"Sink" is a noun

Planning the galley has been a challenge. It seems spacious to us, sort of. (Remember, we are comparing to a Nordic folkboat with a modified cabin that provides hunching headroom, but at 25 feet gives little scope for gourmet efforts in the galley.)

We're delighted with the position of the table, and satisfied with the layout (stoves for heat and cooking opposite the companionway, counter space in a U with access to the pantry through a removable countertop, and a sink opposite the stoves.)

But what sink?

One decision we made early on was that we did not want drains through the hull. In fact, our current stance is that we don't want holes through the hull at all. We are expending considerable effort, after all, to keep water out. Through-hull fittings are counter-intuitive at best. This meant there was no particular reason to think about plumbing the sink in. We discussed having it drain to a bucket, and then in a spirit of parsimony thought, why not just use a bucket?

Well, there are reasons, chief among them that the depth of a bucket relative to its width gives you a very deep and narrow sink indeed, and makes it hard to imagine washing anything larger than a teacup. Since we don't expect to travel with teacups, this seems like a limitation.

Here is the elegant conclusion to the sink discussion.

It's a canning kettle, and we got it at the Home Hardware store in Nanaimo for around $25. A similar-size marine sink lists online for about ten times that, but lacks the handle. Admittedly, the marine sink typically would be permanently installed in the counter-top and wouldn't need a handle. There it would be, glowing in all its stainless steel glory, fed with water by its $60 foot pump via an $80 faucet. And in most cases, plumbed in to a through-hull fitting.

Our sink will be installed in the countertop, with a cutting board to fit over it when it isn't in use. Identical systems will provide salt and fresh water -- that is, we'll put either salt or fresh water in it. Carrying it up and down the companionway won't be onerous. It has a good strong carrying handle, and a single side handle for emptying. 

We are pleased. 

Decks and beam supports

July is great weather for glueing, and that is an excellent thing when there is much glueing to be done.

(Or possibly gluing. "Gluing" appears to be American spelling, while "glueing" seems to be the British. Like a good Canadian, I will proceed with the uncomfortable sensation that whichever I choose, it will look wrong.)

The first big project this week was glueing on what we think of as pads -- pieces of wood that support the beam, and other pieces on the side of the hull that stop the pressure of the lashings from prying up on the lashing strake. 

The masks are to protect against the additives, not because of the epoxy. Silica adds strength to the glue, but it's a fine, white powder that plays havoc with lung tissue if inhaled. (Never breath anything that has a disease named after it, I say.)

With the pads in place, it was time to mark and cut the plywood deck, then glue and screw it into position.

As you can imagine, the stack of plywood we began with is almost gone.

Here is the aft deck cut to fit, with the forward deck visible beyond the cabin-top mockup. The mockup is a bit the worse for wear, but it has been tremendously helpful in planning the interior. With the decks on, the boat shape appears. It's a wonderful point in the process.

Really? Not since May?

Oh dear.

What with One Thing (the garden) and Another (work, mostly, and vacation. And haymaking.) I am really behind on updating this blog. 

There's been a bit of time away from Tiger, too, as Robbie and Trevor do a few things for Penna. Here are a couple of images from today:

The oiled cockpit -- much lower than the one it replaced. On the right you can see a winch, installed on a new winch-base -- there's another one on the other side. The whole boat looks terrific and now, with no engine, doesn't smell like old diesel. 

Here we are looking intrepid and seaworthy this morning. I am not sure I should tell you that we lounged about and went out for lunch. 

There has been lots of progress on Tiger. A lot of it -- things like the beam chocks -- are exciting for us to see but don't make such lively blog images. Nonetheless, here's a few images of what has been happening on the boat.

Here you can see the cutouts for the beams.

And here the line of sanding where the lashing strake will go. (Well, "has gone" by now.)

Here's our terrific neighbour Russ, who came over to help with the sanding.

Here's Take 2 on the galley table, made to fold down and allow access to the berth. Note that the wonderful glow of natural light apparent in the berth is only there because there is as yet no deck. It will be, sadly, dimmer in the future -- no skylights. And no deadlights. We're thinking cozy.

A stove! And another stove! Here's the cooktop and a little wood-burner in the galley mockup. We likely won't use this exact wood-burning heater, since it's from Penna the folkboat, but the cooktop is the one we plan to use. They're side by side on the side opposite the companionway.