Companionway Hood | Cutting Slide Grooves

I wanted to assemble the companionway hood so would next need to cut the grooves which allow the slide to move back and forth.

This promised to be a challenge.

As usual, the manual says to cut the grooves with a table saw which as usual we do not possess.

I tried a hand plough plane which I used years ago to make tongue and groove boards, but it was defeated by the very hard and grainy Ash from which the hood and slide are made.

I then set the router up with its fence for hand held use, but that was clearly never going to work and was in fact downright dangerous!

The only option was to set up the router table and run the side pieces across in multiple passes until the grooves were complete.

I set it up and found that the router depth-of-cut adjuster did not allow a sufficiently deep cut - the screw was too short. So I made a new one from a 50mm M5 machine screw and we were in business.

Being large, long, heavy and unwieldy the side pieces would need ample support as they were pushed across the small router table.

I devised the following set up, using a pair of wine boxes with pieces of scrap MDF taped to their tops to obtain exactly the right height.

A test pass with a piece of surplus Ash showed that it worked very well!

I set the cutter up carefully to make the grooves 3/8" deep and 7/16" from the bottom outside edge of the side piece, as shown in the drawings for the companionway.

Then I proceeded to successfully cut a complete groove in the scrap Ash, discovering in the process that the key to success is to make very many, very shallow cuts.

The Ash is so tough that it bogs down the cutter and scorches the wood if you try to cut too deeply.

So I made many passes across the table with tiny increases to the depth until we achieved a 3/8" deep groove.

This is the finished groove on the test piece.

It's pretty rough but provided the learning needed to make the real thing.

Here is one side piece with a completed groove and the tools needed to clean it up after routing.

This is a view inside the finished groove.

That looks OK!

Here are both side pieces with finished grooves on the bench.

Lastly I plugged the forward end of each groove with a filler piece, like this one glued in place.

 This is what the stops looked like when trimmed and cleaned up.

That's the grooves complete!

Rub Rails | Starboard Third Laminate - More Sapele Required!

Two posts back I snapped the final laminate on the starboard rub rail during installation, and set it aside while I decided what to do with it.

After some agonising I decided to cut a new scarf where the laminate had broken. That would mean that it had three scarf joints instead of the intended two, but I hoped that it would not be too obvious.

Remember, Steve - it's a boat. Not a piano.

So I cut a new scarf joint and glued up the laminate. Here it is curing on top of a sawhorse.

When cured and cleaned up I proceeded with installation.

And guess what? It snapped again.

I was too disgusted to take photos of yet another snapped piece of Sapele!

So I cut a new scarf joint where the broken piece is joined to the rest of the laminate, and glued it in place. Like this.

I will have to install the final piece with the scarf joint in situ. I've done it once already, so I know how to do it.

I ordered more wood. It was the middle of the Christmas holiday, so nothing would arrive until the first week of January.

Thankfully I could proceed with making the companionway.

Onwards and upwards!

Companionway Hood | Making The Trim

The companionway hood has a piece of trim across its rear edge.

This trim has two functions - to support the top of the hood, and to look good.

The piece of Ash suppled with my timber pack was not wide enough to make it 1" deep as directed by the manual, but the lovely folks at Fyne Boats sent me a new piece. Thanks guys!

I marked it up on the stock using the pattern for the front piece, which serves as a pattern for all the curved transverse parts of the hood. As here.

I cut the bottom of the trim with the jig saw and shaped it with a Shinto saw rasp, like this.

It isn't practical to do this in the vice, so it has to be clamped to the bench. Awkward, but it works.

I cut the width of the trim slightly oversize, so I could trim it after installation for a nice fit, as here.

Then I cut the top edge and shaped it in the vice with the jack plane.

The final task is to bevel the trim to a trapezoidal profile.

The manual says to bevel both faces but I thought this would make it look too 'skinny', so I just shaped the rear face to match the angle of the hood side pieces.

Here we are taking the angle off the hood side pattern with the protractor.

The bevel was copied onto the trim pieces and then planed in the vice. Like this.

This was also very awkward, but achievable.

The finished trim was placed across the hood frame to check fit, as here.

I think that's going to work. We are getting there!

