March 7th, 2004
Past few weeks have been fairly productive. Actually if you consider my hiatus of the past year, I've been extremely productive. I finished the collison bulkhead and deck at the bow. 
This will be inside the cuddy cabin so it did not require fiberglassing of the main panels. I did however fillet and tape the edges of the panels, and if you were able to see inside this bulkhead you'd also see a beam that runs down the center of the collision tank deck. this adds significant stiffening should you have a 14 month old child who likes to jump up and down on such a surface.
After finishing the collision tank, I cutout an 8" hole for a Beckson deckplate. This will allow for venting when I store the boat, and also allow access to the interior should a collision arise. It's also a potential area for storage.
Up next was work on the anchor deck. I'd toyed with the idea of making the anchor deck flush with the gunnels, but ended up deciding that I needed to have an area to store an anchor and line. I also decided that I didn't want to add a hatch and storage compartment in the cuddy since it added to the complexity and had the potential for making a leaking compartment. I did however decide to leave the side decks full width even up here in the anchor well. I think it will be strong and safe to move up to the bow when in the ocean.
I measured for the cuddy front bulkhead, and screwed up the measurements twice. Once on the template I made, and once on the final piece of 1/2" plywood. I invented a couple of new words and swore to never leave old measurement lines. Yes I cut on the wrong set of lines. Arrrrgh. Anyway, epoxy conquers all and I added back the smallish bits I whacked off with the saw. 
Instead of a single round or rectangular porthole in the cuddy bulkhead I decided to add two round portholes that I have figured on making myself. I like the look, and no I ain't anthropomorphizing here... The Jumbo isn't gonna be made to look like a fish or something. Honest. EEEEEEEP!
Cuddy front bulkhead is glued, filleted and glassed with the exception of the side and deck connection points. Here they're filleted, but I ran out of steam and daylight before taping these rather hard to get go joints.
Added a 1 1/8" laminated chunk of plywood under the deck at the very tip of the bow. I'll be putting an anchor roller up here and want it to be strong. Will add another layer of hard wood frame in the shape of a "T" here for exceptional strength. Also plan on adding a strip of fir at the very edge of the deck between the cuddy bulkhead and where the anchor roller will go just to make sure the deck is plenty strong for this 206 lb monkey boy to leap onto should the occasion require it.
I've started working on the rear cuddy bulkhead by measuring and cutting out the bulkhead parts that are below decks.
