Settee, Cockpit Seats and Final Floor Details

This month we took a trip to the Gulf Islands of British Columbia to look at Falcon, aWilliam Fife 8 meter built in1930, and visit with her owner. Falcon still has much of her original interior including, among other things, cockpit grates and settees. We came home and went to work creating settees and cockpit grates that closely duplicate Fife's original work.

New settees for Sulaire are made from Spanish Cedar which has the grain characteristics of mahogany but is lightweight like red cedar. The slats are made of lumber gleaned from a huge, old growth yellow cedar log that a friend salvaged with my help over 20 years ago.


There are lift out panels, similar to Falcon's that provide access to the hull below the seat.

Looking forward, access panels back in place.

To build the cockpit seat grates I set up a jig for the router in order to cut 1/2 inch wide X 1/4 inch deep channels in boards of Spanish cedar.


These were ripped into strips 1/2 inch wide.


The strips were then fitted together to create the field of the grates.



Also this month, with all the keel bolts from the stern to the mast step in place, I was able to open up the forward cradle enough to add two more strap floors and...


fit the last two planks.

The whiskey plank. Cheers.