Starting the Lining Out

Woke to a grey old morning with the “pitter patter” of rain on the roof of Molly.  Only the hardy dog walkers, returning boater and marina staff were out in the rain.
Local entity Bill, stopped at the galley window to inform me I had offended the local BW staff by writing in a previous post that they were responsible for the on-site monitoring of the Aldermaston lift bridge.  I’m advised, because it is an ‘A’ road, Highways Agency staff are doing the monitoring.

Later; NB Laughing Dog stopped at the wharf and Jan got chatting to Phil & Sue.  They are blog readers AND live in the Blue Mountains of NSW.  Phil & Sue are over here for six months to get their “canal fix!”  I should have taken a photo but had to rush back to Waiouru.  Great to met you both and enjoy your cruising. 

A final measuring up of the interior of the shell this morning.  Primarily to work out the optimum way to place the sheets in an effort to ensure there are minimal vertically exposed ends of sheets.
For example; the main bedroom is 9ft long but the sheet of ply is only 8ft.  To conceal the join it will be located in the wardrobe at the bow end.  The bathroom is only 5’6” long and so the sheets will be cut to the same length thereby ensuring the joins at either end are concealed by the partitions.  All going to plan we will only have one exposed join below the gunwale in the entire boat.  This will be in the saloon on the port side.  
Richard (joiner) decided to cut back the spray foam under the gunwale (AAAAAHHHHHHHH !!!!).  Two reasons.  The first is it will make it easier to fit the cable duct under the gunwale.  And the second is he could cut two inches from the bottom of the battens above the gunwale line.  This would give us more room at the gunwale line.  So out came the knives and saws to cut back more foam.  No doubt I’ll pick more of the darn stuff out of my bellybutton in the shower tonight.

Looking under the gunwale line.  The foam is now double the original thickness.

A nice straight gunwale line which is now two inches higher
Richard and I then spent some time sorting through the sheets of plywood matching up the pattern of the grain.  We need 12 sheets for each side.  The lower half will be lined first and after cutting all the sheets to the correct width we did a double check of the floor.  This was a good idea because the floor actually starts to rise in the main bedroom at the bow.  The sheet at the bow needed 10mm cut off part of the forward bottom edge so it will fit.  Richard has also decided he will overlap the vertical ends of the sheets of ply where they join.  This will be done by routering the opposing faces on each sheet and then screwing through the join.  He is also countersinking the screws and will plug the holes rather than leaving the screw heads exposed.
By the end of the day we had fitted the first sheet.

This sheet; and the opposing one; will be the most difficult to fit as they have a pronounced horizontal and vertical curve.  Plus the floor is rising towards to bow.  The join at the left end of the sheet will be concealed behind the bulkhead between the bedroom and the bathroom.  The other end of the sheet will be inside the wardrobe.
By tomorrow all the sheets below the gunwale should be fitted.