Engine bearers and hatch garage cont

The sanding in the anchor locker and painting of the main hatch garage continues on.  First thing to do was a little sand to clean up the edges of the fillets and on the inside of the ply, then a couple of thick coats of epoxy wet on wet.





Once it had dried I gave the inside two coats of oil based undercoat/sealer over two days.





And then two coats of exterior paint.  Concurrently I was working on the engine bearers, you can see them in the foreground of the photo but more on them shortly.  Also realised I hadn't finish painted the insides of the cockpit coaming storage locker doors so splashed some paint on them as well.





Engine bearers I decided to do next so I could finish off the inside of the main cabin by building the cover over where the engine will go and the access ladder.  First was a lot of string, square and level work to determine the correct height based on the centre of the stern tube, and then to continue the angle out for the bearers.

It was difficult in three dimensions so made some rough measurements out based on the engine dimensions, bevelled the bottom of the cross support piece and drilled holes through the wood and into the keel through the floor.  Once sitting in position I measured the dimensions of the bearers and got hardwood pieces 100mm x 80mm.




With that done I took a deep breath and coach screwed it down onto a thick bed of epoxy glue.





This made positioning and calculating the heights much easier and by measuring with the block in place was able to calculate how far down each end and chop out pieces to get the right angle and height (hopefully).  Below shows one from the side, the left end cut down to sit on the frame 7 hardwood cross piece under the tube with the angle calculated using the top of the tube and a straight edge.  Ended up needing a little adjustment on the forward end as well.  Bottom left is cut on an angle to allow it sit down enough, and give clearance to reach under.




Here is the starboard side ready to dry fit showing how far the bolts go into the across supports, on the left about 30mm of the 60mm x 8mm bolt and on the right about 25mm of the 120mm x 8mm bolt.




This shows the port side dry fit in place.  The scrap wood was clamped in place to allow the shaft angle to be brought out from the tube and then across with a level to the top of the bearer.





Not too bad level across the two.




Both dry fit from the starboard side.




Nice two coats of epoxy then undercoat and paint which was shown earlier.




In final position epoxy glued and bolted on with the overhang in the cabin trimmed square.  Sanded the paint off the cross piece near the tube before to get a good epoxy bond.




Glued and bolted from the side:





The Beta 14HP I am planning on using has up to 25mm adjustment up on the four feet, and the feet are 120mm long and 63mm wide.  My plan is that there will be enough space on the top of the bearer to position the engine to match the shaft position and bolt it down then.  At worst I can take a little bit off the top surface of the bearers if too high, but I think I am close.

Now I should be able to build a box around it and sort the steps.  Sanding and fairing of the cabin and decks also continues in bursts prior to paint.