Turning Paper into Progress.

On Tuesday I was talking with the owner of the 38' Northern Bay, I was trying to get a final explanation on what to build for the center console. He had sent various pictures of other consoles all slightly different so I had an idea of what to make just not a real clear idea. I tried to stress that the center console was the last thing to build on the fly bridge and that the lack of information was holding up the project. The owner promised me that he would work on his idea and finalize it by today. As you can see by the sketch to the left, he was true to his word. Again I have to thank the internet for the swift delivery of ideas and information. With the plans in hand I decided to mock up a console out of 1/4" plywood. Its a lot easier to take 30 min to make a crude model than finish building something and have to make huge changes. Plus it gives me the ability to make some changes that I think are necessary for aesthetics or functionality.

I made the quick console with a couple of changes (taller forward section and adding a drop section at the back) and sent a photo (5 actually) to Georgia. After seeing his drawing full scale on the boat we decided to bring the wheel back a little further and to angle the sides of the box in (maybe you can see the black line on the right side of the plywood). The owner also made a good point that the part of the console that hangs over the back needed to be big enough to accept the control handle that would be a shift/throttle two-in-one. Back to the internet for the size of the control handle confirmed his suspicions that the area need to be larger if it was going to work. Other than that he was very happy with the look of the box and I started to make the actual console (final product not pictured). Tons of parentheses tonight. Not sure why. The console WILL be built and glassed by the end of the day Thursday, unless I can think of a reason why this console won't work.

SHOP NEWS SHOP NEWS SHOP NEWS

36' Calvin = The owner made the trip from RI yesterday. He was pleased with progress, we went over details for the rest of the project and started to think about completion dates. Today the aft stringers were installed and the bottoms of the lobster tanks were fit and fiberglassed. The holes in the stern deck were filled and fiberglassed and the outside box was removed.

38' Northern Bay = Fly bridge console and little else.

Clay = We sent him across the driveway to help on a repair job, I think its a grinding and glassing job.

Welding shop = Finished cage number 1 and installed it on the "across the driveway" project. Aluminum Plate to make the bait box arrived today with stainless steel flat bar that needs to be drilled. John is getting very busy, I'll have to get him organized in the morning (order of job importance the layout of the tray for the 36' Calvin)

Suggestions for the final posts are rolling in, most are good ideas but they all require more work than I'm willing to put in. I have nothing special planned, although it would be awesome to announce a boat sale in the final post. Keep your fingers crossed. Fisherman's forum in Rockland this weekend so I expect to get a lot of visitors at the shop in the next couple of days. I almost forgot to mention the best part of my day.....someone called the shop to tell me how great the blog is. I know its great, thanks for the support Missouri.