First off, here's the pictures from the other night with the additional foam installed.
So I picked up the propane tank yesterday, hauled it into the shed, installed the burners and fired it up. Right away I knew something was wrong as the burners were spitting and flaring and just acting weird. Then they started to die and when I looked at the regulator and hose they were frozen over.
Now in a space that's at 30% humidity that just doesn't make any sense. A little Internet research pointed out two probabilities; one the tank wasn't purged before they filled it (and that's pretty likely as the purge sticker is still there) and thus the tank is way over pressure and thus there's no room in the tank for the liquid to boil to gas and what's coming through the regulator and lines is liquid. That's further borne out by what happens when the tank valve is shut off, the burner continues to run for about a minute when it should go out immediately. Arrggh.
So I didn't get any work done yesterday, but got right after it today. I've got two burners now, a single and a double, so when one would freeze up I switch to the other. What a pain.
It was clear the time off allowed my subconscious to figure out what I needed to do to get the cuddy laid out. I started by cutting a pattern out of cardboard for the port side.
It got pieced together because of that transition over the chine. It was just easier to do that way. I transferred the pattern to the 1/2" plywood, cut, and laid it in. A couple adjustments and the port side was done.
I was able to take the same pattern, flip it over and use it for the starboard side. It wasn't an exact fit, but it was a good starting point, and with some minor trimming I soon had the starboard side done.
You may be wondering why these got installed as two pieces. Well, three reasons. One, it was easier. :-) Two, the area to cover was more that four feet in both directions so it would have been impossible without scarfing. And three, because of the way the pieces in the cuddy will eventually jigsaw puzzle together, there was no other way to do it.
Sides panels were next and they were simple rectangles with the corners notched for the nailers.
And finally the port side space was split with a vertical piece scribed to fit the hull and the starboard side got a simple support beam. The starboard side is where the fishing poles (and other long items) will go. This will leave me with four storage lockers forward.
After getting everything put in place it was time to take it all apart again so I could paint the bilge areas with Bilgekote. I also epoxied the bottom of the deck pieces, the front and back of the main vertical blocking piece, epoxied and clamped 1/2" nailers to the side pieces and epoxied the saddle to the hull and the saddle to the side that holds the 2x3 support beam in place.
All of this will be reinstalled tomorrow and epoxy and fiberglassed into place. Bunk decking needs to be built with the appropriate hatches cut and the inside of the lockers will be painted with white enamel. Plus I've got to figure out how to install the all important porta-potty!
10 Hours