Table installed. Fo'c'sle rebuild - demolition
I met Lennart today, to share my experiences with keel bolts change. Lennart is about to start this job on Andrina, his Laurinkoster. I hope he will not get into troubles I was in!
After he left I brought on board cabin table which I finished assembling last night. Hanged it and tested for stiffness. Much better! Although not “stenhård” it’s steady enough to do the trick. Maybe I’ll reinforce it further with some kind of pillar going to the cabin top but for now I’m glad how it all went. The only movement under force is now only due to wood flexing - after all it is a heavy table hanging on quite long arm. It must have been made of concrete to not move at all.
It was raining cats&dogs today so my plan was simply to install the table and just gather thoughts on coming work for this season. I knew that the biggest thing will be rebuilding fo’c’sle and I was not in the mood to start it at all. It might be the lamp’s warmth and light which got me inspired so instead of just sitting and planning I went straight into doing it.
Removed most plywood berth structures - few old brass screws did not want to get out but otherwise I could unscrew most with a bit of patience.
The whole thing with berths in fore part of the boat was mostly marketing trick back in the days. If the boat could sleep more people it was generally better received by potential buyers, even if these additional berths in fo’c’sle were totally impractical and awkward to use. I tried hard to find any meaning to keep them on my boat but in the end I got tired of being constantly annoyed by unpracticality of this part of my boat: going here while sailing or on anchor was always a pain - not only the deck is low here but it’s too narrow and impossible to turn around due to these berths. We never sail with crew bigger than three, in fact I mostly sail alone. Having five berths on 28 feet boat is unnecessary in my view. Even my small daughter does not want to sleep there - she prefers pilot berth closer to us, in the main cabin.
Using toilet in this configuration was also a pain in the ass (literally) - maybe people in 50’ had smaller butts but we can hardly sit down there and do the job, not to mention cleaning afterwards. And going backwards when one leaves fo’c’sle - no way you can turn around there - with heavy anchor or 20 litres of water is never a joy.
Once I removed plywood rests the area became totally different - so much space was hidden and not used!
I haven’t yet decided if I will leave or remove short berth on port side - it houses a big drawer which I use for storing tools and it’s in a decent shape. My plan is to use port side to store Nano under deck. Starboard side will have toilet and storage bags mounted. I also need to remove and close hull openings left after marine toilet.
It took a good amount of time to remove all these old plywood bits, glued and screwed together in strange ways. Some of that I will reuse, there are also bits of real mahogany among the pile which I definitely want to save. Pile of rests sit on the deck for now.
As a side note: I brought one of my pressurised kerosene lamps with me, to add some warmth into the cabin in this November’s wet darkness. It proved to be a real game changer! It’s bright light, huge amount of instant warmth and comforting hiss has made me want to stay longer and work more on this project.
I chose to take my most battered lamp - Optimus 200 from early ‘40.
It had better days - when I bought it, as a spare parts donor , it looked as if Wehrmacht run over it with their tanks. I decided to bring it back to life, instead of using as spare parts. It still looks battered but is very reliable and gives a ton of light. The only drawback - apart from its look - is the noise from the old installation. But it works and will not attract attention of any unwanted visitor during the winter.
Back home I lighted similar kerosene lamp and my boat’s oil lamp, for comparison.
The difference in light output vs size is astonishing! My small Optimus 930 giving 300 CP is way brighter than DHR oil lamp. Heat production is more or less the same. The advantages of oil lamp, on the other side, is that they are totally silent and burn less dramatically. They are also less sensitive for shocks while kerosene lamp, with it’s fragile mantle, must be handled carefully.
I think there will be place for both of them on board during next season.