| Bolero
Project |
Friday, February 29, 2008 After the usual water-washing of yesterday's newly-epoxied bulkhead and cockpit fairing, I scuffed up the tabbing on the anchor bulkhead to remove sharp edges and prepare it for eventual paint, and also sanded the first coat of fairing compound in the cockpit. After allowing the dust to settle, I cleaned up the sanding debris. |
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Next, armed with the correct size and type of deep socket that I'd ordered, I re-torqued the keel bolts (1-1/8'" nuts), all except for the two that had contained (and one of which still included) the lifting eyes, as I discovered after the fact that these two bolts were of larger diameter than the rest, with correspondingly larger nuts as well (1-5/16"). As it happened all the other nuts were already at proper torque spec (140 ft-lb). With an eye towards wrapping up all the major structural work and loose ends, I continued with the layout and construction of the chainplates. In order to move the operation belowdecks, where I needed to reinforce the hull/deck joint and install new chainplate knees, I first had to mark and cut the slots from above. The two photos below show the undersides of each chainplate area--port on the left, starboard on the right. As noted during earlier stages of the project, repairs to these areas had been effected sometime previously, and the work was of substantially differing nature from side to side. The work on the port side was nearly passable; that on the starboard side was a visual mess that provided little reassurance as to its overall quality and would require more work throughout all steps of the upcoming process, I was sure. In the event, there was plenty of work ahead on both sides. |
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Yesterday I marked the center locations of all four chainplates, so I began by drawing, with the aid of a long straight edge, lines across the boat between each set of chainplates to provide a proper alignment mark for the slots themselves. The new layout lines also served to further double-check the overall layout and symmetry of the chainplates, since I could check the lines' distance from the previously-established cockpit opening. Everything checked out the way it should have given the careful measurement to the chainplates' position, but nonetheless additional vindication was always helpful. |
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Using a representative chainplate as a guide, I centered the top hole over the marks I made yesterday and marked the width of the chainplate from side to side; this would be the overall length of the slots required. Then, I drilled pilot holes and cut out the remaining slots with a saw. Again, as a third check for location accuracy, I was heartened to see that the slots ended up right in the middle of the old bolt pattern still visible from belowdecks. |
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After completing the port slots, I repeated the process on the starboard side, though it took longer the second time thanks to the thick and messy fiberglass work that some ghostly former person had completed on that side; the mess belowdecks was so thick that it forced the jigsaw blade off at an angle, meaning that the slot was too narrow at the lower end to allow passage of the chainplate; ergo, I had to broaden the slot from beneath, a task more challenging than it might have been thanks, once again, to the sloppy and bulging fiberglass work there. Both sides will require substantial additional preparation and reinforcement as I continue with the chainplates' installation, but the starboard side would surely continue to provide additional thorns in my side throughout the process. This, too, shall pass. I wrapped up the day by applying a second coat of fairing compound to the cockpit areas as necessary. |
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