Sunday, December 12, 2010

Great Expectations

not my favorite Dickens novel actually but probably his best known one. I think David Copperfield might be my favorite, "poor boy makes good after some hard lessons" but that is just me...

Anyway, the pattern for this blog lately has been to list the excuses for why boatwork has not happened.

That is going to change. Suffice to say that Real Life reared its ugly head and Boat Life cowered in a corner.

The most interesting item accomplished is that the settee locker door openings were cut out. I have been obsessing for months about how to build the doors. It seemed like every other day I had a new idea. Well, in the end I got sick of thinking about it and just cut the damn holes. At least now I can install the panels which will allow other work to progress. In fact I do have a plan for the doors but I can spend three paragraphs explaining it or just show pictures when it gets done. I am voting for the latter.

First, I laid out where the openings were going to be and clamped a straight board onto the panel to act as a guide for my skilsaw:




Since I couldn't cut the corners completely with my circular blade I had to finish the cuts off with my pull saw. I love that pull saw. When my old standard push saw(as in I got it when I was 10 and it expired when I was 41) was finally judged too dull to live and too cheap to sharpen I decided not to replace it. I haven't missed it.




Two panels, cut and ready for the next step(s):




If I had equally spaced doors on both panels I think it would have been easier to build the backrests out of solid wood. It would have looked a lot nicer to. As it is, the starboard panel only has one door in it and plenty of flat space. For that reason the plywood panels seem reasonable. In my opinion though, from an aesthetic view, the less plywood the better. On the port side there really wasn't much panel left after cutting out three door holes.

Other than that.. I bought some solid cherry and ordered some door hardware - twice - since I changed my mind about how to build the doors after I ordered the first set of hardware. Oh well, I can use it somewhere else.

Last week, I found the boat pretty dark under the tarp and went shopping for some lighting. I bought an extension cord with outlets every six feet along its length. I ran that down the boat - bow to stern- and attached hanging lights in various locations. Its nice and bright inside now and I don't have to figure out what to unplug to use a power tool any more. Plenty of available outlets now.

Now I have to go and try a homemade mushroom soup recipe.

Em tasol wantoks ;-)

11 comments:

Heather Mulholland said...

I don't know what to say ... I have a feeling you mentioned the soup because you knew I was reading :P

Went through your page about redoing the hull (wow!) I would be incredibly tired of all that sanding.

You know, I'm the same as you and the painter, I thought 'Purple ... ?' but it turned out really nice.

Anonymous said...

Sheesh, the least you could have done was to post the recipe!

I'm sure you've gone over it but I can't recall... why does the starboard side have only one hatch? What's behind the panel fore and aft?

-MH

Britton said...

Hehe, too funny. The mushroom soup comment was made in part because I have a quirky sense of humor and thought it would catch a few readers off guard (in a good way) and partly to fish for a response from a lurker. One cast and 'fish on!' Not too shabby if I do say so myself ;)

I can certainly post the recipe but as I received it the other day, it was written by and for experienced cooks. Its full of 'a bit of this' and 'a dash of that'. Until last night I hadn't had a chance to see how it would work out. It was delicious by the way. Yams are the secret ingredient.

Britton said...

Now as for boat work...

The starboard panel only has one door for a locker in the middle. Forward of that will be an open top (think original Triton) for fuel for the stove or maybe some other stuff. Aft of the central locker is another bay with a top opening where the trash bag will live.

That's the thinking for now. All subject to change of course.

Britton said...

and yeah, I was terribly tired of all that sanding. If I had to write an essay on 'how I spent my summer' it would be a very short...

Two years later though and sometimes I look at another boat and think, "you know, with a little sanding and prep work..."

Maine Sailboats said...

Your Quote:

"Two years later though and sometimes I look at another boat and think, "you know, with a little sanding and prep work..."

It's a slippery slope...

Anonymous said...

Every so often, possibly once per season, I try having the trash bag in one of my "original triton" open-top spots like that. Only when I attempt to pull the mostly-full bag out of the bin am I reminded of why it doesn't work: The bottom of the bin is broader than the top. Must manually excavate much of the contents of the bag in order to extract.

If that portion of the settee back were hinged near the bottom, it could work nicely.
I'd imagine that the same would hold true for the stove fuel side as well.

-MH

Britton said...

Slippery slope is right. I already have my eye on another boat. Just need to keep it out of my mind for another two years...

Duh! I have had the sette locker plan set for a few years now and in one statement MH has me re-thinking it all... Getting the trash bag back out never occured to me. I have the hatch in the top cut out and everything. Maybe I was too quick in my planning and I need to stop and think about this for another year or so.

Thanks! I guess. Back to the drawing boards now...

Maine Sailboats said...

Is there room in that space you've intended behind the settee for a stock plastic trash can to slip in and hold your trash bag, thus avoiding the issues? I really can't visualize the space you're talking about.

You're right. This calls for absolute work stoppage till at least 2012 while you work out the trashy details. Nothing else must proceed till this is settled! ;<)

Anonymous said...

can you add a small plastic garbage container underneath the bin to cup the bottom of the bag, that way your trash bag doesn't expand at the bottom and can slide out the top hole that you have already cut out?

Also you would not have to put the work on hold until 2012 :-)

Anonymous said...

Britt ,

It's me Jim - hit me with an email at hau69@yahell.

Peace !

Jim