Bulkheads & Floors

While I was working on the side panels I also manufactured the bulkheads and floors.

There are four bulkheads and four floors. The bulkheads are the vertical panels which make the hull rigid and support the deck and the cabin roof, and the floors support the floor boards.

The first task is to glue the cleats in place. The cleats are the horizontal supports to which the deck, roof and floorboards will be fastened. Here we see the cleats glued up and clamped on all the floors and two of the bulkheads.

There is a cleat on both sides of this bulkhead, seen here with one cleat in place. This bulkhead is the forward wall of the cabin. It's quite awkward to work on, being so large. The rolls of lead are clamping down the cleat where clamps cannot be used, and also holding the bulkhead on the bench.

This bulkhead is part of the cockpit structure. Most of this component is just for support and will be cut away when the bulkhead is installed later.

When cured the cleats were trimmed and smoothed, as on these floors.

All of the floors and bulkheads then received three coats of clear epoxy, sanded between coats with P80 grit to get a smooth, matt finish. The third coat received a final sanding with P120 grit to get a paint-ready finish. All this is necessary because these parts will be difficult or impossible to work on once installed in the hull.

This is the Rotex 150 sander at work. It makes short work of the sanding.

When completed the floors and bulkheads were set aside to await hull construction.