The original Etchells had a mahogany floor grate that was 6 feet long and over 3 feet wide. The grate appeared to have been sanded and varnished several times and was in a distressed condition. There was some rot in the floors but the wood in the planks seemed worth saving. My new cockpit needed a floor about 9 feet long and 2 feet wide. I wanted to drop the height of the floor an inch or two to gain a little space.
To disassemble the old floor grate I removed the wood plugs that had not fallen out and about 50 screws. Most of the screws were old-style, bronze, wood screws with a shallow, slotted head and about half of them came out pretty easily. There were a few iron screws and nails too.
I spent much of yesterday cleaning the planks using a power plane, a disc sander and finally an orbital sander. I put a coat of Watco on the old, dry wood and began to figure out how to reconfigure the floor grate.
The last picture shows what I ended up with today. All the material was re-used excepting a few tiny scraps!
Much of my enjoyment of this project is figuring out how to re-use parts from the original boat.
The original Etchells had a control console in the center of the cockpit floor for sheeting the main and about a dozen other lines. I am simplifying the rigging but still wanted to sheet the main to the center of the cockpit. I cut two pieces from the original fiberglass console and will glass them together to make a "mini" console. This console is roughed out and will be positioned pretty much as shown in the pictures.
Forty degrees and sun made today wonderful for working on the boat.
Later this week below zero temperatures are predicted as a storm moves in.
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