Don't Do This

Got back out to the boat shed today. All I got done was installing the forward trampoline t-nuts.

This took much longer than it should have because of this.

Really hard to get a drill in there to put in the counterbore for the T-nut. I eventually cut the counterbores by robbing a drill chuck off the mill and turning the drill bit by hand. Next time I will install the T-nuts before putting in any of the deck superstructure parts.  Also today I got two 1/4" drifts (cold rolled 316 stainless) to make the mast pins. So tomorrow I can do some mast step work, and start making the "sole" for the forward fender lazarette.  I have been putting the lazarette floor off because it seems like it is going to be tedious, but now it just really needs to get done.  

Mast Cleat

I probably should have drilled out the trampoline pad-eye holes, or built up the forward flotation sole but instead I spent almost all my time today working on the mast step. Specifically I machined the aluminum cleat that will mount, via a 5/16" bolt to a the plywood plug that will hold the mast.  I used my mini-milling machine to locate the holes, drill the clevis pin hole and the tap drill. I just couldn't resist putting a chamfer on the bottom corners. While they are not explicitly required, it makes sense to have them and it was fun to do on the mill.

Not sure how much boat time I will get this weekend. Today is my daughters birthday so we are busy throwing a party.

Mast Steppin

The ongoing saga. I laid out an extension cord the way I expect the halyard and reefing lines to lay and I did over-shrink the main hull opening. So I cut out the cross-member that shrunk it and re-installed a new one in a position that should look better.

Also continued work on the mast step. I had some aluminum stock left over from an obsession a few obsessions ago. I'm going to use the 1"x1" square stock as the cleat to engage the pinned connection to the step and the plate stock as backers on the outboard sides of the step.

Also in the picture you can see the sole pieces, this time with a coat of epoxy.  If all goes well tomorrow I will start making the "sole" for BH2-BH3 section above the floatation compartment. The idea here is that with the forward deck hatch there will be a place to store fenders, and an anchor. The general approach is to try to focus on all those things that need to be done to install the deck on the bow.

Many Random Tasks

The only way to make progress on anything around here is to ignore some responsibilities to free up enough time to actually focus on a task. This works for awhile but the bill eventually comes due. All the things I was ignoring to work on my boat became urgent this week, so (sadly) I had to spend some time away from my boat shed.

At various times, mostly while the little one is in Karate practice, I try to organize my boat activities. Hope is to minimize the time spent staring at the hull trying to decide what to do next. I mention this because my last session ended with a daunting list of small items that need done. I won't re-create it here because it is depressing. That said like all long journeys the only way to finish is to start. So today I made, and used two small jigs to locate the holes for the forward trampoline pad-eyes. I like jigs since they don't take very long to make and allow me to be more accurate than my skills would normally allow. I then filled the holes with filled epoxy.

The painters tape only covers half the hole to allow air to escape, hold the epoxy in the hole, and let me know when the hole is filled.  I started making the sole for the section of hull between bulkheads 4 and 5. For these I am using 6mm plywood cut into 4" strips and cut to proper length.  Each will have a section of 1x2 that overhangs one long edge by stacking edge to edge these will interlock so I should have a well supported sole. There is a bit more to this but it should become clear from pictures as progress is made. The picture below shows these as I left them with the 1x2 sections being glued to the plywood. I'm going a bit out of my way to make these removable, as a general concept I don't like cutting off my access to any part of the hull. 

Finally Bernd's plan shows a main hatch maximum opening of 500mm. So I figured that was square and proceeded to build the structure accordingly. However I am diverging a bit from Bernd's plan as I plan to fix the mast, so I can lead halyard and reefing lines aft to the cockpit. I had to compress the hatch opening to allow deck space to run the lines aft. Here a picture is worthwhile.

The rub here is that I still need to get around the aft cabin beam. I found some double cheek blocks that look promising, but now I think I may have cut down my hatch opening too much. I will spend some time staring at the hull tomorrow and see if I can visualize how the the lines might run. If I'm really good I'll lay out some ropes to mimic the lines in question to help the process along. 

