The Roof: Episode I

So, with the wheelhouse roof sorted and the existing main roof patched and made (almost) waterproof, it was time to begin the Grand Plan. We brought huge quantities of 75X50mm battens aboard, and a whole load of sheets of OSB, which although not as pretty as Plywood, is much cheaper, just as strong for our use and actually provided a better textured 'key' for the fibreglass we would be laying over it.

Then, with rex's help

we started work. The plan was to build a frame around the edge of each panel of the roof, fill it with insulation, and then cover it with a sheet of OSB before fibreglassing on top to seal it all in. This meant raising the overall level of the roof, and THIS meant we had to also raise the level of the central walkway that runs down the middle of the roof. So as well as screwing in the first parts of the frames, down the sides of the windows, we took the walkway up


and added another thickness of batten along each side underneath it, raising it up.



Then it was time for the insulation itself. This was a fun job, since once we had carried the 19 8'x4' sheets of 75mm thick celotex down the mooring and onto the boat

it was actually a quick and easy process to cut them to size and slot them into the frames on the roof. We used our new favourite toy, a chalk line, to mark out the cut line

and then just cut them with a kitchen knife (long rigid blade, unlike a stanley knife or similar) and dropped them into place.


In one day, including taking delivery of the sheets, we completed the insulating part of the process, hurrah!