Redirection

If I pass a gas station, I will often feel overwhelmingly compelled to press ahead and hope I make it the next one, rather than endure the horror of turning around.  This boat build has been good for me, as for the the most part, I've broken old habits, and I seem to be able to circle back on ideas and designs, even if it is a little bit painful.  With the bench backs more-less in position, it became pretty clear that my side benches were just too narrow.  At some point you have to let go of the mockups and the well laid plans, and just do what is right.  With that attitude, I set out to increase my bench platform width.

After doing a little modeling, I buzzed out my bench extensions with the Jigsaw together with the Bosch diamond blade.  To match the exact angle of the existing benches, I quickly built a series of door-skin jigs to suspend the part in place.  I grabbed some #10 screws out of my waxed-up stash and bolted my part in place while curing.

With the extensions tacked in place, it was onto the normal routine of taping them in place, top and bottom.  Here we go with peel ply still in place.

After a quick tune-up and sand, it was time to think about sea rails for the benches.  I wanted minimal lips here, just enough to keep the cushions stationary, but not enough to destroy the backs of my thighs when sailing without.  My solution was some RBS batten stock.  To follow the tight curves, I cut a series of slits and tortured them home.  After tacking them in place, I followed with some 200gsm DB90 taping to strengthen them up.  Batten stock was glued top and bottom.  One reason was to make a heftier edge, and the other was to give enough of a downward lip to tuck an LED strip behind it for down-lit floor lighting.