Engine Controler

 After cutting in 50 new holes I had the confidence to cut one very large hole into the 43 year old fiberglass cockpit.  This new hole allows me to relocate the Yanmar Engine controls from a box under the starboard settee to the open cockpit.   

The installation was pretty straight forward.  I cut out the hole, marked the screw holes and drilled them out.

  I had an old aluminum box that I used as a rear shroud to protect the wires on the back side.  I attached that with butyl and the screws from the front plate.  The wiring harness was long enough to reach it's new home and reconnected everything.

 A new shield has been made and now will cover the old Yanmar B style controllers from splashing water and rain.

I also installed the shore power plug into it's old hole.  I don't know if I will use it again but it is there if I need it.  I will put the newly painted vent cover back on the other locker but need to get some mosquito netting first to deter any spiders, etc.

Re-assemble

 It feels good to finally be putting stuff back on the boat rather than removing it.  I have cleaned and polished all the lifeline stanchions and the bow and stern pulpits.  I have made all new mounting plates and backing plates for all of the a fore mentioned pieces.I matched each plate with it's hardware and marked and drilled holes so they would line up properly.  I used those mounting plates to mark where to drill into the deck.  I fussed around with the locations for the stanchions to get them spaced properly.  Even spacing did not work out well so they are a little closer together at the stern and farther apart forward.  It was time to make some holes.  

In my nice new deck I proceeded to make 50 NEW holes in her skin.  The bolts holding down all that hardware are 1/4-20's so I drilled over-sized, 5/8" holes with a forstner bit.  Drilling through the top laminate and the core and stopping at the lower laminate skin.  I then mixed up some thickened epoxy and injected, via a large syringe, the epoxy into the holes filling them up to the top.  About 3/4 of the way through the holes the epoxy left in the cup kicked off and I had a smoking mess.  I made up a new batch and finished the remaining holes, trying not to over fill or under fill.  When all of the holes had been potted and kicked, I spent the next hour washing the entire boat again from bow to stern.  This would be the last time I can do it until all of the bolts have been set in place.

 There were a couple of holes where the epoxy swelled up and crowned.  I lightly ground those down and then began to drill 5/16" holes down through the center of the epoxy plug all the way through lower skins.  This was followed by counter sinking the entire 5/8" hole to allow more butyl to fill the void.  Now if any water should make it's way down the bolt it will pass through to the cabin without soaking the core and ruining all my hard deck work.  It takes a couple extra steps and is time consuming but it is the only way to guarantee the core will not fail again.  I spent a lot of time shortening all of the bolts.  they were all a half inch too long and since I was using acorn nuts for a nicer finished product in the cabin I had to cut them all off.

The bow and stern rail are all mounted in lockers so regular ss nuts can be used.  I then dry fitted all the backing plates, nuts and washers.  The final attachment with the butyl will happen when I have someone else to be on the outside to prevent the the bolt from turning while I tighten down below.  When using butyl the bolt can not turn or it compromises the seal.

Cockpit Painting

The cockpit finally got painted.  This is the only part of the boat that id sprayed.  I rolled and tipped the rest.  In the future I will spray project when ever possible now that I have the knowledge and skills required to do a good job. 

 The most difficult part of this is reaching in and around because I could not step or stand where I needed to be.  I can now remove the plastic tenting and give her a good wash down.  I may just lift it up like a skirt to get some air flow.

I am also painting all of bases for the stanchions and the bow and stern pulpit.  I would like to get all of those mounted next weekend when the girls are away.  I can drill, and back fill with epoxy then re drill and mount with butyl.







 Don't think I can tighten down unless I have someone helping on the outside.  Still need to make the backing plates for the bow and stern but that won't take too long.