Port Light Trim

Making the trim rings for the port lights was a fun job. A few design issues on how best to cover the plywood paneling with the trim ring was the only real snafu on this project, but once the bugs were figured out, they went together pretty quickly.

I had to do a little searching to find some 10" wide stock to make the trim ring or else I'd be faced with having to edge glue some boards together to get the width I wanted.

The first step was to make a template of the trim ring. I made the template out of some 1/2" Cherry scrap plywood.







I used the template to mark the stock, then rough cut the ring on my band saw.


I then screwed the rough trim ring to the template, and routed it to match the template with a flush trimming bit.

Since the trim ring is screwed to the plywood paneling, I had to hide the edge of the plywood by extending the inner form of the trim ring by 1/2". I cut some pieces to shape on the band saw, glued them to the trim ring, then used the router to cut them flush once the glue cured.










The next step was to round everything over with a 3/8 radius rounding bit

Before I had installed the plywood paneling I had glued a closed cell gasket to the port light frame to prevent sweating. Once the paneling was in place, the paneling compressed the gasket against the port light frame. Now that the trim ring is installed, the trim ring also compresses the gasket due to the 1/2" ring extension I glued to the inner form of the trim ring. I feel that condensation on the port light frames will be a non issue.










In this last picture you can see how I laminated the extension piece on to the trim ring to hide the plywood edge. The last piece of the port light window frame condensation issue will be pretty straight forward I think. I'll need to find a piece of rubber channel to fit over the 3/16" frame edge prior to me installing the glass. Once that last edge ( witch you can see in the last picture) is covered, I doubt very much I'll get any condensation on the window frame. I might get some sweating on the glass, but none on the frame. The last thing I want is staining on the wood from sweating metal. The trim ring will come off when Install the glass witch should be later this Winter. I like not having the glass in so I can hear the radio I have down in the shop.

Home Grown

Every time I do a clearing job and have the ability to take some Cherry trees, I bring them to my neighbor, and he saws them into lumber for me. I have two stacks this size of Cherry that's been air drying in the loft of the shop for a few years , and it's time I finally get to use some of it.

If I were to guess, I'd guess that I have well over a thousand board feet stashed away in the barn. It's a good feeling to finally be able to use some of this fine lumber and get on with some finish wood working.

Even though this is not perfectly clear lumber one might find in a wood workers supply house, I do get quite a bit of interesting looking grain including curly and birds eye. I try to be keep a close eye on things when I'm pulling a piece out of the pile, but until you run it through the planer, its always a mystery how it will look once planed. I love the straight grained clear lumber, but I also love the wild crotch grain or the funky look you get from the birds eye grain. Cherry has always been my favorite wood to work with. It machines well, glues and holds a screw great, and I love how it darkens with age.

Going the rough sawn lumber route is a little more work for me, but the price is right. I love not having to head off to the lumber supply house and I for sure love the fact that I'm keeping more cash in my pocket.

Finish lumber

I got a decent start this weekend on getting some finish lumber installed in the master cabin. I'm using Cherry veneer plywood for the hull sides and partitions in the master cabin, and a lesser quality ( maybe Birch) for the head, hallway, and kids bunk room.

While I still think the engine room's steel door jamb could have been a few shades lighter, I'm happy as to how it looks vs the white I had initially painted the jamb. Looking at in in this picture, I must say I think it works fine.

I'm using #12 1 1/2" brass wood screw to fasten all the plywood. I have a Fuller tapered drill set that does a nice job countersinking for the screw and boring for the wood bung all in one pass. I've used some cheaper tools for this type of work, and in my opinion the cheaper stuff is junk and not worth ones time messing with. If I'd have to guess, I'd guess I've used 150 screws to install the master cabin panels, and most of those will have to be plugged with bungs. I'll cut the bungs from scrap Cherry lumber, then part them on the table saw. I'll probably use a sharp chisel to pare the bung down close, then finish sand the bung with a DA sander to get it flush. I'm a little worried about glue stains, but I think if I wipe each bung after tapping it home with a damp cloth, I should keep glue staining to a minimum. I'm using a 1/4" x 1 1/4" batten to cover all the butt joints, so I won't have to bung those screws.

I scribed then I belt sanded to the scribe line on all the panels are perpendicular to another panel. I'm happy with how the fit and finish has turned out as a playing card wont' fit in any of those perpendicular joints.

I used a lower grad plywood where the bed is going because I thought I might be a sheet short. Turns out I was fine on how much material I used, but I'm not complaining as you won't see any of the cheaper plywood as it's behind the headboard of the bed.

Now that the master cabin space is defined, and the foam is disappearing behind that nice Cherry plywood I will now start laying out for the bed, and the various cabinets I'm going to have in the cabin. I chose to have a sink in each cabin, vs a one sink in the head. The size of the master cabin and the size of the bed make installing the cabinet for the sink the next order of business. I started looking at some layout tonight, and I might end up moving the bed aft a few inches to make the pathway between the bed and the sink more comfortable. Either way, I'll buy a sink this week and mock up a cabinet install to see how it fits in relation to the bed and being able to walk past the bed. It's important for me to feel comfortable as I walk around the cabin, and two or three inches in the right spot can make all the difference in how the room feels ( in my amateur opinion).

I think I'm going to do some cabinet building in the master cabin before I begin paneling the rest of the hull ( kids bunk room, head, and hallway). I had thought I'd not be able to bung one panel on the engine room bulkhead as I might have had to remove it to get my engine control cables from the wheel house to the engine. Now I think I'll route the cables a little different than planned and won't have to remove the panel.

The devil's in the detail

I thought I was pretty much wrapped up with the wiring and plumbing to the point of where I could begin installing the Cherry plywood on the hull sides and partitions.

I was looking at the route of one of my water tank fill lines on the starboard side, and started to get concerned that I was making things a little too tight in regard to the fill lines and the lines for my future air conditioning unit. I decided to re route one of the water tank fill line to give me, what I consider, barely enough room to route the two cooling lines for my AC unit. Out comes the hole saw so I can create an 1 1/2" bore through frame #8. Hole sawing complete, so now I have to de-burr the hole, put a couple of layers of epoxy primer, give the primer a day to set up, then top coat with a couple layers of acrylic enamel. That little hole slowed things up a minimum of one day.

I also was looking at the steel door jamb of the engine room door, and somehow the bright white door jamb was not going to look so good next to the ever darkening Cherry interior. I decided to paint the door jamb brown to make things "flow" a little smoother as far as the eye was concerned. I had some left over acrylic urethane from another project, and while it could have been a little lighter in shade, I have formally called it good enough.

I picked up a few hundred #12 1 1/2 brass wood screws from Fastenal today, and barring any more nit picking, I should begin some finishing work after the holiday weekend.