The timber that joins the cabin sides to the cabin top has been glued into notches in the frames and three additional laminated roof beams have been fitted. All of a sudden the cabin is taking shape. As a bonus I am slowly getting back some space in the garage as the five laminated roof beams move to the cabin top. The eight beams were laminated at the time I cut out the plywood frames. Three beams were needed to attach to the frames and I produced the additional five using the same jig.
The first frame in from the companionway sits on the fore and aft plywood frames that form the sides of the head and the quarter berth ante room. This beam had to be installed before the beam clamp at the cabin edge so that the beam clamp can fit in notches in the laminated cabin beams. The rest of the laminated frames have no structure under them and they can be lifted into place. Cutting the notches in the laminated beams is a work of art. The notches slope two ways and have rounded inside edges to match the routered edge of the beam clamp. Patience is important and my legs are sore from climbing in and out of the boat test fitting the notches to the clamps. A cutting blade on a multipurpose tool has been very useful for trimming the timber carefully to shape.
I have adjusted the laminated beam spacing slightly to suit the hatches available in Australia. They connect only to the beam clamp and one set of beams that run down to the carlins so moving them a little has no impact on other aspects of the structure.
Two more beams to go and I will start working on the sloping front of the cabin top.
The first cabin edge beam clamp installed on our Didi 40 Cr
Both cabin edge beam clamps and additional laminated cabin beams installed on our Didi 40 Cr