Finally! --it's paint.

9-10 October 2014

I have been procrastinating the hull paint on this boat for an inordinate time.  This is really 'just because' --I truly haven't felt like investing the time and effort into it till now.  But I've had the gallon kit of Interlux Primekote for a while, just for when I decided to do it, and so I finally bowed to the constant encouragement of my friend and boatyard neighbor Jerry (C44 Second Alarm) and together we attacked this.

 

(The spots on the bottom are my repair of some hull cracks that had spread through the Pettit Protect barrier coating that I applied last year.  Discovering these was distressing; but I've been determined to have this boat done properly and so the Dremel took was applied right through it and WEST epoxy, with milled fibers as filler, was troweled into the gouges.  As of now it's really pretty good.)

 

Jerry did the rolling and I was going to try tipping it, for which I bought a couple of really good brushes, but we found that Primekote doesn't want to be tipped.  We also found that it should be thinned more than the 20% the label advises-- I approximated about 25% (or a little more) into each batch.  We mixed 5 batches of about 20 ounces each and this did a little more than two full coats of the hull.  Jerry was a champion with the rolling and really made the paint spread well with virtually no heavy spots.

 

Earlier pics will show the extensive repair on the transom.  Upon removing the center-mounted backstay tang, I discovered its load had sort of impressed upon the transom, creating a hollow.  I filled this with new 'glass and plenty of WEST epoxy with Microlight.  With Jerry's help I sanded the entire hull with 80 grit, and then 120 grit, using DryGuide, this marvelous black powder that, applied to the hull before sanding, illustrates clearly where your highs and lows are.  Sand it all off and it's fair-- and, amazingly, that stuff does not lie.  This hull is incredibly fair-- and, in some places, fairer than it was fresh from the factory!

 

I haven't seen this transom all one color since I brought the boat up to Delran!

 

This poor boat had numerous close encounters with pilings and the like, to the point where some PO cut off a section of bow rail to effect a repair.  I took this off again to repair his repair and left it off for the painting.  By some odd coincidence this is the very section of rail that needs to be cut down to accommodate the anchor roller (as it's tradition for sailboats to have the primary anchor rode to starboard).  The whole nose has been redone with 'glass, Microlight, milled fibres, and endless sanding.  Now in the bright white Primekote it looks almost done.

The holes formerly occupied by the hull-mounted running lights will be fitted with teardrop-shaped black Plexiglas windows, giving light to the forepeak locker and finishing off the bow in a familiar way.  I'm putting little blue LED lights in here (called 'docking lights' on the breaker panel) to represent Diana's personality.

* * *

Finalizing cabin and interior

Here are some pics of recent progress belowdeck.  Currently (June 20th) I am finishing the cabintop, fitting the Dorade boxes and hatch shroud, and remedying the PO's repair of the bow in preparation to paint the hull and fit the stem fitting.

Hanging locker

Aft of the port-side rode locker, opposite of the microwave and toolbox, was planned this locker.  In framing it I realized there was much more space than I expected.  As it is now, it has several bins to hold shoes, balled-up t-shirts and cottons, various personal effects as well as 12" worth of clothes on hangers.  Shirts and coats will fold onto the floor; but it's much better than having nowhere to hang clean clothes at all.

The first photo shows the after bulkhead, where the plumbing is (which necessitated the locker being delineated from the bunk space in the first instance).  The 1-1/2" vented loop is for the holding-tank pumpout; the smaller standpipe is the holding-tank vent which goes to a 3/4" through-hull in the hull.  The wiring will go to a 3-gang panel over the head sink for the lights.  The little 1-1/4" elbow shown coming through the wall is the head-sink drain, going to its trap and thence to 3/4" hose for the seacock.

I don't know if I've said this before but, when fitting plumbing traps to boat sinks, one should always make them turn forward or aft first and then inboard only after they have gone downwards, to ensure sufficient drainage on either tack.  (This says nothing about the shape of the basin which may retain water to leeward of the drain; but that can't be helped unless you have a basin more steeply sloped than the usual angle of heel.)

