Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Progess

Sucks, actually. I thought furniture would be finished by the end of this month. Looks like mid February now. Juan is great carpenter and fiber glass hand but I should stop telling everyone how good he is. The goal is to keep him on my boat not send him more work. I'll sing his praises after he finishes. Anyway, he only lacks main shelves in the forward cabin to have all the furniture structure roughed-in. Then I can power wash, detail clean and wipe dry the entire interior. Once that project is complete we will declare a two month moratorium on all below deck sanding so we can paint hull interior and inside of cabinetry. Then wiring and plumbing can start in earnest.

I hope I will be splashing the boat by September but I don't want to leave the shed early. I want to get as much done as possible before going in the water. Once in the water I will take her to Lakewood (floating docks!). I estimate another three months getting her dressed up for a christening party.

Onboard Computer

The computer that will crunch Rose Point GPS and a Maretron NMEA 2000 calculations and display data is from "Small PC Company". This baby computer is a fanless shelf mounted 12 volt DC model SC 240 with Intel Atom 1.6GHz CPU, 512MB DDR2, 32G Solid State Drive, WinXP-PRO, external AC Adapter (12V DC), 10/100 LAN, 3 USB 2.0 Ports, VGA Port and dual HD15-VGA and HDMI video connectors. The Dimensions are 10.5" x 7.5" x 3.75".

There are other mini pcs on the market with similar features and capabilities but this one appears to be the most energy efficient. While bench testing systems I am operating through an AC adaptor but onboard the computer will be run directly off the dc side. I assume that a dc dc converter will be required.

The mini pc will drive two monitors one permanently installed on the nav station forward bulkhead. This monitor is a Viewsonic model VX1932wm-LED. The Led backlights keep the power draw down to a minimum........advertised to be 15 watts in a typical operating mode. The second monitor will serve in the cockpit as required and then down below mounted on the overhead above the pilot berth. This monitor will be a bit more high tech given that it will mount in the cockpit while underway, albeit under the dodger. The most promising candidate for this service is the new Argonaut 10 inch Tflex-G610LED with optional touch screen which appears to be feature laden and is advertised to be a power miser. We shall see once on the bench.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Roughing Out Interior

I think it will be another 30 days before the interior construction is finished.  Once the furniture rough out is done we can start machinery installation, plumbing and wiring.  Photos I took last week show the current state of affairs down below.



The freezer space is on the forward end of the box and is as big as the fridge compartment in order to accept the Cool Blue Technautics cold plate. The freezer side has a bottom that conforms to the shape of  the hull while the fridge side bottom is level.  I think I can get a drawer under the fridge side.




The navigation station with chart table and fridge/freezer under is positioned at the forward end of the main cabin on the starboard side.  The space is 53 inches long and will contain a small bank of 10 inch wide 3 high drawers at the far forward end in addition to the 36" long and 18" deep refrigerator freezer box.



The 25 inch high cold plate mounts in the freezer side of the box on the bulkhead facing the centerline of the vessel.


The Nav station faces the port side galley on the forward end of the main cabin.  The doorway leading to the forward cabin is offset to starboard so that the 8" diameter mast does not block the access.


From the companion way  we get a feel for the overall main cabin layout......port settee aft of the galley and to starboard, a facing settee (yet to be built) with pilot berth behind and nav station forward.


Looking dead astern from forward cabin.



The port quarter berth is 76 inches long and has storage below and beside.


The starboard pilot berth is 27 inches wide at the top and 33 inches wide half way down.  Total length is 93 inches.  The pilot berth does not convert to a double..... one mattress without insert. (Sleep two, eat four and drink 6)  The area due south of the pilot berth will be dedicated to machinery space and storage.  The only access will be from down below.  There will be no starboard cockpit locker to get to this space.  Based on our recent track record down flooding opportunities will be kept to a bare minimum.