Compass Installation.

 

Taking advantage of the Black Friday sales, I purchased a SILVA brand bulkhead compass (Model 70P). I also purchased the lighting kit.

I have previously ran a NAV light wire through to BH 2 see the "Electricals" Post dated Dec 29th 2023.

Using the supplied template, I cut an 85mm diam hole in BH2 and the four securing screw holes.

And here is the compass temporarily screwed in place.

Next, I need to build a thick timber backing block to protect and insulate the compass from the cabin area and reduce any magnetic or electrical interference which can cause deviation.

The dimensions are drawn onto 2 pieces of 20mm thick scrap timbers.

The first block is cut out all the way through, and the second block is routed out with a chisel and burring tool.

When joined together the round rear ball of the compass will fit neatly in the hollowed section.

The two sections are glued together and held in place with weights.

Routed, sanded and the first coat of epoxy.

After 3 coats of epoxy and 5 coats of Aquacote the backing block is epoxied in place. Inside cabin view.........

........and a view from the cockpit.

Cabin Top Hardware

 Time to mark out and drill the holes for all the cabin top hardware. This will include the following:

1: Jib Sheet Lead.

2: Cheek Blocks and.....

3: Halyard Cleats.

I will also fix the tabernacle blocks.

I bolted the tabernacle in place and ran ropes from the tabernacle blocks through the cheek blocks (which I blue tacked to the cabin top) and through to the cleats.

Once I was happy with how the lines ran and ensuring minimum chaff to all ropes, I marked the hardware hole locations.

This pic shows the starboard holes marked and drilled.

 

And this pic shows the holes for the port halyards.

All the holes are filled with thickened epoxy and left for a few days to harden.

Next the tabernacle holes are drilled and...

...filled.

and after redrilling through the epoxy all the hardware is fitted.

Now it's time to drill through the hardened epoxy on the cabin top.

Note the three forward holes for the cheek blocks have access via the dorade box and the third hole will be a 40 mm long screw directly into the BH. (The hole nearest the drain of the cabin hood is a temporary hole for a locating jig that lines the cabin hood in place, this hole will be filled later.

I made SS backing plates for the halyard cleats and the jib leads. These will be located inside the cabin top. Here I'm cutting out the SS backing plates for the halyard cleats. Easy work with a good quality hacksaw blade although it would have been quicker with a cutting disc on my angle grinder.

After cutting out and shaping on a bench grinder they are polished to a lovely shine. 

And here are all the cabin top hardware including the nuts, bolts, washers, screws and backing plates.

Boarding Ladder

 I received an email from our local marine store with a great deal on a stainless-steel four step folding transom boarding ladder.

Here is a pic of the ladder folded from the catalog.

And this pic shows the ladder extended.

Prior to installing I needed to ensure the following: 

• It must not interfere with the full rotation of the rudder.
• When folded the lowest part of ladder is above the waterline.
• When fully extended the lower step is sufficiently below the waterline but not below the lowest point of the rudder or keel to allow easy access when climbing aboard and not hit the ground when beach anchoring.
• The fully extended ladder must be at 90 degrees to the water line and not follow the angle of the transom.

Firstly, I re-installed the rudder and levelled the boat to the waterline.

Next the ladder was temporarily positioned and held in place with clamps.

Using a spirit level I adjusted the ladder to ensure it was vertically and horizontally level.

I clamped a piece of scrap to hold the ladder away from the transom into a vertical position. Measurements were taken to extend the horizontal supports to ensure the ladder is completely vertical and at 90 degrees to the ocean.

Now it was time to ensure the location didn't interfere with the full rotation of the rudder.

It required a few adjustments with the ladder in the folded and extended positions to ensure the correct location. 

Larger holes are drilled then filled with thickened epoxy and redrilled for the fixing bolts.

As can be seen in this pic the horizontal legs that hold the ladder out from the transom were too short to maintain the correct vertical position. So, some alterations will be required.

The ladder was made from 22mm diameter tubing which is the same as handrail tubing. So, it's off to the local marine store to spend some money. The tubing was good quality 316 Stainless steel and came in 2m lengths. After careful measurement two pieces were cut and holes drilled in the end for the securing bolt. I inserted the handle of an old screwdriver into the end of the tube to support and prevent the tubing being squashed when drilling the holes.

