Pilothouse and Cockpit Sole

But first some plumbing and framing...

The sole is basically the floor of the boat.  We will plan to teak the exposed walking area but will start with a subfloor of 1/2" Marine Ply. That's the game plan, more about the teak later...

Now, before that is done, we need to decide a few things (already decided but we are walking through the process). The biggest question is to foam or not to foam. Profound question if you go out and read internet posts where some folks will not venture out on a boat without it and others swear it is the source of all evil and should be avoided.  Well, I can tell you it isn't cheap and that may be where some of the disparaging comments come from.  You know, convince yourself its a bad idea and save a few bucks. By observing the notches in the frames you can guess that at one time, my intention was to leave the bilges open and pump them out as needed.  If I holed the hull, I would hope my bulkheads and pumps would suffice till I got some help.
The USCG requires positive flotation for a reason and it nagged at me.

Installing PVC drain and electrical wiring sleeves

After tossing it around, I put the question before my buddy Brad (who has helped guide some of these types of decisions) and based on the fact that:

• 1. I really don't have much of a bilge in the pilothouse (4 to 5 inches)
• 2. I can't easily access it for inspection, and
• 3. I would really wish I had it if things went really bad.
• I took his advise and dropped the $600 for 20 gallons.  The real trick is to seal all wood surfaces well and seal these areas in. This means (as Ruel Parker suggests) coat all surfaces of any wood in the boat. 
• The foam also provides structural support to the floor so we eliminated some of the framing that would have been necessary.  We intend to foam as much of the hull as possible to the deck level to help her remain upright if swamped, so as we pour the floor, we continue along the hull walls, letting the foam creep up to the sheer line.

Finished installation under pilothouse floor.

We still needed a way to rid water from the pilothouse if it should ever find its way in and we needed to drain the shower as well.  The answer was to frame a sump in the companionway and one in the shower, then plumb out of the floor to transition to PVC hose, then out a through hull fitting.

Shims Installed to level, cleats on the bulkheads, and sumps framed.

But, we are getting ahead of ourselves... The subfloor must attach to the frames and since the frames for the hull are rockered, forming an arc from front to back, then we need to level each frames top by adding shims of various thicknesses  to create a level surface. 

Spacers being added on top of frames in cockpit.

This was derived from my CAD drawing and I used ripped yellow pine screwed to the frames as the shims.  These only amounted to perhaps 5/8" to 1-1/2" thick. 

That covers the pilothouse shims.  The cockpit was much more extensive in framing.  The reason is that we made another safety decision.  That was to create what is called a self draining cockpit.  What this means is a cockpit floor that is well above the waterline (loaded plus 5 to 6 inches) with scuppers (holes through the transom with one way valves in case of backing or unloading at the ramp) that will rapidly drain any water that finds its way into the cockpit by either wave (green water) or rain (sweet water). This meant that the frames had to be raised by a good margin (13" along the back pilothouse wall). and around 8" at the transom.  We did this with yellow pine lagged to the frames. 



Battery box looking Starboard...
Lower pipe is a vent, upper is the
chase into the cockpit to route the cables.

This got us to thinking that maybe we should use some of this for something heavy and obtrusive.  Batteries came to mind.  We could move this weight back toward the boats midpoint, helping the trim. The only thing that we were hesitant about was water intrusion and venting.  For the water we will use Armstrong Deck Plates and a bilge pump.  I hope that we will find them bone dry.  The venting will be handled by 2" PVC cross vented to port and starboard. It seems that we only need passive venting to relieve Hydrogen gas buildup when charging.  Hopefully with a good three stage charger, this won't be much of an issue.
With this done, its time to coat all surfaces liberally with epoxy and let cure.



Finished compartment and ducting.  All duct will be epoxy sealed after the box is cloth lined and waterproofed and surrounding compartment areas will be foamed, essentially locking the duct in place. Two hatch openings will be located on either side of the center support.



Installed Pilothouse sole - sump stub outs are visible and have yet to be glassed in. Also note
the plywood ceiling attached on the inside of the frame surface.

The actual sole install is pretty straightforward. 
Measure from one wall or surface to the other, noting the distances to each frame, then from a centerline mark on each frame to the intersection of the horizontal and vertical upright frame member.  You will end up with a grid of measurements that will be transferred to the plywood, then cut with the circular saw (even the arc). We sprung a spline along the curved portion of the plywood panel intersecting the grid points and struck a pencil line that was cut to.
Before we installed them permanently, we checked them for fit and cut outs around the sumps, then coated the bottom side with epoxy.  While still wet, we laid down a bead of thickened epoxy from a decorator bag and then screwed the panels down.  I will mention that this extra glue step was only done on the cockpit sole, not the pilothouse.  I have to say that there is a noticeable difference in the stiffness of the cockpit versus the pilothouse.  Of course, once the foam is poured and allowed to expand through holes cut in the floor, there will be no "oil canning".  It is just interesting to note how much difference the epoxy glue mix makes versus a thin coat of epoxy that is obviously gluing but not to that extent.

Cockpit sole installed with cleats attached at the bottom edge and pilothouse walls to receive the coaming. Carling installed as well seen above the conduit.  By the way, the 3" conduit is a chase for all steering and control cables that pass from pilothouse to engine well.

Same deal with the cockpit.  Same process except we will cut out the battery compartment hatches later. Engine well and transom are next...