inhabitable post cure oven

Late November in the Pacific North West sometimes requires bringing composite panels indoors to cure.  I try to hide them along walls and intersperse them amongst the decor so that visitors don't have to whisper questions to themselves.  Although these two vertical panels seem to be tasteful modern art pieces, upon closer look they are actually  the interior walls of the aft, port and starboard staterooms.

Intentional Imperfection....."sanding or sailing?"

When building you own boat, in regards to perfection, it is sometimes necessary to honor ones mortality.  Although it is entirely possible for me to smooth the inside cabin ceiling to approximate the smoothness of neonate bottoms, I have chosen to postpone this task until the day that I have nothing more important to do.

In other words,  I want to go sailing and there's a big world out there so I've decided that the darn ceiling doesn't have to be perfect!  Sure,  I could make it that way but;  "do I really want to spend another year sanding, rather than sailing?"

It is in that spirit that I have intentionally added imperfections to the ceiling of the cabin.  However, to minimize their visibility, I have used a high solids epoxy paint, mixed it with microbaloons so that the paint has somewhat of an ability to provide texture thereby blending the surface.  The paint is also slightly matte in finish to further de emphasize these intentional imperfections.

Testing the cutting files

Here are a few of the test window panels that were CNC router  cut prior to cutting the real thing.  

Port side lower cabin window test pieces

Notice;  the window has been cut into three pieces so that a gap can be placed in the middle sections to allow for thermal expansion.  This is done in the same manner as having expansion joints in sidewalks and driveways to keep them from cracking. 

upper cabin side window test piece

a view of the inside cabin from the outer bridge deck.  In this photo, you can see that the green plastic window test piece has come untaped,  fallen down and is no longer covering the forward cabin window opening.  

Since the next step is to install the side windows and two cabin hatches, I need to paint the cabin ceiling so that the fasteners can be installed afterwards.   No real reason to do that other than the perceived need to have the stainless steel nuts show unpainted.

42surfboards and a cat

One advantage of living in the Columbia River Gorge is that there are people with brilliantly active and creative minds that are willing to help me finish this boat.  Amongst these people is a guy who has developed a method of producing exquisitely shaped boards using sustainably harvested wood from the Pacific North West.

fortunately, for me, Lars was kind enough to help me cut the windows for this cat using one of the tools that he uses to design and shape some of the best boards on the west coast.

You can find more information about their work here:     42surfboards   If you would like to support this fantastic effort that is being made to create sustainably made surfboards,  talk to Lars about the possibility of having him make you the perfect board.

CNC router table

cutting out the test pieces.  When I ordered the plastic for my windows, they came packaged on a pallet with top and bottom protective sheets of corrugated plastic.  Turns out that this stuff was the perfect material to use to practice the cuts to confirm the shapes before cutting the real deal.  After cutting the window shapes from this material, I ran them up to the shop, taped them in place and confirmed the fit.  

The final cabin windows   

the router in action......

 This particular router table has a feature that utilizes the gravitational pull of the earth to help hold the cut pieces in place.  By simply standing on the piece that is being cut, a force that is proportional to the persons mass, causes the pieces to stay bonded to the table.  In this instance, specialized footwear is being used to transfer these forces into the table.