A Brightwork Day

December 29, 2017

Given the cold weather that came in, I was hesitant about attempting to sand the previous day's fairing work on the cockpit sole.  I wanted to give the epoxy more time to fully sure, or at least be sure that the epoxy had enough time before proceeding.  So because of the weather impeding certain tasks, I decided to make it a brightwork day.   My first intention was to start on the vertical companionway hatch trim.  I took the pieces over to Joule and began to review for further shaping and installation options.  I soon came to the conclusion that I needed the slide hatch itself in place, as well as the longitudinal hatch trim, in order to get the angles and measures required for the vertical pieces.  Having the hatch in place would require reattaching the hatch trim, but while I was at it, I decided to go ahead and fabricate the push piece attached to the underside of the hatch.  

Using the old piece as a template, I transferred the rough shape onto a new piece of teak stock, and then began to shape the curve to match that of the old piece as well as the concave underside of the slide hatch.  I achieve the required fair curve, at least for the top portion of the trim where it attaches to the underside of the slide hatch, and then clamped the piece in place to transfer the existing fastener holes.

Since I was still working the top piece of the slide hatch trim, I went ahead and reinstalled the old top piece to the new bottom piece in order to get the final and proper curve and orientation of the slide hatch.  

With the slide hatch in place, I again laid out the longitudinal and vertical pieces to note areas needing material removed, to cut the proper angle on the vertical trim where it mates with the longitudinal trim, and to identify where fasteners were needed on the vertical trim. 

I addressed the port side first, and then turned my attention to the starboard piece.

With notes made, I returned to the shop with the trim pieces and cut the new angles, ran the outer edges through the router for the 1/4" round overs, and then marked and drilled the fasteners holes - which will be bunged once the trim is installed.

I will install the vertical trim to get final shaping done on the longitudinal trim pieces.

Reaching the point on the vertical trim where I needed to move on, I decided to pop the slide hatch top trim board back into the steam box in order to place it back onto the form.  I was getting a lot of spring back on this very small piece of trim, so to avoid stress on the piece itself during installation, I decided to adjust the form and over bend it.  Putting more curve in the piece would allow it to stay within tolerance and still have the likely spring back I anticipate.

While the trim was enjoying its steam bath, I moved onto the coaming boards. I wanted to create the 1/4" round overs on all of the exposed edges.  These boards will be constantly used to gain and regain balance, to lean into and grab, and so will need to be friendly to the touch with no harsh edges. 

I ran the pieces over the router table to get that smooth edge transition.

I finished off the coaming boards by sanding the newly formed edges with 150-grit paper; just prior to installation, I will come back with 220-grit to take care of the reaming rough areas and then apply the teak sealer.  My final item for the day was to remove the hatch trim from the steam box and to place it in its adjusted form.  I clamped the piece in place, and most likely will complete it in the next work session.

Total Time Today: 3 hrs