Fast forward to May, 2008
So . . . . between my last entry in November to May is a long time.
Well life happens in ways that can put boat building on the back burner. I had the opportunity to check out the health care system that is the political news these days and spent over $25,000 of my insurance company’s resources. With deductibles and co-pays, I dented my boat building budget a bit. By March, I was back on my feet, itch’n to get back at it.
I took a week off work to focus on getting the pilot house built. It is just over 8 feet long and with the forward leaning windshield; the top is 10’. Due to the lack of work space, I needed to build a roof mold inside the cabin and fabricate the roof composite in-situ. The best part is the head room. I’m 6’5” and will have enough space to stand between the stringers and wear a cap.
The sides and windshield are 12mm marine Okume that is 9 plys. The roof is 1/4’ ply, 3/4” foam, and 1/8” ply. The 1/4” layer was scarfed from 3 sheets of Superply. There are 2 internal beams of 3/4 mahogany running longitudinally directly over the stringers. The perimeter of the roof was filled with Doug fir and 3 layers 1/4” ply at the windshield.
Seen in the above photo and the one below is the jig I built to mount the forward leaning windshield at 17 degrees. Corner screws allow me to level it over the crown of cuddy cabin top
The Pilot House takes shape
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Detail to the right is the joint of the windshield showing the 9 plys of the Okume marine ply. Good Stuff!
Below: My wife photographed this through the kitchen window as I was checking the joint between the first layer of the roof and the cabin sides. I clamped on 10’ lengths of angle aluminum to keep the sides flat while the epoxy set. Note I have a good 4” to spare between the boat and carport.
A big design issue for me was laying out the windows before gluing up the pilot house assembly. I had to commit to the size and cut them out so I could send the dimensions to the window manufacturer for fabrication. I checked out a number of window companies and settled on a local supplier who ships all over the world. My set of 10 windows will include 2 with sliders and screens. They will all be tempered glass, tinted, and the frames finished in white powder coat. As of this post, I can’t confirm how they will look, but I took a tour of the factory and have a lot of confidence they will be great. Check out the link to their website and stay tuned to the blog when I take delivery and do the installation.
