This boat has a generous motor well, to allow for a ladder and a step to climb back aboard. Incidentally, this photo shows the method used for turning the boat over a few times. Those are trailer winches mounted with straps going over a metal spool and under the boat.

Since the sides and back of the wall are all curved, I needed to assemble some support blocks from plywood pieces thin enough to be bent and glue laminated.

Below is the glued up assembly of three 1/4″ pieces of plywood.

After the glue set up, I shaped the pieces to hold the outside edge of the seat / step, and added a single leg framework to support the weight of someone climbing over.

Then, curved slats were installed to complement the curve of the back.

Here, the step is completed and ready for use. With the center cut out, the motor can be tilted forward during launch and travel.

This photo below was taken at Les Cheneaux Wooden Boat Show at Hessel, in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. With the ladder, step and a ski pole to replace the flag pole, it suggests the possibility of family use for swimming, tubing and skiing.

If I had planned ahead better, I would have installed the Ignition and Emergency Switches before the dash was permanently mounted in place. But I did not. So I had to devise a method of fitting them without drilling access from the back side.

The first problem was that the rectangular switch plate did not fit on the dash below the other gauges. It was too large and squarish to be pleasing esthetically with all of the other round bases.

The second problem was that gauges and switches usually need a larger hole on the back side of the dash and a smaller opening in the front for the dial and bezel rim to cover. The dash was already fixed, and I couldn’t get access to the back side.

So, I needed to make a wood washer to insert from the outside with the shape drawn on the paper below. The paper lists a sequence that was supposed to get me successfully through the process. That may not have been the final list!

Here is some experimenting, with hole saws, Forstner bits, and a bit of tune up sanding. The two wood washers getting close are between the blue hole saw and the standing Forstner bit. One is laying on the surface and the other is partly pressed into a suitable hole.

A last step in the process was finishing the middle hole with the Forstner bit, and finding a way to hold it for drilling on the press.

It eventually worked out, after more hours than should have been spent. Below is the dash on a pretty day in the fall in southern Michigan. And that is book matched Cherry in the foward panel.

Here is a detail photo of the end result, with the washers holding the rims of the switches, and glued into the dash. Incidentally, they were made of Okume marine plywood for strength in all directions, and blend just fine with the Sycamore.

A boat is full of surprises, and fortunately by now, I am forgetting many of the detours that took so much time and creative energy to solve. I am finishing three years work on this boat, averaging 10-15 hours a week, which is around two thousand hours. . .