Raceboat Cockpit
Construction Notes
Page Seven
Installation
The bottom edge of your cockpit will likely need to be trimmed (maybe considerably) to fit into the hull of your boat. Notches will need to be cut for beams, and the sides may need to be shortened to obtain the desired cockpit height.
Your cockpit may not initially fit snugly against your bulkheads. Now is the time to add a bit of plywood to fill the gaps. Include a notch in this added piece to receive the carlin.
My cockpit was first installed in one boat, then later in a second boat.
First time I used epoxy and fiberglass to bond the cockpit to the hull.
Installing the carlins tight against the cockpit futher secured it to the hull.
For the Dillon Sport C I bolted the cockpit in using short lengths of steel angle.
In both of my Sport C boats, the aft end of the cockpit is attached to a short coaming which further bonds the cockpit to the hull, and also ties it to the motorboard.
A straightforward way to joing coaming and cockpit is a simple overlap, as seen here. You may elect to butt them together for a visually seamless joint.
I made a simple rear cowling to go with my cockpit. Here's the basic form, the curves of the molds traced directly from the cockpit itself.
The top edge of the plywood piece rising from the coaming corresponds with the crease in the cockpit.
The skin of the cowling begins with one-inch wide strips of 1/2" foam. Coat with fiberglass and epoxy (or polyester).
I used part of one of the molds as a permanent bulkhead inside the cowling. Though I assume this largely wood and foam stucture will float, I added a bit of flotation to it anyway -- you never know when it might go overboard.
Actually, the cowling seen here was built as a pattern or plug. I will eventually use the plug to make a mold, from which I will be able to make thin, light, fiberglass cowlings.
