Aft cabin berth "V"?

The berth in the after cabin on Eolian was kind of in a strange state when we moved aboard.  It was set up like a forward V-berth would be, with 2 sleeping areas along the cabin sides and a cut-out in the center.  That center cutout had been originally set up as a bench or step for getting up onto the berth.  But with the compass for the radar mounted (not centered, of course) where the cushion was supposed to go, that function had been abandoned.

But the mattress had no cutout.  To prevent severe sag in the center, a piece of plywood had been placed over the cut-out.  With a couple of screws to hold it in place.  Sort of.

It was obviously a hack, and it was noisy - it creaked and groaned whenever you moved on the mattress.  A better arrangement was needed.

Bordering on the upper size limit* for what I like to cover as a "small" boat project, we rectified this.

I cut and painted a piece of (heavier) plywood, and then fashioned a teak fiddle for the exposed forward edge.

Then I made up some teak cleats and attached them to the sides of the opening with screws, in order to support the plywood.  Finally, I screwed the plywood to the cleats, making a solid foundation for the mattress.

Now the mattress looks like it belongs there.  And we can sleep in peaceful quiet.  (The space below is now Jane's shoe storage.)

*For larger projects, see Windborne In Puget Sound

How to: Salt varnish

Unless you are an Olde Salt, you may not have heard of salt varnish.

On a cabin sole finished bright, with beautiful gloss varnish, how do you provide essential non-skid areas where they are needed? For example, on the edge of the raised area under the dinette on Eolian facing you, where people want to firmly place their feet while sliding out from under the table?

I had tried various alternatives, including a clear non-skid tape made by 3M (the adhesive failed wherever sun hit it). And then, like in most cases, I discovered that someone had solved this problem a long, long time ago, in a very elegant way: salt varnish.

Here's what you do:

• Mask off the area to be "non-skidded"
• Apply a wet coat of varnish
• Immediately sprinkle it with a liberal layer of regular table salt
• When the varnish is cured, sponge away the salt with a moist sponge

What is left behind, once the salt is dissolved away, is a layer of rough varnish. Perfect non-skid. And easily sanded for re-treatment when it is needed, since it is just that: varnish. I tried to show it in this picture, but it is not easy to capture, which is one of its virtues, after all.

How to: Seal deck penetrations

There is a treasure house of fantastically well-done articles on how to properly accomplish various boat-related tasks at Compass Marine. The one Erick referenced* shows how to properly seal deck penetrations with epoxy, and addresses many of the details left out of common explanations.  For example: using a bent nail chucked in a drill to route out the core really doesn't work all that well, unless:

• You have a cored deck
• Your hole happens to be located between the webs formed by resin filling the scores in the core material
• Your hole is not located where plywood reinforcement was used - where most load-bearing fastenings will be made

In fact, using a bent nail sounds like one of those processes worked out in a hurry in a boat yard by someone who lacked the proper tool for the job.  Not something you'd want to set out to do on purpose.  Read the article - you'll see what I mean.

More over, there are several rainy afternoon's-worth of excellent reading there on the right/best/easiest way to do things.  (When pulling a cutlass bearing, does it really matter where you make the saw kerf?  Yes!)

Check it out - you won't be disappointed.


* Thanks to  Erik at Erick's Wanderlust Blog for finding this great site, and to Scott at Downeaster Yachts for pointing it out to me.

Safety underfoot

Footing aboard m/v Beach House is more secure now that Chuck and Susan have completed this project.

Safety when moving around the deck under way has always been important to us. We have had to deal with sails and rigging in gale conditions and anchors during late night storms. A trawler with a flybridge is a new experience for us, and running up and down from the flybridge was a concern. The steps are teak with stainless hand rails and we like our teak finished. If they are wet, they can be slippery, and a fall could be serious. A simple and logical solution is good old-fashioned vinyl or rubber stair treads. But boy are they hard to find anymore. We first tried to apply them with outdoor carpet tape which is sticky on both sides, but as soon as the sun warmed them up, they slid off the step. Our solution was to use aluminum strips like those used at the edge of carpet or vinyl flooring to secure the treads. This worked out better than we expected, as it made the steps even more slip proof. It also does not look too bad.

Fake wood grain, or real?

Eolian was originally sold with wood-grain Formica on the nav station tabletop. When we took possession of her, one corner was coming loose. So I was faced with a decision.

Looking at the bottom of the tabletop, it appeared that the entire tabletop was made of teak. Why then would the manufacturer choose to cover the teak with Formica? One wonders.

Prying up that loose corner, it indeed looked like teak under there. So I decided to go for broke. I broke out the heat gun and used it to heat up the Formica enough to loosen the contact cement holding it down.

I was successful in getting it off in a single piece without doing damage to the underlying teak, except for one small area where a small piece about 1/4" x 1" tore out. After dutching a piece of teak into the tear, I sanded and varnished it. Sure looks a lot nicer, I think.

Keepin' it closed

In this excerpt from a post, Chuck and Susan aboard m/v Beach House solved the problem of cabinet contents escaping in a seaway.

It is amazing how a small item like door latches can make a big improvement. We learned long ago that the standard latches most builders put on a boat will not keep the contents in the lockers once the boat gets rolling or if you find yourself in some heavy seas. One particular cruise off the coast of South Carolina found the entire contents of most of the cabinets in our main salon on the cabin sole. These cabinets also had finger holes that needed a single finger inserted to open the locker. This begged for a broken finger in a seaway. That is when we discovered that a simple hook type latch takes minutes to install throughout the entire boat and kept all of the doors securely closed no matter what the motion of the boat is.