July 18, 10 - Now that the hull is planked, the next steep is to start building the interior of the main cabin and head.  The work will proceed in several stages.  Phase-I will include putting the stringers I removed during the reframing back, installing floors, building the cabin sole and then installing the ceilings.  I started work on the stringers today.  I removed two stringers on each side and about a three foot piece of the third stringer on the port side.  The dimensions of the stringers are 1.5"x3.5" for the lower stringer and 1-3/4"x3" for the upper stringers.  Rather than bend in 1.5" and 1.75" thick stock, I decided to do the stringers in two layers.  The first layer is screwed to the frames with two bronze screws at each frame.  The second layer is epoxied and screwed to the first layer.  This method slows the installation of the stringers, but it is a lot easier and the fasteners are not visible.

July 22, 10 - Today I finished the structural part of thhe stringer installation.  The first layer of each stringer is painted with Interlux Bilgekote on its back.  I will paint the other surfaces after I bung all the screw holes and sand the surfaces fair.  They will be the same off white as I am using for the rest of the interior.

The stringers consist of two layers of two planks each.  I staggered the scarfe joints between the lower and upper layers by about 3 feet in all cases.

Now that the stringers are in, I will bung the hundred or so screw holes in them and then paint them.  I will also start building the floors.

July 27, 10 - For the last five days I have been buildinng floors (I also went sailing for two days).  Today, after I got back from my sailing trip, I put the last three floors in.

After I do a bit of cleanup, I will start installing the cabin sole tomorrow.  The cabin sole is made from 1x4 T&G douglas fir.  I selected planks that had one good side with tight grain and no flaws.  The back sides of some of the planks have a few flaws, but they won't be seen by anyone after the sole is in.  The sole will extend up to the first bilge stringer.  All of the planks will be full length.

This morning I started installing the cabin sole.  The planks I am using are far from straight, so it is taking quite a bit of time to install each one.  The cabin sole has three parts.  The center will consist of two removeable panels each approximately six feet long by 11.75" wide.  These panels give access to the bilge and to the keel.  On either side of the removeable panels the sole will be screwed to the floors and frames up to the first stringer.  I started by installing the first fixed plank on either side of the 12" wide center section.  I set up the first plank to be 6" off the centerline of the keel.  As I worked down the plank it took considerable effort to bend it to the alingment marks I put on the floors.  The second plank I installed was the other side of the center section.  I screwed it to the floors at a distance of 12" from the first plank.  That leaves 1/8" on either side of the 11.75" wide center panels to allow for expansion.  Next I installed the second planks on either side of the center section.  Those planks took considerable time because they had to be tapered at their forward ends and have gains cut into them so they would clear the last couple of frames forward.  Once those planks were in, I built the forward removeable center panel.  I also cut out the planks for the aft removeable panel, which I will assemble tomorrow morning.  All of the fixed planks are screwed to the floors with #10x1.5" wood screws.  The screw holes will be bunged with 3/8" bungs cut from plank scraps.

Aug. 2, 10 - I just finished the actual installation off the cabin sole.  I still have about 125 bungs to set followed by painting the sole.  I decided to paint rather than varnish because the wood I was able to get was just too uneven in grain/color to make varnish look that good.  So, after consulting with my wife, I decided to paint the sole a light green.  The green was chosen because the settee upholstery will be dark green and I actually had a full quart of light green Benjamin Moore alkyd floor paint.  The picture below shows the sole with the two center panels in place.  I have already put the first coat of green paint on the center panels.

I was considering toe nailing the sole to the floors, but decided to screw it down instead (hence the bungs).  I screwed the planks to the floors with stainless screws and to the frames with bronze.  Incidentally, the center panels are straight.  My camera has some distortion in the lens that causes things to look less than straight.

The sole extends up under where the furniture will be.  The two areas at the forward end of the main cabin where I have no sole will be done with ceiling strips.  Those areas will be the bottoms of lockers or under the settees.

The next step in the interior build is to install the ceilings.  The plan is to remove the rest of the ceilings and replace everything with new wood.  At present it looks like I will be using port orford cedar for the new ceilings.

Aug. 6, 10 - Since my last update I finished setting buungs in the 247 screw holes in the cabin sole.  Yesterday I trimmed the bungs, sanded the entire sole out and spot filled imperfections in the surface with epoxy thickened with West System 410 fairing compound.  This morning I sanded the fairing compound then resanded the entire sole to 220 grit.  This afternoon I put the first coat of light green paint on the sole.

I have already finished painting the center panels which took two coats of paint to give a very nice surface.  I will let the first coat of paint on the rest of the sole cure for a couple of days before I sand it out and put the second coat on.

While I am waiting for the paint on the sole to cure, I will start work on the ceilings.  Today I bought a couple of clear 2x8s.  This afternoon after I finished painting the sole I ripped the first 2x8 into eighteen 5/16" thick strips just over 12 feet long.  Tomorrow I will paint them so that I can start installing the new ceilings on Sunday.  The ceilings will be painted off-white.

Aug. 11, 10 - Today at about 1 PM I finished the starboard side ceilings.  The picture below shows the new ceilings in place.  They are screwed to the frames with bronze screws up to the third stringer, wich is approximately 6" above the waterline.  Above the third stringer the ceilings are screwed to the frames with stainless steel.

Most of the new ceilings will be inside cabinets or behind the settee backs.  You can see the remains of the old aft bulkhead at the top right of the picture.  It is nailed ot the frame just aft of it.  I will remove the old ceilings forward of that bulkhead remnant in order to get the old bulkhead bits out and then to screw the new bulkhead to the frame.  When the new bulkhead is in, I will put the old ceilings back.  I have numbered them to facilitate their replacement.

At present I have screwed the new ceilings to every other frame.  I did that because my supplier was a bit short on bronze screws.  I have ordered more screws and will screw the ceilings to the imtermediate frames when those screws arrive.  Although you can't see the port side in this picture, I have installed 3 full length ceilings on that side.  I have to rip more ceiling strips before I can finish the port side.

Aug. 20, 10 - Since my last update I have completely finished the ceilings the starboard side.  I have also installed the aft bulkhead.  I made the bulkhead from 3/4", good both sides, MDO.  I discovered one thing about MDO - it really likes paint.  I put a coat of paint on the area that was to be behind the ceilings and that paint virtually disappeared into the MDO.  So, I followed that first coat of paint with a second coat of Kilz primer, which covered nicely.  Once the bulkhead was in I painted the ceilings I removed and installed them.  The final step was to sand down the top most ceilings that I didn't remove and then to paint them.  The picture below shows the starboard side as it looked this afternoon.

I also finished installing all the new ceilings on the port side.  The picture below shows the new ceilings in place.  The port ceilings took a bit more time than the starboard side did because I have to make cutouts around the fittings for the two bilge pump thru-hulls and the seacock for the galled sink drain.  Incidentally, that seacock is right at the nominal waterline.I still have to remove the upper ceiling strips and the bit of the old bulkhead that is still in place.  After I do that I will put the new aft blukhead in and paint and reinstall the ceilings.

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