Project FloatingAbode Diary
21 May, 2000 This weekend went well. My dad was here and helped me get quite a lot done as you'll see.. The priority at the moment is to get some plumbing in. I want to fix the plumbing under the gunwales but on the interior side of the hull lining with a cosmetic cover. This is to allow easy access for modification or in case it goes wrong. All the plumbing goes down one side of the boat so in order to get onto the plumbing, I need the hull lining done on that side. Today, we got much of the port side done. I've started cutting back foam when I'm ready to panel a particular area. That way I get instant gratification rather than becoming disillusioned with a seemingly endless and unrewarding task. Here you can see the first flat panel fixed to the hull sides. Also, you can see that the floor is complete now. And here, you can see the second: It's starting to look a lot tidier inside now. Yesterday, we continued to work towards permanently fitting the portholes. We removed all four starboard portholes (drilling out the rivets in the three that had not been removed before) and, whilst dad modified the holes in the cabin sides, I did the frames. The new bolts have to be on slightly different centers to the original holes but it's incredibly difficult to drill a hole when there's already one there in a slightly different position. Therefore, the obvious solution seemed to be to drill a larger hole for the larger bolts and then hacksaw them into slots to allow for the change in position: The holes in the frames need a slightly different treatment. You can see what's required from this close-up. You can just see the original hole on the outside edge of the new square hole: Each porthole has 9 fixing holes. That's 72 square holes I have to painstakingly file out! I think it's worth it though. I can't seal the portholes in place until the cabin sides are painted so, whilst the portholes were out, we first sanded and then painted the starboard cabin side with the first undercoat. Wet sanded. Dad starts painting. Looks a bit patchy but it's only the first coat Right.. well that's it for now. Not sure how much I'll get done next weekend as I'm off to Crick boatshow! Might see you there!
