I made an early start thing morning, but only for the varnishing which I carried out before breakfast. After that I started making some muffins. English ones not the American kind.
Spoiler alert, this is how they came out a couple of hours later.
There were eight, but we had to try them out. This is the first time I’ve made muffins like this and they worked out well.
Whilst the transom was still warming up, it might have been reading 13º C at the weather station but the mass of the boat takes a little time to warm up, I put masking tape on the graving pieces…
…and on the transom. Epoxy will squeeze out of the seams when the graving pieces are put in and the tape helps to prevent that from getting on the rest of the transom.
I used an infrared temperature meter to check the temperature of the transom and once it had reached 13º C I applied neat epoxy to all the edges of the graving pieces and the recesses, then applied some thickened epoxy to the mating surfaces. This was to fill any gaps between the mating surfaces and was just a thin layer, not loads. I used the fast hardener since I want this to kick off quickly and to be cured before the temperature drops below 10ºC. You can see where I have scraped off the squeeze out.
You may also notice that I’ve used some modified truss head screws to hold the graving pieces in place since there is no practical way to clamp them. I’ll fill in the screw holes once the epoxy has reached full strength.
It is imperative to epoxy all the edges of the plywood to prevent the inner cores from soaking up water. Some of the remaining epoxy was liberally spread in the top of the new transom piece.
It is also fairly important to remove the tape before the epoxy hardens too much. When the seams stop oozing then it’s time to get the tape off. I will have to apply more stain to the graving pieces, I’ll do that later.
Once that was out of the way it was time to dry fit the case sides. they are a pretty good fit, just a couple of slight modifications to make them fit without needing a mallet.
The new top part of the aft block is too short and I will have to make a piece to fit on top of this to bring it up to the level of the case sides.
The pivot bolt almost fitted through but I did have to widen the hole in the starboard side slightly to allow the bolt to go in easily. It is out of focus, but you can see the pivot spacer in position. I wrapped a wire coat hanger around the spacer to be able to get it in the correct place and so that it doesn’t drop out when I take the bolt out. I needed to tighten this up to the point where the spacer is hard against the case sides as this draws the sides together a little.
I was delighted to see that the two original top pieces that came off the old case fit perfectly on the new on. I must be doing something right.
There is virtually no step between the new case and the tops.
The top piece that went in here was destroyed in the removal, unfortunately, but I have some Sapele left and can make up another one easily enough.
I stopped at this point as I made three mistakes one after the other. Getting tired and there isn’t really any hurry any more.
Time for a cup of tea.
So then, moving on…
I put another coat of stain on the graving pieces and then gave the entire transom another coat of the stain. As you can see, it has made a complete difference. The graving pieces are not so noticeable now and the entire transom is darker. I expect that this will lighten a little once it has dried, but it is looking pretty good.
These are the cutoffs from when I made the new aft block top and I can use one one them to make the piece I need to heighten the block.
Like this. The new piece will be glued onto the top of the block and shaped to fit. Once the case sides have been properly fitted I’ll cut it down to the correct height since it is deliberately too high.
Finally, for work on Shoal Waters today, I removed the end pieces of the rubbing strake at the top of the transom, making space for the new one once I have made it.
The deck and transom under the rubbing strake seems to be in good condition. This is the area where the repair was made…
…and this looks to be original.
Time for a cup of tea.