Companionway

The companionway will have three steps of 27cm. The two vertical side boards will give some privacy and protection to the navigation table and to the SB aft cabin.
This cabin will have no door. We ketpt it open. As this is a 2+2 boat, most of the time only two will be leaving aboard and it will be a nice navigation bunk.
The bunk is again 1500x2000mm,very big. Just behind the BH of the galley will be the wet cabinet.

Navigation table

This is the space for the navigation table 90x75cm.

The working position will be standing, as this is what I personally prefer when consulting charts.

Tere will also be a removable seat for those who prefer.

You can also see the access to the storage room 55x 150cm, not bad.

Galley

This is the framework to sustain the galley with the auxiliary tank underneath.

The space available for the galley is 220cm.

So quite long. Form left to right we will have a 90 liters refrigerator/freezer, two 40x40 sinks, the three fireplaces stove, a cabinet and a place for the garbage.

We plan to make the top in Corian.

Again a view of the Deck Saloon

Dinette

We changed significantly the project of Dix regarding the deck saloon.
We wanted the galley to be at the same level of the dinette. We thought, from previuos experience, that it is very unconfortable to have to climb steps from the cooking area to the dining table. And in summer, when eating in the cockpit, two set of stairs. Further there is a problem for the person cooking without a vision of outside, and finally the ventilation becomes more easy.
We have two hatches, two cowl vents, two front side windows and two center lateral window that we can open.

The second problem in the original drawing was the difficult access to the port aft cabin used as storage.
By shortening the seating of 90 cm we gained space for the navigation table aft of the dinette and an easy access to the storage, while maintaining the seating for six.

This is the port auxiliary tank under the seating. A lot, a lot of storage space will be available down there.
Before starting to work atthe joinery I was worried about storage space. Now I am worried that it is too much and that it might exceed the boat loading capacity!

This is the BH separating the seating from the navigation table. You can also see the access to the storage.

And this is a global view of the space.

From outside it really feels good!

MasterCabin

The floor framework continued frome the head compartment to the master cabin.
I used 50x30x5 angles. This way the 50mm side will be the base for the 20mm verticals of cabinetry and leave 30mm for the floor panels that will be entirely removable.
I mean that there will not be a floor with openings, rather the entire floor wil be a removable panel leaving complete access to underlying strucures.

Here are the templates of the floor panel in place.

The master cabin will have two full height wardrobes

The bed is 1500x2000mm so it is a full size rectangular bed. The head side is for 50cm under the seat of the dinette, but the ceiling there will be more than 70cm (depending on mattress tipe). 

We are going to use a normal structure for sustaining the mattres that will be tiltable to access underneath. Just like at home.

So no problem of rigidity, humidity, condensation and so on.

In front of the bed will be two amchairs, here you see the base structure.

And this is a simple sketch of how it will be finished

On both sides there will be hanging cabinets for the entire length of the cabin.

On the right of the door giving access to the head will be the Dickinson stove.

We like the radiant heat and the idea of seeing the flame burning. A more cozy sensation.

Head AKA Bathroom

This is a crucial compartment for wellbeing onboard.
It should be big enough to take a shower confortably, but not too big to be useless in navigation.
Always a lot of constraints, toilet facing forward or backward not transversally, level of the floor for discharge, black and grey water tanks.....

So at the end we settled for a Lavac toilet, a 60 liters black water tank with the lavac going directly to the tank. In such a way we can decide when to discharge at sea or when to hold it. A deck opening will allow emptying from the quay.

A lot of thinking was on making or not a sea chest. At the end I choose not to have one. The reason is that the advantage of a concentrated sea water inlet is counterbalanced by the extralength of the pipes. As long pipes with stagnant sea water are always a problem I decided to have the water intake as close as possible to the point of use. So there will be three: one for the toilet, one for the engine and one for the galley and watermaker. The outlets will be two, one for black and grey water and one for galley and watermaker.
So a compromise as always.
By the way the sea chest, as reported by people that have it, is a good cage for growing crabs!

 Step number one: the Bulkheads

Here you can see the one separating the head compartment from the sail locker

After placing it I started framing the floor supports. The longitudinals are for the SB and PO cabinets. As a principle I decided that the cabinetry will be parallel to the centerline and not follow the curves of the hull. This is a more modern approach compared to the classic one. I know that probably it will not be always possible but I will try.

The transversal frames define the shower pan and the raised level for the Lavac toilet

We then cut the plywood from the templates

We continued with the differen BH and placed them

Now it starts looking good! On the right you see the template for the sink cabinet. The top will be in Corian.

Now it is the time of the black water tank

On the left of the tank will be a cabinet with a seat for the shower

And this is the final version. The openings for the cabinets left, below and above the sink will be done in the shop.Over the sink will be a mirror with a small space behind and the fast gas water heater form Rennai (only 13cm  thickness).

Joinery

Few moths ago I had already done a mock up of my interior design with hardboard.