The other pic shows the forward side of the same locker.  The "Get A Grip' placard came from a hook-and-loop strap display at the West Marine store where I worked; I thought it was hysterical and swiped it from the trash when the sale was over and cut it to a minimal size (and then spilled acetone on it, causing the blur).  It's been in the boat for about 6 years and by now deserves a place as decor.

 

This locker will get covered with a canvas curtain to keep water out, as the foredeck hatch is directly overhead.

The vertical door-jamb pieces probably need some cleaner way of terminating outboard of the sill-- I'll look to that later.

Main cabin, aft

These two pics show the back corners of the main cabin, the electrical panel to port and the galley and bookcase to starboard.  Among other things can be seen my re-use of the (1974) teak fiddle rails that were originally fitted to the outboard hull shelves over the settees.  This wasn't an easy task since the cabin, as molded, is not symmetrical-- the port-side bulkhead was fully one inch wider than the starboard side, as is evident since the vertical posts are keyed to the hatch's opening.  The solution lay in justifiying the space between two spindles on the center of the opening and then ensuring that no spindles are too close to the ends.  I think one of them is a little off, by less than 1/8", but you won't be able to tell (and one strict rule of Diana is that no one is permitted to visit this boat with a ruler in hand!).

In the spirit of complete disclosure: the cheek piece at the after end of the overhead cabinet (where the radio goes) is teak, not mahogany!  It came from a very weathered piece in a trash bin and I didn't recognize it till I'd sanded it down and applied varnish.  Oh, well-- at least both sides are the same (from the same board in fact).

On neither side is the cap fitted to the top of the divider bulkhead.  I've been getting impatient about getting this stuff varnished and installed, just so it doesn't clutter up the cabin and inhibit other progress (as it's all been doing for too many years) and so I screwed this stuff into place as it is now.  I'll fit the cap pieces after I finish the after side of these bulkheads (more on that-- and a surprise! --later).

I haven't had the motivation to build the drawers for the galley yet and so the cabinet bulkhead beside the ladder is still missing.

I don't go in for the trite little piracy fetish so many yachties favor; but the skull-and-crossed-bones can cooler is in tribute to my late cousin Peter, who co-founded Raider Yacht (for which this was a logo).  So it shall remain on the boat.

  

Other stuff

Here is a cool pic of the foredeck hatch.  It lets in some phenomenal light-- you can read by it in the saloon, even during a rain, even with the other hatch closed.  I've been saying all along that if this project is taking far too long, at least I get to spend my days with gorgeous bits of varnished Honduras mahogany; and here's an example.

The stick holds up the hatch because the hardware isn't on yet.  The cords are what secures it down against wind, rattles and motion.

The green tape is a sign reminding me which end goes forward.  Remember that the hatch frame is cut from the base on the deck, to ensure that they fit together, before the base is installed.  Even with a rectangle it matters which way it goes.

Below is a pic of the (too dusty!) sink in the head.  The cabinet lift-out panels are not painted and so not fitted yet.  The leaning board is the divider, not screwed in, that will hold a shelf in the forward locker.

The portion of counter after of the seam in the fiddle hinges up for access to a 4-inch-deep bin (the original bin over the footwell of the settee berth.  The astute will recall that this idea was my contribution to this boat's design in 1972; see here).

I messed up the trim stick that goes atop the blue countertop along the forward bulkhead and it hasn't been remade and installed yet.  In (typical) impatience I had just "eyeballed" the angle against the fiddle and cut it; and it's too wrong to be tolerable.

I could have tugged the wire loom a little more tightly into the upper shelf, under the window, for this pic; but there's still wiring to be run in it.

Don't say anything about the after cheek piece protruding below the upper fiddle rail while the forward one remains even.  This is an oversight and will be remedied!  The trick deserving the credit is in the making of both cheek pieces, one wide and one narrower, so that they align with the locker face which, which like the sink-counter face, is parallel to the centerline.  How else would it have been done?

And this allows the curtain rods to be fastened to the cheek pieces, more or less parallel horizontally.  My mom, the accomplished seamstress, is currently making the curtains for these hull windows.

