110 Cookson Lane | Whitefield, ME 04353 | 207-232-7600 | tim@lackeysailing.com
Beginning inside the boat where I left off, I washed and lightly sanded the new tabbing securing the nav station bulkhead and galley countertop support. After cleaning up, I installed a short length of tabbing over the center of the galley countertop support to fill the final area where I'd clamped the piece in place during initial installation.
Along with sorting out various details for a replacement mast and shipping, which process was drawing to a conclusion, I worked on several odd jobs that had been nagging at me, and it seemed the perfect opportunity. The cockpit locker lids required minor pinhole filling after their primer coats, so to begin I cleaned the lids and applied fine filler as needed.
Preparing ahead for the new toerail construction, I pulled pieces of the original toerail out from storage to use as a guideline for the shape of the new, and located a length of scrap I could use to create a sample of the new piece. I'd get to work on this soon.
To wrap up minor repairs to the skeg after I'd drained liquid from the inside, I patched the holes and installed a length of biaxial tabbing around the leading edge, which I'd later fair into the skeg and rudder shoe as needed.
I'd been eyeing the Cutless bearing since the early days of the project, and knew I'd have to remove it. Unfortunately, as usual, it had been installed in such a way as to virtually prevent easy removal, with the end of the bearing flush with the protruding stern tube, and no signs of any setscrews--which meant the bearing was probably held in place with adhesive.
To begin, I chipped away some old filler that had been packed around the stub of the stern tube, then cleaned up the bronze to check for setscrews--none to be found. With little other choice, I moved on to other means of bearing removal, which ate upmost of the rest of the day.
Using a saw, I sliced through the bearing, hoping to pry up the insides and away from the inside of the stern tube. This had little ultimate effect, but did clear the way for me to use a 1-1/2" hole saw (equal to the inside diameter of the bronze stern tube) to bore out the old bearing from the aft end, a slow process. Removing pieces of the old bearing as I went along, I worked my way in as far as the hole saw would go, but finishing the job would require an extension to allow the saw to go deeper into the stern tube, as the Cutless bearing was roughly 4" deep. In any event, the old bearing had to go, and I'd continue the process with the new extension once it arrived.
Total Time on This Job Today: 6.5 hours
