It is looking better. I replaced the seat bottom and back, which helped a lot. I also put a piece of black plexy on top of the console which covered 16 holes.
I am a but worried about the compass too. We shall see how it works out. I'll need to decide soon. I'll place them up there and see what happens.
I have not used Coosa. I've used balsa when I recored the deck on one of my boats. I also re-cored one of my hatches on this boat, but I built it up too heavy. It is nice and solid now, but it came out too heavy. I suppose it is only one hatch and doesn't matter much.
I like Nida Core. I suppose it would be more difficult to work with if you had just the "core" to work with. I'd be scared too.
Mine came in panels with a layer of glass on each side. And gelcoat. I ground off all the gelcoat and wish I'd taken more time to find some Nida-Core without gelcoat. It was not hard but tedious. If you add thickness tabbing the corners, then some fairing is required to make it flat.
For the hard top, I'm debating adding a few layers of glass on the top for thickness and to give it some camber.
How much do I like it? The E-Box weighs 9 lbs. I can pick up the hardtop with one hand.
I've already got plans in my head for more projects using the stuff.
I am toying with the idea of making a three sided hard enclosure. I wrapped up the console in plastic and tabbed the hardtop together in-place. All that work and I didn't spill a drop when I tabbed it together. All that plastic showed me what a solid enclosure would look like. My first thought was to make a canvas enclosure, and hiring the work out because I've never done and don't have a sewing machine. Those canvas covers always seem to shrink and then you fight a battle to zip them up. Then I though, hmm, why not make a hard enclosure? And then, why not make it removable? Why, not angle the top glass so there is no glare? Perhaps someday I'll do that. A full enclosure, hard on three sides and a canvas back would be very nice on cold days particularly with wind chill.
BTW, I am replacing the interior of a 46' sloop this summer. One of my projects is replacing the engine cover as the new engine has a smaller profile. Nida Core would be perfect for that. I also want to box off the engine as much as possible for sound deadening. I plan to tab in Nida Core every place I can to deaden sound. There are a few spots under the deck where that would help. I also have some lead sheeting. Nida, foam sound insulation, and lead sheets in combination could make that motor very quiet. I'd like that.
For the Center Console, I want to build a spash well. There is an indent and latches for one. My boat didn't have one when I bought it, probably because it interfered with the 20" shaft motor after they cut the transom down 5". I feel better with the plates raising the transom 5", but not completely safe. Remind me to tell you how my friend Saul sank two boats in one day.
I can build something that won't interfer with the motor. If I use Nida Core, it will weigh almost nothing. My also plan is to add two strips of stainless on either side to make the L channel into a U-channel so I can just drop a board in place, and use the existing latches to hold it down.
One 4x8 sheet of Nida Core would be enough to do the engine box on the sailboat, and the splash well on the CC.
Perhaps at some point I'll try just using the core. There must be a good method of bonding it to a fiberglass surface? Perhaps thickened epoxy, like West Systems 403 would work. Someone must know how to work with it.
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Night Sailor
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