This is tougher than it looks....

So the teak & holly laminate is installed on the forward floor of the 38' Northern Bay.  The product is made by Lonseal and if you want any more information click here.  Jeff started by making a full sized paper pattern of the forward floor using tape and construction paper.  The pattern was then traced onto green tape that had been adhered to the 6' X 12' sheet of teak & holly that had been unrolled on the concrete floor of Building A.  Next using great care and 4 brand new razor blades the material was cut to match the pattern (leaving it large for safety's sake).  Another check of the fit led to some minor modifications, then the hatch holes had to be cut out.  After making another set of marks to outline the hatches the flooring was moved back across the driveway and the squares for the hatches were cut and removed.  With a short staff Thursday afternoon Jeff decided to glue the hatch tops on and glue the small square that was going to be the floor in the head (leaving the primary forward floor for Friday).  The Lonseal glue dries very quickly and needs to be applied to both surfaces, at the same time we had to be very careful not to get glue all over the boat.  Ian (Bean) and I rolled the glue onto the flooring while Jeff and Dan Jr. concentrated on the forward floor of the boat.  A decision was made to keep the glue just back from the edge of the Lonseal so we would have a place to grab the part that wasn't covered with glue.  Once both batches of glue were dried the correct amount Dan Jr. perched himself on the forward bunk while the rest of us tried to get the flooring from the back deck though the companionway door.  Things quickly got crowded at the doorway and I told Bean to jump into the head and grab the front of the flooring and pass it to Dan Jr.  By this time Dan Sr. was helping hold the flooring that hadn't made its way through the door and then he was moved to the top of the galley, where he could control the port side of the T&H.  I was next to jump down into the forward hatch surrounded by workers, glue, and Lonseal.  None of the flooring has touched the floor at this point because the glue is instant bond and if we mess up we're splitting the 700 bucks 5 ways.  Our leader, Jeff, was the last one through the companionway and it was up to him to stick the first bit of flooring down trying to get the hatch cut-outs lined up.  What transpired next was unbelievable, the floor ended up exactly where it was suppose to.  The workers left one-by-one until only Jeff was left frantically ironing out the floor with his J-Roller.  Excellent teamwork, I will get a video camera next time.  The edges of the flooring will be banded with actual teak and some type of thin flange will have to be added to the two hatches in the floor but the project is going extremely well to this point.

Deck looks done.

The deck on the 38' Northern Bay has been coated with non-skid.  In case you can't tell that is twilight gray that you are seeing, the shadows make it look like 4 or 5 different shades.  We were able to prep the deck and the fly bridge (not pictured) at the same time and Dan Jr. was able to get the fly bridge completed Friday afternoon and the deck Saturday morning.  The non-skid will extend into the wheelhouse (not sure if the gray will pour up the step into the upper deck or if that step will stay white) and the perimeter might be trimmed with teak to make for a better transition between the gray skid, white gel, and off white paint.  These 5 color boats with insane amounts of wood work really make me appreciate the lobster boats that we used to build. 

Stainless steel rails from Nautilus Marine Fabrication arrived last week (maybe 10 days ago) and they were quickly installed in their predetermined locations.  The bow rail proved to be a little bit of a challenge starting with the screws that need to be used.  Because of the size of the holes in the foot pads and the relatively thin plate being used the screws needed to be undercut (flat under the head not V shaped) and since we didn't have any of those screws they needed to be ordered.  Then in an attempt to decore the side decks we filled all the holes with an epoxy/filler mix and when we tried to drill it the next day the screws striped the threads out of the holes.  To solve this problem we ordered some Plexus and were able to fill all the holes and 24 hours later drill and tap into the waterproof rock hard Plexus.  5200 underwater marine sealant was then put under every foot pad and on every fastener during the installation making this rail extremely durable and water resistant. 

Did everyone enjoy the video on the front page, that took so much effort, I hope it was worth it.  The Patriots just took the lead in a game that they most definitely should have lost.  Bermuda is headed to the shop this week, I'm finishing the sickest companionway door of all times (from the video), hulls should be showing up at the shop any day now (23' Crowley and 38' Northern Bay), and there is interest in building a 28' Wayne Beal.  So we're set for winter work.

Update on Monday, September 14, 2009 at 10:12PM by Clark Island Boat Works

pats win 25 -24.  the perfect season is still a goal.

One day closer to done.

38' Northern Bay (Thursday Post #1)

Front side of the 12 volt panel, 110 AC panel, and battery switches next to the back side of the 12 volt panel, 110 AC panel, and battery switches. Not finished and not as neat as it is going to be but I think you are starting to get the picture. This is much easier than it looks just cut the wire to length crimp an end on and connect. Do that 300 to 400 times and BOOM, completed electrical system. Things I fail to mention in my explanation: correct wire sizes, correct fuse sizes, maximizing limited space, back lit panels, shunts used to measure 12 volt amperage being used, 110 AC outlets getting power from an inverter or through an inverter (from a generator or shore power).

The overhead in the forward cabin is set for head liner. Wherever the is plywood now there will be teak in the future. Gaps will be filled with wires for lights and a fan. Headliner will be glued to 1/8" plywood and will be installed in panels with all the seams hidden by 2" pieces of teak. While I'm talking about the forward cabin Jeff, Dan Jr., and I spent all day yesterday sanding everything that needed to be prepared for paint. Once smooth everything will be primed then painted with a Hatteras Off-White flattened to a semi-gloss finish.

Deck hatches have been glassed in and all the covers have been built. There is a starboard shelf that you can barely see in the cabinet on the right. I was going to say the starboard shelf in the starboard cabinet but it did not read well. You see, the starboard side of the boat is the right side (when looking forward) and starboard is a brand of plastic used on boats. I could have capitalized the S in starboard (plastic) but that could have been misleading and surely it wouldn't have gotten the point across that there were two different usages of the same word in the same sentence. I was unsure how I was going to fill the space to the left of this picture........crisis avoided.

Head and shower area primed and painted. Digital photography with flash makes telling that this color is anything but white difficult. And the reflection of the flash is making it look like the paint is super shiny when it isn't. The color will look better once the teak (in the back of the truck) has been installed. For those of you that don't know, teak is really expensive. In fact the teak in the bed of this truck is worth more than the truck.

Organization is the key to success. Now that the systems are being punched out, getting my hands on the right manual in a timely fashion is very important. We've been collecting instruction manuals for a while and the old filing system (piles of paper) had ceased working. This will also make thing easier for the owner once the boat is in the water.