Monoblock cockpit

Finally got my cockpit all together.

It is a big piece that I can hardly move around in my garage.

With the help of my lovely wife we flipped it around and, as with many other builders, put it back upside down on the boat itself 'cause we could not fit it elsewhere !

I then:

-placed all reinforcements plates where I believe they should go. No rocket science here, rather a lot of educated guesses. Hope it works.

Those reinforcements are just small extra pieces of 6mm ply glued to the cockpit underside with Microfibers and on top of which I laminated one single layer of cloth. That is just to prevent that the bolt\washers I use to fix all hardware does not sink in the wood.

-trimmed all the bottom -to-side panels joints. I then rounded them off slightly

-laminated those smooth joints

-laid two layers of resin to seal the wood in case it ever sees any salt water.

After all that work, I flipped it back over and it still fit perfectly. I believe the whole assembly is pretty strudy and I will only glue it to the frames without any additional filet or tape. I dont want to drag myself into that 'dark coffin' between cockpit sole and hull bottom, but I think it will be alright.

Then the wole monoblock structure will be fully laminated from above anyways, so I reckon it will be solid.

Talking about trimming those cockpit joints just reminded me of how great a tool that little Multimaster is. The one I bought is Bosch, not Multifein, but it is great to work with. I use for a lot of applications including trimming all my fiber after curing, cutting holes in hard to reach places (mainly where my jigsaw will not fit). For example, I could not have trimmed my cockpit bottom-to-side panels joints without it. Great tool to have for sure for any builder.

Today is Friday night. Weather forecast indicates crappy rain and maybe even snow, so my plan for the weekend are to relax....................by working on the boat, glue down the cabin top to finish the front part of the boat, go to the wood store to purchase the Red Cedar I need for the rudder, and make a lot of noise with my planner.

Yeah....that sounds just right to me.......

I guess I know why my wife thinks I am nuts !