Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife

[Blue_Heron]

Progress on the Seafari has been slow over the past month. I took a break from working on the Seafari to do some much needed maintenance on my SF 20 and its trailer. I went through the wiring for both bilge pumps and cleared the discharge hose on the live well pump. Then I went to work on the trailer. New tires, new disk breaks, new axle, new LED taillights, and it’s done. Scallop season starts early this year, and I’m ready.

But the Seafari hasn’t been completely neglected. I realized that a lot of the under-deck plumbing and electrical work I need to do was dependent on getting my in-deck cooler/battery box installed. Before I could install it, I needed to complete the lids, bond the helm deck to the box, and finish the insulation around the boxes.

I made the lids in two parts; a hatch lid, and a hatch liner, so they would have a finished surface inside and out. I sprayed the inside with gellcoat/Duratech clear, and primed the outside with Awlgrip 545. The hatches are cored with blue Styrofoam about an inch thick.

Hatch liner prepped for the foam core.



Foam core for the battery box installed in two pieces with a rib of fiberglass inserted between the two halves. The core for the cooler lid is in three parts with two fiberglass ribs.



Battery box core prepped for hatch lid.



And lid just before laminating in place.



Before I could assemble the hatches or laminate the box to the helm deck, I had to prep for the hinges. The underside of the deck would be inaccessible and I wanted a clean finish on the inside of the hatches, so I used SS tee nuts and machine screws. On the hatches, the tee nuts are sandwiched between the hatch lid and liner, so they are fully concealed. Once the hatches and deck were hinged together, I could laminate the box and deck together. It was a complicated fit that required several cycles of trimming/adjustment followed by head scratching. I’m afraid I got a little caught up in the head scratching and forgot to take pics of this step.

After I got everything put together, I completed the insulation around the boxes and laminated a layer of epoxy/2408 over the foam. I also added stiffeners at both ends of the boxes to support the Starboard and port ends of the helm deck.





Then it was ready to install. The box fastened in place:



The cooler compartment:



And the battery box:



I got some other stuff done that I’ll try to post in the next day or two.

Dave