More Construction!!!

So I spent a fair amount of my week of my week off from work thinking about my project and looking through electronics like Navigation lights, VHF radios, depth sounders, knot meters, etc.  The trend in the nautical world is to network everything together and rely on that networked system for all of your information for navigation.  I think this is silly, and would rather keep everything as simple as possible.  When people only rely on the GPS rather than using their eyes, it can lead to running their boats aground, or worse, run them to their death.  Things like solar flares and sun spots can throw off the GPS as much as several hundred feet.  When you are used to making a passage within several hundred feet of an offshore obstacle, with your GPS telling you that you are in one place, when the reality is you are not where you GPS is showing.  With that as a possibility, I would rather rely on dead reckoning, piloting, and navigation skills.


Since I feel the need to have a chart table, as well as retain the original 4 bunks in the boat, I have come up with a convertible chart table idea that is finally moving into the building faze.  I am also working on relocating the fuse panels to a location where they are accessible, rather than at the front of the boat where they were from the original owner/manufacturer.

The fuse panel will be hinged so that when electrical gadgets want to be added or removed, it will be easy to access them.  Also, there will be bookshelves going in next to the fuse panel to hold all of my nautical information.  This refit has made the bunk narrower, but it will make a great sea bunk because it is narrow.  The catch 22 of that is this: when you are at sea, probably going to have the chart table up for navigation, rendering the bunk useless for sleeping (unless you are a small child).

Originally I was going to raise the bunk 9 inches to the level of a proper seat for the chart table, but realized that going to that extreme of customization would make the boat less appealing for resale.  Instead I decided to make a box to sit on, but my sister made a great recommendation for the seat.  I am going to make a fold away seat that is mounted under the fuse panels.  I think it is a better solution to the seating problem, as it just folds up out of the way, rather than having to stow a box somewhere.

It feels good to be moving along.  The next major project is rebuilding the mast support, but I do not have any information on what the beam is made from, nor the best way to get it out and replace it with another one.  What makes it tricky is the one piece headliner that was obviously put in before the deck and mast support were put on.  If anyone  has information regarding this problem, I would greatly appreciate the help!