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Before moving onto the larger task of the interior, small but momentous things occupied the time … a name for the boat (although, to this day, it is still referred to as “the boat” – as in, “I am going to work on the boat” or “when will the boat be launched?”).  The lettering was done by boatnames.com.au using a font that I provided and they did an excellent job.  The actual name is a long time pet name for my wife (in case you are wondering).

It has a name! Aside from exhaust outlets, you can also see the fuel tank breather, fuel filler and embryonic flag pole.

Sorting out the interior of the boat had occupied much thought.  There is little to go by from the plans and surprisingly few detailed pictures on the Glen-L site.  To add to it all, early indications from the test seat were that the available leg room was, at best, problematic.  In essence, this meant that the seats had to be as high as possible and the floor as low as possible to allow a normal adult to sit in the boat with some level of comfort.  This, however, was easier said than done as the seat height was restricted by the deck height (too high and it would look ridiculous), and the floor height constrained by the various stringers, frames, pipes and control cables.

Rear cockpit emerges – mahogany ceiling planks are visible and basics of bench seat and some floor. The wall separating the cockpit from the engine has yet to be added. An Australian naval ensign also there for good measure.

The aft cockpit area was done first as it was the most straightforward.  Both cockpits have mahogany planking to form the ceilings with the planking created in the same way as the deck planking – much re-sawing and thicknessing to provide 100mm planks.  In the case of the aft cockpit, the ceiling follows the straight line of the coaming.  Simple frames were run from the coaming to a level below the future floor for the ceiling to be attached to.  Additional frames were then run to and between the motor strings to support the floor.  In common with others, the floor sits at the stringer height on the outside of the stringers and as low as possible in between the stringers (in my case, restricted by the raw water inlet and the height of the shaft log).  1/2″ ply was used as the floor material.  A two piece wall was constructed (one piece was too hard to manouvere into position) to separate the engine from the occupants of the rear cockpit.  The wall hangs off frame #2 – it could not go too much further forward otherwise the transmission would get in the way – which does not help the legroom situation so a small footwell was constructed in the wall.  A storage cupboard was added on one side for fenders and mooring ropes and on the other side, a small hatch to access the battery switch.

Finally, a seat was constructed from 1/2″ plywood.  In two pieces (back and base), the back hooks under frame #1 using two small angles, and the base hooks under frame piece at the rear.  The base was set a small upward angle using a 40mm timber at the rear and an 80mm piece at the front.

The forward cockpit was handled in essentially the same way as the aft cockpit however the longer, curving coamings require more framing to support the ceiling timbers and some amount of spiling of the ceiling timbers to get a good fit.  As with the rear cockpit, the floor sits at stringer height for the outside pieces and as low as possible in between the stringers.  In the case of the forward cockpit, the height was governed by the need to have a bilge pump under the floor and a desire to have an under-floor storage space for an anchor and associated chain and line.

Front cockpit with carpentry done but no finishing. Yes; that’s a compass forward of the steering wheel.

The rear seat in the forward cockpit is a simple bench seat in the same style as the aft cockpit but because of the raised deck crown to accomodate the engine height, the seats could be significantly higher without aesthetic issues so a 180mm (7″) plinth was built on which the seat base rests.  This allowed storage space for emergency paddles(!) and lifejackets for all occupants (a statutory requirement here).  The only slightly unusual aspect of the rear seat is the concave front edge – copied from the Riva style of seats – which provides a little more manouvering room for the occupants.

The front seat is a more complex affair.  The Glen-L plan specified a bench seat that runs 2/3 of the width of the cockpit (allowing two people to sit).  This seemed like a reasonable approach and so the necessary frames were made to support the back of the seat.  However a straight line across the seat back looked distinctly odd – there is not a single straight line in the entire boat – so a curve was required.  Because the seat does not run the width of the cockpit, a curve matching the deck crown could not be used as it would be truncated.  So a compromise curve was determined that matched the height of the apparent deck crown in the middle but did its own thing toward the edges.  To this day I remain uncertain whether it is the right curve but it is certainly better than straight (to my eye at least).

The base was straightforward and bears on the motor stringers.  To obtain a reasonable driving position, the floor at the front of the cockpit was terminated with a piece angled at 45 degrees to provide a foot rest.  Another cupboard at the front of the cockpit was added for fenders, ropes and other bits and bobs.