Salon passage door

There are two passage door on board, one in the salon and another in the wheel house. The salon door I decided to build out of wood, and the wheel house door will be aluminum. The salon passage door is on the aft deck, under the aft  deck roof and protected by the 36" solid steel bulwark that surrounds the aft deck. The wheel house door is a little more exposed given that its on the front of the boat. The free board on the at the wheel house door part of the boat is almost 8, and the wheel house is protected by a 46" tall steel Portuguese Bridge. The fore deck is also protected by a 36" tall solid steel bulwark.

The wooden salon passage door is what I would describe as robust. Because I am using Trioving mortised lock sets, and because I wanted a stout door I decided to  build the door 2" thick. The panel for the door is 3/4" plywood. The door is built out of Cherry.

I did not have any 2" thick cherry stock so I had to laminate three pieces together to get my 2" thickness. I like to laminate material using a form, and welding a couple of 4" H beams together made for a nice straight form that was easy to clamp to. By using a "straight as string" form, my laminations came off of the form perfectly straight.

In my opinion, mortise and tenon joinery is best for a door such as this. The first step in joining the door together after I had all the stock prepped was to plow the groove for the panel. I used a stacked dado cutter in the table say to plow a 3/4" x 3/4" groove stopping short of style ends by 1". I finished the panel dado with a cutter set up in my mill. I then used the same cutter in the mill to cut the mortises to their 2 1/4" depth. The mill is really a nice way to cut these deep mortises.
 

The tenons were cut using the same stack dado cutter in the table saw. Because of the amount of time to laminate the stock I was very cautious cutting the tenons and left them about .030 over sized, and  then used a chisel and sand paper to bring them to the final thickness. The fit I was looking for was for hand pressure only to drive the parts together. A slight interference fit with  not mallet needed. There is such a thing as too tight. Dry fitting the parts together found no problems. Once the door was glued, clamped and squared, I through pinned the mortises using 3/8" walnut dowels. The Cherry has plenty of character and is for sure nice to look at, but the walnut pegs add a wee bit more interest to the door.

The mortise for the Trioving lock set was cut on the mill using a 1 3/8 forstener bit.  Ill go in to the lock sets a little more in the next post, but I will say that I found the lock sets used on Ebay two years ago. If any one knows anything about Trioving, you probably know its high priced stuff. I had to take one lock set apart to test fit it in the door, and I was impressed by the high quality of the parts, and the fact that its all easy to service and re build-able.  Nice equipment.

I sanded the door to 220 grit and coated with three coats of urethane. The next step will be to mortise the stainless steel  hinges, build the jambs, and devise the gasket. I feel pretty confident I can make the door weather tight and able to handle some water getting on to the aft deck. I think Im going to fabricate two dogs for it similar to how I dealt with the bulwark doors.

Cheers

   

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Closing in on completing the salon

Im making steady time in the salon, and its close to getting finished. All the sheathing is finished, all the windows and doors are cased, and the half bath framing is finished. All the cabinets, including the settee drawer unit are finished and waiting in the shop. The settee benchs are going to be site built, so that job has to be completed but I think Im going to get some urethane on the walls and trim before I bring in the drawer unit and the rest of the cabinets.

Once the day head was built, I looked at the space created between the day head and the aft salon wall. Theres a boatload of plumbing and fuel tank related parts in the starboard aft corner of the salon, so building an access panel for future access to these parts was necessary. Since I was looking at that corner, I decided I wanted to house the stereo in that same access panel. Once I had the stereo in my mind, I started looking at a book shelf, and once I got the book shelf was stuck in my head, I realized we  had no place to stash garbage. Designing by need, or seat of ones pants, is my MO, so now the small planned access panel morphed into a multi-use, built in cabinet with doors, shelves, and wiring . Going with a larger inside dimension of a built in book case, I decided to make the interior 13" deep, which gives an overall depth including the face frame of 13 3/4". The built in is 41" tall.

With the now 13 3/4" built in planned, I looked at the remaining space  between the built in and the day head and was happy to find I still  had 67" of space.... plenty of room for two comfy reclining chairs.... I think. Measuring some  chairs at  home had me feeling good about the space, but a field trip to the furniture store was in need, and once that was completed, we settled on a reclining love seat with a console between the chairs ( chairs recline independently). The recliner can be as close to one inch off of the back wall vs 8" for reclining chairs, and measures 6 wide. Ive been on too many boats that dont really pay much attention to comfortable seating, and I dont want this boat to be one of those.

