Saturday, December 19, 2015

Hatching and Filleting

After work Thursday I stayed up late and worked on the hatches.  My original plan was just to "contemplate" some, coming up with a game plan for cutting them out and what to do next.

In typical MBS (Marland Boat Shop) fashion, however, I got a head of steam up and the original plans went out the window.

The hatch openings were cut out with a combination of my circular and jig saws.  The large cross hatches were cut in-situ (temporarily installed on the decks) since that seemed to be the best way to securely hold them. The smaller bow and stern hatches and the side hatches were taken down to the wood shop, since the cuts were too close to the side of the boat or another bulkhead and the saws couldn't fit completely in place.

Yep, lots more trips up and down the stairs.  My legs are getting in good shape for the cycling season, if this snow and ice will ever melt.

The plunge cuts (along the back or hinge edge of each hatch lid) were really no big deal. No pics since I'm pretty much a one man show, except for the occ. family conscript, er...   volunteer.


Most cuts came out pretty well, except for one little warble on one of the side hatches.  Wouldn't you know it, the ones I'll see most frequently. Right there in front of me as a daily reminder on the river that my boat construction, not unlike my river running, is imperfect.

Decks, minus the cut-out hatch lids, then went back on and were filleted and seam taped with two layers.


Ready just in time for the family to arrive for Christmas.  Next on the agenda is to turn the boat over and start glassing the hull.  That will take every family member, fiancee, some neighbor friends, and Ruby the DD if she's not too busy.


I added another wood reinforcing strip to the bottom of the rear cross hatch - after stepping on it and feeling it flex quite a bit.  Last summer I had to buy a case of Orange Crush, needing one can for my peach/blackberry/mandarin orange Dutch oven cobbler.  What can you do with 11 more cans, that's a lot of cobbler? And river trips! But they've come in handy, first for the Core Cell panel joints and now this.


And then early this morning, Saturday, I tackled the inside fillets. Once again my caulk tube system came through with flying colors. I don't claim to have many genius, or even inspired, moments, but this was clearly one.

Filling a tube:

Contortions, part 2:



Aftermath:


I've been dreading that job for a while and, like most things, the anticipation was much worse than the reality.  Just a little neck stiffness and a sore back.  Nothing a few more Advil can't handle.

What is this?  The view from inside the rear cross hatch, before filleting, in case you were wondering what it looked like in there.








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