Interior Details

Quite a bit of finish carpentry needs to be done to complete Justine‘s interior. Both the cuddy and cockpit need a sole (floorboards) and seats. The opening to the cuddy needs appropriate finish carpentry, and canvas edges on the afterdeck and cuddy top need trim pieces.

The cuddy sole is made from four 7/16″ cedar boards that are attached to the floors. Two more boards extend up along each side of the hull, one below each seat and one above. Cedar seats are supported by cleats on the forward and after cuddy bulkheads, as well as a triangular piece under the middle of each seat. The seats are very low to the cockpit sole, so as to provide sitting headroom under the cuddy top.

The cuddy sole in place. The mast step is visible near the forward bulkhead, and supports have been installed for the low seats that will be fitted next. A mahogany header for the cuddy opening has been installed.

The cuddy opening gets a mahogany header, jambs, and sill. Each piece incorporates a stop for the doors. (I’ll describe making and fitting the doors in a later post.)

Low seats are installed in the cuddy, and mahogany jambs and a sill are now in place for the cuddy doors. A mahogany cap for the lower opening of the centerboard trunk (which is below the waterline) has been fitted and bedded with 3M 5200.

The cockpit sole is also made of cedar slats. The sole tapers aft as the hull’s beam decreases. I used small pieces of 1/4″ plywood as spacers when driving fasteners for each piece so as to get a consistent gap between all the boards.

I’m fitting the cedar slats for the cockpit sole. Three pieces on each side of the centerboard trunk will be removable for pumping out any water that collects there, and is also handy for retrieving objects that happen to fall down there. There’s a small “step” between stations 19 and 20, just forward of the after compartment. A cleat that will support the port cockpit seat is also visible.

I didn’t want anyone to slip on the cockpit or cuddy sole, so I purchased some sand anti-skid paint additive and sprinkled it on a fresh coat of paint as I was building up several coats of paint. It was hard to get an even coating of sand, but after two coats of paint over the sand layer, it looked fine and provides a very effective anti-skid  surface.

I gave the cockpit sole slats several coats of paint, and used some sand on a wet coat of paint to make the surface anti-skid. It looked good after two additional coats of paint. The six finger holes allow for easy removal of those slats when needed.

The Flatfish plans offer two options for seats: 7/8″ varnished mahogany boards of uniform thickness; or 1″ cedar boards that have a sculpted profile that are presumably more comfortable. I chose the latter option.

I glued up cedar boards to make a 1″ blank for the cockpit seats.

I made a plywood template to help me gauge how to plane and scrape the profile of the seats. I also made a similar shaped sanding block to smooth it.

Joel White’s Flatfish design allows for sculpted cockpit seats. This is a template I made to help me make my seats close to the designed shape.

The seats are supported by cleats attached to the after compartment’s bulkhead and the cuddy bulkhead, as well as a center column.

Test fitting of the seats after sculpting their top sides to the designed profile.

The center column is a spindle with a shape identical to those used by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company’s boats. I turned mine from black locust offcuts remaining from the plank that provided Justine‘s stem.

The turned center support for the starboard seat is being fitted, along with a wooden bracket that will hold the cuddy doors when you want to leave the cuddy open. There’s a matching bracket on the cuddy bulkhead.

There’s a significant space between the cockpit seats and the frames and planking. Nat Herreshoff’s design made use of the space for storage by fitting a shelf or tray behind each seat. I expect these will be quite handy. All the pieces of the tray are cedar.

A very nice feature of Herreshoff’s design is long trays that fill the space between the cockpit seats and the frames. Small gaps are left between the seats and trays, and at the outer edge of the trays, for drainage.

There’s a lot of painting to be done as you build out the cockpit. I used only Kirby Paint Company’s products. The frames and planking are “green gray,” the bulkheads, centerboard trunk, and trays are “cream,” and the seats, decks, and floorboards are “putty.”

After painting, the seats and trays are installed for the final time. I’ve also installed a mahogany half-round trim piece at the front edge of the after deck to cover the stapled edge of the afterdeck’s canvas top. The afterdeck’s hatch is in place, secured with mahogany turn buttons. It rests in a groove in the sill piece.

Several pieces of mahogany half-round trim are required to finish off transitions between decking and vertical surfaces. I made these by planing and sanding the edges of mahogany boards of appropriate thickness to get the half-round profile, then cut the molded edge off the board. The moldings are thin enough to be bent to shape as they are being fastened.

The three half-round pieces shown below are installed around the edge of the cuddy top, covering the stapled edge of the cuddy top’s canvas and concealing it.

I made pieces of half-round trim for the edge of the caddy top. One piece had a bit of a dog leg, but it was easily bent straight when I fastened it in place.

I bedded the moldings with Interlux Boatyard Bedding Compound as I fastened them down with #6 oval head screws.

The cuddy top looks sharp after the canvas’s ragged edges are hidden under the trim pieces.

The picture above was taken on July 2, 2016.