Cabin Shelf

I've jumped ahead a few pages to install the cabin shelf.  The reason for this is that a fillet is to be run on the bottom of the shelf and that is much easier to do when the shell is upside down.

Before starting on the shelf though, I took the opportunity to round off the corner where the bulkhead meets the galley floor.  That's a spot where I'm sure to be hitting my knees (remember the shell is still upside down).  On the bulkhead you can see one of the slots that tabs on the shelf will be inserted into. 

Here are some shots of a stop or rail (called a "fiddle" in nautical terms) that is being glued to the shelf.

There will be 3/8" roundovers routed on each side of the rail and on the bottom of the shelf.  The ball-bearing guide on the router bit hits the wood below any piece less than 3/4" thick.  This would have marred the shelf wood, so I rounded the inside corner of the fiddle on a router table before gluing it to the shelf.

Be sure to round the rear corners of the shelf to clear the fillets on the bulkhead joints.  I did this with a hand-sanding block.  A power sander would be likely to take off too much wood very quickly.

The shelf has received two coats of epoxy, about 2 hours apart.  Tomorrow I'll coat the bottom.

I went back to sanding the bulkhead and had a bit of an accident (didn't get any pictures).  I was sitting inside the shell to do the sanding and it turns out it is a bit front-heavy.  When I leaned back the whole thing fell forward off the furniture dolly and hit the garage floor.  I checked and couldn't find any damage--epoxy is pretty tough.

The same thing would have happened if I had put it on foam blocks as recommended in the book, and in fact it would have fallen farther.  At any rate I have laid a furniture blanket on the floor in case this happens again.  I may add some weight at the back also to balance it better.