Main saloon

Lastly here is a pic of the saloon bulkhead after I fitted the cheek pieces along the top.  This had been long unfinished because I just didn't know a way of making it all in one piece; and then (in the shower, as so often happens) I conceived of the positively brilliant notion of making each side in two pieces.  I wanted some straight line to avoid emphasizing the roundness of the cabintop in here; and here is my solution: an ogee curve descending to a second cheek piece and a further horizontal line.  Together these just about cover the ragged fiberglass tape (though not quite) and represent an apparently-structural deck beam in conjunction with the compression post (the true structural deck beam is on the forward side of the bulkhead, requiring the horizontal door header).

In keeping with the conceit of having these pieces represent a real deck beam, I deliberately made these of Phillipine (lauan), not Honduras; so they appear greyer, darker, a little greener than the footwell trim and table cleat mounted lower on the bulkhead.  The cheek pieces to cover the gap between bulkhead and cabinside will be of (thinner) Honduras.

All of these pieces, as well as those on the forward side of this bulkhead, are "permanently" installed now.  If the white or varnish requires any more touching-up, it'll be done with them in situ.

I should have reinstalled the arched door header here; but in fitting the cheek pieces I ran one screw into the bulkhead, thinking it would be covered by the door header, and just missed; so I have to fill it and paint it again first.

Dave saw this and commented on my practice of simply screwing these pieces into place without concern for hiding the screw heads behind plugs or multiple cleats, saying it was just like what Uncle Joe would have done.  I took that as a high compliment, as I have long admired Uncle Joe's clearheaded sense about what's least complicated being the most aesthetically pleasant... but I really meant it all this way to be able to remove all these pieces for varnishing (and revarnishing.  As I always say, 'It's never the last coat of varnish!').

I have a really cool idea for after I paint the fiberglass around the companionway hatch (where the centerline is indicated, top of photo); but I won't share that till it's been done.  Stay tuned.

* * *

More on the inner-staysail bulkhead

In this pic I have painted the bulkhead but have not attached the fuzzy hull liner, the bow-locker door, or the chain-locker doors.   The hull liner is the roll wrapped in cardboard paper lying on the bunktop.

I am not going to paint the faux-teak bow-locker bulkhead, just for old-times' sake, to show the original fabric of the boat as-built.  The small holes in the stem are awaiting the fitting of the stem fitting (see here).

In this pic also can be seen my method for securing the forward hatch: small cord tied to eyestraps on the hatch, the same as my dad did on our 31' plywood yawl in 1962.

The fiddles on the hull shelves, port and starboard, are made high enough to make bins.  These will hold sailbags (it's a small boat!) and other stuff the way the old ones (about 2" high) never would have done.  Above, as though a facia covering the toerail bolts, will go a similar board to hold hooks from which sail bags, fenders, dock lines and other things can be hung.  As such, this space becomes a bona-fide forepeak, nothing like what's found on even much, much larger yachts.

The varnished board down the center of the underside of the deck is, in this pic, just sort of stuck there.  It is meant to catch the bolts and backing plates of the foredeck cleat, the inner-forestay's attaching plate, and the anchor winch.

I am not happy about the gaps along the top of the chain-locker bulkheads (to port and starboard here) against the underside of the deck but will leave the fitting of some varnished trim for some later date! 

* * *

Inner-forestay support

This pertains to the pole-lift/inner staysail idea I've had for a while.  The blog post is here: http://dianaofburlington.blogspot.com/2012/08/internal-pole-lift.html

In fitting an inner forestay, even if it's a detachable one, the foredeck needs to be reinforced.  Though I've filled all the rotten core adequately, the deck alone won't support something that amounts to a chainplate and may be called upon, in a catastrophe, to support the rig as the only surviving headstay.  So I decided upon a "horse", a structure going athwartships at this point.  Here is my original drawing (on the piece of plywood I would use for the crossmember/deck beam).

Below is shown the initial structure, two short little bulkheads in the forepeak, aligned with a couple of sticks.  The stick under the starboard-side shelf is propping up the shelf from its as-built position, as it was both angled downwards inboard and also too low.  The cleat on the forward bulkhead (what used to be the rode locker)  is aligning the two shelves more or less evenly; though the starboard-side one, once leveled, is too high by 1/4".  Such is the nature of budget-minded mass-produced yachts of the 1970s.

