Settee hatches and head

Not a whole lot to report, but there has been some progress. I finished cutting and installing cleats in the settee backs for the two access hatches. I made a simple cleat arrangement to hold the bottom of each hatch in place, and I'll add a latch of some sort at the top to keep the hatches from falling forward.

A simple cleat locks the bottom in place.

In the head compartment I installed the face for the two shelves, securing it to the cleats on either side with ss screws.

I'll fiberglass the top and bottom when I do another round of glassing.

I'm going to reuse the original settee cabinet fronts, so I fitted the fronts on both sides. The starboard side is entirely original - and a little beat up. I'll refinish it at some point, and I think I'll do something to cover the holes in the masonite fronts (they're kinda ugly).

The front for the port side was cut by a PO at some point, leaving two doors and part of another. I trimmed the remaining legs flush and fastened the front to the shelf.

I used a 3/4" piece of teak plywood cut to size to fill the area. I was thinking that I could stain the teak to match the old mahogany, but at this point I'm thinking I might paint it white and trim it in mahogany. That decision is far down the road, though.

I think that piece of ply might make a good location for a VHF radio or the electrical panel. At this point I'm not planning on installing another door there.

I had a few minutes today, so I gave my last round of tabbing a quick sanding and vacuumed the area.

Creeping forward - Another head door & settee back hatches

I devoted an hour after work to moving things forward. After finding another door to match the two already installed in the head cabinet, I decided to add it to allow access to the space under the bottom shelf. Even if that space isn't used for storage, the access hatch will facilitate installing the head pump-out and discharge lines.

I mentioned in my last post that I was on the fence about installing access hatches in the settee backs. Well, I decided it made sense to have access to the space - and better to do it now while the settee backs are mobile. I drew two 8"x15" access hatches on each settee back, and cut out the hatches on one before calling it quits for the day. (Alas, other duties call).

Another round of glassing and settee hatches

It feels very good to have the bulk of the interior furniture constructed and fiberglassed in place. Yes, there are still pieces to make - e.g., galley countertops, engine box and beds, etc - but most of the big items are in place.

I began early this morning by cutting 6" and 4" strips of biaxial cloth. I cut more than enough for the job and within 20 minutes had several rolls of tabbing ready for glassing. 

Up in the boat, I confirmed lengths and cut the tabbing to size for each location before wiping all of the areas to be glassed with acetone. Areas to be tabbed included shelves in the head and hanging locker, including the head base and the hanging locker base and top; the starboard settee shelf; port upper shelf and settee shelf; a little area of the longitudinal bulkhead at the forward end of the starboard settee; and the galley bulkhead and shelf.

It took me about an hour to an hour and a half to finish the tabbing, the majority of the time spent mixing batches of epoxy. I really should have brought the resin and harder inside last night to keep it cool. It's been so hot here that the resin and hardener were probably at least 75 degrees at mixing and it wanted to kick pretty quickly with each batch, so I immediately spread it over tabbing and kept the pace going.

Hanging locker top shelf

Port head locker with shelves and chainplate knee glassed to the hull

Port shelves tabbed

While the epoxy cured, I rolled on some white paint in the areas under and behind the settees, after which I'd finally had enough of the heat and fumes.

I worked next on the settee tops, marking the cut lines for the access hatches, then cutting each hatch with a borrowed Bosch jigsaw (again, sweet tool!). I used 1x2" pine to frame the bottom side of the hatch openings and screwed each cleat in place after bedding it in thickened epoxy. I drilled a 3/4" hole in the center of each hatch lid to facilitate opening and lightly sanded each hole to give them a smooth contour. Both settee bottoms received a coat of paint in preparation for installation.

Settee bottoms with hatch cleats epoxied and screwed in place

Hatch lids, cleats, and a fresh coat of paint beneath

Coming together.

With the hatches constructed and the settee bottoms and backs painted (at least on the backside), I reassembled the interior. I'm not sure yet what I plan to do with the settee backs. There is decent storage space behind each one, but I'm not sure if I want to install access hatches or not. I'll have to decide soon since glassing the settees is next on my list. I realize I can always cut the hatches in place, but it would be much easier to work on a flat surface.