Back to the drawing board
After trimming further new battery shelf I went to boatyard to try it.
The weather is a proper, April weather in Sweden: heavy wind and wet snow. The whole 2 degrees Celsius. What a joy…
Thankfully, after arriving to Meritaten I was met by joyful view of Kaika in her new colours. I admit that she looks extremely classy!
Side by side with Meritaten the white deck I was so proud of last year looks almost vulgar compared to classic beige. I can see a colour shift on Meritaten in the near future…
It was cold as hell so I went under deck and started my trusty Tilley storm lantern, to get some warmth inside.
After a while it became habitable so I tried my trimmed shelf.
Almost fitted…
Some more trimming is needed. I tried placing both batteries on the shelf and realised how dumb idea it was. Not only they do not fit but the second battery is then too high above the bilge.
While I aim to balance the boat by shifting ballast to the bow I need to keep it as low as possible.
So then while warm (relatively) and cosy inside I skipped the idea of finishing sanding and instead focused on solving this battery-toiled placement equation. Started with vacuuming saw dust left after demolition, for a clean start.
It’s one of these visits when nothing physically is really done but plans and ideas are being produced. I call it a “mental progress”, to kill the guilt of not moving the work ahead.
There is one thing which is causing me trouble: I detest screwing things onto freeboard planks. That’s of course the easiest - take some oak pieces, screw them to planks, put a shelf on top and you are done. But then, if I change my mind and want to refurbish the space, I end up with view like below.
I simply hate it.
Not only have they driven screws to the plank but also into these steamed oak frames!
I sat there, moved things around and tried different constellations in this tiny space, to use it as effectively (and nicely) as possible. Finally my lamp run out of kerosene and temperature started to drop again.
The last idea I played with, before leaving, was to make modules. Their shapes would enable stepping them directly on keel plank - and screwing to it with proper, bronze screws - while sides would enable anchoring battery supports and toilet mounts. All without the need to drive screws into planks.
Well, just a few maybe but I’ll see if really necessarily.
Advantage of such “bilge-shaped” modules would be that they would enable utilising bilge space for dry storage and keep away any bilge water from goods inside.
Modules will be made from mahogany plywood and oak blocks. All epoxied so water tight. Toilet module walls would have handles so that person using the loo would have something to hold while boat is in movement. More work than screwing stuff to the boat directly but I think worth the effort.
Cheered up by this idea I headed home. As if reading my mind the weather cheered up also - snow was gone, evening Sun was shining and wind died almost completely.
Life is good again.