Of course these pieces narrowed the space considerably.  I had trouble wedging my out-of-shape self forward of this to disconnect the running-light wiring (along the port side) which kept getting in the way; so I decided to cut out the bulkheads a little.

I am always wary of amorphous shapes like this (such as on the back of the Hyundai Sante Fe SUV, which is downright hideous) so I just used a 4" sanding block to scribe a line parallel to the hull and deck all round.  This picture shows the cutout with the crossmember in place.  The bulkheads are 3/8" and the crossmember is 1/2".  I use mainly good-quality cabinet-grade plywood, well-saturated in epoxy and sealed in epoxy paint (these will be done in Easypoxy).  The void to port is for the wiring, which here I have tucked back out of the way.

 

Pretty cool how the bow-locker door hinges open and fits into the curve of this new bulkhead; huh?  (Should I say I planned it this way?)

(And, yes; this is where the microwave goes.  I've written on this before.)

On most budget-minded production boats, the V-berth shelf is meant mainly to stiffen the hull above the bunktop, as this tends to be the longest and highest section of otherwise-unsupported fiberglass hull on most boats.  It's not there to be useful; and most of the time the fiddles on the shelf are so miniscule as to be only for show.  Determined to have a proper forepeak, I made these high enough (6" inside) to contain plenty of gnarly gear that will accummulate here, like fenders, mooring lines, a mooring pennant, spare tackle, and probably even a couple of sailbags (Diana's main and jib already share a bag that would fit in here as it is).  The fiddles are made of 1/4" plywood, just decent cabinet-grade lauan that I had got to finish some Barbie dollhouses for my kids.  I cut them down forward of the new bulkheads to allow the little door (the only cabinet door with hinges in the whole boat) to open fully.

 

Above is to go a mahogany plank, about 4" wide and 1/2" thick, to serve as a backing plate for the deck winch (which serves the anchor rode), the mooring cleat, and the inner-forestay attachment fitting, as well as the aesthetic purpose of representing the centerline.  Originally I made this for the full length of the space; but I will cut it and fit two pieces to the fore and aft of this crossmember.  It occurs to me to have some really nice bright white LED floodlights under the deck, forward of this, to illumine the whole compartment.

Along the deck, against the hull, kind of like a facia meant to hide the toerail bolts, I will fit a wooden cleat between the new bulkheads and the (new) chain-locker bulkheads, on which can be mounted hooks and straps on which to hang line and sailbags and other stuff.

These pics were taken a few days ago.  As of today (Saturday, 24 May) I have applied a fillet of 5200 along the hull and, using WEST epoxy, 'glassed the bulkheads and crossmember into place.  When this is kicked-off I'll be painting this with semi-gloss Easypoxy.The original faux-teak forward bulkhead will be left as original; though when I replace the door I'll be replacing the tired old brass-plated-steel offset hinges with some in SS or chrome.  My daughter Rachel hand-painted ship's wheels and anchors onto some wooden knobs for my mother's kitchen cabinets recently; there is one left over and I may use it on this door.

Stay tuned for the pics of after I install the rode-locker bulkheads and trim up here.  I've mocked it up a few times and it's going to look really cool.

* * *

Interior developments, 2013

I have not been on this site for some time!  Here are some photos of recent progress as this boat really is coming back together.

 

Anchor-rode lockers

I have long had the idea for relocating anchor rodes farther aft in the hull.  One of the biggest detriments to performance, especially in small boats, is in carrying heavy ground tackle at the pointy end of the boat.  Of course this is where it must be deployed, and from where it must pull; but nothing but some shortsighted concept of 'convenience' says it has to be stored there.  Ancient ships brought their anchor rodes aft to the foremast or even abaft it; but this was only because the ship was sufficiently wide there to allow for a human-powered vertical capstan.  When I designed Starchase (an 84-ft lug-rigged schooner) in 1981-82, I envisioned a whole full-width compartment aft of the foremast in which sails were stowed and through which the anchor rodes were dropped to a deep well under the sole, right in front of the ballast.  This is where such weight should be; but of course it entails the leading of chain aft along the deck, which can be a tripping hazard and much else. 

