Tasks to do Before Adding Side Panels

[Ken_StJohn]

Having just completed installation of all the bulkheads and the lazarette, I'm ready to move on to more fun stuff. Seems to me with the side panels not on yet it's a perfect access to a lot of the interior work.

There's some obvious things you can't do like installing shelves or seats But, I'm tempted to take advantage of the open sides and do everything I can that doesn't involve side panels.

Is there anything I'm missing here? Can anyone think of something I shouldn't do because it may be affected when the sides are added??

[Barry Pyeatt]

I would consider pre-finishing the side panels and all of the interior that you can possibly get done prior to putting the panels on. Underside of the deck forepeak, lazerette, etc. Once you put those panels on, your work area gets mighty cramped and hard to access. Fabricate your steering and get it working well while you can access the entire area. Caulk everything on one side while you still have the other side off and can reach into all those little spaces. Then you only have to fight with a small amount when you put the other panel on.

I pre-finished the interior of the boat as far as I could prior to placing the panels on and it made a huge difference in ease of work. You will still have to punch holes in it to attach the lower rub rail but that isn't as big a deal.

You will need the sides on to fabricate the seats unless you have done this a lot before. Nothing on the seats is square excpet the little divider bulkhead to the front panel. I would fabricate the seats and pre-finish the interior sides of the panels prior to assembly. Again, makes getting into tight places not so difficult.

I completed the cabin and top before putting the side panels on too. Made the building sequence go quite a bit differently and I ended up flipping the boat an extra time but I think it was worth the effort to make it easier to work on the interior and finish it from the outside. Also there is something to be said for having most of that difficult finish work done while you can put the entire boat upside down on a couple saw horses and stand up below it to do those things. When you get the side panels inplace, the end is a whole lot closer than you would believe.

If you are going to be using an electrical system with batteries in the forepeak to help keep the bow down, plan it out now and install the wiring to where you will have any electrical panel if you choose to have one. Good time to route all that while you can reach it from the outside standing up. :wink:

I would also cut some weep holes into the bottom of the mast box sides and seal the cut edges up well. Pre-finish the interior sides before assembly. Just mask off any contact edges so you get good glue surface.

If you are interested, most of these steps have photo documentation on them in MY Gallery on this forum.

There are a lot of other good ideas that many of the builders have offered at this stage as well.

[Andrew_Butchart]

I'm doing practically every finishing operation that I "can" do with the sides off - plus a few that aren't standard but will hopefully make the boat last longer or take less effort to do. For example:

- I coated the underside of the deck with resin and painted it before I attached it - much easier to do when it is upside down - I just masked off any places where there would be a joint.

- I fiberglassed both sides of all my bulkheads before I attached them.

- I installed the mast box

- I installed (a couple to go) the seat stringers

- I fiberglassed (well sort of - that's another story) the top side of the bottom (cockpit and cabin sole and inside the forepeak)

- I installed the bitts

- I installed the steering

Still to do before I do the sides

- remaining seat stringers

- companion way storage box

- fix fiberglassing of sole

- paint the sole, inside the lazrette, and forepeak bulkhead, and inside the cabin bulkhead

My plan for the sides at this point is to pre-fit them into place, mark the joints and the coat and paint the insides of them before attaching.