27 Sept 12Having completed the installation of the hull ceiling it was time to move on to the icebox/navigation station. Originally, the Far Reach had a sit down navigation station where the navigator sat down on the head of the quarter berth. Many boats have a similar design. In my opinion it is a major compromise. You can't sit down if the quarterberth is being used and you can't comfortably perform chart work standing up because the table is tilted aft to be used when one is sitting down. Not only that, having room under the chart table for the users legs requires lot of space--space better used for valuable storage. Also, the icebox on the Far Reach was originally on the port side of the boat, wedged between the 50hp diesel and the stove/oven. Call me silly but that puts the one thing on the boat that needs to stay cold between the two biggest producers of heat. Since we don't plan on installing mechanical refrigeration, we need to have an icebox that is as efficient as possible. These kinds of considerations influenced the decision to relocate and redesign the icebox and navigation station as a single integrated unit on the starboard side. The design is very similar to that used by Larry and Lin Pardey on Taleisin. Kaj Jakobsen built this same design on his Falmouth 34 Astrid. The top is hinged and once lifted reveals the two tapered plugs that lift out for access to the top loading icebox. This design provides for a smooth top for chart work and as additional work surface when not underway. The front will be faced with African Mahogany vertical staving, just like the rest of the boat. Insulation will be comprised of Dow Blue Board about 4-5" thick. Aluminum foil will by glued to each layer of blue board as a radiant barrier. To start, I installed some scrap Mahogany left over from the milling of the staving. These cleats established the dimensions for the front and top of the box while the two existing bulkheads define the sides. With that done, I needed to install a frame work to support the bottom and back of the outer box, that will hold the blueboard foam. The available space for the icebox is not big enough for the kind of box I would really like to have. It would be beneficial to incorporate framing that would not take up more room than necessary. I ran across Wally Bryant's website for his boat Stella Blue. He used premanufactured right angle and U channel fiberglass. Though not as stout and stiff as I would like it seemed a reasonable solution given the alternatives (I did not want to use the ridiculously expensive and fragile custom built vacuum panels). I ordered some from McMaster Carr. I used doorskin ply and a hot glue gun to determine the exact location for the right angle fiberglass. Once I was satisfied, I cut them to length with a saber saw and installed them with 1/4" bolts. I then cut the u channels to lay flat on the right angle pieces. Satisfied that everything lined up, I removed the assembly and painted the bare fiberglass with Interlux BilgeKote paint. Tomorrow I'll reinstall the frame and begin building the templates for the 1/4" ply bottom and back.

As previously mentioned, I am installing a plastic welded water tank (made by Gareth at Dura Weld) as a dedicated tank for the sitz shower tub. It will be positioned on a shelf in the portside cockpit locker as reflected in the photo to the right. I build the template from cardboard, drew it out on paper and emailed it as a PDF document to Duraweld. In no time, I had a custom tank or about half the price of SS. Dura Weld also built the rest of the water tanks. I will need to build a supporting box to keep it secure. It is a gravity feed tank that I will plumb directly to the head compartment. A ball valve will allow us to fill a dedicated pump up spray bottle (an insecticide spray bottle), with it's own storage compartment, to be used as a shower. Hot water can be added from a tea pot to make a hot shower. Simple but effective.

23 Sept 12For the last couple of days I have been working on two projects at the same time--installing the ash ceiling along the exposed hull and the kero tank in the port cockpit locker. After milling the ash I spent some time cutting it more or less to length, adding an extra inch or so due to the length changing as the hull slopes and curves inward. It has been an interesting geometry lesson in how curves can really change the shape of what one might think would be a straight line. Also, there are a couple of ways to install the ash regarding its orientation, e.g. the ceiling follows the sheer line or is level throughout the boat. I have even seen ceiling installed from the bottom up and then angled pieces cut to fit the rise of the sheer over the level ceiling. To my eye, it looks best when it follows the sheer. That means the ceiling orientation changes slightly throughout the boat as one move from the aft end to the forward cabin. This, the ceiling over the quarter berth has ever so gentle a downward slope towards the bow, the nav station and galley areas are level, the pilot berths a very gentle upward slope, and the forward cabin has a more aggressive rise. I basically measured the angle along the sheer and matched it best as I could with the ceiling.

