Delaminated Tabbing & More Grinding

Grinding seems to go on and on. I cut out the remaining galley bulkhead then used my angle grinder with flapper wheel to smooth and grind tabbing remnants throughout the cabin. Nothing too fun about that. Dust, dust, and more dust.

 

I also removed the original engine beds and ground the tabbing smooth in that area.

While poking around in the cabin, I noticed that some of the original tabbing on the main bulkheads that support the mast beam seemed to have delaminated a bit. I really wasn't sure just how extensive the issue was, but I decided that it was best to continue the mess and finish all the grinding in one mega-round than to have to keep making dusty messes. I ground the tabbing in several suspect areas, and in some cases had to grind it completely down to the bulkhead because it was dry and delaminated.

 

 

Once all the surfaces are prepped, I'll add new tabbing to secure the joint.

More Destruction

I seem to be good at demolition. Let's hope I can manage some reconstruction at some point.

After making some decisions about water tankage and placement, I decided to go ahead and remove the starboard settee - the port settee had already been removed by a previous owner - in order to have port and starboard settees match each other. With the water tank I have on hand for the port settee, the new berth will have to sit higher than the original, so I figured I may as well double the capacity (from 18 gallons to 36) by adding a matching water tank under the starboard settee.

I hate to make more of a mess, but rebuilding the starboard settee as well has a couple benefits beyond matching the port side: 1) I won't have to scarf new material to the existing stubs of door jamb; 2) I won't have unnecessary holes from old equipment and hoses to contend with or repair; 3) I can do a better job of making the access hatches in the backrest of the settee than a PO had done; 4) starting from scratch will make installation of the forward bulkhead easier.

Here's the starboard settee before destruction:

I used a Sawzall for the first time on this project, and it made the work go much faster. Previously, I've used an angle grinder and cutoff wheel to cut the fiberglass tabbing. The Sawzall worked a hundred times better than the cutoff wheel, and it creates much less mess.

Settee gone!

I started working on removing shelving and a bulkhead in the area of the galley, but my Sawzall blade was just too dull. I'll be leaving the main galley bulkhead in place, but I'll remove the shelf, small bulkhead, and the galley-top remnant visible in the picture.

A PO carved out the intermediate bulkhead, so I'll remove it completely.