Main Engine Exhaust and Aft Main Bulkhead

The main engine exhaust passes though the aft cabin and out the transom.
The original build had the hose dropping down to the cabin sole then rising at the transom, so the hose was always full off water. According to Nigel Calder this is not good design. I also discovered that they had used a 3" hose for this long run while all the rest of the system is 3-1/2" hose. That was replaced with all 3-1/2" hose.




















  I made a round fiberglass tray to support the hose with an even grade as it goes aft to the transom. The tray is supported at each vertical stringer.

With that done it was now time to actually start building the boat back.








This is the bulkhead that divides the main salon from the aft cabin and the sun deck above the aft cabin. The area in white will be part of the medicine cabinet in the aft head. The area right the the left of that in the picture is the locker for the propane flash heater. The propane tank storage is right on the other side of the forward partition of that locker.
the opening below the white area is the linen storage in the aft head. The heat exchange/electric water heater will live there too.






















Here is another shot of the bulkhead showing the upper area.The whole thing is 12 feet tall and 13 feet wide. I decided to piece it together rather than putting up full sheets and then cutting the openings to save materials. All slices were done with biscuits and epoxy resin. The thick horizontal piece near the top of the picture is the salon cabin top. It ends at this bulkhead. The dull area in the plywood are where I covered it with a layer of 1.5Oz. mat and 18Oz. biax cloth. The upper area will be the outside face of the bulkhead and the lower one is one of the shower walls.

The area of plywood that the light is shining on is the starboard side of the little space I added to the engine room so you could get to the stuffing box for the main drive shaft, which you see at the bottom of the picture just aft of the crawl space. The stuffing box will actually be under the shower in the aft head.

Stairs from main salon to aft cabin

My apologies for not keeping the blog up. I have been very occupied with outside work, so there are many days when nothing gets done on the boat.
I have managed to get a fair amount done since March.  I  take pictures of the work each day so I have a record. I will try to cover all the work that has been done in the next few posts.

I decided to make a locker under the stairs going down from the salon deck to the aft cabin deck to house the freshwater pressure system and filters. There will be the pressure pump with a small pressure tank(so the pump does not cycle on and off as much), water filter set and a small water softener.

So I started by closing the area under the stairs off from the engine room.  The piece to the right is up against the aft end of the starboard fuel tank and extents to the outboard side of the outer stringer. The piece to the left sits on top of that stringer and rises up to the underside of the cabin sole. All joints are glassed so it is water tight. The white piece extending down from the cabin sole in the middle  is inside the locker area. The strips of wood running horizontally are the supports for the steps. The piece at the bottom of the picture is the last step which is aft of the main bulkhead and outside of the locker.

Here are the other 2 riser pieces in place. The middle one sits on top of the tread support for the 2nd step up. All the pieces fit in without screws. These are temporary ones for while I am working on the boat. I will replace them with nice ones when the time comes. The yellow triangle is resting on the salon cabin sole.

Now all the treads are in as well. the large triangular tread is what holds the riser under the top step in. Again they fit in without screws. that is why the upper tread has that little tail on the right side. I have been using these stairs for several months now and they have never come loose.

As you can tell by the toes of my shoes at the left of the frame this is a view of the stairs from above in the main salon. I am amazed at how much space there is under them. This boat had so much room that was just completely wasted..