Anyway, the original ash that I reinstalled over the quarter berth and pilot berths was "finished" with a couple of coats of Formby’s Tung Oil Finish. I described that step in a previous post. The wood came out great . . . a luxurious finish. I couldn't be happier. However, a couple of things occurred when I started applying the tung oil finish to the new ash. First, it rained and was super humid every day. The finishing work slowed down. Second, the appearance of the finish was not the same. It had a kind of "too-shiny" look . . . almost plastic. I think it is due to the new wood or maybe the humidity. The old wood is darker and the new wood is lighter so that may have and effect. I sanded and applied everything the same. Hmmmmm. Anyway, it did not look bad . . . others might not notice at all, but I could tell. Maybe as the wood darkens with age it will have a different look, or I could wipe on another coat of the low gloss finish. Something to think about. Nonetheless, I filed the info in the back of my head and pressed on with the forward cabin.
Working in the forward cabin was a major PITA. I had to crawl in, out, and over the bulkheads. Eventually, I came up with a system that was not too difficult. I used my sliding bevel gauge to miter cut the ends which I did with a small inexpensive Japanese pull saw. I sealed the ends that I cut with some shellac and kept moving right along. I fit each piece, marked for the holes I needed to drill with an indelible pen, then drilled the holes, and installed it with #8 bronze oval head slotted screws. Nothing to it. Just tedious. I still needed to apply one more coat of tung oil to the ceiling for the galley and nav station area. I lightly sanded the pieces for the final coat. But, I hesitated. I was not happy with the tung oil finish in the forward cabin. It was OK, but just not that same luxurious look the original ceiling had. The weather cleared and was sunny and dry. The time was now. I moved the finishing tables out on our deck in the shade and whipped out some Epifanes High Gloss Varnish--the same stuff I have used every where else--and brushed on one unthinned coat over the 3 coats of Formbys Tung Oil Finish. Wow! Mo better. I left them to dry and went to work on the kero tank (see entry below). Today, I installed the varnished galley and nav station ceiling. Because there was very little curve to the hull where they were installed I was able to pre-cut to exact lengths before I applied the finish. So, it was just a matter of marking for holes, drilling and installed. Easy day. I added some additional insulation along the area at the top of the hull along the inward turning deck flange. I used very flexible closed cell foam that came in a 50' roll about 6" wide. My hope is it will provide a little insulation along the hull deck joint and keep the hardware fasteners from condensing water into the interior of the boat. Can't hurt and it was easy to install. The ceiling insulation is now complete except for the area along the hull above the sitz tub.

While waiting for the finish to dry on the hull ceiling I went back to work on installing the kero tank in the starboard cockpit locker. A couple of days ago, I applied foam wedges and epoxy tape to the bulkheads and deck in the port locker. This is another example of shoddy workmanship. there was at least a one inch gap above both bulkheads and the deck and no bonding in place. To install it, I traced the tank and flanges onto a piece of door-skin ply. I cut the template out with my jig saw and then clamped the tank to the template. I drilled holes through the template to align perfectly with the holes in the tank. Next, I took the template into the locker and crammed myself into this very tight spot. This is the main reason why I have not yet bedded and fastened the teak locker coamings in place . . . it is much easier to get in and out of the locker when they are removed. Note to self: You should not have a locker on your boat that is so small you can't crawl inside to perform work. With the template in place I drilled 1/4" holes through the template and through the bulkhead that separates the locker from the quarter berth. Previously, I very carefully measured to make sure I would not drill into anything important on the quarterberth side of the locker. I drilled a hole, inserted a 1/4" bolt, drilled another hole, inserted another bolt and so on and so forth. By inserting the bolts as I went I reduced the chance that the holes would not line up properly due to some hidden error that could compound itself. I removed the bolts and template and placed the tank in position. The bolts fit perfectly. In the photo, you can see the vent tube on the inboard top side of the tank. The vent line will penetrate the deck and be secured along the outboard side of the cockpit coaming. Next, I built a template for a shelf from doorskin strips and a hot glue gun. I then cut and test fit a plywood cleat in the port locker that would support the template shelf. The shelf will make the locker much more useable by providing a flat surface on the bottom of the locker, otherwise the steep slope would cause anything placed in there to slide under the kero tank. Satisfied with the fit, I taped the cleat in place with 1708 biaxial and West Systems Epoxy. I still have to add another cleat to the inboard side of the locker so the shelf will be fully supported. I could have epoxied the shelf in place, but then I would have to cut it out to remove the tank. This approach will allow me to remove the shelf by unscrewing it from the cleats so the tank will have enough room to be rotated and passed up through the locker opening. I will also build some shelving along the outboard side of the locker as well. Once all the construction is completed, the tank will be removed and the locker will be painted with grey Interlux bilgekote paint. Then, the tank will be reinstalled.