Updated Schematic

It hit 90 degrees today. Which for Seattle is saying a lot, bear in mind that most houses here (us included) do not have air conditioning, so you actually live in the heat. It is going to cool down as the week goes on and soon we will be back to comfortable 65 degree temperatures.  The heat came on suddenly and so most people including us were out trying to enjoy the warm and dry. Pablo and I got in a quick sail on green lake (small lake within city limits 3 miles around). We were in a little sun-fish sailboat, fun sail but very uncomfortable for a grown adult. Pablo had a great time. Needless to say not much happened on the ama and the only reason I'm writing this post at all is for this.

I updated the schematic and changed it a bit to allow for a more conventional approach to the wiring of parallel batteries. If I discover later that this conservatism is unneeded it will be easy to undo. The update does mean that I'm now using all the pins in the connector. Also I updated the schematic with estimated wire run lengths and amperage loads (meters/amps). Looks like for most of the wiring I will be using 12 gauge wire except for the ground and power bus wires which will be 8 gauge. I used the 3% loss side of the wire sizing table and conservative length and amperage estimates.

There Is Bad News And Good News

This past week was rough for a couple of reasons. Monday was a holiday and on Wednesday the Seattle public schools pulled another one of their patented "Its a random Wednesday so only a half day of school today" tricks.  I've ranted about the school district before so I will try to limit myself to random mocking comments from now on.

I always like to get the bad news first. That way you can process how miserable things have become and then be relatively happy when you hear good news.  The bad news is that while I've ordered all the bits and pieces of hardware needed, it's going to be awhile before it arrives. The good news is that I have plenty of work to do besides. I can separate these into two categories, electrical, and carpentry (still). On the subject of electrical, I now appreciate the amazing technology known as a wire nut. For home wiring it is simple, fast, universal and can joint quite a few wires at once.  No such technology exists for boat wiring.  I'm not sure why not, probably has to do with salt, water, and tinned wires. With that said I think I'm finally zeroing in on a decent plan. When I say plan, take that to mean that I know what to buy, which only sounds simple. For the carpentry part there is no shortage of work there either. I need to put a sole (floor) in the center two sections of the boat (between bulkheads 3 and 5). Also some sort of step is needed for getting in and out of the ama. Then there is the boat related stuff like the antivortex panels and backers, and the trampoline rails.

I did manage to do some stuff that wasn't just planning. Below are a couple of pics of the rudder gudgeon T-nut installation. This one shows my liberal application of filled epoxy.

As expected I did get a bit of epoxy on the threads, but it was quick work to chase those out with a tap.

Also spent a bit of time cleaning the inside of the ama of all the wood cuttings, and sawdust that had fallen in there. This is made much easier when you have a 7 year old that fits in some of the tighter spaces.

In a fit of just wanting to get something done I installed some netting in the bulkhead 2 opening. This is because the positive flotation devices (empty milk jugs) are to go in this section (between bulkhead 2 and 3). I put up the net to keep them from rolling around in there. Once the deck is on this will be a tough place to get to, even with the access hatch.

Giving Myself A Headache

I know that I'm overthinking this electrical stuff, but the simple awareness of that fact does not actually help me get any closer to a solution. I have been through several tribulations in my electrical approach.  Turns out that the bulkhead connector I was planning to use could only carry 5 amps. Not good when the marine VHF radio uses 5 amps by itself.  A more exhaustive internet search turned up a 5 pin connector that while more expensive can carry 16 amps. Newly confident I started looking at marine digital receivers, but came away disappointed since I would have to dedicate 15 amps of capacity for a small one. 15 amps not only loads down the connector but would also be a quick way to drain the batteries. Also being a mechanical engineer, I've never really learned to trust batteries. So I was hoping to have 2 batteries that I would use one at a time. Basically to give myself a built in warning when one died.  It looks like I will have to give up on that and wire the batteries in parallel so I can insure I'm running a common ground throughout the system (it was looking like I would need a 6 pin connector to do this in the one battery at a time way while keeping the nav. light switch in the cabin). . Finally I thought I would just run down to Radio Shack and buy some wire to get started, Ha. In my perusal of internet wisdom I found a PDF file on boat wiring (added to my links section) and learned not only about sizing DC wire runs, but also that the wire should be tinned copper.  With all this churn I was surprised to find that the schematic at the ama level didn't change. I will have one open pin in the connector but I kind of like that since it leaves some capacity for later additions. What I'm planning for wiring in the cabin is greatly affected, but I will worry about that when working on the cabin.