4th April
Spring a bit slow in showing its face. Dodging hail showers today. Still ticking along here though.
Box under construction. 8mm ply . 200mm fore and aft and 350mm deep and the width of the cockpit. Will be able to store plenty of gas canisters as well as other goodies.
In the process of bolting the tab brackets. So far only the port side finally fixed. I had to remove all the buoyancy foam through the hatch at the foot of the quarter berth and bolt on extensions to my arms to reach the eyebolts to fit the nuts and washers. Mrs Nut outside to hold the eyebolts in alignment. Sikaflex 291i all squished out so should not leak.
Tab fits very well. After glassing the mount and even after 2 coats of epoxy primer I was not happy with the fit. Even though it was snug it was not tight. I decided to grind off all the primer and glass another 5 layers of 200g/m2 with the trailing edge clamped a bit closed without the tab inside. After curing for a few days I did a test fit and it was nice and tight. Then slapped on a couple of coats of epoxy primer and with a 2 day window of nice warm, no wind and low humidity weather gave all the bits a couple of coats of PU paint sprayed on. Also gave an old aluminium tube I had a couple of coats of epoxy primer after a good sand and it also got the spray treatment. I will have 2 running poles - one 50mm dia with proper end fittings and one 38mm(od) with homemade delrin end fittings. Both poles are 2.4m long just because that was the length that I had. If they are too long it is very easy to shorten. 3m was recommended by a skipper that has already crossed the Atlantic but got to go with what I have.
This is the hatch Im working through. So far the first layer of foam as been refitted. I forgot to number those pieces so it was a bit of a jigsaw.
This is the rest of the foam for the port side aft. I decided to do each side separately so there is no chance of mixing up the foam pieces. Still got to finish the boarding ladder mounts and the pushpit so they can be bolted on before closing up the port side and moving over to the stbd side.