Let there be (Port) Light!

One of the downsides to the Iroquois are the "smallish" berths that without sufficient lighting could be claustrophobic   I wanted to give it a bigger feel by letting in more light.

My first decision was to add port lights to the aft berths looking out onto the cockpit area.  Cutting holes in a boat is always a cause for deliberation.

I decided to place it in the middle fore to aft.   I used the back trim as the template for the cutout.

Unfortunately that was not right. I needed to use the actual port as a template.  Fortunately it is bigger than the trim.









Just dry fit for now.

I also wanted to add port lights to the exterior.  This required a little more thought as to what else I would put on the outside as well as the paint scheme.  Here is a photoshop rendering of the paint scheme I want to go with.  Dark Navy Blue with a gold pin stripe.

Sailcraft named their different model catamarans after different Indian nations, such as Iroquois, Comanche and Chieftan.  To keep with the theme, I want to utilize the gold pin stripe and create an arrow.  This is a condensed version:

The model of my catamaran is an Iroquois and the model is a MKIIA.  The hull number is 235.

Besides the port lights, I want to relocate the navigation lights to the hull, so I am going with these new LED lights:

And these are the Port Lights.













I want the port lights and the navigation lights to line up with the gold pin stripe.  I decided to locate the pin stripe 6" below the teak rub rail.

I decided to cut out some templates so I could play with their location.












Then I decided to go for it!  Dry fit for now.  I will permanently place them after I paint in a few months.

I like it!

I also decided to add port lights to the interior hulls.

There was not a lot of room to place these as it is just a few inches from the forward storage locker bulkhead.

Starboard Aft Berth area.  Lots of light.

Port Aft Berth.

Port Forward Berth

Starboard Aft Berth area.

Next weekend I will move onto fabricating the Helm area.  Hopefully by the end of the year all of the major exterior modification will be in place

Swell Guard

Don't really have any pictures, but earlier in the week I finished fiberglassing the cabin top by laying the final layer of fabric.  Now I need to hone my skills in fairing.  

In the mean time, I made progress on the "swell guard".

Here is a picture of the swell guard fresh out of the mold.

The other side.

Use some marine plywood to give it some structural support.

Added a layer of fiberglass.  There are 2 drain holes from the cockpit that will drain onto this and drain out the back, so I need to waterproof this.

 

Dry fit in place.  Fits nice and snug so I will be able to screw it from above from the stern cavity without any assistance!

I need more resin.  I have been through 3- 5 gallon pales of resin so far!  One more should do it.  The boat supply store where I get the vinylester resin was closed today, so for the next couple of days I might start cutting out the port windows in the cockpit and possibly the ones in the hull.  

I also am waiting for the dual engine control to come in so I can start fabricating the mold for the helm station.  That should be the last major fabrication.

Back to the Raised Roof!

Spent today cutting out the windows in the raised cabin.

That really opens things up a bit!

Windows dry fit. As seen from the helm.

Step back a bit.

Roof hatch will open to port for cross ventilation.

Other hatch to open toward starboard.

I am a little more pleased with the aesthetics as the windows reduce the mass of the raised roof.

Now back to fiberglassing! :(

Relocating Gas Tank (and Other Stuff)

I spent today relocating the gas tank.  All the usual hiccups, but all in all a good day.

I used my multifunction tool to cut out 1" square from the transom.  If you recall, I have the 1" "receiving squares" already cut out in the back to the Outboard enclosure.

The 1" square aluminum tubing is "embedded" on each end by 1"

.

This is the other side of the transom, On the left is where I glassed in a 3/4" piece of wood for added support and to carry the load to the floor.  On the right you can see the middle tube resting on the existing 1/2" thick divider wall.

And the Port side.  You can see that the thickness of the tube is pretty good.

Shot from above.  I hung from one of those bars with my full weight and it felt pretty strong.  The tank holds 24 gallons or approximately 150 lbs of weight.  The aluminum tubes were placed to carry an equal amount of weight or 50 lbs each.  Unless I am going to Catalina, I don't plan on carrying more than a half a tank at a time.

Here is where the tank was located in the port aft storage area.  Hopefully moving it forward a bit and with the weight evenly distributed port to starboard, will provide some improvement.

Hey...it fits!

This is a shot with the starboard lid removed.  Hmmm, this is my first challenge of the day!

From the other side looking forward.

My solution was to cut the fill tube flush and then insert the gas fill.  It is a nice tight fit and I will push it all the way flush once I decide what type of adhesive to place in between.  I also did the same to the air vent tube and inserted a 5/8" air vent.  The supply tube in the back should be okay since it clears the side of the lid.

I wanted to show some clearance pictures as the outboard is lifted until it touches the under side of the back of the outboard enclosure.

With the outboard in this position, the cowl hits the lids and raises them about 1 to 2 inches.

The bottom of the outboard is about 1 to 2" above the bottom paint.  I am thinking that the boat will float a little higher than that paint line, so once I put her in the water, I will see how high I will actually need to raise the outboard to be out of the water.

Worst case, is I can trim a piece of the cowl off, since there is dead space in the top back of the cowl.

And here is the clearance between the Tilt/Trim and the gas tank support with the outboard in the raised position.












Now for some Side Projects


I scored 2 stern rails from Minney's this week.  They fit pretty darn good and ready for a strern seat at each corner.

As a reminder, the area between the outboard enclosure and the beam will be fitted with a swim step.  I am likely going to make it out of recycled plastic lumber.

I am going to have to create some shims under the stanchion bases, since they are angled.

Same here.

And another Project.

I started building the form for the "Swell Protection" This is what will deflect swells from impacting the hanging Tilt/Trim.  This picture shows the form oriented correctly so the top of the form is the area that will be tabbed to the bottom of the deck.

Another shot showing a swoop inward in an effort to better bisect the wave.

I am taking Thanksgiving week off from work and hope to make some progress on cutting in the windows for the raised cabin and sorting out the helm area.  Here is a sneak peek of my design of the helm area.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Outboard Enclosure-Part 3

Pulled the 3 lids out of the mold today.

Here is the mold.  I finally got smart and used caulk in the corners to create a rounded edge.

After 2 layers of mat and 2 layers of fabric, alternating between each layer.
This does not create a structural lid.  I will likely add strips of wood fore and aft to accept hinges and latch.  Likely add stringers and more mat.  People are likely going to walk on it.

The lids were actually too tight to fit.  I ended up cutting about 1/4 inch out of the middle of the middle lid and rejoined it together.

This is shaping up quite nicely.  Although a lot of fairing in my future!

The lids are approximately 24" wide each.  Should be enough to access the outboards and the fuel tank.












I think I will tackle moving the fuel tank next.  Looking forward to taking Thanksgiving week off from work so I can make more progress.