Katie-J´s refit

V berth cabinetry
stb side
note the PVC pipe which will act as ducting for power, signal and water lines





stb side fwd locker


floor piece
in the end i ended up prioritizing confort over small storage unit. i think its better to have the tallest headroom possible in a place fit for a hobbit to start with


port side

 

galley cabinetry









final position on the boat (the wall wasnt given the storage, this was a prior rough fit)

 

new cockpit lockers
this model despite its cruising capabilities (which are great by the way for the boat it is) was designed as a daysailer, weekender at most, so storage aint something the original design pays attention to.
the cockpit is yet another area where space needs to be created to properly house equipment




this will be a sheet locker built on the frame of the cockpit locker itself, it will self drain to the cockpit once finished.


both cockpit locker lids

 

in my quest to maximize storage and ergonomics i decided i needed to lower the cockpit floor. i will build a rigid bimini and ideally i want to have standing head room. at 5' 7" its not that difficult to achieve.
so i had to cut the whole cockpit floor piece



this was a rough fit at 70mm below the original height. this ended up to be number i was looking for as it always enable me to keep tha majority of the under cockpit unclaimed space.


templating the partitions for the under cockpit storage lockers


not the 2 side dray channels, laminated from an oval shape, created by taping 2 pvc pipes, 2 inch diameter and then cut to a J profile shape

 

solid dodger build
to build it i first needed to peel the whole cabin top




trying to have a first feel for the volume and shape involved in the making of the dodger



very first anchoring laminations



another step towards the intended shape



laminating a couple of biax layers to have some structure to it


demoulded


refitted


fairing it and applying peel ply to iron out the surface



and thats it guys, the is pretty much where i am presently
nexts steps are to sand the fairing down, tune it some more, laminate from the inside, fair, sand and tune the inside, then strip plank with G10 strips, and laminate until im happy with its strenght, when it doubt laminate some more!
the cloth im using it biax, 400 gr/m2, 45/45 angle. im also going to use some CSM to help getting some meat on.

 

A question about structural materials.

i will be replacing the original rudder post with a wound filament fibreglass tube. the original tube was made of steel, glassed at both ends, thus avoiding water ingress and packing nuts ( proven and simple arrangement in my view), the new tube will a fraction of it, glassed only to the bottom, but very robustly reinforced with G10 collars and biax cloth, meaning i will have to install a packing gland/nut.
my gut tells me to go at least 12mm (1/2 inch) on the wall thickness

for the bearings i will use a, machined, free spinning, vesconite, or delrin like polymer (something that doesnt absorb water in the long term) for both the bottom (always immersed in water) and top, near the tiller head.

it would be great hearing from the forum's fibreglass experts about the minimum desired wall thickness of said tube.

The original rudder shaft was 57 mm OD, i will be increasing it to 60mm or the next upper number being usually manufactured (to make for an easy future replacing situation)

thanks for any info

 

scribbling lines


before cutting


after cutting (from several viewpoints)


uglies to fix (wavy sections)


problems with compound curves
gaps created by twisting over 2 axis upon a short distance.
im going to patch the gaps as you would patch thru hulls, get the overall shape (a bit oversized for a later trim), and slap layers of cloth together, tightly cinged then use thickneed epoxy to bed and bridge the remaining mm