Renovation Icebox Removal Pt 2

The icebox is now long gone.  The resulting open area will become a navigation station one day, but for now we at least need to close off the engine room.

Ad-hoc engine room access:  The original plywood had been stuck up against the wet foam of the icebox for 44 years.  There was truly nothing left.  The used-to-be-plywood debris was cleared away by hand, in sunday clothes, while on the phone, without even breaking a sweat or getting dirty.  The remaining flanges are fiberglass, which were used to screw and epoxy to the new board to.

Remember when every home improvement store sold an inexpensive-yet-high-quality, void-free AC Douglas fir plywood made with genuine waterproof glue?  Neither do I; apparently I'm too young, but I have been told that they used to about 15-20 years ago.

Well, the product still exists, and it is still cheap, but you must look long and hard to find it...  or have a great little wood shop just down the road like we do: MR Woods.  We bought a half sheet for $15, and toted it home.  The usual fiberglass tape/epoxy/filler job and the engine room is a room again instead of an extension of the main cabin.

We turned the three walls into one wall which left an opening over the engine room. It will be covered with a counter/shelf extension.

The half bulkhead separating the previous icebox from the main cabin is an odd lumpy site.  The top is covered in fiberglass, and the bottom is exposed plywood.  I filled the holes in the bottom, then covered the plywood with biax fiberglass cloth. I laid the glass from the fiberglass tape at the bottom to the fiberglass above the plywood to fully encase it. This bulkhead will get covered up with something and become the back of the seat in the new Nav station.

It's been raining so much that we haven't been able to move as quickly as we'd like with the toxic work - epoxy, primer, paint, and varnish.  While we can work in the boat during the rain, the lack of ventilation is a problem. We wear our heavy duty respirators but that only helps so much when you can't open windows. And without being able to leave the boat open, the fumes take days to dissipate. Also, epoxy cures quickly in the heat, and slowly when it's cool.  If the temperature is over 90 it usually cures in 24 hours. But its been in the 70s in the boat with the rain and clouds, causing it to take multiple days to cure. I never thought there would be a day when I wanted the boat to be hotter, but such is life. The blazing sun has returned today after a 2 week hiatus. So I'm going to go do some more stinky toxic work with the hatches wide open.