The built in lays out with the garbage closet, with a door, on the end,  and the stereo above it. There will be two or three DC receptacles next to the stereo for charging phones or other devices. The cabinet top, which is 14 1/4" deep, is large enough for a lamp, along with being able to lay IPods or IPads can on the cabinet top so they can plug in to the stereo. The book case is is in the center, and will probably  have three shelves, possibly four. Next to the book case is the plumbing access panel on the bottom and another cabinet with door above that. The holding tank vent exits through the roof of the boat in this corner along with sharing space with the water feeds for the day head, and washer/dryer. The garbage bin should be closer to the galley, but it is what it is, and its not that far of a walk to reach it.

Because the aft wall is only 2 1/2" thick, Ill be fabricating a trim piece to apply for these two windows, so no sill. The other six windows in the salon received a sill, jambs, and casing. The casings are 1/2" thick, but the head casing is 3/4" thick. I did this so I could butt the side casings in to the head casing and have a 1/4" reveal. The joint looks good as I rounded over the head casing on the side casing edge. On the top of the head casing, I cut a 45 degree bevel to give the trim thats going to hide the access chases some place to sit. This detail works nice as the chase cover has a firm place to land and only will require a few screws through the board in to the ceiling to  hold it fast. Because the board lays in the 45 degree bevel, it also gives a nice tight fitting joint with no fussy fitting. Holding the head casing down 1/2" gives a nice place to hide the rail that the window curtain will slide in.  This detail worked out nice and the best part was how easy it was to fabricate and how tight fitting it is going to look.

Theres still a days work left before Im ready to put some finish on salon, but like the post title says, Im close. Once theres three coats on the walls, Im going to glue down some floor underlay and bring in the remaining cabinets. With the rest of the cabinets installed, the the six inch air conditioning duct can be finalized along with  installing the already built settee parts.

Wrapping up the bulk of the wood work by Aprils end is within reach, but things could creep into May. Whats important is that the table saw is moving out of the salon, and Im getting ready to start eyeballing some mechanical work, which I"m ready to dive in to.

Cheers

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Salon passage door completion

Im calling the salon passage door a wrap and the little work that needs to be done to it will be finished once its hung for good in its opening. I did hang it to work out some of the details and to make sure the lock set had no issues. The door is temporarily hung, and will be removed for the trip to the launch site just like all the other case work Ive done in the super structure.

Once the stainless hinges were in the shop I built a jig to route the mortises . The jig assures perfect alignment between of the  hinges between the door and the door jamb. The jig is just 1/2 plywood with the hinge layout cut in the jig a  1/6" of an inch larger the the hinge itself. The router is fitted with a guide bushing and a 1/2" mortising bit.

The door jambs were cut 1/8" wider than the opening. Experience has taught me the having the door jambs a bit proud of the finished wall surfaces make casing the door much more trouble free. Because the aft wall is only two inches thick, I decided to make the stop the door closes against the full width of the jamb. I also made the stop a full 3/4" thick vs the 5/8 one would normally see on a door  in a house. The door stop now is the full width of the jamb so the casing will cover the joint  between the  jamb and the stop. I might regret this one day, but I glued and nailed the stop to the jamb, and once its permanently hung in the opening I"ll add screws to the stop. A few of the screws will be thru bolted to the metal frames as will some of the hinge screws and the stainless keeper that the lock set lands in to.

One of the reasons I hung the door was to see how the door  seal gasket was going to work out. I purchased a 3/8 round hollow rubber gasket with a 3/4" spline on it. My intent was to  cut a rabbet in the stop for the spline to lay in, and have the 3/8" round hollow  bulb act as the seal getting compressed when the door closed against the stop. Fitting this idea up proved to be a problem, and after a day of tinkering with it, I decided to used a closed cell gasket. I had some 1/8 and 1/4 x 3/4 closed cell foam in the shop and was able to position the stop so that the 1/8 material would work and create a nice seal. Watching the door close on my mocked  up pieces had all looking good and Im happy it looks like that idea will work out OK.

