A Few New Projects

We finished most of the insulation in the aft cabin a few weeks ago. I had to take a little time off from insulation work to preserve my sanity. This is one of those jobs that makes our boat seem very big. For a change of pace, we have been working on a few other projects. I installed the nailers on one side of the aft cabin so we could do a test fit of the tongue and groove panelling that we are going to use. I am very happy with the results. We'll probably give it a light oil finish and top it with some satin varnish. The (faux) beams that we will use to trim the frames will likely be a darker wood like mahogany and the overhead panelling will be bead board planking, painted white. Should look pretty sharp. Another project that I finished up the fabrication for was the closures for the big dorade vents up forward. I won't bother to describe how they work other than that they are spring loaded in the open position and can be cranked down with a knob inside the cabin and made completely water tight. The pictures show it pretty well I think. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on some surplus commercial marine stuff recently for our project... first, a very heavy duty flanged exhaust silencer with SS flex couplings and some misc pipe and flanges. The spec happens to be just about right for our Cummins 6BT engine and it looks like with a little modification, we can make it work for our boat (despite the side inlet on the silencer). Second, was a batch of lightly to barely used Gel Cell batteries. We have eight 4D (180 AH each) and two 8D (225 AH each) to work with. I'm going to use the 4D batteries for the house bank. This battery bank will handle our 12 volt needs onboard, and also our AC power via an Inverter. We are currently saving up for a Victron Multi Plus inverter/charger to handle the house bank. One of the 8D batteries will be used as a starting battery for the main engine and the other 8D will be used for emergency back-up power for the wheelhouse electronics. I'll have more about the electrical plan for the boat in the coming months. So that all kept me busy for the last few weeks but now it's back to insulation... hope to get the forward cabin finished this weekend.