Rub Rails | Starboard Third Laminate & Seventh Cock Up

Flushed with confidence after the successful installation of the starboard second rub rail laminate, I moved on to the third and final piece.

I marked up and drilled the laminate for temporary screws, and drilled pilot holes in the rub rail. Every twelve inches, as learned from the port rail.

Here it is offered up for drilling pilot holes, held safely with ratchet clamps.

And here it is test fitted with temporary screws, seen from astern.

So far, so good. Time to glue it permanently in place.

So I started to slacken off the screws, beginning at the bow.

Except I didn't start right at the end of the laminate.

For some unknown and ridiculous reason I started several screws along from the bow.

As I loosened the screw the laminate promptly bulged and snapped under the pressure.

It looked like this.

I was despondent, to say the least.

I was half an hour away from completing the rub rail installation, and a silly mistake meant I had to start again.

I had really had enough of rub rails, so I put the pieces somewhere where I couldn't see them and vowed to move on to something else.

Companionway Hood | Making The Frame

I had previously made the pieces for the companionway hood carcase, or frame, and now it was time to assemble them.

The first task was to cut the bevel on the bottom edge of the side pieces so they match the curvature of the deck.

The manual handily tells us that the angle is 78 degrees, so I used the protractor and cutting gauge to mark the bevel. Here is a side piece in the vice being bevelled with the block plane.

The manual states that the width of the assembled hood should be 30 5/8", meaning that the front piece must be 29 1/8" wide.

The hood and slide together are a fairly complicated construction, and I was concerned that something might not fit if I made a mistake in the measurements. So I was extra careful to mark up the front piece correctly, as here.

It is exactly 29 1/8" wide. Like this.

As they say, measure it twice and cut it once. I probably measured it more than that before firing up the jig saw and cutting the piece to its correct width.

Here are the front and side pieces propped in place on the cabin roof, showing the required bevel marked up on the front top edge.

We have to remove quite a lot of wood to achieve the bevel, as seen here from the side.

Better to have too much than not enough stock, though!

It had long been obvious that the side pieces were too long, as can be seen here.

At this stage I wasn't sure if the excess should be trimmed from the front or rear of the sides, so I left well alone for the time being.

It's pretty annoying that the pattern is still wrong, given that this boat was designed in 2008!

Next I planed the top bevel on the front piece. Here it is in the vice being trimmed with the jack plane.

The front and side pieces were again propped in place to check the fit, as here.

The long piece of Sapele in the middle of the pic is the final rub rail laminate, awaiting installation.

Some checks with the companionway slide pieces convinced me that the excess material should be removed from the rear end of the hood sides, so I marked them up accordingly. Like this.

The required bevel was then planed on the top edge, to match the curvature of the top.

This bevel is also 78 degrees. Here it is being cut with the block plane.

The front and side pieces are held together at the front with a glued and screwed joint.

I wanted be sure that the joints were square and true, so I drilled the screw holes on the pillar drill, like this.

In the above pic I am actually drilling holes for a temporary brace across the middle of the hood, to support it while it is still a flimsy structure.

Lastly the hood frame was assembled, dry with temporary screws and the support brace.

It looked like this.

These are the temporary screws holding the front joint together.

Looking good!

Rub Rails | Starboard Second Laminate Installation

Fitting the second Sapele laminate on the starboard rub rail went smoothly.

The laminate had been marked up and drilled for temporary screws, and pilot holes drilled in the rub rail.

The test fit went well. Here is a view from the side, showing the ratchet clamps which prevent the laminate from falling away from the rail during installation.

The screws were then slackened off for gluing up. Here is what it looked like at the bow.

A wedge of scrap wood holds the laminate away from the rail to allow gluing.

After application of plenty of glue everything was tightened up again. This is the view at the bow.

And here is the view from astern.

That was free from drama, and I only have one more laminate to fit before I can say that the rub rails are fully installed!

Seatback Blocking Location

Many months back, when I fitted the seatback tops and sealed the seatback buoyancy compartments forever, I made a note of the location of the blocking for hardware installation.

Fearful that I might lose the notes I took a photo, to preserve it for posterity. Here it is.

When the day comes for fitting out, I will know where to drill the holes!