Rebuilding the Quarter Berth: Part II

Where we had last left off on the rebuild of our quarter berth, we had just cut all the necessary pieces of plywood and Eurolite from the templates we had removed during the demolition.  Because we had finished later in the evening, we waited until the next day to take the v-groove router to the panels.  A project we had dozens of times before and assumed would take 2-3 hours in total to complete the three panels that needed it.

One issue we had to be careful of though was to match up the lines in the quarter berth with the lines that were running down the aft part of the pilot house.  Initially screwing the panels in place, we made marks with a pencil of where a few of the lines needed to end so they would butt up together.  Then taking the panels down to our work bench we had to figure out the distance from the center of the bit to the edge of the router since we always run it along a straight edge to keep it, well, straight, from one end to the other.  I had my mark made there, and from then on went along the Eurolite making marks every 3.25 inches on the edges where we’d eventually clamp the straight edge down.

Everything looked to be going well until Matt went to make the first mark.  It turns out the the square casing around the router bit wasn’t equal on all sides and the edge of the router Matt was running along the straight edge was not the one we had measured for earlier.  So not only were all the marks I had just done now incorrect, but we had a line in the board which was now not going to line up with the rest of the boards.

Making the new correct marks we finished up the board placing the lines where they were actually supposed to be, and then mixed up epoxy and filler to take care of the initial line that was messed up.  We made sure for the next two boards to be very careful of where our marks were in relation to the router edge.

Spending two days having worked on this process now because of our screw ups as well as being rained out of the afternoons, we were already behind the schedule we were hoping to be on.  The next few days were a fury of work inside the boat, although we still had a few of those ‘hurry up and wait’ moments.  The panels were placed back in and then the corner was epoxied with filler, but after that we couldn’t touch it again until the next day when it was dry.

The next morning was full of sanding on my part to smooth out the areas that had been epoxied, and then I ran a palm sander over all the boards once more to give them a final smooth down.  Just before lunch I spent 2-3 hours applying a coat of primer, then after a 30 minute lunch I was back at it applying a second coat.  Working on the quarter berth and the starboard side of the pilot house together, it was more painting than I was used to in one go, and by 6 pm I was happy to throw down my paint brush for the day.

On our last day of work for this area I had to split the day up between sanding and painting.  My morning was spent going over all the surfaces with a palm sander and 220 grit sandpaper.  It was a dusty mess and my goggles kept getting coating any time I had to work on the overhead.  By the time lunch came around I looked like a ghost because I was covered in white, and happy ran to the showers to take a rinse before I sat down to eat.

In the afternoon I was able to apply a coat of satin paint, which always seems to go on so much smoother than the primer.  I’m always happy when I get to this point, not only because it means I’m just about finished with the area, but the color is so bright that it is almost blinding.  This boat is becoming so bright and white, I absolutely love it!  Now all we have left to do are the overhead parts of the pilot house and we are all done with walls.  Can.Not.Wait.