This morning we were advised the spray foam contractor had phoned the boatyard to advise he wouldn’t be coming today as he has something in his eye. The job has been rescheduled for tomorrow.
Andy had already indicated the boatyard staff would cut out the porthole opening in the back cabin as he didn’t want to risk the heat from the welder’s gas plasma cutting affecting the glue holding the panel in place.
The delay in the spray foam job seemed to provide an opportunity to cut the porthole opening. I asked the boatyard staff if they had a drill, jigsaw and some steel saw blades suggesting I could do this for them.
The first think I did was remove the spray foam from around the inside of the original opening.
The boatyard staff had considered making a template and then cutting from the outside of the boat. However I thought the current hole would make a good template and it would also avoid minimise the occurrences where both layers of steel would be inadvertently cut. The spray foam came off reasonably easily.
The next step was to drill a series of holes around the circumference of the template. Only one hole is required to insert the jigsaw blade but multiple holes would enable me to more easily remove the blade when I needed a rest.
The cutting actually took much less time than I had expected. The original opening made an excellent template and my only issue was the hot chips of steel off the blade which tended to splash onto my face and go down the front of my shirt. The shards of steel can hide in my navel along with yesterday’s foam chips.
Yes; I wore my protective, earplugs, overalls, gloves and glasses!
Who’s that happy girl?
Tomorrow the spray foam contractor can respray around the new opening.
Oh Hell! She’s taken a photo of me!
Back to painting the engine compartment.
8 comments :
Hi Tom,
I think 'you've been framed' mate! lol
Wouldn't be the first time!
I left a comment the other day on Bow Thrusters and I was wondering if you had recieved it. You did a fantastic job cutting that hole.
Bob "rrubel@bellsouth.net"
Hi Bob,
I've checked the Blogger Dashboard and there's no outstanding comments? Can you please resend it and I'll ensure it gets posted!
Cutting out the hole wasn't that difficult because of the existing inner opening.
Regards
Tom
Tom,
I was wondering why I don't see bow thrusters mentioned very often as an important option. Or on many new boat builds. I would think that in heavy traffic or tight turns one would come in handy. I guess the main reason that I could think of is that the canals are shallow and it would be to easy to pick up junk and jam the blades.
Bob
Bob,
That's an interesting comment and a subject probably more worthy of a full post rather than just a comment. I'll write something over the next few days. Thanks for raising it.
Tom
Many many blogs ago you said you would give the knitting pattern details of a blanket made from squares that needed no sewing together. The picture looked lovely - did I miss the instructions?
Many thanks in anticipation :-)
Marian - avid blog follower
Marian,
I will ask the chairperson and managing director of the household to write the instructions. I'll then put them on the blog for you.
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