15 Sept 12Yesterday, I bought 45 BF of 8/4 ash to complete the ceiling installation on the Far Reach. Ash is fairly inexpensive. It ran me about $2.85 a BF so this was not a big investment. Today, I milled the wood. Instead of rigging a bunch of infeed and outfeed tables I decided to take the ash over to the Camp Lejeune Hobby Wood Shop. I don't go there often as I would much rather use my own tools. But, this particular batch of ash is thick and heavy and a little bowed along the edge . . . I needed a long jointer to do it right. I could do it on my 6" jointer but I have to cobble together a Rube Goldberg contraption which works fine for light 4/4 wood like mahogany but not with heavy hard to manage wood like this. The wood was already in the trailer so it was an easy decision. Thirty minutes later and I was there. Some of the planks were bowed and I would have lost a lot of wood had I jointed the surface down flat. On those planks I cut them down to reduce the bow and save wood. Since I took a drawing with the dimensions of the areas requiring ceiling it was not hard to sort the wood and cut it with plenty of margin for error. I would rather mill full length as it gives me more options but you have to work with what you have so that step was necessary. I started by jointing one edge and then followed by jointing one surface. I then ran the planks through their 20" planer. Done. Another 30 minutes to get back home. Back in my own shop, I started by ripping the ceiling strips from the milled planks. I set the table saw up for a hair under 3/8". It took about 90 minutes. What is nice about this wood is the planks were all flat sawn so when I edge ripped I got all nice straight grained quarter sawn strips. Next, I ran all the ceiling strips through my planer, to eliminate the saw marks from ripping them, taking them down to 5/16" which is the same thickness as the original ceiling. Gayle helped with this so it went pretty quick. Next, we set up the router table with a 1/4" round over bit. I used a feather board to hold the ceiling down flat and a feather board to push it against the fence. Rounding over both edges on one side took about 2 1/2 hours. Though it was repetitive work (not my favorite kind) it was reasonably pleasant with the doors open and a cool dry breeze blowing through the shop. I finished up by stacking the ceiling in preparation for follow on work tomorrow.

14 Sept 12The last couple of days have been focused on applying tung oil to the ceiling and installing it. I installed the ceiling for the pilot berths and the quarter berth. After I installed the insulation I drilled and installed 30 1/4" bolts with fender washer and SS aircraft nuts through three more of the main bulkheads that I had not previously reinsforced. The bolts are additional mechanical "insurance" to keep the bulkhead in place should the tabbing to bulkhead bond every fail. Once they were installed (it took about an hour) I went to work on preparing the ash ceiling for installation. We previously cleaned the celing with Te-Ka cleaner. Click here to learn more about how we did that project.

Port side pilot berth. The trim will be installed later.

