Week 18: Short week

It was a short week of boat work for us. We only got a day and a half in, but it was a full scale effort.

On Monday after flying back to town we finished up on the slider rails for the sliding companion way hatch. We had cast the bolts in epoxy to get threaded holes and I had to disassemble them, sand off the excess epoxy and clean the rails. We also filled and sanded the companionway sides to get them ready for the new teak trim that the doors will seat against. The old trim was chewed up and so we are making new ones.

We also epoxied in the cleats to hold the autopilot shelf. The back edge of the cockpit locker openings were fiberglassed to strengthen them and fill the old hinge holes. We also got a second coat of bilge paint on the engine, fuel tank and water tank areas. These three things got started after 5:00 pm and we finished after 9:00. Things just take longer than you think.

casting — Only minor epoxy leaks happened. We are getting better at this.

Tuesday we needed to cast the holes for the stanchion braces. To do this we removed the stanchions and the toe rails. They had been put back on to locate where the braces would go. Then we had to drill out the holes. They go in from the sides of the boat through the shear clamp. To cast them we drilled down from the deck into the holes and then taped off the horizontal holes. This time we had no gushers. Epoxy is sneaky. It waits until you think it’s kicked, and then it leaks. Only a couple of slow oozes, thankfully, but we did have one set of holes that absorbed an amazing amount of epoxy.

The other exciting thing that happened is the holes for the thru-hulls got cut out. thru-hulls are valves in the bottom of the boat that let water in or out. These are at least 1 1/2 inches in diameter, so you make the boat watertight and then cut big holes into it. The thru-hulls will be flush with the hull to reduce drag.