Next, I de-waxed the fiberglass around the periphery of the underside, then sanded it in preparation for epoxy bonding 1 x 2 fir edging to contain the fiberglass acoustic insulation. I measured and cut the boards and glued them in place.
Next came the fiberglass insulation which was held in place by some very fine mesh stainless steel screen I found years ago at an oddball surplus place in Oxnard. The piece I had was just big enough to cover the fiberglass. When the epoxy had set, I trimmed the screen with scissors and stapled it to the edge of the trim boards with stainless steel staples.I added some closed cell foam weather stripping around the outside and it was ready to go.
To prepare it for transport and hauling up onto the boat, I wrapped the whole assembly in an old Hudson's Bay wool blanket that provided plenty of padding. In the process, I discovered the assemblage had grown pretty darn heavy.I headed to Napa on Sunday excited by the prospect of replacing that tacky carpet and plywood with a proper cover/sole. 
Instead, I ran into another proof of that common axiom of boat work: Nothing is straight and nothing fits the first time. I hauled the heavy cover up onto the boat using the spinnaker halyard, which did not have a winch, so it was real grunt work. 
However, it wasn't until I removed a couple of dozen screws securing the old plywood, removed it and trial fit the new cover that I discovered the flange over which the new cover was designed to fit bowed out in the middle almost half an inch. There was no way the new cover would fit without surgery of one kind or another. It may have been my upset over this unfortunate turn of events, the greasy Chinese fast food I had for lunch, or the combination of the two, but it was definitely the shits. Given my weakened condition, I decided discretion would be the better part of valor at this point and I risked the long drive home to cogitate on the problem overnight before I started hacking away.
Instead, I ran into another proof of that common axiom of boat work: Nothing is straight and nothing fits the first time. I hauled the heavy cover up onto the boat using the spinnaker halyard, which did not have a winch, so it was real grunt work. However, it wasn't until I removed a couple of dozen screws securing the old plywood, removed it and trial fit the new cover that I discovered the flange over which the new cover was designed to fit bowed out in the middle almost half an inch. There was no way the new cover would fit without surgery of one kind or another. It may have been my upset over this unfortunate turn of events, the greasy Chinese fast food I had for lunch, or the combination of the two, but it was definitely the shits. Given my weakened condition, I decided discretion would be the better part of valor at this point and I risked the long drive home to cogitate on the problem overnight before I started hacking away.I figured the wood that capped the flange could be trimmed away and straightened using a jig and skill saw, but wasn't sure that it would provide deep enough clearance to allow the cover to seat properly. I couldn't cut away any of the structural fiberglass flange, so Plan B was to add fir strips to the top of the flange to provide the additional clearance. I bought some fir 1 x 2 molding that evening and was up at 5:30 am on Memorial Day down in the shop making a jig to trim the flange around the engine hatch. By 7 I was on the road.
I mounted the jig on the hatch flange as planned and made the cut. 
It worked as planned,but another trial fit of the new cover made it clear that Plan B would have to be implemented. In the process of manuvering the cover and making the cut, my worst nightmare was realized: the precariously balanced new hatch cover got pushed off the flange and fell onto the engine, breaking a section of the lip. I was seriously bummed. At least it was in a section that will be accessible without removing the cover completely and can be repaired relatively easily. I gathered my courage and proceded to mount the new fir stips around the top of the flange. 
That seemed to do the trick. The new cover was in place. 
I set up the helm seat, 
cleaned up and was on the road by noon in order to beat the holiday traffic. On my next trip, I'll re-check everything to see if the cover lip clears the flange all around and make plans to tune up as necessary.
It worked as planned,but another trial fit of the new cover made it clear that Plan B would have to be implemented. In the process of manuvering the cover and making the cut, my worst nightmare was realized: the precariously balanced new hatch cover got pushed off the flange and fell onto the engine, breaking a section of the lip. I was seriously bummed. At least it was in a section that will be accessible without removing the cover completely and can be repaired relatively easily. I gathered my courage and proceded to mount the new fir stips around the top of the flange. That seemed to do the trick. The new cover was in place. I set up the helm seat, cleaned up and was on the road by noon in order to beat the holiday traffic. On my next trip, I'll re-check everything to see if the cover lip clears the flange all around and make plans to tune up as necessary.
Smaller holes to fit the fasteners will be drilled in the cured epoxy, resulting in a ring of epoxy around the fastener that will prevent any moisture from penetrating the plywood core (see Bryan's comment last week -May 18). I also made a plywood backing block to stiffen the area below the mount since my entire body weight will be swinging around on the end of a two-foot long lever against the mount. As the picture shows, the right position for the helm seat base also happily overlapped the cross brace. 
If I can get the right fasteners locally, I should be able to have the mount in place and the inside trim pieces and fiberglasss sound insulation completed during the week, allowing me to bring the completed cover to Circadian next weekend. That would be sweet, but of course that's a big if....
It turned out that the best alignment called for using both of the teak risers I had fabricated. Having learned my lesson about the difficulty of getting bolts through tight-fitting holes that extend through four inches of deck and reinforcing plates, I drilled 3/8 inch holes for the 5/16 inch bolts. There was only one small issue: the bolts required were too long to get through the holes from inside the square stainless steel tubing used as the mount. I'd have to push them up from below the deck and put the nuts on top, inside the tube. I dry-fit everything and it all went together without a hitch. Before final permanent assembly, I filled the bolt holes with plenty of Lifecaulk sealant and squeezed a ring of Lifecaulk around the holes to ensure no water would find it's way below. Final assembly was of course a bit messy and required the usual uncomfortable contortions, but it all happened without major setbacks. I cleaned things up and went back to marking the chain. With the first coat of paint adequately dry, I twisted the chain to expose the unpainted side of the links and repeated the marking scheme. I still had a lot to do, but it was time for a short lunch break.
I hauled out the whole seat assembly and set it in place in front of the steering wheel, repositioning it until it was aligned and where I wanted it. The rest was marking, measuring and recording so I could mount the base at home. I loaded the base and the cushion into the truck, hoping I could either remove or paint over the stain on the cushion. I continued my measuring tasks in the aft cabin to see how the diesel cabin heater would work there.
Things were looking up! The paint on the chain was dry enough that it was time to connect the new Rocna anchor to the chain and haul everything aboard using the new set-up. The big questions: Would everything align okay? Would the chain fit in the relatively small chain locker under the v-berth? If it fit, would the chain pile up in the locker and require someone below to knock the piles down as the chain came aboard? Would that big Rocna anchor come aboard and fit in the bow roller without hitting the hull? Would the batteries have enough capacity to pull up 275 feet of chain plus anchor without being seriously depleted?
However, the chain repeatedy piled up in "castles" in the small chain locker, which means Carol will have a job to do when a lot of chain is coming in! I still need to tidy up the wiring a bit more and do a proper rope-to-chain splice to connect the securing line to the chain so that it can come up through the chain pipe. I also need to secure the shackle and swivel pins with stainless wire before actually using it all at anchor. Nonetheless, I felt I'd achieved a major milestone.
Everything came out fine and the brace noticably stiffened the structure. But of course the primer revealed a couple of imperfections on the top side which I will have to remedy this week.
