Here is a friend of mine I enlisted to help with the metal work. I wanted the front half of the keel to be armored to take groundings. Mike here has a home forging setup, while I have a home casting setup. Here you see him prepping the 1/8" stainless steel keel armor for forging.

I could have just cut it off, but I wanted it to wrap up and around the cutwater, sort of like an icebreaker keel. Here Mike is forming the part that wraps around the cutwater. Note the forge made from a freon can, sitting on my sandbox.

Almost done, doing some trimming with Mikes heavy duty grinder, and doing the final fitting to the boat. On the right you see where I have attached the keel strip with a bunch of countersunk stainless screws and lots of epoxy.

Here is me working on the rudder, drilling the holes to attach the stainless to the rudder itself. I made the front of the rudder a bit wide, but some trimming with the flap wheel on the grinder and you can barley notice.

Here the rudder is in the middle of the sanding operations, and to the right it is attached to the boat. On the top of the right photo you can see the UHMW bushing that the rudder turns on. Under the top rudder support I'm going to put another bushing, with a flange fitting on the rudder post. I'm hoping the rudder will bear only on the UHMW poly and no on the wood and glass of the hull.

Here we are commencing the turning operation. We jacked up one side, and cut the "building legs" off, then let it down. One of the girls wanted to invite a bunch of friends over for barbecue, and I said it would be ok as long as they helped flip the boat. (We didn't tell them till they got here. hehehehe) The designated camera person was late comming out with the rest of us, so I didn't get any pictures of the canopy coming down.

Lift, scoot, tip, lift, scoot, tip, etc. I learned from my mistake with turning (and dropping) the last boat. I built a frame around this one, lots of handholds, and with the frame it would sit on the side without being held. Made it into a two part operation.

Over she goes! Didn't drop this one. We are adjusting it to be centered on the canopy, and level (at least side to side, I made all the panels square with bulkheads, which are canted a bit. It's not level front to rear, but that doesn't affect anything) "NO! Don't put a block under the rudder!"

Final tuning and adjusting.

Turning crew inspecting the boat. Yes, I know the power pole is slanted. It's been that way as long as I've owned the property. Doesn't seem to cause any problems.

Starting to move the canopy back in. Much to big for one person to carry, but doesn't weigh much.

Six people hold the canopy, six more insert poles. Makes me glad the girls have so many friends!

Final tweaking, and tie the canopy back down.

The left two are pictures of the centerboard interior bracing. The CLC doesn't have the bracing on the top of the centerboard case that the regular Chebaccos do. Notice the several layers of tape and generous use of epoxy putty. And, yes, I did cut the drain holes on the wrong side of the board. It will be under the floorboards, and the only issue will be small triangular area between the berths that won't drain back. But, since the cabin is closed, doesn't have a bilge pump anyway, and this will be covered by the floor boards, I'm just not worrying about it.

 

To the right you see the through hole for the rudder, and the aft well substructure. There would have been closed off spaces inside this structure for moisture to gather. The MDO and pressure treated is pretty good stuff, but I cut ventilation holes anyway. I'm putting two small deckplates on the bulkhead in the left of the picture. I know the plans call for this to be open, but I want the added floatation if the cockpit is ever flooded.

When I was building this section, I really noticed the lack of pictures of this particular construction detail on the web. Hence, you see lots of these pictures here! In the right two photos I have installed the walls to the aft floatation/storage boxes, and the framing for the motor well floor.

In the left photo I'm attaching the sides of the "seats" (which will also be the head ad galley). Attached them to cleats on one side, taped the other, pulled the cleats, and taped the remaining joint.s Center photo is my new power tool. He does a pretty good job, I can turn him loose on something and do something else myself. Very handy to have around, I would suggest you buy one. On the right you can see the framing for the top on the ground tackle compartment. I'm going to cover this over and put a Bomar hatch from Thrifty Marine (see resources) in. Rain and spray proof.

Here you see pictures of the storage compartments I'm building. Not on the plans, but in a 20ft boat you can't have to much storage. The compartment behind the seat will be accessed by opening the seat hatch, opening the deck plate covering the round hole, and reaching through the hole. Not the easiest access, but I'm thinking of storing light dried goods in there, maybe bread, that kind of thing.

 

The other storage area will be accessed through a hinged door over the galley and behind the head. For light dishes and toiletries, respectively.

 

You can see the layer of light glass on the bottom of the side of the seat, to protect against standing water in the cockpit.

HEY, how did that picture get in here? This is the new bed I made the wife for the anniversary. It does show how boat work spills over into regular life. This was built in two halves, out of some of the spare 1/2" MDO from the boat. Two halves so it would be easy to take into the bedroom. The lip around the top was filleted and glassed, so it would take the strain big people and little cats getting into bed.