Been very busy on Oakley recently, first jobs were doors and engne room hatches. I have decided to make wooden doors at the front, to the well deck so I can put windows in them. The roof hatches are lift up, but only an inch deep so they are not proud of the hand rail.


The hand rails have been made, this has prevented the problem of everything I put on the roof falling off, it also looks good! Steve, a fellow boat builder, has been helping me alot recently and he has made the pigeon box and air intake for the lister engine. These both look spot on.

Port holes were then positioned and cut out so I could put all the cabin framing in to straighten out the sides, once this was in I could weld. Spent a good week, evenings and weekend, welding and grinding the whole boat. Then I removed the braces from the inside and was very relieved to have no movement, she has stayed straight.

Rivets. Or in my case pressed washes welded on and made to look like rivets. So far I have pressed and fitted 800 and all the cabin sides and door hinges are done. Just the roof to do now thank god! But they have finished the boat off and she definately looks the part.

cabin detail

Still busy on the boat and I don't feel like blogging in the evening, but I do manage it every now and then.

She's beginning to look like a real one now, the roof has been welded and ground to a nice radius, the flat along the top of the cabin is ready for the fake rivets, but I will save this till one of the last jobs.

The slides for the back doors are complete, the engine room and front of cabin roof beams are done. I'm still waiting for my water tank, which should arrive tomorrow then I can complete the front bulkhead. The cut outs for the engine room slides are done but I have decided to make lift up hatches for these doors as they will produce a better seal and will not scratch my paint work every time I open them.

Engine room Bulkheads and all the door way thresholds are done, so next jobs are roof hatches and doors.