When I originally removed the ceiling I had the good sense to mark on the back of each piece where it came from and in what order it had been positioned. This was a huge help. I sorted all the pieces in stacks. I measured how many pieces each area would require (they would each need less since I modified the boat) and worked with just the pieces I would need. I sanded each strip with 150 grit then 220 and finally 320. It did not take that long--about 45 minutes for enough strips for each berth. I vacuumed the strips then wiped them with alcohol to remove any remaining dust. Here is where it gets interesting. I thought I was wiping them down with "tung" oil since that is what it said on the can--Formbys Tung Oil. Silly me. Turns out it is not really straight tung oil but a wiping varnish (which it says in very small print and which I did notice till much later) containing and unknown amount of tung oil. Of course, good varnish has tung oil in it. Nonetheless, it went on easy, dried hard, and glossy, and looks great. I applied it with a 2" foam brush and let it dry over night then hit it again. I did both sides. Looks like varnish only much glossier for the couple of coats applied. But, it is supposed to be easy to touch up . . . just scuff it lightly and wipe on another coat. Varnish of course has to be stripped and reapplied if the surface gets damaged all the way to the raw wood. If I wanted, I am sure I could just varnish over it this tung oil finish, but, that defeats what I wanted to do which was to apply an easy to wipe on and maintain finish. I wanted to use Tung oil as it dries hard unlike many other kinds of oil that stay tacky just attract grime. I am not complaining though. It's done and it looks very good. Time will tell how it holds up. Once the finish dried I took a half dozen strips into the boat at a time, staged them, and went to work. I have seen ceiling installed several ways. The way that looks best to me is to follow the line of the sheer. So the ceiling in the quarterberth is barley angled down to the forward end. The ceiling for the pilot berths is angled up just a little. I used a bubble angle gauge on the sheer to get the measurement and basically matched the rise for that part of the boat. Since these were the original ash strips I was limited in what I could do. I had to use the existing holes and though they were not perfectly aligned they were good enough. I used 1" bronze oval head slotted wood screws. I redrilled each hole with a bit large enough to accommodate the shank of the screw. That way, the screw would force the ceiling against the rib. It worked fine. Getting the first strip started was the most work. I had to notch the first ceiling to accommodated chainplate bolts, etc. After that it went pretty fast. After I started installing the ceiling I noticed there was plenty of room for more insulation. Since I have plenty of 1/4" blue board I cut some more and placed it against the double reflectix and blue board sandwich panels I previously installed. I now have close to 1 1/4" of insulation which should be more than enough for anyplace we want to sail. The job is not really finished as none of the trim is installed. But, its rewarding to get off to a good start on this project. The remaining ceiling will not work well for the rest of the boat (galley, nav station, forward cabin) as I have modified all of those areas and the holes do not line up with the ribs. So, this afternoon I went to my wood supplier and bought about 45 BF of 8/4 x10' ash. Tomorrow I'll plane, edge rip, and router the edges in preparation for the forward cabin and galley area.

The 10 Gallon kerosene fuel tank that supports both the Refleks heater and the nav light and oil lamps arrived yesterday. After researching several tank builders Luther's Welding seem to meet my needs the best. They have a good reputation, responded to all of my emails, worked with my design requirements and gave be a pretty good price. The tank will be positioned vertically on the cockpit locker side of the aft bulkhead that separates the Q-berth from the cockpit locker. It will be mounted 'thwartship. The fuel line is in the bottom of the tank as the system is gravity feed. I will install a pet-cock to shut off the flow of fuel. The tank has a baffle. On the top there is a fuel cap, inspection plate, and vent nipple. The tank will be filled by opening the cockpit locker and unscrewing the cap. It is perfectly in line with the refleks heater which is also on the starboard side of the boat so the heater should work equally well on each tack. Though I would have liked for the tank to be in the 15 gallon range this was as big as the location would resonably accomodate. I'll carry some additonally kero in a 5 gallon on a rack in one of the cockpit lockers if necessary.

10 Sept 2012I finished up the insulation from the gunwale down to the bunk boards. I am pleased with how the insulation has come together. So far I have been impressed with the Gorilla Tape. It is much stickier than your run-of-the-mill duct tape. The reflectix seem durable but time will tell. I was also able to incorporate some of the 3M metal HVAC tape. It seems pretty sticky, cuts easily with scissors, and lays very flat. It bends easily but unlike the Gorilla duct tape it makes a corner rather than a gentle turn. It's rated -40F to +300F so it should be pretty durable. Total thickness of the insulation is about 7/8" thick. As I mentioned before, I'll install the rest of the insulation in the lockers later. Tomorrow, I will begin sanding and applying the first of several coats of tung oil to the ash ceiling strips.

Port side forward double berth cabin.

Double berth insulation.

