A Great Invention... A Great Day....

On the aft deck of Blowin' Bubbles we have a large lazarette with 2 big doors.  Prior to the re-fit there were two big turn latches that kept the doors closed but they were never ablt to lock and Shelly stubbed her toe on them way too many times.  As a result, when I rebuilt the doors when I did the deck, I added two simple stainless steel turn latches that were flush with the deck.  This solved the "toe stubbing" problem but the security issue still remained unresolved.

The easiest solution wouild have been to add a latch that we then could have attached a pad lock to but that would have addressed the security issue but, you guessed it, created another toe obstruction.
After many hours of thought, I came up with what might just be the best invention of this whole re-fit.
I went to my friend at the Metal Supermarket and purchased 2 pieces of 2" x 2 1/2" x 10" of block aluminum, 2 pieces of 1 1/4" x 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" of block aluminum and 2 pieces of 1/2" diameter x 5 1/2" aluminum rod.  I also ordered 2 throttle cables from Defender and created a plunge lock mechanism that will not only secure the lazarette doors, but also make accessing them really easy.  With my good friend Clayton, we fabricated the plung locks today.

I will be installing the plungers between the doors under the deck and the receiver blocks on the underside of the doors themselves.

The last job I finished up today was completing the running lights and the bilge pump for the dinghy.  I have sewed a small bag that will hold the nav lights, the oar paddles and the hand water pump when not in use.  The battery compartment now has a connection for a small charging unit if the solar panel can't keep up.