Hatch Center Ribs and More

The last post addressed the hatch outer ribs.  Since then we have molded and removed the first center rib, and placed the second center rib in the mold.

Since the center ribs are 1/2" smaller than the outside ribs as measured from the outer surface, we a) added a 1/4" piece outside the metal bands and b) added 1/4" pieces of oak beyond that to make up the 1/2" required.

As of today, the first interior rib has been removed from the mold and the second rib built up.  We expect to remove it in two days.

Meanwhile, work has proceeded on the electrical cavity cover and its vents, and holes  for the speakers.

 

Visible above are the vents and the speaker holes.  The top cover of the electrical cavity will need to vent heat created by the Xantrex.  It will additionally hold the speakers inside the cabin for the radio/mp3 player.

Above is a detail view of the vents at the center of the cavity cover.

The vents are made of sapele, and mounted on white oak.

Below is the electrical cavity cover with the first coat of urethane.

I love the contrast between the white oak and the sapele (mahogany) coloration.  Note that the circular holes are for speakers that will be mounted in the cabin.

Additionally, the two lower doors on the electrical cavity received their first coat of urethane.

We recently tackled the tongue box, which will hold the two batteries, the DC circuit breaker, and the alternator interface (to charge the batteries while underway.)

In order to gauge positioning, we created two foam "batteries."

  

Next we added a mounting rail to the top rear of the box to mount the DC circuit breaker and the alternator interface.

  

The device on the left is the circuit breaker, and the device at center of the photo is the alternator interface.  The plywood part in the bottom of the battery box will eventually have cleats attached to locate the batteries and prevent them from moving around inside the box.

A second coat of urethane was applied to the electrical cavity cover and lower doors.

Vent detail:

Meanwhile, all four hatch ribs are complete.  The next step is to surface them, then build up the hatch infrastructure.

Note that the table has been stripped of all mold components and prepared for pure flat-table use.