Inside the Cabin

Interior of the Cabin, photo taken 3/29/2014

More Cabin Progress (Outside)

LOOKING AFT TO THE STERN
The cabin top has been laid in over the beams, epoxied and screwed into place.
The next step is to add two layers of fiberglass and epoxy, then paint. 
But this will happen much later on.

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE BOW
OK - I don't make it into many of these photos.  So it's time for a cameo.  
I've been working behind the scenes taking pictures and updating the blog. 

So, about the cabin.  The height of the cabin was carefully planned. Two cool features are
1) plenty of headroom inside (about 4" more than usual) and 
2) the sitting height is just right, outside.

Storm Sail

CAI:  Yes I did a small “napkin” to start with (a small sail).  Yes it is a 10 square foot trysail for the mizzen.    That’s what you use in storms.   I am hoping that it can double up as anchor sail and reduce boat swing.  That keeps the boat from moving around when at anchor.   Storm sails can have bright colors so they can be seen more easily in bad weather.

The sail is made in the old style.  Sown rope, rope edges and so on.  “Lifted tables” is the method used for hemming the sail.  There are lifted tables, folded and taped.  Lifted is the strongest and the most labor-intensive.  There are straight corner patches on both sides, a roped luff and foot with rat-tails.  Gentle broad seaming is used for sail shape.  There is more sail-shaping on the edges. It’s topped off with nice sewn-in bronze rings with leather.

I have a small portable walking foot zigzag sewing machine, a Reliable Barracuda 2000E. It is a Thompson clone from Taiwan.  It’s  noisy , finicky and amazingly strong.  It does 8 layers of 9 oz Dacron sail cloth with V-138 thread. That’s 21 lbs in tensile strength. I hope that I will find place for the machine on the boat when we are sailing…

So now I am on to the next one.  The main trysail (about 98 square feet)  and then a storm jib.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trysail

The First Steps of the First Sail

The first sail design is a mizzen trysail. 
This would be used for heavy winds or storms.  So it's also called a storm sail. 
'Starting small and doing the sails old school style.

This is the second loft, hollowing and shaping the edges of the sail.

The OTHER Thing You Do When It's 20 Degrees Outside

Sometimes you just need a break from the cold!

Building the Cabin Ceiling with Plywood, Epoxy and Screws.

After the epoxy on the beams was cured it was time to put two layers of plywood over the beams. You can see the first layer above.  Epoxy is applied first to the supporting beams, then to the edge of the installed plywood, then to the edge of the next sheet of plywood and to the seam material that goes between the plywood pieces. 

The next step is to lay in the adjacent piece of plywood and cinch everything tight with tiedowns (the red straps).  Once everything is positioned correctly, the panels are screwed into place. There are about 32 screws per piece of plywood. RECALL, THE CABIN GETS TWO LAYERS OF PLYWOOD. All in all, about 500 stainless steel screws were required to install the cabin ceiling. 

What You Do When It's 20 Degrees Outside

This is what you have to do when it's 20 degrees outside: wrap your boat in blankets.  So why? 
The cabin beams are installed and secured with epoxy and screws.  The epoxy won't cure at cold temperatures.  So CAI brought out the blankets and heaters.  This isn't the first time!

Deck and Cabin Progress

The deck is now installed and the cabin walls are built up. 
The cabin beams are just starting to be installed.
This view is looking aft toward the cockpit.
 CAI is hanging his feet in the hatch above the forepeak.

This picture is taken a few minutes later, from the cockpit area.
You are looking forward toward the bow.
The cabin carlings are installed at the top of the cabin walls.
Each beam will nest in the carlings on each end.

The cockpit is now framed in, but no "floor" yet. 
There will be hatches cut into the decking on the aft, port and
starboard sides of the cockpit area.

It has been reall,y really cold at times and working on the boat is slowed as a result.  Glue and fiberglass epoxies freeze and don't cure in the cold temps.  Sometimes CAI builds a tent with blankets and runs heaters to heat a local area for some needed glue jobs but that's more the exception than the rule.  

Despite the cold, CAI has finished installing the decking, he has framed out the cockpit and he is now building and installing beams for the cabin.  (Pictures coming soon for that).  This beam-fitting and installation means a lot of back and forth trips between the shop and the boat, measuring and cutting and measuring and sanding and so on.