6 Sept 12Today, I began installing hull insulation above the berths and galley. Though I used 1/2" Armaflex AP closed-cell foam for the overhead and under the side decks, as previously posted, I am installing Reflectix insulation along the hull (click here for more info on installing the AP foam on the overhead). The most effective insulation would have been to use the AP foam on the hull but it is expensive and needs to be glued to the hull to be effective which I did not want to do--I want to be able to wash the inside of the boat out as required to keep it clean and smelling good. The next option was a fairly thick "blue board" (1/2" has an R3 insulation rating) but it is messy to cut and does not bend that well. Also, the 4x8 sheets are unwieldy and I not suitable for cutting the shapes inside the boat. It is also hard to fit into small spaces. Reflectix is much easier to use as it comes in rolls as narrow as 16". Though it does not have that good an R value when used alone (R1) it can be made to be more effective with a little more work. It's basically just a 5/16" thick double layer of bubble wrap with a foil laminate on both sides. The instructions state that for it to achieve maximum effectiveness one needs to create a sealed 1/2" air space on the radiant side. This would be very difficult to do on the boat What I decided to do was to make a somewhat flexible sandwich panel of two layers of reflectix with a 1/4" thick blue board (flex fold) between the two layers and seal the edges all the way around with tape. The panels are made to fit between the existing fiberglass ribs in the boat to which the ash ceiling strips are attached. Individually, each piece has an R value of one. Together they are at least R3 but I think there are probably some benefits to having a laminated panel with sealed edges. I suspect the R rating is around R4-R6. Regardless, the panels should make a big difference in keeping the boat warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Reflectix is easy to work with as you can cut it with scissors and it bends easily. Also, it will not hold water. I am only installing the panels down to the bunk boards above the berths and the counter top in the galley at the moment. These specific panels need to be installed now so I can install the ash ceiling strips. Later, when the the trim and plumbing systems are installed I will add more panels below the bunk boards that can be removed for cleaning. What I like about the panels is they can easily be removed for cleaning. The foil does not attract dirt nor do they absorb water. They are easy to wipe off. They seem pretty durable. Also, I suspect have foiled faced insulation running around the entire boat the Far Reach will have a significantly improved radar signature. I bought all the supplies at Lowes. The Reflectix runs about $16 per 50' roll. I am using very sticky Gorilla duct tape ($9.00 for 35 yard roll) and I am experimenting with a roll of 3M silver HVAC metal tape ($15.00 for 50 yd roll). The flex fold blue board is $45.00 for 25 panels of 2'x4' boards. So far I have used four rolls of Reflectix, two rolls of Gorilla Tape and five blue board panels . . . or about $90 invested. I think it will end up costing about $300 to insulate the entire boat down to the bottom of the lockers (not including the overhead which I insulated with Armaflex AP Foam. This seems like a very good investment to me. It has only taken one day to do about 1/3 of the boat.

5 Sept 12I spent most of the day working on tasks related to installing the ash hull ceiling. I picked up about 100 feet of 16" wide reflectix foil sided bubble wrap and some Gorilla duct tape which I will use to insulate the hull. The real work was cutting and installing about 25 wedges to help span the gap between the ash ceiling and the overhead panels that are under the side deck. The challenge was how to span the gap created when I did not extend the panels all the way to the glassed-in ribs to which the ash ceiling is attached. The reason for that was I installed the panels before I installed the stanchions and I did not know where the bolts would come through the deck. Also I though some, if not all, of the stanchion bolts, backing plates, nuts, etc would interfere panels if they extended all the way to the hull. So I cut them short. I knew there would be a gap to deal with but decided I would figure out how to solve the problem later. Now, it's later. After considering several options over the past few months the best solution was to cut some wedges about 1" thick and 7 1/4" long and epoxy them to the fiberglass ribs using a simple jig to keep them aligned. The wedges cause a slight tumblehome but based on the mock up I made yesterday I don't think it will be noticeable. Also, I can use a smaller more bendable piece of trim to conceal any alignment issues between the ash and the overhead panels. Anyway, it solves the problem and allow room to run wiring if I chose to install it under the side deck.

The gammon iron installation is complete. I chamfered the holes in the deck and the stem with a counter-sink. I carefully taped off the gammon iron and the fiberglass around it then performed an acetone wipe down. I used butyl rubber to make small rings around the chamfered holes and under the bolt heads. I then applied 3M 4000 UV as the main bedding compound. I installed four 1/2" bronze flat head bolts vertically down through the gammon iron, deck, and 1/2" thick G10 backing plate. I used bronze washers, split lock washers, and heavy duty nuts. On the stem, the top bronze 3/8" flat head bolt is installed via a tapped hole (there was no way to use a nut since the bolt is oriented up toward the deck). However, the lower two 3/8" bolts are through-bolted into a 1/2" G10 backing plate and secured with washers, split washer, and heavy duty nuts. Squeeze out was easy to clean up with the tape preventing a mess. Task complete.