Before I was able to call the door a finished  job, I wanted to make sure the Trioving lock set was going to work given the thicker stops I installed. Ive seen situations before where full mortised lock sets have the  handles hitting the stop as the door opens. Trioving uses a very deep mortise for the lock set @ 4 1/4" so this scenario really wasnt a problem. Trioving has some pretty nice user friendly design in their gear. The screws they use to hold the sets together are machined to adjust. Once you have the lock set in place, you cut the screws in a machined groove they  have to get the proper length. This way one does not have to use a die to repair the cut end. Another nice detail Trioving uses is how they hold he handles on to the square stock that passes through the lock set. The square stock is split in half for a certain distance where the handle lands, and the set screw that holds the handle in place is extra  long. The  extra long set screw has a long nipple machined on the end of it and as you tighten the set screw in place,  it engages the slot in the square stock and spreads it out creating an interference fit between the square stock and the handle. This is a much nicer way in my opinion to retain the  handle vs a set screw that just engages the stock.

I purchased the Trioving lock sets off of Ebay used, and the keepers that mortise in to the door jamb did not come with the lock sets. I used some scrap 3/16  316 stainless I have in the barn to fabricate the keeper. I used the  mill to  machine the slots that the two lock set bolts will engage. The bolts are 1/2" wide, so I machined the slots to 9/16". Once the door is hung for good at the launch site, and after the seal is in place, Ill adjust the keeper in the jamb and final grind the slots depending on how tight I want the door to  close.  I might have to TIG weld a small return piece of stock on the slot that engages the handle bolt, but Ill figure that out once the door is permanently hung. I I also might try to broach square corners in the keeper, but once again, well see how it fits.
 

Now that the salon passage door is complete, Im thinking of turning my attentions to the wheel house aluminum door. I was thinking of making it a dutch style, but given how tall my bulwark is, I"m not so sure I n need to do that. I have pretty good ventilation in the wheelhouse, and if Im in a situation where I need to have the door closed, 100% closed vs 50% closed with a dutch door is not going to make any difference regarding ventilation. The dutch door seems to be  more appropriate for boats without the bulwark, and also adds some complexity to the fabricating. Im still up in the air on that decision so well see.

Cheers

 

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The salon shrank

My goal was to  have all the wood work in the salon completed by the end of April, and while Im going to be close, I wont be finished in a week. Ill be close, but not finished.

This weekend I brought in the cabinets I built last year and got them fitted. The range cabinet along with the 36" sink base and the 18" drawer unit are in their final resting spots, and things are looking good.

With the cabinets in place, Im able to finalize the air conditioning ducts that feed the salon and wheel house. Along with those two six inch ducts, a six inch return air line is getting installed in the salon. Getting these ducts installed required giving up some real estate, but Ive had my plan in my head for a year now, and I think it will work. The only less than ideal strategy is that I dont have a return air line to the wheel house. The wheel house is open to the salon, so Im hoping the air will get pushed back in to the salons cold air return.

The other issue thats been thrown in this mix is how Im ventilating the lazzarette ( the room under the aft deck, aft of the engine room). The air conditioning unit for the salon and wheel house resides in the lazzarette. I had originally vented this room with two three inch ducts that ran up and out the salon aft bulkhead. This was really a poor design on my part, along with having too small of vents. As it turns out, I had to cannibalize those two vents to get some plumbing in to the lazzarette, so on to plan B. Im talking about all of this because this is going to impact the forced air cooling of the salon and wheel house, and this is what I m dealing with today. Its really not that big of a deal as Im going to locate some 6" cowl vents and use the plasma cutter and hog out two holes in the aft lazzarette bulkhead three feet above the swim platform. This will be adequate ventilation for the lazzarette helping get rid of the  heat from the AC unit, which will help with the cold air return..... air in needs air out.

Before the cabinets can be landed for good, the range needs to be located off of the starboard wall. Again, no bid deal, but the gas connection needs to be landed  once I haul the range to the boat precisely locate it.

Unlike a  house, where things are plumb, level, and square, a boat with its descending and ascending angles and dangles, everything needs to hit a specific location.  In a  house, if one needs to frame in a square chase in the corner of a ceiling to route some plumbing or HVAC, its no big deal as the spaces are huge, and likewise easy to square things to each other. A boat on the other hand is 30 times more robust than a house yet her spaces are delicate and need to be treated that way.