Now it was time to go serious.
The general principle that I applied to the entire project is that anything that goes in should be able to come out. Nothing is built in and fixed. This should allow easier maintenance, more I would say it would make maintnance possible without destroying any metal or wood portion of the boat. It is my style to always have a contingency plan for the worst possible situations.

Boat plan

In my plan I have a sail locker just behind the BH.
The access to this is through the head compartment that has a wide hatch.
Coming aft is the master cabin with a regular size bed 150x200 cm and two little armchairs, plus all the cabinets.
In the deck saloon on the SB side the galley followed by the wet locker and the SB aft cabin.
On the PO side the dinette followed by the navigation table and the aft cabin used as storage.

So we have a big master cabin with a regular size head. It is a boat for 2+2.

So I proceeded to cut all the bulkheads in teak 21mm plywood.
The second step was to cut all the verticals of all the cabinets.
At this point the floor can be cut.

When I will have finished this phase all the wood will be removed, and after finishing the final interior welding (like supports for the genoa track etc) we will spray the foam.
The plan is to finish the cabinets in the carpentry shop while finishing the aluminium.

Lazarette

You might remember my modification of the transom with the central opening to the bathing platform.

I then made the openings to access the lazarette.

The kit from Christinger included the floor for this compartment but I modified it.

Gas bottles
The floor on one side should be low enough to contain regular gas bottles not special low bottles typical of sailing boats (like Camping Gaz)
These tanks usually have a diameter of 30-32 cm and a hight of 60-65cm for a 10 liter bottle. Two bottles of 10 liters shoud provide enough gas for cooking and hot water for three months. At leas this wa the estimate.

Outboard
This was the second constraint, the possibility to store the dinghy outboard inside the lazarette. With the radar arch that is in my project it will be easy to lift it ans store it inside. So on one side the floor should be, at least partially opened.

Rack and Pinion
Further I decided not to make any opening in the BH to access the lazarette. Too crowded a space to think to get in there when everything will be installed. So the access will be from above. Consequently the floor must be partially removable.
But on the centerboat part, underneath the lazarette floor the two autopilot actuators will be hanging.
For this reason this part was built with 10 mm thickness plate.

RP100
Then an access to the bottop of the RP100 Jefa rudder steering system was needed with a watertight removable hatch from inside ther aft cabins.


View of the port lazarette with the 10mm plate. The holes for the M8 bolts are already drilled. The remaining part will be closed by a removable, camlock, floor.

Starboard view, again with the autopilot actuator support. Underneath it will be the webasto.

More pictures to come

Auxiliary Tanks

For a blue water sailboat the fuel should be sufficient for 1000-1200 miles of motoring.
The keel integral tanks in the Dix design were clearly insufficient, also considering that in the aluminium construction due to the extra ballast they are further reduced in volume.

So I decided to add two auxiliary tanks each of 335 liters to be placed under the deck saloon.

Then a day tank of 60 liters. Here you see in with nearby waterlock.

To hold in place these big tank we assembled a cradle un which the will be hold with stripes.

More pictures to come with the tank in place.

Exaust System

The exaust exit around 15-20 cm above the waterline on the port side

Constraints exist in calculating the entire system levels according to Vetus specification, relative to the engine position, elevation on the DWL and lenght of the tubing.
With some careful thinking I think we found a solution and placed the hole and inside the muffler with relative gooseneck.

External rim.

Muffler with integral goosneck.

Hydraulic

The Aft Watertight Bulkhead

A lot of pipes must cross the bulkhead.
1. Exaust
2. Engin Room Ventilation
3. Engine air intake
4. Fuel line for the Webasto
5. Bilge pumps
6. Webasto Air In and Out

At this point is a total of 9 pipes rangin from 25mm to 150mm in diameter.

We decided to weld aluminium pipes across the BH to maintain watertightness.
A lot of thinking was spent in considering where to cross the BH relative to the the final destination of the pipe in the lazarette. This was the most difficult part.

Winter Work

I am publishing this post after two months.
This is not because the work did not proceed, but as I was used to complete one part of the project and then publish it. I was unable to do so.
The reason is that in this phase of the project I decided to proceed in parallel with the weld, working at the different systems (hydraulic etc) and joinery woodwork.
I choose this as opposed to the idea of finishing all aluminium welding and then proceed to the rest because I am conditioned by the type of insulation chosen.
I will spray two inches of foam from the waterline up.
Doing this I will not be able to do any further welding from the waterline up. As I thought, and I was correct, that many little modification would have been necessary when placing the cabinets or tanks or anything else, it was a good choice to follow this pattern.
The drawback is that you are not able to complete a job. Take for example the head (toilet). We placed the bulkheads.  Then we started defining the cabinets, placed the Lavac, moved a cabinet and modified the seacock. Then I decided to use a fast gas water heater, it needed a chimney .... and so on.
I hope that soon the pieces of this big puzzle will make up a boat!

Anyhow, just to show the progress I will publish the work not in cronological sequence, but in section: woodwork, hydraulic and so on.