More progress

Another full-on day with some progress to report. The wiring is very nearly done, I connected up the ammeter shunt and routed the trim position sender wire to the stern. That sounds very simple but it involved a lot of panels being removed, threading cables, bending, grunting and cussing. I tidied the rat's nest of the console wires with a large handful of cable ties but looking at the photo now, it still looks like a jungle.

I finished the wiring under the galley with a switched relay ready for the fridge. This is where the shunt is, and this is all wired in. The box I bought from Maplins isn't big enough so I'll have to get another. Scott of One Degree West has installed the battery switches, split charge diode and re-routed the alternator wiring to suit.

I then installed the flexible water tank which will lie under the fridge and locker floor. However, while wriggling the connector into a hole for it in the tank wall the hole ripped. I tried a heat weld with a soldering iron and a generous dose of Sikaflex and hope that works. If not, I won't be buying another flexible tank, fitting the connectors is a bit dodgy.

The fridge will need fresh air so a vent hole was cut out and a vent cover installed.

 Last but one job was to fit the trim limit switch and two 12v power sockets. The other side of the bulkhead is packed with electrics so I couldn't mount them next to the wheel which was the obvious place. However, there were two holes on the old dash where switches had been, and the two sockets just covered the holes. One is 12v power, the other is twin USB sockets for an iPhone or iPad. The trim limit switch is tucked into the side of the raised dash, I'll have to make sure engineers know where it is because it isn't obvious.

Finally, the moment I had been looking forward to - trial fitting the wheelhouse floor panels. These are cut from a large sheet, teak and holly effect but laminate faced for strength. The challenge is cutting as many panels as I need from that sheet, it is a bit tight hence the paper templates! One panel fitted fine, the other needed some surgery but an angle grinder with a flap wheel attachment made short work of it. The floor looks really good, it will look even better with a suspension pedestal and the KAB seat on it.

The wiring is hidden at last

We had Paddy's Day celebrations this weekend so no boat work, but I made up for it today with nine and a half hours in the marina. As usual, not all of it productive but much of it was. First job was to complete any wiring at roof level and that included the wiper motors which have been a real puzzle. I cured the parking problem by fitting two relays, but running the power from a single supply was causing fuses to blow on high speed wiping. On Scott's advice I decided to run two independent systems from fuses to switches to motors and bingo, all was fine. This was a job I started on 4th August and finished on 18th March, fortunately not all tasks are taking that long.

Next job was to fit the bulkhead liner and berth light. All went in fine.

 

 

After a quick sandwich, it was time for the job I had been working towards all this time - fitting the roof lining. All the cables were routed down a large conduit, and I trial-fitted one side. It looked brilliant! I had to carefully measure where all the screws would go as they had to line up with a wooden pad. I was a bit concerned about having no mounting point in the centre so I decided to bond two pads of 12mm ply in the centre of the space. I only had one so I wandered about the marina looking for offcuts. Luckily, Andy Primmett (contact him for GRP repairs!!) was working there and found me a piece in his shed. Thank you Andy! The pads were quickly bonded on, then I had to go off and buy some extra long screws. Finally, all was ready. It all went up like a dream. I fitted four LED lights, with separate front and back switching.

 

 These lights have a neat trick - when you switch them on they have a single red LED for night vision, and by flicking the switch they come on full white.

 Final job was to remember to bring the paper template home!

Working in the sun?

A sunny Sunday. I could get used to this. Plenty of work to do outside the boat, however I had a quick task to complete first - stick that paper template together! (see previous post)

 

 

All done, pencil marks, extra tape. What could possibly go wrong? I'll tell you. I went and left it on the boat when I came home!! Anyway, other things done were fitting the replacement wiper motor, trimming the cockpit hatch and fitting hinges, and filling various holes in the gelcoat from things removed. I refitted the steering boss on a stronger piece of packing - difficult to do when the nuts are on one side of the bulkhead and the bolts on the other but I managed it with an elaborate system of wedges. The mast was still not quite perfectly sealed so it came off again (I am getting quite deft at that) and the offending gland given another dose of sealant. I then fitted a small section of the new headlining in the head (toilet). Looking rather smart, although you would only think so if you saw it first without.

 

 

Next step was to trial fit the various components of the false floor, which will have a lift-up hatch for storage below.

 

I then spent time measuring for the supports for the fridge, water tank and cupboard sections under the galley. Finally, I took a photo in the sunshine for the CG66 form. She is looking good.

Why Sellotape is important in boat-building

I stole a couple of hours in the boat on Friday night. Scott's lads have fitted a snazzy bank of battery switches so I have two independant controls and a switchover, plus a shunt for the ammeter. Next job was to fit the light in the head, which covers most of the wiring feed to the bunk light on the other side of the bulkhead. Neat! I had made a new marine network cable to try and make the old sonar talk to the plotter, and this time it did, so another gadget is working, great.

It contantly amazes me how long it takes to do not very much. If you subtract the time taken to decide what to do, select the tools you need, fit yourself into a confined space, un-fit yourself to go and get the tools you have carefully selected, look for the parts you could swear you put right there but they are not there, and so on, then actual time available to fit the thing you came to do is greatly reduced.

I had half an hour left so the final job was to make a brown paper template of the wheel-house floor so I could cut out the corresponding shape from a sheet of teak and holly decking laminate. I carefully marked and cut a template using several sheets of paper stuck together with tape, and it was all looking very positive. I rolled the template up and headed for home.

Next morning I enlisted help from my daughter to lay the flooring sheet out in the studio, and set down to mark out the shape of the floor from the template. I unrolled the template and....disaster. The frigging tape had come unstuck and I now had three pieces of paper, all perfectly cut, but no way of aligning them acurately so I could cut out the floor! And the boat is 22 miles away. So it will have to wait until next trip for the 90 second job of laying the papers back on the floor and sticking them together again only this time there will be some reference pencil marks, just in case!