First Mate Side Seat Rails

At the end of June 2011, I published a post about my idea for moveable side seating in cruising dinghies. The idea is that side seats can be used if prefered (although I like to sit down low in the boat with my weight near the windward turn of bilge) and can also be removed at a moments notice. Most importantly, if they are slid into the centre of the boat they make an excellent sleeping platform, well above the bilge water.

The Phoenix III built by Paul Hernes, showing the side seats in the standard location.............. 

...........and slid together to form a nice sleeping platform............

.....or removed altogether.

You can find my original post at this address

I am continuing to work intermittently on a First Mate in my workshop - she gets attention when glue is curing on other jobs. Last week I installed the rails to carry the removable side-seats/sleeping platform, and Im delighted to say that in First Mate, the seats are more than 26 inches wide at the upper part of the body when slid together. Here are a few pictures of the rails: -

Here is the seat rail glued and screwed onto the aft face of the midships frame. This frame is made from 12mm (1/2") marine plywood, with 38mm x 12mm (1-1/2" x 1/2") behind where the screws go through. The whole thing is very strong, and the seat rail would be fine with just a glue joint. However, the silicon bronze screws make it simple to position when the epoxy is slippery, so they may as well go in! The rails are positioned to carry a side seat which is 31mm (1-1/4") deep - these will most likely be 25mm (1") framing topped with 6mm (1/4") marine plywood.

A close-up of the aft rail, which attaches to the semi-bulkhead at the forward end of the stern seat (i.e. the "stern sheets"). The centre cut-away is just to allow positioning of the screw-in hatch to that particular buoyancy compartment.

Another shot of the aft seat rail with the rowing foot-braces on the floor below. These foot braces do double-duty as structural stiffening elements as well

This seating arrangement will make First Mate (and Phoenix III) very versatile cruising dinghies - my favourite type of boat bar none!

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New Website Currently on the steep side of the learning curve

For those of you who may have subscribed to the new website, I have an uncomfortable feeling that you may have been deluged with "New Posts" as I have been progressing with the process of learning the new software characteristics.  If so, please accept my sincere apologies.

The good news is that Im reading and experimenting diligently, and progress is starting to take place. I hope to get the Designs section and the embryo Shop looking more professional in a few days.

Concurrently, Im working on the construction of a new mast for a customer, and it promises to be a major step forward in home-workshop-buildable masts and other spars, without the need to cut Birds Mouth profiles. Many people dont understand that very small errors in the setting-up of the saw or router for Birds Mouth staves can have a huge effect on the diameter of the finished spar. Also, unless you have a very well arranged table-saw or router table, the potential for disaster is substantial...

They say that, ..pride comes before you end up with mud on your face..., but Im quietly confident that the prototype mast Im making will be faster, safer, and easier to build, and will have one REALLY substantial advantage over a Birds Mouth spar in that the wall thickness as a percentage of spar diameter will remain constant over the length of the mast. In the case of a Birds Mouth mast, the wall thickness (in percentage terms) increases as the mast tapers towards the tip - so much so that many masts become effectively solid towards the tip - not what is wanted at all! We need to keep masts light - especially as we go higher.

More to come when I get through this website business.

Ive got a number of boats under construction or repair, but design will dominate before too long.

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