January 4, 2019

Dharma Rose 24

Friday

I removed the temporary glue block securing the galley sink through hull pad, and cleaned up around the pad a bit, lightly sanding as needed to remove any sharp bits inside and out.  Afterwards, I dry-fit the flange base, temporarily securing it with nuts to the stuffs, and from outside threaded in the through hull fitting to check the fit and to see if I’d need to cut the fitting at all for a tight fit (no).

With the tight space in which to work, for this fitting I decided to pre-assemble the through hull valve, flange, and hose fitting to streamline installation, so down on the bench I tightly threaded together the pieces with pipe dope.

After final preparations, I permanently installed the seacock from inside with some polyurethane sealant on the mating surface, securing it hand tight (for now) with the fixing nuts.  Outside, I started the threads of the through hull, then added lots of the sealant to the through hull neck and flange before securing it tightly with my through hull tool.  Back inside, I tightened the fixing nuts, securing the flange tightly, then checked from outside to ensure that I’d tightened the through hull as much as possible; with the tighter nuts inside, I was able to get a fraction of a turn more from outside.

Afterwards, I cleaned up all the excess sealant.

Back at the bench, I assembled the valves and hose fittings for the cockpit scupper through hulls, then installed these to the pre-installed flange bases in the boat, adjusting the rotation of each fitting to ensure that the valve handles cleared each other and the eventual hoses.  I planned to leave the new hoses off till somewhat later, to give me ample room for the engine installation, shafting install,  and exhaust system.

I brought the new ship’s batteries aboard and tested the fit in the battery locker beneath the cockpit sole, and also ensured that my new battery cables would reach all terminals appropriately (they did).  I made up jumpers to connect the two banks, but for now didn’t install any of the wiring since I still needed to secure the batteries.  I ordered some straps for this purpose.

I planned soon to begin the installation of the new Monitor windvane, so I unpacked the box containing it and its component parts so I could check the included inventory and ensure that everything I needed was there.

The windvane came with a stern light pre-wired through the tubing, but not installed to its welded bracket, so I took care of that now.

To finish off the chainplates on deck, I made up a series of cover plates from 1/4″ fiberglass, cutting slots to allow the plates to fit over the chainplates.  On this boat, there was enough room between the bulwarks and the chainplates to allow the covers to slip over the top; on a previous version of this boat I’d had to leave the slots open from the end for clearance.

After checking the fit on each chainplate, and marking accordingly, I eased all the edges of the rectangular plates, and rounded the corners, before applying a coat of spray primer to begin the finishing process.

With some other minor odds and ends and consulting with the rigger who arrived to take away the rigging for replacement, I wrapped up the day and the short week.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  20°, clouds.  Forecast for the day:  Sun and wind, low 30s