Bow Hatch, Hydraulic Hoses, and Blood

The complex problems presented by the bow of the 38' Northern Bay could all be solved with this hatch. Original plans called for some round Freeman hatches (one on either side of the windlass) However, once the hatches arrived they looked too industrial to be installed on the bow of a pleasure boat. Plan B was to make a stainless framed hatch that would hinge outward to allow access to the anchor rope/chain in the rope locker. Plan B was abandoned for Plan C when I saw this hatch in the Hamilton Marine catalogue and thought it might be a fix all. We wouldn't have to build the hatch and it creates the same amount of usable space as the custom hatch that we now don't have to make.

Two stainless steel Southco latches will hold the hatch down, and we were so impressed with these latches that we are going to use the same style on all the deck hatches (just a little bigger). As you can see the round hatch won't sacrifice much area over the triangular hatch that we now don't have to build. The word perfect is overused and seldom warranted but its a rare thing to stumble upon a product that just fits perfectly with the theme of a boat. This could be the greatest hatch that I've ever seen. Have I done an adequate job selling the idea of installing this hatch vs. building the hatch that we no longer have to build?

Running lights have been installed on either side of the fly bridge. Hella LED lights were used because they are

engineered for safety, reliability and high performance

(according to their web site....that you can visit by clicking on the blue word Hella above) Lights were installed low to limit the amount of light washing into the wheelhouse while running the boat at night. Hella lights will also be used for the anchor light, deck lights, and stern light (not pictured)

Hydraulic hoses have all been made and stationed (thesaurus claims that means the same thing as installed). To make the hoses measurements are taken and the hose is cut from the roll using a metal cutting chop saw. Ends are then pressed on using a hydraulic press that utilizes different sized dies to accommodate hose sizes from 1/4" to 1 1/4" inch. If we need larger hoses they need to made off site at Traction Heavy Duty Parts or Motion Industries.
These hydraulic hoses are 1/2" line and are run from the cylinder (large black part) through the auto pilot pump (silver and black motor). Hoses then travel through PVC pipe to the engine room where they are split into two sets of hoses (one to the lower helm and one to the upper helm). Hoses to the upper helm had to be extremely long (32 feet!!) because of the path they needed to take (through the starboard cabinet, up the arch leg, through the starboard upper bench, into the fly bridge forward area, and into the upper helm station). A smaller line connects the upper helm to the lower helm and the lower helm to the auto pilot pump to act as an oil equalizer. The upper helm has a vented fill cap to fill the system with oil and to allow for expansion as the oil warms. Expansion should be minimal because this is a manual system and very little oil is being moved (movement generates heat) where a power steering system would have a steering pump running constantly heating the oil to the point were it could overflow a tank or drool out a vented fill cap. Hydraulic oil expansion is equal to change in temp (in Fahrenheit) times volume of system (in cubic inches) time .0005. So for example if your 100 gallon hydraulic system (231 cubic inches times 100 gallons) heated up 35 degrees the oil would expand 404.5 cubic inches (1.75 gallons). Enough to make a large mess, this system will have less than 5 gallons of hydraulic oil and will never heat up enough to pose an expansion problem.

My idea of where the windlass switch and trim tab switch should go on the lower helm station. An upper control for the trim tabs have to go on the fly bridge and the secondary control for the windlass (wireless control) is already installed and working. If this location is acceptable then holes can be cut and more loose ends (wires) can be tied up.

SHOP NEWS SHOP NEWS SHOP NEWS
Kendall gelled the forward section of the hull on Native Son.
John made the helm plates for the previously mentioned helms.
Jeff was painting then help running the hydraulic hoses.
Clay fit stainless steel rail on the spray rails on the 38' Northern Bay and the 32' Osmond Beal.
Dan Jr. was sick.
Dan Sr was injured on the job.
I was making hydraulic hoses, ordering lights, taking pictures, and running wire. To be clear everyone did more than the one thing I listed for them, the SHOP NEWS section is more of a summery of the days events than a detailed list of everything that everyone did.

Content Explosion: 6 pics, 4 links, tons of useless info.

Cheap Lobster Tank Hatches

Lots of people checking for new posts today so I guess I should write one. On the 36' Calvin the owner originally wanted to get two 24" x 36" Anchor hatches. Dan ordered the hatches and we continued to work on the deck, then yesterday afternoon Dan returns from Rockland with a 26" X 40" Anchor hatch that he found at a local marine supply store. The store had 2 of these hatches that must have been special order items because the box had a UPS tag on it from 2002. Dan brought one back to the shop to make sure that they were going to work before buying them both but as you can see it fits fine and the other hatch will be picked up on Monday. The best part of this find was that we were able to buy the hatches for about 150 dollars less than the smaller hatches that the owner had speced out for the job. I'm confident that the owner will find somewhere on the boat to spend his extra 300 bucks. It occurs to me that if I left out those last two sentences that could have been my 300 bucks. Oh well, today we had to fiberglass inside the lobster tanks (pictured). The tanks are going to hold hundreds of pounds of lobsters, I now know that they can hold a 175lb boat builder. I got into the tank with the bucket of resin and Dan Jr. passed me the pieces of glass as I needed them. Three layers of 1.5 oz fiberglass matt around the top edge of the tank made the tank watertight, it also killed a couple million of my brain cells. Do brain cells grow back? On the second tank Dan Jr was in the tank and I was passing him the materials. Tomorrow I should be able to finish up the tanks, depending on my motivation.

The outside edge of the deck is installed and most of the stringers are in place. Next we will have to frame up the three center hatches, screw down some more plywood and this deck will be done. Another project might have been added to this boat, the owner sent me a bunch of pictures of an aluminum trap slide. It would fit on the port side and have the ability to be hinged on the inside edge. John was busy all day so I didn't bother him with it, I'll show him the pics on Monday. Once we estimate a price on the trap tray that will probably make the decision of "go" or "no go". Looking at this boat I should probably clean up tomorrow so we can start with a clean slate next week.

SHOP NEWS SHOP NEWS SHOP NEWS

38' Northern Bay

Aluminum Radar Stand
New boat in the yard

This could be referred to as Blogger Burnout. So much going on at the shop and no desire to write about it. A running video feed of the shop would be much easier. Friday's post on Saturday, typical Maine boat builder, always running behind. Sorry if you've been checking in all day, now at 11:19pm you won't even read this until Sunday.