The first task of the day was the fourth coat of varnish on the new aft navigation light mount and that before breakfast to get it out of the way and done.
For my first tea break I cut then end of the dowel that was glued in last night, flush with the transom and gave the entire area that will be under the rubbing strake a sand to get rid of any high spots.
Following that I put some new screw hole in the case top that was on wonky and screwed that down to the case. As you can see, it is no longer wonky. I also gave this a quick sand as it will get a coat or two of varnish in the near future and I had the sandpaper to hand.
Finally, I checked that the new piece still aligned correctly and marked the cut line at the aft end.
Then it was back to work.
The lunchtime tasks started with putting the screw holes in the new case top and fry fitting it, just to check.
A pretty good fit ad the slight mismatch is due to the rounding on the old piece not being quite the same as the new. Not going to worry about it, though.
At the other end the fit is good and there is plenty of space to mount the plate uphaul jamming cleat.
With a new sanding disk in the angle grinder I started to shape the remaining untouched part of the top of the block. Not easy due to the space restrictions, but this is close enough for the rough work and I’ll resort to something a little less aggressive to finish it off.
Next up was the transom eye replacement only this didn’t go as planned. There was another broken screw in the middle hole, so I had to stop what I was doing, drill out the broken screw, plug the hole and put the eye on. I’ve left the screw out of the middle hole until the glue has dried.
The other side was just as bad only this time the holes were too big for the screws. These also were drilled out and plugged and will be drilled with the pilot holes for the screws once the glue has dried.
Still, not bad for a lunch break, so it is back to work.
I had a reply from one of the local boatyards regarding my proposed leak test. They said that they could do it but the cast would be £504 including VAT. Far too much so after work we took a trip to other one of the local boatyards and asked then about using their launching slip. The charge would be £50 if I launched her myself or £150 if they used their launching tractor to push the trailer into the water.
We settled on my trying with out Honda CRV, which should do the trick without problems, but if I did get into trouble, then they would use the tractor to sort things out. Next Thursday is leak test day ! I need to visit the cash machine.
On arrival home I started work on one of the case supports for which I have the original timber. It needed some adjustment as the new case side is slightly different to the old and it was also too short having been cut out of the bottom runners.
So, here are the pieces, the original support and the extension which will be glued to the bottom and located with a dowel.
The pieces were clamped together to ensure a tight joint.
After that I went out to the transom and completed the dry fitting of the eyes.
Both of these are now a good fit and ready for the assembly.
The thin copper sheet arrive this afternoon in the post, so the next task was to make a small copper cylinder for the pintle on the rudder stock. The trick with making rings or cylinders from sheet material is to shape the ends first. You never get a good result if you start in the middle and work towards the ends, they always turn out flat. The mechanics part of my degree in Electronics was useful for something !
The cylinder was made just a little short of completely around the pintle, as you can see here, to allow for the cylinder to be put on over the slightly larger end.
The gudgeon slips on quite nicely, so this part of the task was a success.
The copper washers also fit onto the cylinder.
This raises the issue that the gudgeon can be mounted on the transom higher than it is now. So I cut a larger piece of copper and made a longer cylinder.
I have to clean the varnish and verdigris of the pintle, but the larger cylinder went on well as did the washers although these were quite tight. A good thing as they stop the cylinder from just falling off. I’ll still need to put some glue on, but it is good that they are a tight fit.
The gudgeon also fits well over the longer copper and is a snug fit, no play at all. This makes me wonder about doing the same thing for the pintle on the transom.
I’ll think about that. Maybe another time.
So, a very productive day with things moving one. Just as well since I now need to make the gantry crane before Wednesday next week.
Oh the pain, the pain!
Time for a cup of tea.