Despite all the work to create them back in November, I still hadn’t installed the cockpit locker lids onto the boat until after the companionway board revision was finished. This wasn’t a priority while the cockpit was always covered but I am getting close to being able to launch the boat and finish the refit while sailing.
The port one was a fairly easy job because the woodwork fitted to the fiberglass fairly easily. Started with the strips of rubber sheet which were glued to the locker surround before installing the hinges. With that in place any load from sitting or standing on the lids will be mostly taken by the rubber rather than the brass hinges. The idea of the rubber is really to try to get a waterproof seal between the drainage channels around the opening and the interior of the lockers.
Once the seals were in place it was a fairly simple case of drilling the bolt holes in the right places and attaching with stainless steel M4 bolts, washers and “nylock” nuts.
The plan was the same for the starboard side but the woodwork decided not to play ball quite as well. For some reason the exact shape of the edging strip was not as good a fit and the lid wouldn’t close properly. I am not sure whether the shape of the fiberglass is a little different or the woodwork is glued together less perpendicular to the plywood surface. I had to take this lid home after the first attempted fit to plane a taper onto the strip with the hinges and round off the corners to allow it to close properly. Of course that also meant re-doing the penetrating epoxy undercoat and a couple of coats of varnish before I could re-fit the lid.
Meanwhile I also cleaned, sanded and painted the inside of the drainage channel and “Ice box” because those had been low on my priorities when I was doing the locker and decks.
As the weather permits I have also been doing fresh anti-slip paint on the deck and cabin top as well as finishing installing all of the metalwork that holds the anchor on the foredeck.
For some reason this was never published around May 2021 when it was saved as draft.