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rustypirate · 20-12-2016, 20:39

I have been working really hard on getting the cockpit completed as well as building a new steering pulley box to transition from the quadrant to the rest of the steering system.

First the cockpit:
If you have been following along you know that I have removed the old center cockpit from my steel Offshore 38 and built a framework for the new one. I then built a press to bend the steel sheets for the seats. When last I left you I had most of the seats bent and fitted, and the floor fabricated with a riser for the pedestal and drains welded in as well.

The real chore was flipping the framework over so that I could gain access to the underside of the floor to weld it in:

Once that was done, I had to flip it back over and start attaching the seats themselves. Here is the rear seat with the seat back seam completed and ground flush:

One more mock-up with the pedestal to see how it all fits together:

I wanted to add a "tunnel" helm seat, so I bent up a frame to support the arched seat and here it is fitted together on the workbench:

I welded in the frame and the pre-bent sheet along with the seat front which has a radius curve on the front to continue the rounded edges along the entire cockpit. All in all I am pleased with how it is coming along.

The next steps are final trimming and fitting of the side seats where they meet with the rear seat, and the addition of a few inches at the bottom of the seat fronts with a radius to meet the floor. More on that in a later post.

The second project I have completed is a "steering box" to house the idler pulleys which re-direct the steering cables to the quadrant. When I de-constructed the boat, the steering cable pulleys were attached to a wooden frame in the hull. That went along with the rest of the interior. In the end The steering system will need to use the Edson Push-Pull conduits to interface from the pedestal to the steering box. This is due the difference in height between the quadrant and the bottom of the pedestal. I know that it is not the best solution, but thankfully the conduit runs are going to be less than three feet each. I mocked up the quadrant on my workbench and designed a steel box to house the pulleys with spacers to ensure that they are at the correct height in relation to the grooves in the quadrant:

I used some scraps of dyneema I had lying around to simulate the stainless cables to check the alignment on the workbench:

I also angled the conduit connectors to prevent interference with the valves for the cockpit drains as they will be in pretty close proximity.