Building the Fishing Cockpit
If you will recall, This week was starting out kind of slow because I was running low on epoxy. I had also ordered a few items including the pilot and navigator seats. It seems that at anytime, I have a minimum of five items for the boat in transit at any time. Because I live in a neighborhood which has known better days, I don’t have things delivered to my home, but rather to a PO box that I maintain so items I have delivered don’t develop legs and disappear. Believe me buying all of the items required for a boat of this size is a considerable undertaking in both dollars and time. Each little phase has some required items which must be ordered and the cockpit is no exception.
Since I was down to about thirty two ounces of epoxy, I was hesitant to start any major fillets or gluing operations. I have been climbing in and out of the boat through the transom let down up to this point simply because it is the lowest point which makes it easy to get in and out. All of that changed, starting on this last Monday. The first thing I did was to once again sketch out the changes I was wanting to make to the splash well width so I would be reasonably sure the outboard would not hit the splash well when tipped up. Initially, I was concerned that the outboard would hit the front of the splash well, so pouring over the documentation for my particular outboard, I applied the dimensions in the outboard specs to a drawing I created in Sketchup. Once I was sure it would clear in the front, I made sure it would clear when in the up position when the outboard tipped to either side. I have read many posts by others who built the splash well only to find they couldn’t raise the motor all of the way without hitting the front of the splash well. Who knows, I still may have screwed it up, but the chances are much less, after mocking up the cockpit transom in 3D!
When I first started to build the boat, I was going to mount the kicker in the splash well. I had carefully measured the boat I owned at the time as well as other boats, before arriving at the width and height of the transom cut out. While constantly thinking about how things physically tie together in the cockpit, I started thinking about mounting the kicker/trolling motor from a bracket which would leave more space in the cockpit for fishing and also for storing items such as batteries, wash down pumps and such. This process has evolved over months of thinking about the pro’s and con’s of each little process involved. Several times while working on another part of the boat I have stopped what I was doing to measure and confirm something stewing in the back of my mind. I have had this on the back burner for months, something I do quite often. When writing an article or a chapter in a book, I occasionally come to a point where I am not sure how to proceed. By putting it aside, the sub conscious continues to work on the problem until all of the kinks are worked out. Such was the case with this little remodel.
So this is how it began: Using a jig I had built a few years ago for one of my routers, I aligned the edge with a line I had traced on the transom. I set the router depth at a half an inch which is the depth of the plywood on the outside of the transom. Then using the router I cut a rabbet and inch wide and a half inch deep so the replacement/addition piece would have a one inch overlap onto the existing structure of the transom. Then placing a square scrap of marine plywood into the rabbet with a few temporary screws, I was able to draw the new line of the transom wings onto the new plywood. Using my band saw, I cut out the new outline and once again screwed it into place.
The upper part of the transom wings are built up using 3/4 marine plywood to attain the desired thickness, in this case, two inches thick which nearly flushes with the microlams which provide the mounting surface for the outboard. Wanting to retain the look of the traditional wood boat, the wings needed to extend past the edges of the splash well, I marked out the splash well on the plywood now held together with temporary screws. Remember, I am low on epoxy, which will eventually make all of this permanent. I went ahead and cut the side panels of the splash well, and then the bottom which slopes upwards at 90 degrees to the transom, the transom being sloped outward at 14 degrees. I then cut the back of forward end of the splashwell full height from the cockpit sole up to the level of the sheer decks.
As I said before, I have been thinking about this thing for sometime and as such had planned on using a large Beckson hinged hatch to access the bilge pumps as well as bolting the outboard in place. Once everything was in place, I leaned over the forward side of the splashwell to see if I could reach the bilge pumps in the bottom of the sump located below the splash well. It was one hell of a reach, and probably not one that I would want to make in a rough ocean! Time for plan B,
First I pulled the bottom back out of the splash well and using a straight edge, I extended the forward edge of the sump to either side at the intersection of the side panels. Next I pulled the side panels out of the boat and cut the angle of the splashwell forward to the front of the splash well. Then I cut the forward panel to the height of the side cuts. I reassembled the whole mess and laying on my stomach, I reached into the sump and was able to reach all four corners easily. Problem solved. I will install an easily removable hatch cover the hole effectively closing the sump off from the deck.
Once I was satisfied that I could have easy access to the bilge pumps located in the sump, I went ahead and cut two round two inch limbers through the microlam at the stern on either side of the splash well. Next I cut the faces for the cabinets on either side of the splash well. These cabinets will house the fuel/water separator, outboard controls coming in through conduits, wiring, batteries and the wash down pump. Once again, more ordering, of parts, hinges and rattle free latches for the doors of the cabinets and the access panel to the sump.
Once the whole splashwell shebang was temporarily assembled, I stood back and looked at the cockpit standing in the wheelhouse door, trying to imagine just how things would flow while fishing offshore for tuna and salmon. I have to admit I was a little disappointed I had not made the wheelhouse a bit smaller which would have provided more fishing space in the cockpit. But then, thinking back over the process, I turned around and imagined the wheelhouse being smaller. We have plans to spend some quality time cruising in the San Juan islands and up into Canada and possibly the inside passage to Alaska. No changes necessary, I am confident that this whole layout is well thought out!
Once the cockpit cabinets were in place, I went ahead and installed the coaming around the cockpit sheer decks. Some like a raised coaming around the cockpit, but the idea did not resonate with me, and I have gone back and forth, one day thinking yes and another no. Well, the no finally won out so the coaming runs flush other than a short section which is set at fourteen degrees mirroring the forward slant of the windows. For a finishing touch, I put a hand hold mid way up the coaming for those occasions when going forward is necessary.
Finally, one last detail for the finishing of the cockpit was the completion of the wheelhouse access door. I laid out and then cut an inner ring for the wheel house door to land against which should keep water ingress from rain and spray into the wheelhouse negligible. I also went on-line in the process to find a locking latch system so as to avoid any unnecessary remodeling once the latch I ordered arrives.
In summary, this week I completely cut and assembled the entire cockpit framing. In the process, I figured out that pre-cutting large areas is much more efficient than cutting and gluing small sections. Because I was not waiting for glue to dry, I was able to move on which up until now has been very frustrating because I could only do so much more and then I had to wait. This way, I will glass and coat all of the pieces at once, flip them and do the other sides. I was also able to make changes prior to glassing.
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