The longer horizontal legs were installed. To ensure they sit securely on the transom and provide maximum strength I laminated some scrap and drilled holes a little larger than the tubing. This pic shows the angle required to allow the tubing to fit neatly into the hole.

 

The piece is screwed into the transom.

This pic shows the legs inserted into the transom support.

Lastly, I made two stainless-steel backing plates and secured the unit with spring washers and dome nuts. The inner backing plate required bending to fit over the fillet. 

Now it all comes off until the transom is glassed and lacquered.

Sea Hood continued

 The sea hood construction was covered in July's 2024 post named "Companionway Hood".

I still had a bit of work to finish the sea hood before installing the solar panel.

The first job was to plug the screw holes. I made 6mm diam plugs from blue gum and epoxied them in place.

I gave the epoxy glueing in the plugs a couple of days to set hard before cleaning up and sanding down smooth. 

BUT I had no fiberglass cloth in stock so it's off to the local marine store.

 With a newly purchased roll of 6oz/200gms of fiberglass cloth I glassed the top of the sea hood and covered it with peel ply. On a side note, I also purchased a cast iron frying pan (seen on bench in pic), it will not only cook meat & fish to perfection (in my opinion) but when stored under the floorboards will provide ballast....bloody bargain haha.

Preparation of tabbing cloth and peel ply for all the underside fillets. This will strengthen the sea hood.

Fillets applied in all corners, fibreglass tabbing cloth and peel ply applied while all resin still wet. 

With three coats of epoxy with non-yellowing hardener the sea hood is ready for lacquer.

Same with the slide, ready for lacquer.

Solar Panel on Sea Hood

 The local RTM store (Road Tech Marine) had solar panels on sale. I really wanted to install a flexible panel but found it difficult to get one that would fit neatly on the sea hood. The panel I chose was a solid aluminum framed panel.

It was a 12V, 40W Monocrystalline Panel with 4mm (MC4) PV. Connectors. It measured 664mm length x 408mm wide x 25mm height, I intend to connect it through a DCC charger with a built in MPPS solar regulator.

To fix the straight panel to the curved sea hood top I had to pop riveted 2 x 90 degree aluminum angles together.

The first angle section is pop riveted to the underside of the solar panel.

Then the second section is shaped and pop riveted to the first.

The bases of the second section are secured at a slight angle to conform to the sea hood.

After centering the panel, I marked the screw hole's location on the sea hood and secured it with 8 round head self-taping screws, however the screws were slightly longer than the thickness of the sea hood.

To give maximum strength for the self-taping screws I glued 4 blocks to the underside of the sea hood. While the blocks provide additional purchase for the screws they do not interfere with the sliding hatch.

Drop Boards and Retainers

Starting with the retainers and following my build theme, I decided to construct the drop board retainers from Queensland hoop pine with a couple of blue gum inserts. I'm also considering glue and clamping them in place as I'm not keen on spoiling the outside finish with exposed screw heads.

I milled up two hoop pine lengths and planed them down to 9mm thickness. I routed 2mm deep grooves for the blue gum inserts and epoxied them in place.

The inserts are planed down close to the drop board face and sanded smooth. They turned out nice.

After three coats of epoxy with UV hardener and six coats of lacquer. I screwed and glued the retainers from inside the cabin (pics to come)

 I trimmed the 6mm thick marine acrylic companionway drop boards to fit and slide neatly in the groove.

As the drop boards are in two pieces to allow removal without hitting the boom and to prevent water leakage at the join, I went about making a horizontal cleat.

I cut a section of hoop pine a little wider than the companionway opening and then by moving the bench saw fence I cut grooves along the length ensuring the blade was low enough to leave a space between to form the "H" profile. 

The cleat will be permanently adhered to the upper drop board and neatly fit over the lower drop board. This pic shows the oversized cleat. Notice its "H" profile. The upper gap is 6mm wide to fit tightly on the upper board whereas the lower gap is 7mm wide to fit over the lower board.

I then routed two grooves on both sides of the cleat in preparation for the blue gum inserts.

 

The blue gum inserts are glued and clamped in place and left overnight to set.