Great progress so far this week. My 8 hours of "regular" work being augmented by 3-4 hours of SeaCraft work every day is paying off!
Got the bilge painted underneath the tank. I realized I had to do this now if I wanted it painted as the tank can't be removed easily once the sub frame is glued in.
Got the tank in and bolted down.
Then Wednesday got the sub frame glued in place.
Last night I ground down the tops of the two short sections of sub frame that the T-Top will be screwed to. They stood a little proud of the rest of the frame since they were on the other section of stringer, and the stringers aren't exactly even or square. Now the whole frame is glued in, even, and I marked the hull side where my cleats will need to go to support the outer edge of the new cockpit sole.
Got all the old silicone sealant pulled out of the edge of the casting platform, and the edge ground down so it is now ready to be glued, filleted, and tabbed to the hull.
I expect I'll get the cleats installed this weekend, as well as the final shims on the fwd and aft flange (old sole) that the new sole will sit on. Then its on to patterning floorboards!
We also scored a SWEET pair of Springfield Marine pedestal seatposts on Craigslist! They have gas springs to adjust the height and also they provide active suspension, about 3" of travel! These will be great on those rough days! The boat had a Birdsell Ind leaning post, but I noticed the original MA's had pedestals... I want to make the boat as original as possible, and I like the idea of pedestal seats instead of the leaning post anyway, we have a lot of situations where it would be nice to turn the seats sideways or backwards. So, I'm stoked that we found these things!
https://drive.google.com/folderview?...Hc&usp=sharing