| Kaholee Refit |
March 8, 2007 With all the backing plates in place for the seacocks, I continued the pre-installation process by temporarily installing the through hulls and seacocks so that I could mark for, and drill, the mounting bolt holes. This also gave me an opportunity to ensure that the fittings could be threaded tightly together. There's not much to tell about this process: install the fitting, align it properly, mark the holes in the flange, and drill. Once I had drilled the holes from the inside out, I very slightly reamed them out from the exterior, and then milled a countersink in the hull to accommodate the bugle head machine screws, milling the recesses just deep enough to allow the heads to be barely beneath the surrounding surfaces. I washed and sanded the epoxy fill from yesterday, and used a drum sander to clean out the insides of the holes as necessary. While I was at it, I washed and sanded the epoxy seal coat that I applied to the exterior of the old seacock patches a few days ago. With that, all the preparatory work for permanently installing the seacocks was complete. Now, I just have to wait till Monday, when I have some help coming for the installation of the seacocks and ports. |
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After I installed the fuel tank and fittings a while back, it came to my attention that applicable ABYC standards dictate the use of stainless steel or other bushings between the aluminum tank and any brass--or other copper-containing alloy--fittings, thanks to a reported propensity for copper and aluminum to quickly corrode when in the presence of water. So to address this issue, today I removed the brass fittings that I had installed before, and replaced them with 316 stainless steel, using either a bushing between the tank and the brass fitting, or, in the case of the return line, a stainless steel elbow, to which I later (post-photos) secured a regular brass barbed fuel fitting. |
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In the afternoon, I prepared for some more painting--this time with more of the gray Bilgekote. With most of the work aft beneath the cockpit complete, I painted out some of the areas that I had previously left unpainted, though for now I left the newly-installed seacock pads alone to give the epoxy more time to cure before painting over it. Then, I applied a first coat of paint to the plywood in the v-berth, and the settee tops in the saloon. |
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