Fiberglass work on the Platform of the flybridge To EliminatE a trip hazard.
When I first sat down on the bench seat next to the helm, I noticed that my view was blocked by the metal frame located above the window glass, some people call it the eyebrow. Not being able to see where we were heading, I decided to stand instead of sit. As you can imagine that was not a good situation. Everyone who sat on the bench seat had the same complaint. Something needed to be done to change the visibility issues.
Since the height of the window would be a costly option to modify we decided that the seat height needed to be altered to provide the visibility we desired. After discussing how high to raise the seat we settled on 8 inches. Eight inches would give us some storage below the seat and provide the unencumbered view we were seeking.
The next issue was the platform between the helm seat and the helm itself. Bear with me for this is a hard situation to illustrate with words. So imagine you are approaching the helm seat. As you walk up to the seat you see an elevated platform. This platform is raised about 3.5 inches and is approximately 28 inches long and spans in width from the helm seat to the helm. No problem. You step up without giving it much thought. Now the purpose of the platform is to allow whoever is steering the boat to be comfortable in a seated position. If the platform was not there, you were going to need very long legs to sit comfortably in the helm seat! Now, you decide you want to move out of the helm seat and have a seat on the bench seat (located to the right of the helm seat). You have barely 12 inches of platform left before you will have to step down the 3.5 inches in order to sit on the bench seat. Got the picture?
Needleless to say it was a trip hazard. Even knowing that there was a height elevation change we were always missing the step! Now that we were increasing the height of the bench seat (close to the same height of the helm seat), we needed to raise the floor in front of the bench to prevent dangling feet. Raising the seat provided a perfect solution for eliminating the step beside the helm and thereby having one even surface across the platform. In our opinion the floor should have been one level across in front of both seats from the beginning. Have I mentioned I hate trip hazards, especially on a boat?
Lucky for us, Michael has done a lot of fiberglass work over the years. The first order of business was to measure lengths of wood that would act as spacers between the old floor and the new fiberglass floor Michael would fabricate. He would then coat these boards with polyester resin to prevent the wood from rotting. On top of these boards would rest a sheet of plywood (also coated with resin). Next would be several layers of fiberglass wetted with fiberglass resin. The last part of the process would be layers of gelcoat with the last coat matching the existing gelcoat.
Raising the platform also gave us more room to run wires from the helm and down the conduit/chase that is located under the bench seat. Another item in the plus column. As with most worthwhile projects this one was not difficult but did involve a fair amount of time and patience. Way to go Michael! Another boat improvement project well done!!