 

For Diana I had already given over the idea of using the V-berth for a two-person sleeping area.  Its foot is too cramped and the whole space is too hot.  And I had already committed the after outboard corners to plumbing and such for the toilet and holding tank.  Against the forward bulkhead is the toolbox locker (with microwave above, since it's the only place a microwave can fit) to one side and a hanging locker (the only one in the boat) to the other.  So I decided to extend these lockers forward and to make room for the anchor rodes as well. 

   

My first idea was to use common plastic trash cans for the rode bins.  They're cheap (and replaceable) and, if fitted with a plain nylon through-hull, can drain into the bilge or elsewhere.  I bought two trash cans; but after cutting out the V-berth hull shelf I realized they were just not going to fit.  So I concluded the sensible plan was to use the trash cans as trash cans somewhere else and to just drop the rodes into the spaces as they were. 

 

The two bulkheads are show here, each side, before the fitting of the longitudinal bulkhead that will finish them off.  Each side will be fitted with an access plate; but the bulkheads will be removable as well. 

 

This 'glass did not kick off immediately.  I suspect bad MEKP, or just an improperly light quantity of it, as my MEKP dispenser's pickup tube snapped off in the bottle while mixing.  (This happens with MEKP dispensing bottles when they get old.  No matter what it looks like, replace it at least every three to five years.)  These surfaces will be painted in gelcoat later; but for now this is what the work looks like. 

1. Port side 

  
The white stuff is 5200, with which I seal all edges of plywood before 'glassing them to the hull.  Water intrusion along the edges of plywood where they are 'glassed to the hull is the number-one killer of plywood bulkheads-- especially where chainplates are mounted. 
 
(If you think it's sealed against water, think again.  It's a boat.  Water gets everywhere. 

2. Starboard side  

  

Here is the toolbox locker, complete with fiddles to hold the all-plastic (no metal anywhere) Rubbermaid toolbox.  Ahead is the old rode locker, above which the rode deck pipe is removed.  Though I fitted a proper drain pipe in the pointy space, to lead dribbles aft to the through-hull sump, this will be dry.  Some light comes in through the 'eye' windows, where the old hull-mounted running lights were.  (More on that later.) 

 

The battery box fitted with a PVC tube and rolls of wire is my Wire-O-Matic (shop-use wire dispenser, typically made from a box or barrel).  It even has a proper lid (the lid from the battery box)! 

  

The hull-side shelf is cut out for where the plastic trash can was; but now it broadens the space so there is less chance of the rode becoming caught under its edge when running out by deploying an anchor.  

  

  

 Main cabin (aka 'saloon')

During one of the hottest weeks of July I came out to the boat each day at 6.30 AM before leaving at 8.30 for my contract job 50 miles east.  I managed to use up a whole quart of Easypoxy on the bulkheads, which has been a great relief because it's made the boat look closer to done.  
   

  
Nearly all of the brightwork was removed before painting.  The very intricate and delicate doorjamb seemed stuck to the bulkhead with varnish and I would not risk prying it off; so I masked it.  Along the baseboard to port some residual tape can be seen.  The baseboards are actually structural-- they help hold the sole joists down against the hull. 

  

The thermometer and hydrometer are from a cheap 'weather station' I found in the trash.  I dismantled the instruments, cleaned them and painted the shells in matte black.  They work great.  Above them, on the same centers, will go the clock and barometer.  Below them is a bulkhead-mounted compass (mounted in the bulkhead! --imagine).  I consider it vital to have a decent compass visible below, with which one can check courses and at-anchor bearings.  Below below this, above the drop-leaf table, goes a clinometer.
  

The second blue plastic outlet box is for a 12VDC outlet and USB-based chargers.  The stereo goes between the empty box and the (now absent) table.
  

The four-foot-long fluorescent shop light is, of course, temporary. 

  

  

In this view the saloon is being used as a varnish shop.  The large piece on top of the workbench is the top of the 'duffel-bag lockers' outboard of the toilet in the head.  The other plywood piece is the top of the galley bins.  The rest are just various bits of mahogany that go all over this compartment and in the head. 

