Hawse Pipe Installation

 I liked the idea of installing hawse pipes into the forward section of the bow sides. They will not only be used for mooring and anchor lines but using a strap will also serve to secure the boat on the trailer.

I was fortunate enough to find an Australian distributer that had the exact size I required and at a good price.

After marking out the location I used a jig saw to cut out two holes in the forward bow section.

Due to force placed on the hawse pipes when a strap secures the boat to the trailer, I decided to beef up the area.

Firstly, I laid two additional layers of glass to the inside, ensuring the glass overlapped the fillets onto the deck area.

To provide good purchase for the hawse pipes securing screws, I laminated and shaped two 9mm thick plywood sections.

The port and starboard laminated sections are glued in place.

Three coats of epoxy are applied with a light sanding between each coat.

A trial fit...looks good from the outside....

and from the inside......

 

Cockpit Footwell Glassing

 

Starboard footwell side glassed.

Port side is glassed............

The footwell floor is sanded cleaned and masked up.

and fiberglass laid ready to be wetted out. 

And the final piece wetted out......

At last, another milestone, I have finished glassing all the top sections of the boat.

Glassing the Cockpit (Cont.)

 I've had a spell from glassing the cockpit by digressing to other sections of the yacht. But I have put it off long enough, so back to laying glass cloth. 

 

Port deck masked up and glassed ensuring overlaps on the curved fillets.

The deck to aft cabin wall had two overlapping 100 mm glass tapes previously laid over the fillet to ensure this area is very strong.

After smoothing in the overlaps from the port side, I glassed down the starboard section.

The two small aft sections next to the lockers complete the cockpit deck glassing.........footwell next

Boom Gallows

 To keep the weight down I will laminate western red cedar (which is very light timber) with hoop pine for the boom gallows. The red colored cedar will look nice laminated next to the light-colored hoop pine.

There will be a total of 11 laminations each measuring 8mm in thickness which will make the gallows strong.

I will also drill vertical holes through the laminations to further reduce weight.

An outline of the boom gallows is drawn onto a piece of scrap board and timber blocks screwed along the bottom edge to clamp the laminations in place.

Time to make some dust.

I milled this........

Into this.......

Ten of the eleven lamination strips are glued and clamped to the plastic covered clamping board.

The 11th, top strip will be glued on later after I drill the vertical holes to reduce the gallows weight. 

After removing the clamps and plastic I cleaned the epoxy squeeze with a large disc sander before running the section through a thicknesser. 

And here is the cleaned-up and shaped section. I rough shaped the ends with a jig saw and cleaned them up with a belt sander.

Time to drill the 25mm diam. holes for the boom gallows support tubes. I used a Forstner bit in a bench drill.

I spent time setting the gallows into position to ensure the holes are centered and at the correct angle.

The Gallow poles are set up in the boat and several test fits with minor adjustments were required for the gallows to sit squarely on the poles.

As I mentioned earlier to reduce weight, I drilled twenty-six 20mm diam. holes vertically into the gallows from the top. 

 

I didn't weigh the section prior to drilling the holes but the section feels quite light without compromising strength. (I hope)

 The top laminate is glued in place covering up the holes.

The top laminate is cleaned up, trimmed and the edges routed. Holes are drilled for rope to secure the mast. The first coat of epoxy is applied.

 

Tiller Time

I liked the look of a laminated tiller. Using blue gum and hoop pine provided a nice contrasting color of the red colored blue gum next to the light-colored hoop pine.

The tiller plan is covered with plastic and clamping blocks screwed along the upper curve of the tiller's length.

The laminates are milled to 6.5 mm thick sections. A dry fit of the timbers is clamped in place to ensure the timber bends OK with no surprises.

The laminates are glued and clamped in place. Upper timber blocks are screwed down to ensure the sections are held down flat and prevent any twisting.

After leaving the tiller overnight I ran it through a thicknesser down to 18mm.

Edges routed next and the complete unit sanded to a smooth finish.

Porthole Installation.

 I decided to decorate the outside and inside surrounds of the porthole windows using 9mm thick plywood rings.

I made the rings large enough to overlap the 6mm marine acrylic portholes. The outside rings will be permanently epoxied in place and the portholes will be sealed and screwed in place with marine bedding compound from the inside. The inside rings will be screwed over the acrylic porthole window (This will allow future replacement if required). 

This pic shows the 6mm marine acrylic porthole with protective covering alongside the drawing of the decorative ring. 

Using a jigsaw, I cut out the rings and cleaned up with a bench sander and a circular drum sander. 

Here are the eight decorative porthole rings ready for edge routing.

BUT, I had a change of plans. I decided to use hoop pine for the four  outer rings. I thought this would look better and follow the bright timber theme, so now I have four plywood porthole rings spare.

Time to make some dust. I cut the hoop pine rings from a thicker piece of timber. I cut a square block slightly larger than the ring circumference and ran the four sides of the block over the table saw blade. As the blade was not deep enough to cut all the way through the block the remaining center section was cut with a Japanese saw.

Here are the completed porthole rings, the four exteriors from hoop pine and the four interiors from 9mm plywood. All rings are given 3 coats of epoxy prior to several coats of polyurethane.

The holes are cut out of the cabin walls with a jig saw. Several coats of epoxy are applied around the area where the porthole rings will be attached. I will smooth this area prior to gluing on the porthole rings. It will be much easier than sanding around the rings when in place.

The outside rings will be permanently glued in place without screws. The 6mm acrylic windows will be secured in place with silicon from the inside. Then decorative internal rings will be screwed over the windows to cover the gap. I temporarily clamped the external rings in place and masked around the rings on the hull sides.

Thickened epoxy is applied to the port hull side.

The rings are clamped in place, epoxy squeeze out is cleaned up and the masking tape removed.

Starboard rings are masked up in preparation for fitting.

Hull side also marked up

Rings are glued and clamped in place.

Glassing the Cockpit (Cont)

 

To complete glassing the aft cabin, I masked up the section below the companionway ensuring an overlap on the lower fillets.

I rolled three coats of epoxy wet on wet.

That completes the glassing on the upper cockpit sections, now it's time to move to the cockpit floor.

Next layer of fiberglass added to the aft end of the cockpit floor.