Shop talk, or work, or play, depending on who is looking at it, and how frustrated I get while doing it. Yesterday was a play day, mostly..
Finished the cradle. The cradle that came with the boat was not appropriately sized for the boat, it worked, but barely. Trying to finish the bottom was impossible, because the legs were not adjustable, so no way to paint under the pads. Plus they were positioned on the waterline, promoting osmosis blistering.
Since I was planning to strip, epoxy, and paint the bottom, I needed access, and cut out the legs, fashioning new adjustable legs. A jury rig, but effective, considering the boat was sitting on the cradle when I did it.
That solved some of the problems for last year. After the boat was put in the water, I cut the cradle into pieces. The theory being to make the cradle portable, and make it a little narrower. Brought it home, and let it sit there. With the boat coming out of the water in a week, I figured I had better finish it up.
And here it is. I cut the corner pieces out of the old cradle and bolted them together, changing the width from 9 feet to 6 feet, to get the support pads back under the boat where they should be. Shortened the length from 12 feet to 11 feet, to keep the pads away from the knot log and depth sounder transducers.
But the most notable change is that there are now effectively two cradles, one for the front, and one for the back. That makes the cradle much more portable. In fact, I can move it around and load it in the truck myself.
There is a little concern that the pads will be too high. I knew it was going to be tight but they are as low as they can go. To make sure they would fit, I put 3 - 2 x 10 planks along the centerline to support the keel, and lift it 4 1/2 inches above the cradle. I'll know more after this lift out. But with any luck they won't be needed next winter.
The rest of the day I worked on the electrical panel. I was having a hard time figuring out where to put the electrical panel on the boat. I was going to put it in the existing shelves beside the Nav Station, but I didn't want to ruin the shelf just for that, besides, I like the smoked plexiglass sliders. So I was trying to figure out a way to put it below that shelf with its own sliding cover.
As luck would have it, I realized when I was designing the 110v panel that there was enough room on the panel for all of the circuits. I had moved the 110v input plug from the cockpit to the side of the coach house by the Nav station. It was a bit unsightly, so I planned to put a little cupboard over it that would provide a little storage too. Then I thought it might be a good spot to put the 110v breaker.
Above is the cardboard mock up in the boat. Notice the VHF radio also, I installed that last week. Originally I wanted it and the stereo in the electrical/electronic/nav station panel, but decided it would be better placed as close to the companionway. Its fairly water resistant, but the stereo is not, so the stereo couldn't join it. I'll find somewhere else to put it. The electrical panel is 4" deep, roughly 20"x15". But after making this template, I realized that it could house all the electrical controls.
And below is the preliminary panel.
I took the switch panels apart, sanded the writing off of them, and painted them gloss black. These were the cheap breaker/switch panels that can be picked up at any marine chandlery. I'll label them as I use them. I don't like the Blue Sea breaker panels. Coming from an electronic/electrical background, breakers were for protection, and switches were for turning things on and off, and a neither should be used to do the others job. So the one set of breakers on the far side, I left for future use, just in case. On the first two panels I cut the breaker side of the panel right off and tossed it away before I painted. I will use fuse panels with automotive blade-type fuses to protect my circuits, the way they are supposed to protected. Most people don't realize that fuses/breakers are designed to protect the wire, not the equipment. Also, when a breaker/fuse goes, there is a problem that needs to be fixed, and switch type breakers make it too easy just reset them and carry on. My rant for the day, sorry.... Ironically, I used a Blue Sea breaker panel for the 110v system, but I don't intend to use it as a switch. I'll report more on the panel later when it gets installed and I start wiring.
That's all for today. Tomorrow we have to go set up the cradle, pull the temporary 110v breaker out of the boat so I can mount it in the panel, and go shopping, apparently we need food in the house, and I could use some new slippers.
Cheers.
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