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And finally, I completed a few other tasks. I made up this template from some leftover hard fiber board.
Which was then used
to cut out this false bulkhead from a donor panel. This will be glassed into the
bilge, between the stringers, in the location of the old in deck livewell. 2
part foam will be poured in from behind before the old livewell lid is glassed
over.
I also re-built the mold for my transom cap. I made the first one just a little too skinny for my needs. It now has a new home up in Maine, I believe. This one's been coated with 5 or 6 coats of mold release wax so she's ready to go.
And I temporarily installed the trim tabs. This was done so I could determine the actuator mounting location. I'll be overdrilling these sections of the transom from the inside, refilling with glass/resin and re-drilling to the proper size. I also re-drilled all the other holes in the transom (bracket mounting bolts, lifting rings, etc). It was very satisfying to see no wood shavings coming out of any of the holes.
That's it for now. In the upcoming week, my goals are to install the false bulkhead in the bilge, drill/glass the trim tab actuator mounts, gel-coat the bilge area and install the corner boxes.
First up was
overdrilling the transom from the inside in the location of the trim tab
actuator mounts. The idea being to stop before drilling into the outer transom
skin. Then, in keeping with the transom theme so far, I'd refill them with
layers of resin and glass. I wasn't about to shell out the dineros for a 3"
forstner bit so I used a 3" hole saw and carefully drilled until I just reached
the outer skin. I set the depth of the guide bit such that when it just poked
through, I knew when to stop. Then I used my 1.25 inch forstner bit to clean out
the 3 inch plug. It actually worked pretty well.
They filled in nicely but I forgot to take pics of that. Next move was installation of the corner boxes. This proved much more challenging than I'd figured. I knew the parts had probably changed shape a bit after being out of the boat for a few months and considering that I'd done some glass work on them but it was more than I'd expected for sure. I wrestled with these things for an entire day before being satisfied with the fit. I ground off some glass in areas and used temporary wood scabs to pull parts together in others.
The screw in that last pic is screwed into a temporary scab screwed in from underneath. I used it and a rubrail screw to control the vertical alignment of the box. After glassing all the other seams from behind and letting them kick, I removed it and the temporary scab below and glassed the top seam from underneath. Each seam got 3 overlapping layers of 1708. Before glassing the bottom horizontal seams, I cut off the exposed parts of the drywall screws that were holding the temporary scabs in from behind with a dremel tool. This way I had no problems getting a good lamination on that seam. The port box went together just the same so I won't bore you with those pics. I have ground and prepared the seams on the outside now but have not glassed them just yet. Its a little cool right now but should warm up over the next couple days.
