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Latest update on my
project. I've been wanting to get my new transom core installed in a bad way. It
is a major milestone to me. Although I know there will be plenty of work to do
beyond that, I just feel that, mentally, I'll have this thing whipped if I can
get that transom core installed. So this past Sunday, my friend Ken showed up
and we got to work. First goal was to align the new bracket on the transom so we
could determine where the mounting holes would be drilled. I intend to use these
holes to throughbolt a homemade clamp in place that will squeeze the new core
against the existing transom skin.
So I threw this little A-frame together to get things started (isn't she a
beauty? )
Each rope runs
through a little pully and is tied to a board that would be inserted through
each access port on top of the bracket. The idea was that we could independently
raise or lower each side of the bracket until we had it aligned with the marks
we'd made on the transom.
It failed miserably...
I think I seperated a few vertebrae trying to lift my end and it never budged.
So we resorted to the sawhorse and shim method. It worked much better.
I think altogether, we aligned and re-aligned the thing 4 different times before we were satisfied. We worked a long time on it. Heck, even the dog got involved.
While I worked on building a clamping device, Ken got busy with a sheet of hard fiber board and a grinder. His mission was to make a pattern of the inside of the transom skin. We would then use the pattern to cut the plywood core and some glass pieces we'd need. What we thought would be a 20 minute job turned into a 3 hour ordeal. Ken would grind a little material off one side to lower a section of the pattern, only to find he had in effect raised the other side. He eventually got the knack of it though and turned out a superb pattern.
We got both sheets of plywood cut and dry fit in the transom.
Ken had to leave at that point so we put the transom core install on the back burner until another day. Over the next couple evenings, I was able to knock out a little more work on the transom skin and the corner boxes. I had already glassed some donor panels into the transom and the corner boxes and did most of the ugly dirty work on the inside where it wouldn't be seen by anyone. Now I needed to deal with the seam where the panels joined the existing sections of glass on the outside/visible sections. With some careful grinder work, I ground a shallow, V-shaped channel roughly 3/4 of an inch wide along all the various seams. In a few areas, I ground a little wider to remove some damaged pieces of glass. The idea was to grind just deep enough to reach the binding sections of glass I'd previously laid on the back side of each seam and taper into each panel as well.
Next step. Mix up some thick resin paste - roughly the consistency of peanut butter - to fill the gap. I chose 1/32 inch milled fibers for this job as I wanted a good structurally sound paste. I did add a touch of aerosil - just enough to take the last bit of wetness out of the resin. Then I just squished the putty into the seam with a putty spreader. By spreading the paste out onto a cutting board, I was able to slow the cure time dramatically. It also allowed me to cut little sections of paste off at a time so it could be carefully applied. The pics don't really show it but I overfilled the seams by at least a 1/4 inch. The excess will all sand off easily after its cured. I also drilled all of the mounting holes for the new bracket (well excluding one that I just plain out missed.)
I mixed about a pint and a half of paste but only catalyzed half of that each time. This allowed me to work without being rushed. I applied the leftover paste from each session to the thru hulls I'd filled in earlier (they needed a little more touch up work) and some voids on the inside of my fish box lid.
The fish box lid is
far from done. I just saw this as a good opportunity to prevent waste of the
leftover paste.
My immediate goals are to finish the clamping mechanism (I've got a bunch of holes to drill), glass the two pieces of plywood together that will make up the new transom core, finish fairing out the transom skin and corner boxes and get started on the mount for the Airmar ducer. With Hurricane Wilma now threatening us for the upcoming weekend, it doesn't look like I'll get that transom core installed just yet. Maybe next week...
