The album of Ariel #422

[ebb]

Kurt,
Said #4s, maybe I'm thinking of the forward ports....You're correct, more like #10s.
In an attempt to reuse the frames, I thru-drilled and countersunk the exterior frame for #10s.
A338's ports and frames however, are/were aluminum and the tapped sockets for s.s. machine screws were all corroded.
Probably because Pearson didn't use a barrier on the threads.


You are heroic - remodeling the footwell/bridge-deck....

But you are doing this, as I understand it, to gain head room for horizontal sleeping.
Howzit going to work? Isn't it a bit high up for a bunk?
Can't visualize a bunk over the galley area.
Is the arrangement athwartship ? Not. So it has to extend forenaft into the cabin....
Has to fold or disassemble quickly.
Mon, you don't happen to have a sketch you can post here?

I'm also one of those long people that don't fit in buses and airplanes, and economy cars....and MORCs.
All's fair in taking OP's ideas in boat remodeling. so, give it up!

[CapnK]

I made a few primitive drawings to try and help explain it somewhat visually.

I had removed all of the original sink, shelf, icebox, etc, leaving only the settees butted up against the original aft bulkhead a while back.

I cut the forward 14-16" (I forget the exact number) of cockpit footwell and footwell sides, up to the level of the seats, right at the corner between the horizontal top/seats and the footwell sides. The vertical cut runs right down along the forward seat lid drains, and the bridgedeck now extends aft to that point.



This part of the footwell included the drains, so I bored a hole in the aft end of the cockpit behind the tiller, and built up the cockpit floor so that water now drains aft, through that hole and then on out through the outboard well.

I cut out the after bulkhead down belowdecks, leaving about 4" of material along the top edge, and dropped a vertical cut 5-6" out from the hull sides. At settee level, that narrows to only about 2" of original bulkhead, cut down to & across at settee level. There is between 26-27" of height over the settee level up to the bridgedeck overhead. I am extending the settees at their original level back to what will be the new after bulkhead, this is in line with the forward cockpit seat drains, basically filling in the space where the inboard would be, over the keel sump.





The cockpit lockers will be separated and sealed off from one another, as well as from the space under the footwell. That will be it's own, sealable space for stowage, as will the areas under the settees/bunk.

I am using a telescoping ladder for access into the cabin; it extends to the forward edge of the berth when down, and can be folded up and out of the way against the companionway boards. The berth is a shallow 'U' shape, with each settee forming the "legs" - the extra bit makes for a length sufficient that either leg can be a 'downhill' sea berth when heeled over, each as long as I am tall, and also serves as seating. It would also be easy to put in a filler board in the middle of the U and have a really wide (larger than double bed) athwartships "in port" berth.

Forward of the berth/settees & up to the main bulkhead is galley on both sides, the v-berth area is the head and general stowage. To keep the heavy stuff low and centered, I have 2 AGM batteries that live under a sealed-off hump just aft of the main bulkhead; wiring goes up from them in tubes, snorkel-like to deck level then out to hull on each side before running fore/aft - so electrical should not get wet unless she sinks, that is the plan there. You step over the batteries going forward. I am going to try and put water tankage just outboard of those, under cabinetry.

[CapnK]

A shot with the construction boss/overseer. This should clarify things. I've emptied tons of detritus, cleansed decades of mold, and am slowly but surely poisoning a recent and wily stowaway (species Rattus norvegicus) to death, all as final prep for construction in the aft end of the boat. That means glass work will start in the next few days.



I'm using the the old pegboard that delineated the two lockers from the center space as patterns to make foam cored planks that will fit vertically below the cockpit sole. Glassed there and to the hull, they'll become longitudinal bulkheads reaching from the aft-most bulkhead up to the plane of "Barque's doggy door". I will make cored athwartships bulkheads at that point as well on the line of the forward locker drains, defining the rear end of the cabin space in the process.

Planned progess will be: make slightly oversized foam planks from pattern, insert dry, mark and trim to fit, while also noting area of hull and structure from which paint will need removal prior to bonding. Take panels back out, glass both sides, then reinsert and bond in place. Most of the surface glassing of the new bulkheads will be done outside of the boat this way. I'll probably roll on a coat or two of paint everywhere besides where they'll need bonding while the space is "open" and easily accessible, leaving only the "new construction" to be painted once glasswork is done.

This will serve as my test for creating foam-cored, glass-skinned panels/planks shaped to fit as 'dry' foam in the cabin, removed for surface glassing, and then reassembled and bonded at the corners/edges to finish. Crossing my fingers it works like I think it could...

Once done I will have two completely separate cockpit lockers (watertight, if I work on the locker lids a bit), and the space under the cockpit sole will be stowage, accessible from in the cabin. Immediately forward of this, at the same height/level as the original settee, will be my double-bed-sized athwartships berth, 2/3 under the companionway, with 2 small projections on each side of the boat allowing one to lie along the hull instead of across the boat, if desired.

Still figuring out the mechanics of the doggie door, how best to keep it as an openable area which can still be sealed easily and securely when underway...

[CapnK]

Why do we consider our ill-implemented and inconsistently thick cabin trunk overhead liners to be sacrosanct?

[CapnK]

...like Dali, the thought so inspired me, I had to take a nap.