Boatbuilding has its ups and downs, I find. Recently I've had a run of "down", but with this post, I finally had a nice string of ups!

First off, I managed to rework my window catches. I've gone through several options and wound up going with an idea I'm pretty sure I got from Brad Indicott of the Leah Gent V39 build.

He made a nicer set than mine, but the idea is the same. Take a brass rod, fasten one end in an eye screw on the window and on the other end have a hole for the rod to hook in. This will latch the window open a certain distance.

Brad had the good idea of letting the windows open part way, but keeping them inside the profile of the hull sides, so they wouldn't hit docks or the like. All of my super ideas didn't pan out, so I went with his, which really works well. Highly recommended.

Window catches

On my front windows, there was a convenient point to use the hook for latching the window tightly closed. The rear wasn't quite as good, but workable.

The next big accomplishment was the front door. It now has the door "stop" strips installed, the door framing in place, the window cut out made and its all ready for plexi to be installed. I have to make one more plexi purchase for this window, so it's just open right now.

Here you're seeing the door in its "open" position, back againt the front bulkhead.

Front door

I've also gotten some work done on the head... got the basic framing up like I wanted, and part of the wall in place. Initially, we may go with a curtain instead of a hard door, just for convenience. I don't know... since the forward door came out well, I may go ahead here.

Head framing