I can now say that Im closing in on completing the salon. All the major components are in their places and Im totally happy how nice the space feels. Two people can easily navigate without tripping over each other and no area of the salon has me feeling cramped or claustrophobic. With the tinted windows open, the breeze moves through nicely, and theres plenty of light. With the tinted windows closed, the sun getting through and washing over the darkening Cherry wood , gives the room a warm and rich feel. The table saw has moved to the aft deck along with the saw horse cutting station. For the first time, the dust of a build is on the retreat.

Cheers,

   

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Salon

Spring has finally sprung in our part of the world, and this salon sheathing boat builder couldnt be happier. The weather last week was a little raw with some rain snow mix, and lows in the 20s, but today skies were clear blue with the thermometer hitting 80 F. This might sound foolish, but the downside to spring arriving is that my phone is ringing off the hook, and for all practical purposes, Im booked solid with work until at least September. Being booked so far in advanced is a nice problem to have, but getting the boat in the water this season is important to me so, work and the build are going to have to get along .

I hit the salon pretty hard this weekend past, and I have it sheathed. The rain/snow storm we had on Friday gave me a day on board to finalize the water line runs for the washer, the 1/2 bath, and the galley sink. I also was able finish the behind the walls AC and DC wire runs along with finishing the hard piping for the waste lines.

All the waste lines on board are 1 1/2" SCH 40 rigid PVC. I have a little bit of flexible PVC, but not much. The galley sink gravity flows either to the aft holding tank or overboard via a Y valve. The 1/2 bath sink also gravity flows to the aft holding tank or overboard. The 1/2 bath toilet is a macerator, and that is forced to the holding tank via an 1 1/2" SCH 40 rigid PVC. Below deck, in the cabins, is another toilet that is a composter. In case the composting unit does not suit our needs, I have another 1 1/2" forced main run from the below deck head to the rear  holding tank via the starboard salon wall. So before I could sheath the salon, I had to finish these pipe runs along with the galley sink pipe run that runs behind the port side salon wall. On all the forced pipe runs ( a pump is doing the work), pressure fittings have to be used. On any gravity line, one is best to use DWV fittings. DWV stand for drain, waste, vent.  DWV fittings have a smaller shoulder to glue, but have a more gravity friendly flow line.

I had originally planned on running the water lines for the salon macerator toilet, sink, and washer dryer behind the salon walls, but that space was getting crowded so I chose to run these lines in the wall/ceiling chase.

The 1/2 bath is one of those deals where some compromising had to be made. I had the 1/2 bath mocked up in the shop when I built the super structure, and knew it was going to be tight. Now that I have it framed in real time, Im happy with  how roomy it is. The width of the 1/2 bath at the toilet is 30". The 1/2 bath tapers to an 20"w x 18"d square cube where the sink resides, so the 20" wide entrance door will be in the taper between the two above measurements. My  biggest concern was the width of the passage between the 1/2 bath and the wheel house steps as one heads below deck. The width of this passage ended up being 21", but to make it feel better, I think Ill radius the treads on the wheel house steps, or maybe clip off the corners. The wheel house steps are pretty wide @ 26", so theres plenty of room to work with. This picture shows the door layout line along with the temporary construction steps leading up to the wheel house.

The 1/2 bath was built out of 1/2" cherry ply. The corners are joined with laminated posts that I plowed 1/2" dados in to. To finish the outside edge of the outside corner post I cut a substantial chamfer. Its hard to see the chamfer in unfinished wood, but once a finish is applied, the chamfer really pops and gives some nice detail.

Another weekend, and Im fairly confident Ill be ready to start getting some finish on the salon. I also feel pretty good that Ill have the table saw out of the salon by the end of April with 95% of the wood work complete. With this wood working schedule now attainable, I have May and June to work on mechanicals , which gives us a July launch date. If I was a patient guy, Id spend another  year getting her 100% finished, then launch her. Maybe giving  her another year is the right choice, but Im ready to spend some evenings on board doing what this project was meant to do . When she hits the water in late June or July, I"m going to guess her at 95% complete. Hopefully well get  her to 98% complete.

Cheers

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