Building Logs

Cabin extension profile.

Posted by Paul

The only thing left to do to finish the cabin sides is to glue on the cabin side extension. This extension does 2 things. It finishes the side profile of the cabin and that extension panel also provides some shelter from spray to the cockpit and helm position is you have a beam wind whilst sailing sending spray over the electronics if they are in this area. However, like almost everything on the build it has its downside. First it cuts into a great flat wide deck area making it shorter and narrower, that is the panel cuts it in half making the usable space much less usable. Second it means you cant just jump up from the helm and onto the side deck, you have to step around the panel, what is more, it makes it more difficult to helm from the side deck and to mount the motor controls onto the bulkhead and be easily accessible from the side deck. So I am really in 2 as to what I want here.

sb cabin side ext missingsb cabin side extension missingsb cabin side extsb cabin side extension

As you can see from the pictures above, the side profile does look much better with the side panel on, but it does get in the way, and if I ignore aesthetics and just think of practicality I am sure once the boat is launched there will be times when I wish the sides were on when the helm is being sprayed and I have no protection from the elements at the helm. I am also sure there will be other times when I wish the panel was not there. So what to do.

In the end I think I will go for a compromise! I have been experimenting with other profiles and I think I will go for a curved side profile which is much smaller than the panel that came with the kit. I have looked around the boat and there are not many straight lines, they are all curved. So I will keep the rest of them curved. At this stage I am still at the black marker line stage, but the line on the panel below is kind of what I will go with, except I think I will curve it more.

setting cabin side profile

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Paul