3 Sept 12Today was a light work day. The current project is to complete the installation of the gammon iron. Readers may recall from the 7 July entry that I had a lot of trouble getting the right bronze bolts. Well the ones I finally settled on were a little long. So, after test fitting them it was apparent the threads needed to be extended 1/2" and the overall length reduced by 3/4". I cut longer the threads with a 1/2"-13 die which matched the existing threads. It surprised me how much strength it took to turn the die even through bronze is pretty soft. I used some thread cutting fluid to reduced friction but it still generated a fair amount of heat. I made a 1/4 turn then backed the die off 1/8 turn so on and so forth until the threads were the required length. During the test fit It took a little while to get all the holes to line up between the gammon iron, deck, and G10 backing plate. Once I was satisfied with the fit I set it aside for tomorrow.

Cutting longer threads with a 1/2"-13 die.

Original bolt on the left--the modified bolt on the right.

2 Sept 12August was too hot to work on the boat. On the NC coast there are two ways to escape the heat—increase your altitude or your latitude. We chose the latter. Thus, we spent the last three plus weeks on a tent camping trip that ranged from NC all the way to the northern most point of Nova Scotia. We had a lot of rain the first week but the next two weeks were glorious. We stopped at my sister's farm in Virginia on the way north then spent two days in the Boston area visiting Lexington Green and the Old North Bridge at Concord, MA. The kids enjoyed seeing such important places in our nation's history. While in Concord we made a short side trip to Walden Pond—made famous by Henry David Thoreau.

Cailin and Eric at Cobscook Bay.

Overlooking the Atlantic on the NE coast of Cape Breton.

From there we camped in Maine at Camden Hills State Park (a superb park with lots of hiking trails and great views of West Penobscot bay) and Cobscook Bay State Park (big tides). We then crossed the border and camped a few days at Point Wolf in the Bay of Fundy National Park (huge tides). Then it was off to Grave's Island Provincial Park just north of Lunenburg. We finished off with four days of camping at Broad Cove in Cape Breton National Park which allowed us to explore the north part of NS. We had a great time. The kid's swam till their lips were blue--brrrr! We hiked the trails, sat around the camp fire, made s’mores, picked wild blackberries, made new friends, saw bald eagles, and generally relaxed.
At the moment, we are cleaning and drying out the camp gear, sorting through mail, and putting the kid's syllabus together for their fourth year of homeschool. I spent a little time on the Far Reach yesterday removing the heavy duty straps that I rigged before we left as hurricane protection. I'll spend some time today prepping tools and reconfiguring the SRF for what I hope to be the final year of work on the boat. We'll see. Regular posts should begin tomorrow.

4 Aug 12The bolts for the gammon iron were defective. The shoulders were about 1/16 wider than they should have been. I called CC Fasteners and they agreed after measuring the ones on their shelf. They found some they can replace them with and were supposed to have mailed them on Tuesday. Unfortunately they have not arrived so the gammon iron awaits final installation. In the meantime I started work on the design of the port side cockpit locker water tank. This 20 gallon tank will sit on the shelf in the locker that formally was used for the two house batteries and some storage. This water tanks will be also be made by Dura-Weld and just like the others we had built and installed in the bilge. The reason it will be on the shelf is this tank will be dedicated to the shower. It will be a gravity fed tank that will lead to the head compartment. I short hose with a ball valve will serve to allow the user to fill a pump up spray bottle. Hot water will be made by mixing in water heated on the stove or on the refleks heater if it's running. By having a dedicated shower water tank we can better meter the use of water. We will have a few five gallon collapsible water cans stowed below deck that we can replenish either the drinking water tanks or shower tank desired. I also designed an 11 gallon kerosene tank that will be bolted to the bulkhead in the starboard side locker. This tank will gravity feed the refleks heater. It will be refilled via a screw on cap via lifting the cockpit hatch lid. As part of the preparation for installing the cockpit hatches and the shower water tanks I had some work to do on the portside locker. I enlarged the openings below the shelf and as depicted later in this entry I cut out the third batter shelf that was used as the engine start battery. It was poorly positioned and severely limited storage in the locker.

As part of the work to prepare the cockpit lockers for more storage and painting I decided to remove the last of the three battery shelves. It was poorly positioned. It just ate up the aft third of the largest and most accessible of the three cockpit lockers. I used a Dremel with a right angle attachment and a metal cut-off wheel. It did not take long. the nasty part was the additional sanding/grinding required to complete the preparations for locker work. It was hot sweaty work. Back into a paper suit, full face respirator, and gauntlet gloves.

The last of the three battery boxes.

Gone!