  

Plugs have been added to the vertical grab posts (at last!).  Typically I varnish the main piece a few times before adding plugs so that the plugs receive a few coats less and so show as a lighter color.  This is just an aesthetic I happen to prefer; and I have always done it this way.  

  

The galley counter is still covered in cardboard.  I have decided to add ceramic tiles to that 3-inch-high bulkhead above the settee. 

  

The small red toolbox is the 'jewelry box', in which I keep all the cool rigging stuff (my favorite parts). 

  

Here too can be seen the side of the speaker box, at the forward edge of the hull shelf, and where I 'glassed the small athwartships bulkhead of it to the hull.  The white-pine stick, old iron C-clamp, and red-handled squeeze clamp (almost hidden from view) are currently holding this shelf up into position.  Like the ones in the V-berth these two did not match each other, sideto side; and this one sagged while the one to port tilted up.  The stick is forcing it up till the 'glass cures.  Hopefully this will remedy some of the problem; but the little mahogany block under the forward end of the shelf (partially painted white, because its proper replacement is undergoing varnishing) will assist in this.

  

Other stuff

Here is a pic I took, on my back, up at the new foredeck hatch with the old hatch, which fit only the original trapezoidal molded-fiberglass opening, on top.  Still waiting on white Sikaflex 295-UV to complete the new one.
  

The terminal blocks are junctions for the spar wiring.  These get screwed to the teak crossmember (now painted white) and enclosed in a cute little mahogany box with sliding door, currently undergoing varnishing.  

   

   
At the other end of the boat, I 'glassed a short bulkhead across the back end of the fuel-tank shelf, tucking it in just ahead of the fiberglass rudder-post tube.  The problem with all skegless rudders is that they are liable to catch something nasty, such as when shooting some dodgy inlet.  In this eventuality, there are two possible outcomes: one, the rudder will break off below the stainless-steel shaft (preferable) or, two, the rudder, tube and all will tear backwards and out of the boat (not good).  If this were to happen, there is little anyone could do to save the boat-- unless that water were able to be confined to a watertight compartment.  ALL rudder tubes should be isolated from the rest of the boat, so that intruding water cannot invade the rest of the hull and overwhelm the bilge pumps.  (We all did learn something from the Titanic; right?)  
  

 

This bulkhead is not high; and it will be fitted with a drain tube as well-- but in the event of a leak at a stricken rudder tube, the drain can be plugged and this compartment will contain much of the water before it is overwhelmed.  This may be enough time to shift weight forward, get something over or into the torn hole(s), or fix or reroute a pump to handle the inundation.  In any case it's far better a solution than that on most other boats-- which is to say it's better than nothing at all. 

 

The little block is just holding the bulkhead in place and gets removed.  In fact I painted this recently and probably should have taken a newer photo.

 

The little step in the foreground was added for climbing down into this locker through the cockpit-seat hatch, which I have done about 350 times since I have owned this boat.  I got tired of leaning over and lying upon the edge of a 3/8" piece of plywood.  Above this is the top of the under-cockpit locker, forward of the fuel tank, which is accessible through the quarter berth and, as of this writing, is now isolated from the rest of the under-cockpit space and its attendant gasoline fumes. 

  

 
* * *

Head compartment

In these photos this is far from being done; but I was just fooling about with the camera and took some photos of the head area to record progress.


This is the head sink, which, as all H25 owners know, the boat did not originally come with.

The stainless-steel basin came from an old Chris-Craft; I bought it on eBay for $19.00.  Its drain goes through the forward bulkhead-- to get out of the foot area-- and then to a trap and down to the drain seacock.

The after portion of this countertop (to the left) lifts up for access to a 4-inch-deep compartment above the foot of the bunk.  The two openings outboard of the sink are for toiletries and towels.  The little mahogany stick on the forward bulkhead, inside the locker, is the cleat for the shelf in there.  The shelf divider is sitting against the hull.

I put the tissue dispenser in there to calculate the space for it; but I certainly won't rely on a cardboard tissue dispenser to be kept in the head, under the large foredeck hatch, aboard a 25-ft boat!

There is no headliner or hullliner in place in this photo.  The trim is not installed here either.

