Yesterday was a beautiful day in Napa, and I took advantage of it to do more glass work on the new windlass base and remove a stainless fitting that was in the way of where the new chain-stopper needed to be mounted. I removed as much of the masking tape as I could from around the windlass base and carefully ground off the rest. I then ground down the imperfections and excess around the mount in preparation for filling with epoxy and microballoons. But before I did the filling, however, I needed to drill the 17/32nds bolt holes and 2-inch motor shaft hole through the deck. Using the holes I had previously drilled through the new base as a guide, it was a pretty straightforward operation to drill the bolt holes through the deck.
The larger motor shaft hole proved more difficult. First, the center drill bit that guided the hole saw turned out to be bent. I had a spare, so I was able to start cutting. About two inches through the old windlass base and deck, a layer of glass separated from the plywood core of the old windlass base and I pulled out the holesaw to remove the plug from the saw bit. Of course it was wedged in pretty tight, so went over the yard's big vice to pound it out with a screwdriver. I got it out, but for some reason the center drill bit broke in the process. I had no more spares, so I wouldn't be able to complete drilling the hole until I went into town and got another bit.
It wasn't quite lunch time yet, so I decided to remove the fitting on the foredeck. Since the rig was down and I'd never seen the inner forestay rigged, I wasn't sure if the fitting was to secure the inner forestay to the deck or if it secured the inboard end of an anchor snubber. Using my string line, I determined it was aligned with the bow roller and not the centerline of the boat, so I was pretty sure it was for the anchor snubber. This theory was reinforced by the new chainplate that had been installed on the front of the trunk cabin. I won't know for sure if I'm right until the rig is back up, but I'm not worried. Only four bolts needed to be removed to get the fitting off, so it would be no big deal. Ha, ha! Two of the extra-long bolts came right out, no problem. The other two had damaged threads and/or epoxy on the treads, so I could only get the nut about 1/2" to 1" down the bolt. I didn't want to try recutting threads while doing contortions inside the chain locker, so it was grinder time. I pounded the bolts up through the deck from below, ground off the heads, and pounded the bolt shafts back down and out through the deck. Lunch time.
With the new center drill bit for the hole saw, I finished cutting the hole for the motor shaft. Now I could measure the total thickness of deck and new mounting base where the motor shaft passed through. It was a very impressive 4 inches...solid glass with the exception of 3/4" of plywood core (still in good shape) in the original windlass base. With the rubber mounting gasket for the windlass, I had measured 4 1/4 inches of clearance available for mounting the motor, so it would be tight, but adequate. There was only 1 inch of clearance between the motor shaft hole and the outside of the square hardwood chain pipe that led the chain from the deck to the locker under the v-berth and it would take at least 2 inches to clear the motor. I decided to try to remove the chain pipe so I could bring it home to do the required surgery, since at home I could use the table saw and conveniently test fit it on the windlass.
It was both screwed and glued in place, so it was not a simple or tidy job. Where finesse proved inadequate, brut force was applied. I ultimately got the sucker out with minimal damage. The upper end required removal of about 10 corroded bronze screws and then breaking the glue joints on the trim that held the pipe in place. The lower end was glued into the plywood of the v-berth. With the top end now freed, I was able to break it loose at the bottom by using the pipe as a big lever. In the process, it broke out a square chunk of the plywood, revealing that at some point in the past the base of the pipe had been located in a slightly different position, leaving a square hole that had been patched. With the pipe out, I was once again impressed with the boat's first class construction: it was built of solid 3/4 inch hardwood, not cheezy plywood veneer!
Now that all the sundry appurtenances had been gotten out of the way, it was time to do some epoxy work before it started getting cold and damp. I mixed up a small batch of epoxy with high density filler to fill the bolt holes left over from removing the foredeck fitting. I taped and filled the holes (after protecting the chain below with plastic), and tried to duplicate the texture of the deck in the smooth area that had been under the fitting.
Next I mixed up another batch of epoxy that turned out to be much too much for the amount of microballoons I had available to mix with it. While a lot of the liquid epoxy went to waste as a consequence, I still ended up with enough microballoon putty to fill and filet around the windlass mount.
While I waited for the goo to cure enough to cover it with the protective plastic tarp, I took break, had a beer and started cleaning up and putting things away. It had been a beautiful day, and I had gotten done what I had to. But by the time I had gotten everything cleaned up and buttoned up, I was feeling the aches and pains from the days exertions.
About Me
- George
- "If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most." E.B. White. I had my first sailing experience when I was just nine or ten years old. It was a complete disaster. My father, who had absolutely no sailing training or experience, decided to try renting a little sailboat at a nearby lagoon. Of course we were totally out of control and ended up getting blown into the mud on the downwind side of the lagoon. I don’t remember how we managed to extricate ourselves and get back to the dock. He must have dropped the sail and rowed us back. Thirty years later, it was a very different experience when I took him out on my own sailboat. He was never one to talk about his feelings much, so when he got the look on his face that told me he was surprised at something he was feeling, I asked him about it. He hesitated a moment, and with a bit of uncertainty said, “You know, this is actually kind of relaxing!” Some twenty years of training and experience made the difference between disaster and a relaxing afternoon sail. Now as I begin to approach retirement, I’m looking forward to a fulltime cruising life.
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