Peak flooring

If it's going to be upside-down, who cares if I use a grinder to groove wood? NOT I!

A short one today, as I am a very rough sort of carpenter. A failed windlass battery, accompanied by the installation of an old but functional 20 amp battery charger,meant the removal of everything on the floor of the forepeak workshop. And a needed vacuuming to remove workshop debris and dust.

Irony: This is a job I'd normally do in the forepeak, which has loads of clamps and vises.

The "floor" of the workshop is just four planks sitting directly on the stringers. They are capable of movement, and this is sub-par on a boat. So I decided to replicate the stringers' angle and width at the places I wanted the floor. They won't move out of these "grooves" so easily, but can be lifted up for cleaning and inspection. I was going to take them to my club's workshop, which has a table saw capable of up to 45° of "tilt", but I soon realized that correcting on the fly and making the plank grooves with a big grinder wheel was going to be less pretty and accurate, but faster. This was a job that called for faster, as it was cold and blowing 25 knots from the east today, about my least favourite way to usher out the month of March.

That first plank is one inch thick and supports the anchor chain bucket.

The results were pretty good for a hack job, I thought. As can be seen, the stringers (the fore-and-aft metal "ribs" to which the hull plates are welded) tilt inward. The grooves are therefore a bit "grippy". Grippy is good in this application.

Seen below are the battery box tiedowns and the several 50 kilo "trim ballast" lead ingots.

A repurposed Zodiac thwart seat is the new support for the battery boxes. The foam is durable and will insulate them from hard knocks once tied together. That wide plank is where I step off the ladder; the batteries for the windlass fit under tidily. There's more wood and wind to come...stay tuned.