Hatch is welded

What was a big hole in the cabin roof, is now officially a removable hatch.

Now I have to make a decision on how to finish it.

The combing came out nicely, there is a 1-1/2" flat portion on the top perimeter that will accept a gasket seal.

Then the lid, or hatch portion itself fits on top with an overhanging lip. No way for water to get in. The expedient way to finish this part would be to just bolt it down and end up with a semi-permanent, yet removable opening.

Or I can proceed with cutting yet another hole in order to fit a piece of 1/2" lexan into the lid, install hinges, catches and have a see through opening hatch.

Haven't decided yet, for now I'll just be looking at the inside of the shiny new aluminum panel while focusing on some more pressing items.

Now that the major structural welding items are completed, I'll be bringing some of the creature comfort systems on line.

Installed the hot water tank a couple of days ago, right now it's just working on shore side AC power, but I gotta tell ya, even though I only have hot and cold running water at the galley sink, it feels like bloody luxury.

On Monday, I tackled the refrigeration system. Up until now, I basically knew what most people know about the fridge. You open the door and it's cold inside. Well on a boat, nothing could be that simple. Firstly, it looks nothing like what you think of as a fridge. Ours is built into an L-shaped galley counter, has a freezer on one side and a fridge on the other. Access is through top opening doors.

Nice color eh? Not!

Haven't worked out the cubic footage yet, but it's substantial for the average boat.

It has a rather large compressor, you know, the part that hums away nicely, letting you know that all is well in your world, and the beer is staying cold. This compressor is located in the engine room beneath the main salon. Now I understand why. Not only is it a pretty good size, but it needs to pump seawater through it's system as part of it's cooling operation. Have learned that systems of this type, only on a much larger scale, are used on the commercial fishing boats.

In order to fire up the compressor to see if it worked, I had to fool it into thinking that the boat is in the water. So I filled a 55 gal drum of water outside, and ran the seawater pump hoses into it, to act as a cooling heat sink. Then I started it up, ran it for about and hour while checking the freezer. No cold? Now it was time to learn about refrigeration. Cracked open Nigel Calder's boat maintenance bible and read and reread the chapters on refer systems. This opened up an interesting can of worms. All about CFCs - ozone depleting banned R12 refrigerants and so on. After going through the text and doing a couple of tests, I determined that the system required re-charging, much like an AC system on a car does. I thought, no worries, I'll get the stuff I need, like a set of gauges, refrigerant, and do it myself. Not so easy. Seems it's illegal for the average Joe to go out and buy himself refrigerant gas. You need to be licenced. It's all about the EPA.

After making a few calls, I finally located a guy that would come aboard a boat with a bottle of gas and pressure it up. After much grunting, groaning, crack of butt showing, he declared the system topped up and we could test it. Viola, cold freezer almost immediately. Big relief, compressor is a heavy duty commercial unit and seems to be in good order. I can put away the cooler, stop lugging home blocks of ice and enjoy some cold beer. Cheers!