Ventilators & Jib Sheet Cleats | Installation

A couple of fittings could not be installed on the cabin roof while the non slip finish was being applied, so it was time to get them fitted.

The ventilators are in two parts.

The first is a plug which screws into the base plate from inside the Dorade box to seal the vent, if required.

This is it in place.

The second is a cowl which fits over the lip on the outside of the base plate.

These cowls are inflexible, as they should be, and need to be warmed up to soften them before fitting.

Here they are soaking in a bucket of hot water.

A smear of washing up detergent around the lip of the base plate provides some lubrication for for fitting the cowls, which then slide easily into place.

Here is the port ventilator.

The port jib sheet lead and cleat fitting is also now in place, behind the cowl on the cabin roof.

And here is the starboard ventilator, also installed.

Again, the starboard jib sheet cleat is visible just above the toe rail.

So, another job ticked off the list!

Boom Gallows Poles | Stanchion Fastenings

How to hold the boom gallows support tubes securely in their stanchion support fittings had been on my mind for a very long while.

Each stanchion support is equipped with a pair of grub screws which are tightened onto the tubes when fitted, like this.

The grub screws themselves are M6 in A4 stainless steel with a conical tip, like this.

I assumed that they would be secure enough when tightened, but an engineering-minded visitor pointed out to me that the poles could easily slip loose because the points of the grub screws do not bite into the tubes to hold them in place. A friction only grip would not suffice. We needed dimples in the poles to seat the grub screw tips.

OK, understood. So how to do this?

It was clearly necessary to drill a small dimple in each tube to act as a recess for the screws.

So firstly I used a permanent marker to highlight the screw holes on each tube, like this.

Then I tightened each grub screw until its sharp point bit into the tube, showing where the dimple needed to be. Like this, with the tube removed.

So far, so good. Now I needed to drill the dimples.

Previous experience drilling stainless steel showed me that a drill bit would wander on the rounded surface of the tube unless it was guided by a small indentation as it cuts.

So, a centre punch was required.

Some research quickly revealed that an ordinary metal worker's punch would not suffice - it would not be hard enough to penetrate stainless steel.

We needed a special punch. It transpired that Starret make such a punch - their number 117 E was what was required.

Here it is.

And here are the hammer and punch ready for action.

Nylon vice clamps were deployed in the drill vice to hold each tube while it was centre punched, like this.

That worked well, and drilling the dimples was then straightforward enough. Here we are using the pillar drill to do so.

I used a 3mm drill, because I didn't want the dimple to be so big that the screw would not grip tightly.

And here are the resultant dimples.

A test fit worked well. Here are the grub screws locking the tube firmly in place.

Ans lastly here is the boom gallows, securely held on its support poles.

Another job complete!

Rub Rails | Applying Varnish

And so we move on to the rub rails, and their many coats of varnish.

This is a finishing project, so very exciting because it means the end of the workshop refurbishment is in sight, and she will be back on her trailer in the not-too-distant future.

The first task was to clean up the join with the topsides, to obtain a clean and sharp line. I used a sharp triangular scraper to do this, as here.

When that was done I sanded the upper face of the rails by hand using a P240 grit.

The side faces already had several coats of varnish from when the hull was upside down, so didn't need to be revarnished from scratch.

This is the top of the port rail, awaiting varnish.

Epifanes stipulate that three sealing coats of varnish are required on bare wood.

This ensures that the varnish soaks into the wood, providing a really good seal for the top coats.

The three coats are made with 50%, 25% and 15% thinners, and are sanded by hand between coats with P220, P220 and P320 grits respectively.

So I did this, as I did successfully on the lower and side faces when the boat was upside down.

That looked OK but I decided to repeat the third coat with15% thinners, just to be sure.

So this is the port rail, after the fourth coat and with the masking tape pulled.

It was starting to look quite good, but more finishing coats were clearly needed.

Until now I had only applied varnish to the upper face of the rails, but the side faces would now need be prepared and varnished at the same time as the finishing coats on the upper faces.

So the paintwork on the lower hull needed to be protected from any resultant mess and splashes of varnish.

I taped polythene sheeting under the rub rails, using small bits of blue tape. In this way I could be sure that no marks would be left on the blue paint by tape, which has happened before. Like this.

Repeated coats of varnish were then applied, thinned at 5% and wet sanded between coats with a P400 grit.

I also pulled the masking tape between coats, to keep a nice edge with no step.

I continued this until the tenth coat, when I decided to apply an un-thinned coat of varnish for a final, shiny finish.

Here is the tenth coat, with its masking tape pulled.

For some reason which I don't understand, there were small patches where it looked as if the varnish had not fully covered the grain.

Almost as if the substrate had 'gassed' causing bubbles to rise to the surface of the wet varnish.

Anything to do with the heat which we are experiencing?

Who knows... anyway, I marked up the 'dry' patches with tape, like this.

I then dry sanded the patches with P320 and P400 grits and resealed them with more varnish.

When dry I again sanded the patches with P320 and P400 grits, before sanding both rub rails with fine nylon abrasive pads to get a uniform matt, flat surface.

