Forward Bulkhead panelling and More Shelving

Moving forward... The next big job on the interior will be roughing out the guest cabin which is forward on the starboard side. The cabin will have a raised bunk with storage underneath and a hanging locker forward. This has basically been a storage room for tools, materials, and junk since we started finishing out the interior. The first step to doing any work in this space was to find somewhere to put all this stuff and do some general clean-up. With that in mind, I spent the weekend framing up and panelling the forward bulkhead around the watertight door that leads to the forepeak storage area. With this done, I was able to install some shelves and make use of the big storage area that is on the port side behind the watertight door. This is another area with lots of compound angles and strange shapes, so I dug into my stash of cardboard and made templates for everything. As you can see, I've already made full use of the space to store all our stuff that was in the guest cabin. This will hopefully get thinned out as we use up all these parts and supplies finishing the interior fit-out.

Galley Trim

Finished up the galley trim. Notching, shaping, sanding, and mitering the corners followed by a few coats of Satin Goldspar varnish. Nice to have this area finished since it's the first thing your eye is drawn to when you go down below. Also did a little more work on the dinette. Next up here will be storage under the benches, trim work, and (eventually) some proper cushions.

Wrapping up the aft cabin cabinets

Made some significant progress on the aft cabinets over the weekend. We fitted and installed all the doors and drawers and got a coat of finish on everything. The drawers were especially challenging because the area behind the face frame was basically just a big open, strangely shaped space with nothing square or straight to tie into. I ended up building a kind of free floating frame that ties into the shelf above, and is then secured to the face frame with the drawer slides. It's hard to describe... just check out the pictures and it should make sense. The cabinets above the drawers can be used for storage and also give good access to the steering gear. Their is a hanging locker to port with cedar lining, ventilation from a solar vent on the deck above, and a short length of copper pipe inline with the hydronic heating system to keep the space dry in the winter. The lowest panels are for access to the aft water tanks, plumbing, and heating equipment. This "wall of storage" has been a long time in the making and it was nice to finally see it closed up. Sue is definitely stoked to get her clothes out of boxes for the first time in the last year. The two young ladies modeling the cabinets for us are neighbors here in the harbor, and were in charge of quality control...