Working on the cockpit

 I finished cutting and installed my cabin bulkhead at frame 6 last week.  It went surprisingly well, and gives one a real sense of what the boat will look like.  It is getting smaller every day.  Try as I might, I could not get both halves of the bulkhead out of a single sheet of my precious okoume plywood, but I am sure I will be able to use the remaining odd shaped pieces later on.  It is nice to have the bulkhead in place, but it makes moving around in the boat significantly more difficult,

I decided to take my first shot at framing the side decks by working on the section inside the cockpit.  There was no good reason for this, except that the sections are shorter in the cockpit than in the cabin, and I figure I might as well practice on the easier part and save the more difficult for later when I am an "expert" (hah!)

I used ash for the carlin and beams because of its strength and because I had some nice straight grained boards to work with.  I decided to use half lap joints rather than bevels (as I did with the full deck beams in the bow and stern) because it was different.  I think it is much easier to get a good tight fit than the beveled notches.

I started by notching a pre-cut and pre-notched 9 1/2 inch long beam into the sheer clamp against the bulkhead at frame 6 and a shorter one against the bulkhead at frame 8.  

Here's the deck beam in place against the bulkhead at frame 6.

Then, I notched the carlin into the other ends of those two beams, and tightened a clamp midway (frame 7) until the distance between the outside of the sheer strake and the inside of the carlin was 10 1/2 inches.  The plan calls for the side deck to be 11 inches at frame 6 and 10 inches at frame 8.  I notched the carlin and sheer clamp to accept the notched beam and inserted the beam.  At this point, I glued the assembly in place.

Side deck assembly glued and clamped on starboard side.

The two other deck beams, at frames 6 1/2 and 7 1/2, will be notched and glued when the assembly is dry.


It has been outrageously hot for the past week and a half here, and that is limiting my boat building time to the morning hours. The small air conditioner I installed in the garage last year tries its best, but just cannot keep the workspace at a tolerable comfort level once the outside temperature gets into the 90s.  Consequently, I have been retreating into the basement to do small projects, some boat related, and some not.  


I took an afternoon and went to the lumberyard to pick up some more ash and Douglas fir, as well as some African mahogany.  I used some of the mahogany to make bench supports for the cockpit benches.  (The Grey Seal plan offers two options for benches, one enclosed and the other open.  I opted for the open ones because they look like a lot more fun to build.)  The next intolerable afternoon, I plan to mill some more mahogany for the bench slats.  When the heat breaks (hopefully before September) I will start working in the cabin.  I am pretty much at a standstill with the cockpit (I can't install cockpit deck beams or deck) until I find an engine, fuel tank, and water tank.

Bench supports -- three for each side