Handrails, Vise for the Engine Room, Bookshelf for the Aft Cabin, and Final Plumbing

Been working on adding handrails in some strategic locations. With a relatively open interior like ours, you need handholds so you don't get thrown across the cabin when things start rolling. This is a good start, but we have a lot more sea-proofing to do before we take the boat outside the Gate. Added a vise to the Engine Room, which I should have done a long time ago - makes so many jobs easier. The aft cabin got one more cabinet for books and videos, which will need some bungees to keep stuff in place when away from the dock. We also finished the final plumbing (I think), which included running the last of the up the salt water wash down plumbing (pex) and finishing the wiring to make it operational. This is a big pump - 30 amps - with a big output. I plumbed it to the bow for washing mud off the anchor, to the swim step for cleaning fish, and midships outside the wheelhouse for whatever else comes up... putting out fires? I ran out of room for switches on the existing helm panels so I made one more matching faceplate that has switches for the hydraulic pump clutch (which runs the anchor winch), the salt water wash down pump, and a dimmer for the instrument lights. 

Forepeak Ladder

Some Pics of the forepeak ladder that I finally got around to building. This leads from the forepeak storage area up to the bow deck where the anchor gear is located - a handy shortcut to the deck from down below. I used 2x6 clear Douglas Fir and notched for the steps to provide strength without relying on fasteners to hold it all together. This was my first attempt at building a ladder like this. I think it came out pretty good...

Carpentry continues

Carpentry continues... recent projects checked off the list include: Building more galley storage, installing the aft cabin head door, installing finish panels for the house battery box, finishing the dinette trim, building and installing face frames in the guest cabin and head, and finding a few more inches in the overhead at the stairwell from the wheelhouse to the lower deck. Most of these were pretty straightforward. I had originally just squared the vertical t&g coming down from the wheelhouse to the overhead bead board down below. This was just a few inches shy of comfortable clearance for getting down the stairs without needing to duck a bit. the clearance was complicated by some steel framing and wood nailers in the overhead- things are pretty tight at this transition point. As in some other parts of the boat, I found myself doing a lot of extra work to gain those last couple of inches of space, but the results were worth it. Just need to add a couple of pieces of trim and we can call it good. A little unexpected hitch came up when installing the lower face frame for the dinette... Probably about a year ago, I was looking for a spot to stash some cans of two part epoxy adhesive that I had used to install some sound deadening material in the swim step. I found that the one gallon cans fit perfectly under the dinette, and this is where they stayed through all the flooring and other interior work we have been doing. When I went to clean out under the dinette, I found them nicely trapped by the extra 5/8" that our finish floor added to the subfloor. There was only one solution so out came the sawzall and off came the top two inches of each can. Fortunately the cans weren't full and I was able to transfer the epoxy into some new cans without too much mess. We were originally going to try to install both masts this year, but the interior finish work has kind of taken over. I am however starting to put some serious thought into building the aft mast portion of our rig. In addition to a marconi type aft sail (to balance what will likely be junk or gaff rig on the forward mast) the aft mast will also serve as a lifting rig to the aft deck, support for radar/gps/vhf antennas/etc, as well as the supports for a future paravane rig. I have also been toying with the idea of adding a crows nest. Our boat is pretty low overall with no flybridge and it is handy to get a better view from up high sometimes. I also need to run the exhaust pipe up the mast to clear the sail, which will require some heat shielding I think for safety when climbing the mast. I've seen this on the old Nordhaven 46 rigs. Lots to consider. I'll post some drawings soon.