Floored, or we now have sole…

Over the last two months we have been working on our sole. No, we haven’t gotten religion, that’s soul. I mean the cabin floor.

Our last post had Bill’s fingers in bandages and we had just started on the sole. Bill’s fingers have healed and we are once again charging ahead. Our goal was to get the rest of the main cabin sole done before it got too cold. We had made bundles of floor boards with matching color and grain. This was very helpful as we laid out the sole. We still had to make some substitutions, but the process went pretty smoothly.

Fitting the boards means cutting them to length so they fill the space. The last board gets ripped to width once the rest have been fitted. Nothing is glued down yet. Once the fit is good then we glue. We’re using Gorilla Glue’s construction adhesive which is 100% waterproof.

The excess glue gets wiped up and then we put weights on to hold the planks down. The wood is pretty straight and true, but it does have minor warps and bows. We are using pre-finished 3/8″ thick jotoba, Brazilian Cherry, planks that are 3″ wide. The original plan was to use our thickness planer to remove the glossy finish, but after destroying the blades after a couple of boards we decided that glossy was fine.

We were cutting the planks on the dock, which kept the saw dust out of the cabin. This worked until a neighbor complained that we were getting their boat dusty. The rest of the planks were cut with the saw propped up in the galley and the dust was contained by Gypsy.

The galley sole added a complication. If you look under the drawers the sole angles up to match the curvature of the hull. We had compound angles to cut and also to fit the last plank.

As long as you stay a foot away it looks great.

Repeat on the starboard side. Bill is wiping up glue. The bar clamps are pulling a bow into line.

Looks great, again we had a big angled section at the aft end.

Center boards now have their pull rings and they are in place. The results look pretty darn good.

Final shot with Ikea-stan rugs in place.  The forward floors and the head will have to wait for warmer weather.

The ladder has also been waiting for attention. It was a heavy sold thing and we decided that the basic construction was good, we just wanted it to be lighter. We removed the back and cut holes in it. We also removed the old tread pieces. It has mahogany sides and oak treads. It needs more sanding, but we have gotten the weight down to an acceptable level.

We also made new teak blocks to locate the bottom. The ladder was pinned into place with a large barrel bolt. We had old ladder hardware from a former boat which I used to hold the top. This allowed the top to move away from the galley cabinetry so the varnish and paint won’t get scuffed up. The test fit was a success now the ladder just needs to get refinished.

Other stuff we have been working on: the trim wood for the galley and head cabinets.

Nina made a storage bag for the dinghy’s rudder and daggerboard. She used the old cushion upholstery material. It was in good condition. Who cares if it is a dated color.

Nina has also been making very useful lanyards for the shackle keys and boat knives. The weather is getting cold and we have been forced by events to work on our kitchen. Since this is a boat blog we will spare you the kitchen remodel woes, but as soon as we can we will bring you the galley and head cabinetry. Have a lovely holidays and remember to get your boat a nice gift from Santa.