April 19, 2021

Lyra 61

Monday

Over the weekend, I finished up the varnish on the coamings with the sixth coat on the inboard sides, leaving them ready for installation now that there’d been two full days to allow the varnish to fully cure..

After spending the morning on another project, I got to work installing the coamings.  This was relatively straightforward since I’d already fitted them, but now I had to mark and drill the cabin sides for the screws that would secure the return blocks at the forward end.  Once that was done, I applied butyl tape to the mating surfaces to keep water out of the screw holes, and installed the coamings with screws and finish washers to allow them to remain removable for easy maintenance going forward.

Once both sides were in place, I turned to the winch stands and winches, which the owner had preassembled, so now it was just a matter of laying out and installing the bronze winch bases with four bolts.  As I started the layout, I found that there were old sealant-filled screw holes already in place in the deck right about where I’d been planning to place the bases anyway, so this made the placement decision easy.

With the base held in place with two bolts through the existing deck holes, I marked, drilled, and countersunk from the inside a pair of boltholes to secure the upper edge of the stands in place, then finished the installation permanently with sealant at the deck and bronze bolts all around (hex bolts at the deck mount, flathead machine screws through the coamings).  I had enough time before the end of the day to finish up the port winch; the starboard winch should go quickly next time.

Meanwhile, I continued work on the small taffrail modification/repair.  After a light sanding of the second round of fairing compound, I deemed the fairing work complete, and to finish off the patch for now I applied a couple coats of 2-part white primer for protection and a semblance of cosmetics till the rest of the deck could be properly painted.

Total time billed on this job today:  2.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  30°, clear.   Forecast for the day:   Sunny, 62°