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With the deck installed and the hull complete, the next steps were to cut out the motor hatch cover and prepare for windscreen building.

Embryonic windshield molds – constructed from MDF and scrap timber.

Through the building process, trying to anticipate long lead time items had always been a factor and it was assumed – correctly – that the windscreen would be one of those things.  Indeed, just trying to find someone to construct the required style proved difficult enough and even when that person was found, I was required to create the molds for shaping the acrylic.  This could not be done until the deck was on as the final shape of the deck is very hard to predict.  The molds are perfunctory to say the least as they are used exactly once and simply need to hold up to the heating process used to shape the acrylic.  With the molds constructed, they were sent off to have a windscreen created and focus turned to cutting a big hole in the deck for the engine.

The motor hatch, cut out, cleaned up, hinged and painted. Some vent holes have also appeared.

Holes were drilled up through the corners of the hatch opening and the jigsaw used to cut out the shape.  The only real issue was ensuring that the fore-aft cuts were made with a packing piece on the sheer side of the cut to allow the jigsaw to sit horizontal – there was not enough clearance between the hatch frame timbers to allow the jigsaw blade to be off the vertical.  Once this was sorted out, the jigsaw made short work of the task – the lighter blade of the jigsaw (rather than a circular saw) meant that the hatch frame timbers acted as a guide  and kept the cut on track.  Once the cut was made – but before the hatch was removed – the piano hinge was installed to ensure that the alignment of deck timbers remained perfect.  This saved a lot of hastle later in the process.  With all the screws and packing pieces used to hold the hatch in place during building removed, it was with some relief that the hatch came clear without much effort at all.

The various ragged edges resulting from the hatch cutting were cleaned up, a coat of the interior blue added and the hatch was complete.  A pair of 160N gas struts were installed to deal with the weight of the hatch – probably too light after some use and a heavier set could be warranted.

Engine swinging in the breeze.

Before installing the engine in its final resting place and, as a result, making access very difficult, final wiring matters were completed and the fuel lines run.  The PCM engine requires two fuel lines – feed and return – and it was decided to use AeroFlow fuel lines and fittings to ensure a tight, robust fuel system.  Coincidentally, the news at the time reported a boat burnt to the waterline around my neck of the woods due to a fuel leak so this certainly sharpened the focus on the safest possible installation.

With all this done, the engine was hoisted into place.  The earlier fitting of the engine had provide some comfort that the alignment with the prop shaft would be ok and, as a result, few dramas were encountered.  A final alignment was made and everything bolted down.

Lots of stainless steel begins to appear – some courtesy of laser cutting which saves drilling many, many holes

With the engine in, it seemed a good time to add many bright and shiny pieces to the boat.  The cutwater was measured and then drawn up using CAD and the pieces laser cut from mild steel, brazed together and chromed.  It would probably have been easier/cheaper to have them laser cut from stainless steel as it turned out.  The trim pieces for the engine hatch and the aft end of the hull were also CAD drawn and laser cut from stainless (with holes already drilled) which saved a heap of time and energy.  The requisite number of fuel fillers, flag pole bases, cleats and related fittings were also procured and fitted.

Most of the engine related components were also installed – the blower, fume detector sensor, batteries, fuel lines and water feed piping.  A garden hose was connected to a primitive fitting to allow it to feed into the raw water feed, and with some level of trepidation, the engine started in situ for the first time.  A minor leak in the raw water inlet system was detected but all else seemed pretty solid.