Floors and Round Things

I'm so close to finishing this boat I can taste it, but no matter how hard I try, there is always another thing to do.  This weekend I picked away at a bunch of little things but the big win was getting the floors cut and installed.

I'm not using anything exotic, just the same clear premium grade pine that I used for the seat tops.  This task was pretty straight forward, but I did spend a fair amount of time marking out the curves along the forward portion of the deck area.  Once I cut and dry fitted all the boards I ran the router over them with a roundover bit to eliminate any hard edges.  Then I refitted the boards and tapped each one with a countersink bit and screwed them to the frames. 

The only exception is the center floor that I will not be screwing down so I can access the strum box for the bilge pump and inspect the lowest point of the bilge.  I will fasten this floor with some sort of button toggles on the underside to keep it in place, but I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to do it yet.  Once I figure it out and implement it, I will pull all the floorsboards out and have a marathon oiling session with Deks Olje D1 as I did with the seat tops and spars.

I really like Deks because you can get everything oiled in an afternoon.  The application process goes like this: wipe or brush on Deks onto the surface you want to oil, wait 15 minutes and do it again, and again, and again, etc...  You keep applying it until the wood stops absorbing it and then you leave the last unabsorbed application on the wood for 30 minutes and then wipe off.  The only other thing you have to worry about is that it shouldn't be put into service for 3 days.  It gives a nice satin finish and gives the wood a nice glow. 


In other news, I finally got around to installing the seven round deck plates throughout the boat.  There is one in the forward compartment, two adjacent to the mast step, two big ones amidships in the watertight seat compartments, and two in the aft compartment along either side.