Finally I retaped and applied the eleventh coat with 5% thinners, which worked well. Here is the result.

And lastly, this is what it looked like with the tape pulled.

That's not bad at all. I think I could get it a little better with more coats, but I honestly don't think the difference would even be discernible. So I won't bother.

So... that's the rub rails complete and another activity on the finishing list is complete.

Hooray!!!

Rudder | Final Coat of Gloss

I found time to work on the rudder between other more urgent activities.

It wasn't time critical that the rudder be progressed, but I found it annoying that it had been sitting around for ages waiting for its final coat of gloss paint and I hadn't done anything.

So when I had time to spare I prepared for the next (and hopefully final) coat of paint.

First I taped the rudder up for its sixth coat of blue gloss. I used 3M 218 Fine Line masking tape to mask off the critical join between white and blue gloss, and 3M 244 to cover up the adjoining white paint. Like this.

This time I made doubly sure to properly burnish the edges of the 218 tape before applying paint, to prevent bleeding. I have shown a tea spoon in the pic which works quite well, but a thumbnail is just as effective and is easier to use.

Here is the rudder, ready for paint.

And here it is after its sixth coat of blue gloss.

I added 5% thinners, as usual, and used a 1 1/2" brush which worked well.

I pulled the tape and left the rudder to cure, like this.

That looked good. Next came the final coat of white.

Here we are taped up for white gloss, in exactly the same way.

I burnished the edges thoroughly with the spoon and a thumbnail, and carefully applied the paint with 5% thinners and 1 1/2" brush. It went well, and this is how it looked.

I stuck this Post It note to the rudder so I wouldn't forget to burnish the tape, as happened with the fifth coat and hence the resultant bleeding.

This is the final result, with tape pulled.

No bleeding, and a decent finish to the white gloss. Looking good!

That's the rudder finished, and another tick off the list.

Cockpit Deck | Non Slip Finish

This post comes with an up front warning - it's a long one!

It's either that or two or three posts covering the same ground, which would I think be even more tedious.

There is a lot to cover, and I don't want to miss anything out that might be of interest or importance on this topic.

Plus I will forget how I did all this in a few weeks time, and I need an accurate record for the photo diary.

So... let's get on with it, shall we?!

First came the port side of the cockpit deck, alongside the footwell.

Here I am using the laser level to mark up the non slip panel.

I am using the laser to make sure the inside edge of the panel is parallel to the footwell.

And in this pic I am again using the laser to mark up the rear edge of the panel, athwartships, to make sure it is parallel to the hatch lid.

3M 244 masking tape has been laid in place along the laser beam.

The curved outside edge required a different tactic. I used a thin, flexible wooden lath to strike a fair line along the seatback, held in place with three lumps of BlueTack. Like this. 

This is how the Blue Tack worked.

When I was satisfied that the lath was describing a fair curve, I marked it up with blue tape. like this.

I then removed the lath and taped in the outside edge of the panel with the 3M tape, as here.

I the then removed the blue tape, leaving the outside edge in place for the panel.

Here is the port non slip panel all taped up, including the corners.

This is the corner of the port panel, next to the mainsheet block.

Next I taped up the starboard panel in exactly the same way.

Here it is, all taped and ready to go.

Now it was time to prepare the panels for the non slip finish.

The first step was to wet sand them both with a P400 grit, like this.

A coat of white gloss followed, immediately covered by the Griptex non slip compound using the same broadcast technique as the cabin roof.

This is what they looked like.

I'm not sure if I have described the roller sleeve I used for the cabin roof, so here it is. It comes from Redtree and is lint free and low knap. I cut this one in half to get a 3 1/2" sleeve.

Here it is fitted to the birdcage roller frame.

This type of sleeve lays down a really thin and even layer of paint which I think is good for this application.

When dry the excess non slip compound was removed with the vacuum cleaner, and two sealing coats of paint were applied.

Here are both panels after the second coat, with masking tape pulled.

I think you can just make out the matt finish on both panels.

Finally came the forward panel, between the footwell and the rear cabin wall.

In this pic I am using the laser level to mark up and tape the forward edge of the panel, in parallel with the cabin wall.

That worked well, with the laser level fastened to the garage door overhead gantry, as in this pic.

The curved outer edges were marked up and taped using the wooden lath, BlueTack and blue tape. Like this.

And here the 3M tape has been added to make the outer edge.

At last the forward panel was all taped up, including the corners. Here it is.

Next came wet sanding with the P400 grit, in preparation for paint. See below.

And here we are applying paint with the Redtree birdcage roller.

The Griptex non slip compound was then generously applied to the wet paint. Like this.

Here is a corner, showing how I made sure the corners were well covered.

The roller sleeve now makes another appearance, to describe its lint free surface which is so well suited to this sort of use.

This is the forward panel after its second sealing coat of gloss, still taped.

And here is the mainsheet block after the masking tape has been pulled, showing its neat edging.

Lastly, here is the whole cockpit deck with non slip panels completed.

Looking good, and another task ticked off the list!