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.  

 

Windstorm: What happens when the wind blows the wrong direction!

A windstorm blew in Sunday afternoon.  It blew all night and all day on Monday.  Wind speeds were up to 45 mph.    OK, that's not that big of a deal, except the winds were from the EAST.  Storm winds are normally from the west around here.  Trees were falling and we were without power for 24 hours.  And the boat tarp got really whipped.  We listened to it all night long.  Today we went out to do some repair work.

Click on the short video for a snippet of what was going on.

 

The wind blew so hard it pushed back the tarps and exposed the bow. 
This is bad because the decks are not sealed and future rains could cause a lot of damage.







The boat looked a little bit like, well, a pig.

  





The tarp was damaged from all the wear and tear of the ropes. 
Here I'm pulling up a new tarp, from the other side of the boat. 
Sometimes the wind would pick it up and I felt like I was holding onto a parachute.



So CAI secured the tarp over the bow so it could not blow back again. 
After he finished he felt inspired to either give us his interpretation of that famous

scene in The Titanic, or he's just pretending to be flying with the seagulls.  You'll have to pick :-)



So we got the new tarp on.  It's only a partial solution.  It's not big enough for the whole boat. CAI ordered a new tarp today and we'll pull that up over the top next week.  Once the deck has a layer of fiberglass this will not be such a concern.

I do have to say that last night, when the wind was blowing so hard, I was fearful the boat would be pushed over.  I'm sure CAI didn't have any doubts about its stability, but my imagination ran wild.  But for now, the winds have calmed down. 

Help Arrives

Hey - Do you need help with your catnap?  I am really good at it!

Cocoa and Maggie, our two kitties, climb up the ladder and check out the boat occasionally, leaving telltale footprints behind. It's rare to get a personal visit.  Tonight, however, Cocoa was pretty intrigued by the new decking and how easy it was to walk around the boat now.  He figured he'd check it all out.  He was pretty enamored with the warm soft spot in the fore deck.  :-)

Getting the Deck Built

A satisfied CAI, after a hard day's work.

Foredeck and aft deck is done!  Correction, just the first layer of the deck is done.  The deck will have 2 layers of plywood (9mm + 12mm) and be covered with 2 layers of 10 oz fiberglass cloth and epoxy.  That will make a strong lightweight watertight deck.



Fairing the beams to get ready to put on the first layer of plywood.

Cleaning up the boat. Been creating a lot of cutoffs.

 

Knee pads and dustmask is normal work gear for me.

The boat feels different with plywood on.  Stiffer.  More solid.

....and the boat doesn't rock anymore.  It even sounds different.

Cutting out the cockpit.

Old traditional cockpits were actually more of a small hole to stand in.  So this small footwell is a good compromise, as you can sit.  It will not be so heavy when it fills with water but still provides a nice place to crawl into in bad weather.   Hatches will be cut out later when the second layer of plywood is glued in.  

Tethys in Port Townsend



Standing next to Tethys.  She is the same size as AtLast. 
I hope to sail on this boat next spring for a whole week of ocean sailing training.



Forward hatches are "IN"

Forepeak Hatches

Here's CAI, in his safety glasses, sitting in front of the new forepeak hatches he installed this week.

There will be valuable storage behind them....  Anchor chain and sails.






It's raining and cool today. Finally a break from the hot summer weather.  When it's really hot the fiberglass and epoxy materials (go off) set really fast.

Last week he was working fast to "beat the heat" and slipped, falling down into the boat.  Maybe he cracked a rib or something.  Breathing is painful these days.  He says every time he falls down in the boat it hurts.