm ply to do the job. The side and foredeck were interesting. I used 6mm ply for the side decks and the after half of the foredeck. Where the curve got more sever I had to cut the 6mm ply athwartships and scarph on a 4mm section in the bow. This may seem a bit odd, but works just fine. This also eliminated the need for laminating the plywood, saving time and weight while using less epoxy.
Much thought must go into where the hatches will be placed, as the holes need to be cut before the plywood goes down. This enabled me to clean up the squeezed-out glue that came from under the decks. The main deck was pretty simple. There is only one brand of screw type inspection port that is rugged enough for this application and it comes in only one size. The next option would be to go for aluminium and plexiglass hatches, which would be nice, as they come in a wide range of sizes. Unfortunately, they are prohibitively expensive in the numbers I need. The aft deck hatches were another story. There was a bulkhead in the middle of the after part of the boat, making two watertight sections. This is great for outright safety but would have meant I needed two separate hatches. This is okay but the aft hatch would have been awkward to get to, especially in rough weather. So in the end I cut out the bulkhead, meaning I only need one hatch and making more room to store long objects. Everything is a compromise and in this instance I chose practicality over potential safety.
As is normal practice I painted or resin coated the underside of the decks before gluing them to the boat. One must use 2 pack paint for this task, as enamel paint will stain yellow where the epoxy has been, no matter how much it is wiped clean. As you can see from the photos I also managed to string some ribbands around the cabin moulds and glue down the blocking or cleats. These will tie the cabin sides and front to the deck. This means that next week will be making the cabin. This is very exciting as the final shape of the boat will be revealed.