-Week 33 Write Up- Engine box, Fiddles, varnish, and installing the deck stringers

When we first flipped the boat over, it was a little awkward moving around, trying to place your feet on the stringers and move down to the flat keelson.  Then, the teak deck was put in and getting around to work on installing the bulkheads was a breeze.  Then, the bulkheads were installed, which made it a little more difficult, things started falling behind the stringers and falling into the bilge.  After that, the panels needed to come in, and bracing was installed to keep the boat from flexing inward and moving around with those large panels was very difficult.  Now, the deck stringers are installed, the cockpit is dry fit and deck beams are starting to get installed, making it nearly impossible to move around as elegantly as we once had.  And when your screw slips out of your hand and you see it roll behind all the stringers and fall into a pile of dust in the bilge, its frustrating.  

But anyway, its all part of the deal, and it strengthens your patience.  This week, we all worked on getting the engine box and adjoining seat built up.  We had to go through the old familiar process of laying out Alfie's plans onto plywood, cutting butternut trim, and gluing it together.  All in all, it happened fairly quickly and without incident. 

 The fiddles that I began making last week got their final fittings, sanding, and now have two coats of beautiful varnish.

Drew and Oliver worked around the boat, cutting off excess wood from the bulkheads to make room for the deck, and notched in where needed the deck beams and dry screwed them into the sheer clamps.

I caught up on some panels that never got made at the foot of both pilot berths.  After I installed the cleats, cut and fit the plywood surface, I managed to get a coat of polyurethane on them.  

Brendan carefully installed the brass hardware on the doors and cabinets that still needed them,  finished up with the thru-hulls and began building supports for the cockpit.  

On friday, we managed to install, with glue, the outer deck stringers.  They are screwed into the sheer clamp at either end, with g-flex, and screwed through the small oak blocks I made up and seated in natural bedding compound.

Next week we will install the rest of the stringers, deck beams, and construct and install the plywood under decking.

I will try and get motivated to open my video editing software and get some new time lapse footage up...