Isn't this a wooden boat?

I fear a few purists are going to want to shoot me.

I needed to take a break from working on our cabin, so for a refreshing change I started working on a different cabin. The starboard cabin has been 90% finished for a long time, but the outstanding item is the bulkhead next to the outboard berth.

When the previous owner installed the new gensets, they had to run an exhaust for each genset. On the starboard side it exits the engine room through the watertight(ish) bulkhead and runs under the deck under the upper stringer. To fit the exhaust through (and a lot of new cabling) they cut out the timber supports for the bulkhead, leaving nothing for the panels to attach to, and the whole thing was given a hasty patch-up for the trip down from the USA.

The exhaust runs along the top. Note the size of the rightmost rib - they weren't cutting corners!

The panels are in two parts, the lower panel is original (and missing the storage locker that used to be built into it), while the panel on the top is a temporary piece of ply. I have no idea if it was originally in two parts or if they cut down the panel when installing the exhaust.

I could not install new verticals because the exhaust is in the way, so I needed to run a horizontal beam across the full width which I can use to attach the existing bulkhead panel to. I could (perhaps should) have done this with timber, but it would be bulky and getting everything squeezed in around the cabling etc was bit tough. So I elected to instead fit some timber supports on the fore and aft bulkheads and then run a 5 x 50 right-angle stainless steel beam fastened to the supports. Not wooden, but compact, rigid, and easy to fit (and remove).

Beam in place.

I have fitted the base panel back on and now I have a nice rigid bulkhead. Next steps will be to make up a new upper panel, build a new storage locker box to fit into the bulkhead, paint it all, and finally make teak trim for everything.  It's a good thing I don't have anything else to do...