The wiring isn't really this messy-- it's just dangling down from the connections block above this doorway where the spar wiring enters the cabin and the cross-cabin circuits pass by.  When it is connected properly you won't see the danging bits in and out of the lockers.


This Wilcox-Crittenden Head-Mate toilet was given to me by a guy called Bill who was working on his friend's boat in Hancock's Harbor, NJ.  I saw it sitting outside the boat on a Sunday and left a note on it: 'If you are getting rid of this toilet, call me and I'll take it.'  The guy called me as soon as he returned to the boat.  It pumps perfectly well-- they must have been switching to either a larger bowl or just an electric one.  The intake/flush lever is a little rusty; that's all I can find wrong with it.

I had intended to mount my existing 'Frankentoilet' with the crossover sanitation pipe underneath this blue shelf; so the shelf is mounted a little higher than it would otherwise be.  Unfortunately this toilet's pump doesn't mount on the level; it mounts at a slight angle (like a modern Jabsco) on an angled flange on the crossover pipe.  So I can't mount this pump on the shelf, with the crossover pipe underneath, because it won't sit flush.  I have no idea why Wilcox did it like this.  I really wish I were reusing the original Raritan Compact Mk I; but this is similarly 'retro' and works fine-- and best of all the price was right.

The two little openings under the shelf are meant for access to the bolts; and this was supposed to accommodate the crossover pipe underneath so these would allow for cleaning out as well.

Behind the toilet the black ring is a Starboard trim piece around the exit pipe (PVC) leading to the holding tank.

The all-plastic Rubbermaid tool box is actually in its intended place-- this V-berth area has become a true forepeak, having room for only one to sleep but getting equipped with a tool box, workbench, hanging locker, microwave oven, plenty of outlets for charging cordless tools and possibly also a fresh-water supply tank for flushing the toilet. The holding tank is underneath, with most of the plumbing and all but one of the boat's through-hulls.  And that's in only the aftermost 26 inches of it! [wink]

The mahogany in the foreground is the backup to the compression post, underneath where the maststep really is.  It's a piece of the stock I cut for the cabintop handrails, but here it is solid except for only one hand hole (through which the vacuum cleaner's cord is running).  I gauged this hand-hold for someone sitting on the potty and only after installing the stick I realized that the head door's latch has to go at the very same elevation-- so when you reach through it you will stub your fingertips on the edge of the latch plate.  Oh, well.

At the time this was taken the lockers behind the toilet were taken up with the stereo, the outlet strip and the lift-out panels for all the lockers about the boat.

The bronze Barlow selftailing winch (vintage 1977) is a leftover from Warren Luhrs' C44 cutter and served as a doorstop in my mother's bathroom for about 20 years.  It's now slated to be the foredeck-mounted anchor-rode winch for a first-generation Hunter 25 called Diana.  Funny how things turn out!

Here is an 'aerial' shot of this space, minus the toilet, taken from the foredeck hatch opening. 

The door jamb, to the right, was excessively tedious.  It is a T-section and has to fit a very awkward three-sided space and accommodate the natural crookedness of the boat as-is.  It turns out that the face of the head's sink cabinet (side of the port-side berth's footwell) is neither in one plane (it's twisted) nor parallel to really... anything.  Fitting delicate mahogany (the lower portion of that stick is 5/16" square) to a crooked boat is an exercise in near-futility.  But I got it to fit!


The threshold of this doorway is somewhat more robust.  If it appears crooked, it's because the main bulkhead of the boat is not square to the centerline.  Believe it or not that threshold is in the only place it can be to make the (not yet built) door work.

I still have to countersink those screw-holes to fit them with plugs; but I'm keeping it as removable in case something happens with the door later.

The rough plywood sole is only temporary.  The finger-hole, however, will be in the finished mahogany panel.  It's the drain for the space, as there'll be a shower hose here too.


The black square is the pedal for the Whale Gusher foot pump for the head sink.  It feeds from only the port tank, however, despite being likely to be the most-used water source in the boat.

In the foregound (top right of photo) you see the coaming for the foredeck hatch, not yet varnished.

I like the deep-blue/white/black/stainless/mahogany decor theme of this boat.  It's bright, cheerful, nautical and traditional.

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