It Once Served A Purpose......

Now time to hide it and forget that it was ever there. I am talking about the other unsightly hole left in the bulkhead once I had removed the non-working knotmeter.

As you can see in this picture, the hole was pretty rough. Soren laughed when he saw it and said, "It looks like someone grabbed a beaver by the tail and cut it out." There was an unvarnished teak plank that screwed to the outside that served as a spacer so that we could close the cabin door. The bulkhead itself is built of marine grade plywood with a mahogany veneer attached to the inside and outside of the cabin. The inside veneer was in great shape, (Except the hole), but the outside left a lot to desire. The veneer had been chipped up pretty bad around the edges.

Now, how do you plug a 4" hole without anyone knowing that it had been there? You could just epoxy in a new piece of wood and try to get the joint as tight as possible, but if you looked close enough you would still see the plug. We didn't want to laminate the inside of the bulkhead, but we were considering re-laminating the outside. That would take care of the outside. Now the question is how do you hide the plug on the inside. Like that of a lightening strike, I saw the wheels turning in Sorens head. He gathered his tools, loaded his truck and headed back to his shop for the day.

The following morning Soren arrived with an idea in his hand. Not sure how this would play out, but we told him to go for it. He truly has never done us wrong. So below he headed with a jig and his trusty router. Within minutes he had sawdust flying from the cabin. A few minutes later, and some epoxy mixing, he was finished.

Soren has recently purchased a new wood carving CNC machine. Basically, if you can think it, he can carve it out of wood. He has come through again for us. This was his design, on a 1/4" thick piece of mahogany, which he then inlaid into the backside of the bulkhead. US 111 has been permanently branded. It's a nice, classy, custom touch to the overall details of the work that we are doing. The oval shape hides the purpose of the inlay, and it will last for years to come. A little varnish and that issue is solved as well.

As far as the outside of the bulkhead goes, we again decided to laminate new mahogany keeping the wood grain uniform throughout the cockpit. Soren epoxied a round plug into the hole keeping it flush with the exsisting bulkhead. Then laminated new mahogany over the entire face. When all was done, this is what it looked like. A little finish sanding, staining and numerous coats of varnish; no one will ever be the wiser. (Unless you are reading this blog)