She Is Done!

October 29, 2017  Hours spent building to date:  4,000

I’m stopping the hours-o-meter at an even 4,000, since with the completion of the dinette, the Tardis has everything she needs to take off on a long cruise.  There will always be maintenance and improvements, but for some reason I had to take a look at the plans the other day, and everything Mark drew seemed to be there.

The dinette was a big construction job, since the table also acts as a berth in the deckhouse, so has to go up and down.  I bought all kinds of hardware that was supposed to accomplish this, but nothing really worked.  So I came up with the idea of “daggerboards” sliding in cases for the main table, and a simple filler piece stored under the table to make up the berth.  After cruising without a table all summer, I was afraid the deckhouse would look crowded, but actually it looks “complete” now and very secure, since there is always something to grab on to.

Other final jobs included:

— Getting a good fit and screwing down the starboard deck piece into hatch sealing tape.  I put an access port over the main bilge drain from that side to check on it and clear it out as needed.  We’ve had some heavy rain lately, and it looks like everything is draining nicely.

— I put sound insulation in the top of the engine box.  It seems to work, so I think after the boat is hauled, I will go ahead and insulate the whole thing.

— Mounted the man overboard “Lifesling” and throughbolted a cleat heavy enough to tow an accidental swimmer.

Deckhouse with table

Filler piece stores under the table

Table down, filler piece in, ready for cushions

Bunk cushions in and ready for sheets

Table pieces getting varnished

Table dry fit

Deck screwed down into hatch sealing tape with access port over main drain to bilge

Engine cover sound insulation

Man overboard!