Floorboards in the cockpit locker

Next job, the port side cockpit lockers floorboards were replaced.

I read that early Investigator 563's had an outboard well in the port cockpit locker. At first i didn't recognize the remnants of this on Teria as it was covered by thin plywood floorboards. The discovery was made when i had stepped on the aft floor, which was rotten by now and I crashed through it. Being an eternal optimist i left the forward floor board in only to meet the same fate later.. This left no choice but to replace them with something stronger.

Remnants of an old locker floor board

So the old 6-8 mm thick ones were recycled as garden mulch.

Early investigators had an outboard well in the locker, it looked like this was the case in Teria at one time.    It may have been  noisy, smelly, maybe a bit dangerous to have a sparking outboard next to 5 gallons of petrol in a confined space, also valuable storage  and some hull buoyancy was lost. I also suspect that when a boat heeled to port the well compartment could have flooded.  Nearly all Investigators adopted transom mounted outboards after locker wells fell out of favor.

Signs of an outboard well remain in the port locker. I inadvertently demolished the aft floorboard covering the remnant outboard well, 

Nothing in the lockers well was square. So made up  templates of the floorboards with thick cardboard from packing boxes.. These were easy to cut and shape with a Stanley knife until they fit well.

Cardboard floor template in place.

Then the templates were taken out and the edges were penciled in on the 12 mm plywood. The floorboards cut out with circular saw. Only a little bit of pruning of the edges with the saw and surform plane was needed to get the final fit.  The  floorboards allowed the petrol tank and other gear to sit flat safely once again. Also they are strong enough  to walk on.

Lots of Bad weather lately it's Feb 2014. So time to remove the floorboards and clean out the locker.
Used a Karacher high pressure water jet machine to blast away grime, it took away the remains of some  flaking silver heat shielding glued to the bottom of the hatch too.

Karacher high pressure water jet gun. garden hose attaches to pump body and the motor is 240 volt electric.

Next engine degreaser was scrubbed around, an oily layer had got on every surface, even high under the cockpit coaming. This and the reflective under hatch heat shield layer, suggests that it once was an engine room with an outboard well which was later patched over. The square ply box glassed to the hull may have been a 12 volt battery box in the old days. More water jet blasting also removed loose white epoxy paint applied after construction.

Degreasing the starboard locker.

There is a black rectangular hole which gives access to the hull. The old speed log paddle wheel fitting still sits in here.

The old outboard well possibly glassed over.  It looks like an old battery box on top right.

 The ply floorboards were dried, then belt sanded before 3 coats of "Ultradeck" wood stain finish was brushed on to seal it.

sanded and ready to coat

Drying deck oil coat

The floorboards have a natural non-skid surface with the wood stain finish. Sometimes you need to stand on them to get stuff out.

Floorboards back in place

I tried stowing the 2nd anchor in the old well but decided against it after a few trips. Water does fill the sump a bit as the hatch seals aren't perfect, then its hard to bail out. Stow the 2nd anchor high and dry in a small crate in the other locker now.  

 Split floorboard allows access to sump below while the 24 liter (5 gal) petrol tank's in place.

Locker hatch closed